I don’t think I’ve ever painting so much food, as this month. Following along with the World Watercolor Group’s prompts, I’ve painting a 3 course meal, plus dessert!
Except for fruit and some sweets, food is not something I normally draw and paint. It wouldn’t occur to me to paint a turkey! I’m only painting one this year. I’m not the one responsible for cooking the turkey. I’m making the sweet potatoes and baking pumpkin bread and a dessert.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
You win some you lose some. I guess that’s just how it goes. When you are painting everyday, you’ll love some of the results and some not so much. And when you are painting and posting everyday, you end up sharing both the successes and the failures.
If I was the Ref I’d call my bundt cake a win and my Coke can a loss. I usually try not to share too much about what I think about my final results. Early on in my blog, I got a comment that said stop whining and putting yourself down. I was initially very hurt by the comment. But I tried to see the message behind it. I was being very hard on myself and was often presenting my work with my own negative commentary.
I’m often hardest on a project right when I finish it. After a little time passes I see it differently. To post a project and list all the things wrong with it, was selling myself short. After that infamous comment I stopped doing that. It was an internal shift for me as well because I started focusing more on my achievements, instead of apologizing for my shortcomings. The Coke can isn’t my best but it is the 19th painting on the heels of 31 days of ink drawings, so I’m patting myself on the back for that and getting to work on today’s painting. 😀
I have to admit, I sometimes don’t know the right answer to this question. Most often my style is to work in watercolor and add details in ink. But sometimes I hesitate to add the ink details.
When I think about, the occasions where I question adding ink, are when I’ve added a lot of details in watercolor – a lot of layers. Sometimes the decision is easy. The painting looks finished, like these donuts. Other times I’m not sure – like the cupcake above.
Adding the ink is definitely a different look. Just watercolor is softer and sometimes more realistic looking. Adding ink looks more illustrated, more whimsical. Like this cup of cappuccino and this ice cream sundae.
One thing is for sure – once a line of ink is added, there’s no turning back. I often think of scanning and printing a painting and adding ink details to the printout. This way I can make sure I like it before touching the original painting.
Today’s painting prompt: chocolate bars. Instead of painting a chocolate bar, I painted the scene in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” when Charlie gets the chocolate bar with the golden ticket. When I was a kid I thought the chocolate bars in that movie looked delicious!
Today’s painting prompt is potatoes. My parents’ parents were born in Ireland, so my mom made a lot of potatoes when I was growing up. I hated them, but I think the only food I liked were sugar cereal and candy so that isn’t saying much. I used to hide my food at dinner to make it seem like I ate. One time I pretended to drink my milk but actually was spitting my mashed potatoes into the milk. I put my unfinished milk glass in the refrigerator. Later my mom made tea and went to pour a little of my milk into her cup, but out plopped my mashed potatoes. I have come to like potatoes but rarely make mashed. Most holidays I ask my mom to bring hers.
Yesterday’s prompt was donuts. I like them much better! 😄
I’m participating in World Watercolor Group’s November daily painting prompts. I worked in my sketchbook all through October for InkTober, so I thought the prompts would motivate me to continue.
As I posted my “croissants” on November 1st, I thought about Charlie O’Shields’ (the founder of World Watercolor Group) posts. Charlie seems to always tell a story about his “doodlewashes.” They often make me laugh and make me think of stories of my own. Here’s what I posted on the 1st:
“In the spirit of Charlie the founder of the World Watercolor Group, here’s a story to go with my croissant. In my early 20s my friend and I were backpacking in Europe and went to a small town in the south of France. At an outdoor cafe I ordered a croissant. With my New York accent it sounded more like “crescent.” The waiter insisted we pronounce it correctly before he would bring them. If I remember correctly croissant is pronounce more like qua-sant. It wasn’t a bad lesson for me. At the time I honestly thought everyone must speak some English. By the way the waiter in Czechoslovakia didn’t speak any. We had no idea what we were ordering when we pointed to the menu. Imagine how happy we were when we found the McDonalds!”
Today as I was catching up on yesterday’s painting, I was sneaking some of my son’s Halloween candy. It was totally ironic that today’s prompt is sugar candies.
I recently interviewed Charlie O’Shields. Check it our here.
If you want to particpate in the World Watercolor Group’s November prompts you can see them here. Be sure to tell the story. 😉
As I sat down at the computer to design a pattern around my elf sketches, I quickly realized the sketches were just the tip of the iceberg. What kind of background did I want? A snowy scene? Or maybe a plaid background? When working with pens, paper, watercolor – basically any tools not on the computer – we have choices and options but once we move forward with a decision, things can only be changed so much. On the computer anything can be undone, changed, resized, rotated, colors altered, layers overlayed, etc. It’s a bit overwhelming! And I work as a graphic designer for a living. It must be the blending of the two – the hand drawn and the computer – that has my head swimming!
I started with the elves from my sketchbook and added this snowy night background behind them. It was interesting, but the dark sky didn’t seem right for Christmas gift wrap. I tried the plaid background, but I didn’t like the computer drawn plaid behind the watercolor. But, I ordered a fabric swatch of the snowy night out of curiosity.
Another day I went back to the sketchbook and drew Christmas elements, and eventually added watercolor to them. I also painted stripes in red and green. Back at the computer (on another day), I scanned and played around with the different elements. I liked using the watercolor stripes much better than the computer plaid. Although it was a challenge to get the stripes to look right when I repeated the pattern. I’ve order a swatch of this pattern, so I’ll keep you posted!
Here’s the Christmas Watercolor Stripes design without the repeat:
I’m interested in your thoughts! Out of the 3 designs, which do you like the best?
Leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks!! 🙂
If you’d like to see my other gift wrap and fabric designs, please click here.
With InkTober motivating me, I’ve been focused on my sketchbook this month. But sitting on the couch this afternoon I grabbed my iPad and stylus pen to get back to drawing digitally. The boy pulling his wagon was the last one I did weeks ago.
The whole feel of drawing on the iPad is different than pen on a page in the sketchbook. It took me a while to get used to it again. And I miss being able to lean my hand like on the sketchbook! Any touch creates lines on the iPad.
I use a ZXU fine point stylus pen which I found on Amazon. (This is not a sponsored post.) I draw in Adobe Illustrator Sketch and Adobe Photoshop Draw because I like working in layers and you can send your files from the iPad directly to those programs on your desktop.
Do you draw digitally? What tools do you prefer? Have any tips to share?
Here in New York the leaves are beginning to change. Only a few have fallen. I am so looking forward to the bright colors and to walking through the leaves – that “swish swish” and the beautiful reds, purples, and yellows everywhere. Cleaning up the leaves I am not looking forward to!
In years past, the leaves have been a huge inspiration to me.
See how I made this watercolor leaf here.
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