Thursday, March 15, 2012

Watercolor Sketching
























The second workshop in the Strathmore series of free, online workshops is Watercolor Sketching with Cathy Johnson. I've been a fan of Cathy's books and sketching style for a while now, so the opportunity to watch her work is both informative and fascinating. Like most talented people, Cathy makes watercolor sketching look very easy. I don't find it easy at all, but I love the results so much that I want to keep working at it until I do.





































After playing around with some of the exercises and techniques that Cathy demonstrated in her video, I wanted to jump right in and do a sketch like the one she did of a basil plant. We always have bananas in the house--so a sketch of bananas was in order. I liked the way she added text to her sketch, so I added my recipe for banana smoothies to the page. (Try it--you'll like it!) I've been wanting to attempt a sketch using only watercolor, without pen or ink, but didn't have the nerve until now. My favorite part was splattering the paint around and experimenting with various washes.
























After the second video, Cathy sketched a building from a photograph. I couldn't find a picture that I liked, so I raided the frig for some big, fat, juicy strawberries instead. (Those can go in the smoothie too.) I think sketching food is rather fun, and what could be better than sketching and snacking at the same time?

3 comments:

Jane said...

Your watercolor sketches are lovely...keep up the great work!

lee said...

you have made hungry, well at the same time admiring your art, you did a fantastic job

lori vliegen said...

your lettering looks just as delicious as your sketches!! keep raiding that fridge!! xoxo