Asian Girl in Oil Pastel

Completed: June 11, 2014
Time Spent: ?
Materials: Oil pastels, chalk pastels, street chalk
Paper: Sandpaper, 18in x 22in

Sunflower in Chalk Pastel

Completed: August 26, 2013
Time Spent: ?
Materials: Chalk pastels, street chalks
Paper: sandpaper , 18in x 22in

Kingfisher in Crayons

My latest joy.

I loved the colors on the kingfisher. I was also wanting to try something with crayons and sandpaper again, so I thought I'd give the kingfisher a crack. I got excited, too, when I saw how bright the crayons were on the sandpaper.

I had a lot of fun working on this one. I felt very comfortable with the crayons. I didn't feel too constrained with getting the lines and shapes right. I actually enjoyed just playing with the colors. I wasn't so keen on studying the color wheel, so this was a good, fun alternative.

I will have to look at the colorwheel and study it, eventually, but it just wouldn't be me if I don't spend a lot of time screwin' around first. Hah!

In hindsight, probably should have used more black on the wing.

Completed: 8 August 2013
Time spent: Approx. 8 hours
Materials: Crayola and one-dollar crayons
Paper: Sandpaper, 8.5in x 8.5in

Girl on Sandpaper

An author of a book on painting with pastels listed fine sandpaper as one of the types of paper she's used in the past, and I thought that was pretty cool. The use of an unconventional material intrigued me, so I wanted to give it a try. I chose to use oil pastels, because I didn't have a workspace that's suitable for working with dry pastels. Working with dry pastels produces a lot of dust.

I found out pretty quickly that it wasn't easy to add little details with the wide tip, cylindrical oil pastels, especially on sandpaper! It's a good lesson on how your materials dictate how much detail you can put on your painting. If I only painted one element, like the girl or the flower or the butterfly, I may have been able to create a more detailed rendition of each. Live and learn.

Completed: 11 December 2012
Time Spent: 3 hours
Materials: Crayola oil pastels
Paper: Fine sandpaper, 9in x 11in

Butterfly Doodle

Completed: 20 November 2012
Time Spent: 3 hours
Materials: Artist's Loft and Crayola color pencils
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in

Major Kusanagi Doodle

Completed: 18 November 2012
Time Spent: 2 hours
Materials: Artist's Loft and Crayola color pencils
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in

Marker Sheepie

The idea of drawing a sheep came to mind when a religious holiday, celebrated by some friends, came up. I wanted to draw with markers as well since I've already played around with color pencils. I used watercolor paper, thinking the ink will just bleed through the other types of paper I had around. I didn't have paper for marker drawings then. The texture of the watercolor paper was a bit unpleasant to work on with markers with thin tips. I don't know why I didn't think about using the smoother side of the paper, but there you go.

Problems with pressure sensitivity is quite evident here, and as of the time of this writing, it still is! (Note to self: practice, practice, practice.)

I found out quickly that correcting errors was not an easy task. (Is it possible to do it cleanly?) Inattention caused me to shade the top of the right ear. Ooops. I didn't know how else to correct it, so I used a correcting fluid. It did the job although not very well.

It's not all bad. The colors are bright and fun, and at least, the sheepie looks like a sheepie. Okay, sheep.

 Completed: 27 October 2012 4:02P
Time Spent: 1 hour
Materials: Artist's Loft Markers, White-Out correction fluid
Paper: Strathmore 300 Series Watercolor paper, 11in x 15in

Harajuku Girl

This is a tag from a cute Harajuku purse that my sister gave me. The characters looked like fun to draw, so I did and this is my mix 'n' match version. It took me forever to shade the hair. I remember wishing I made a smaller drawing. Talk about big hair!

Completed: 12 November 2011
Time Spent: 6+ hours
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in
Materials: Pencils, regular eraser

First Self-Portrait

This is my first attempt at drawing my self-portrait. I know. I know. It's pretty scary. If I remember correctly, it's the first exercise in Betty Edwards's very popular book, Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain. The exercise is meant as a record of our current skills and to be used as a measure of our progress over time.

I have a mixed feeling about this drawing. It doesn't excite me, because I could've done better; but I'm also kinda proud of it, because I know I have improved much since I drew it. However, I'm steering clear from portraits for now. Yikes.

Lesson learned: Don't doubt yourself. I started this drawing already fully convinced that I would fail. Not good.

Completed: 5 Nov 2011
Time Spent: 20 minutes
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in
Materials: 2H Pencil, pink eraser

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