Illustrator
Every now and then (okay, pretty much every year) family members request a piece of art from me. Aren’t they lucky? A quick and easy way for me to that is to paint studies of birds because guess what? I like birds. Here are a few in watercolour and ink:
Baltimore Oriole
Pileated Woodpecker
Common Kingfisher
Every year September rolls around and I go “What? Already?!”. This summer was a good one for plein air drawing, even though Joel and I always feel like we could do more. Plus, he just bought me the artist-quality Winsor-Newton compact watercolour set for my birthday and I haven’t tried it out yet!
The following drawings were done in and around the Westport, ON area and on our Pacific Northwest road trip.
These last ones are the last watercolour paintings I’ve done, and it’s mighty ambitious if I do say so myself. The reference for this is a photo of two pieces of ice in Iceland (har har) taken by my mother a few years ago. The challenge was making the ice look translucent but also incorporating all the interesting colours in the ice. I’m not aiming for high realism and like everything I do, it has a graphic element to it. I am quite happy with the result. 
Joel and I are also fortunate to have been able to join a lifedrawing session here in Westport. After teaching lifedrawing for 5 semesters at Cambrian College in Sudbury, it’s nice to be able to concentrate on doing your own thing rather than teaching others how to do it (although I did enjoy that, Students, don’t worry!). Teaching lifedrawing definitely helped me with my own lifedrawing skills; I guess if you drill it enough in others you listen to your own advice!
Lifedrawing, approx. 2 hrs.
Lifedrawing, 25 minutes.
