Anyway, I've already been collecting photos of potential painting subject matter. This is a good time of year to find fall foliage, for example.
The sagebrush is turning yellow! And here's a photogenic White-crowned Sparrow:
More of the same:
Some of the sumac is also turning lovely colors:
If the weather cooperates, I may venture farther afield in search of more autumn colors.
Meanwhile, here are my "InkTober" drawings for the past week. On Monday I sketched at the library book shop where I volunteer (it was a slow afternoon with only three customers). I did an ink drawing and then added shading using various gray Tombow brush pens.
On Tuesday I drew rocks. I took a photo of BIG rocks on the bank of the Yakima River, then started off with a simple line drawing in ink.
Then I added shading using those same gray brush pens.
And then I tried adding watercolor on top. Experimenting is a large part of the InkTober challenge fun!
On Wednesday I met up with a few hardy members of the Tri-Cities Urban Sketchers group at a vineyard. It was 43 degrees and WINDY.
Most of us sketched from inside our cars, including me:
Look how bundled up we are!
On Wednesday afternoon while walking the dogs around the neighborhood, I snapped pics of front porches that I found attractive, and on Thursday I chose three of them to draw.
On Friday I decided to work from one of my old photos of a Snow Bunting, a rare visitor to the Puget Sound area that I was lucky enough to see a couple of winters ago. I drew it using sepia ink:
For Saturday, my friend Sandra sent me some photos that she thought I might like to draw from, including one of her beloved car, a MINI Cooper, on the beach. I don't usually draw cars (or machines of any kind) and found it challenging, which is the whole point of the InkTober challenge! I used the brush pens again:
On Sunday I decided to try out the official prompts. InkTober organizers post a list of prompt words for each day, in case you need inspiration, though you are not required to use them. The prompt word for Sunday was Ash. My first thought was to do a drawing of Mt. St. Helens, but that didn't turn out, so instead I went with the more obvious:
Tomorrow's prompt word is Overgrown. That could be fun.
When I'm not busy drawing, I'm having even more fun with Daniel Smith watercolor paints. This company, based in Seattle, makes amazing watercolors, which I've been using for many years. I thought it might be good to change up my standard palette a bit, so I ordered their sample sheets.
Each sheet has a small dot of watercolor for you to test out. Just add a little water to see what each one looks like:
There's enough pigment in each dot to also test the color out on whatever paper you typically use, which in my case is 140lb cold press watercolor paper:
There are 238 dots on five sheets!! I'm hoping to find a few new colors to buy to make my old palette fresh again.
Finally, here is a shot of what an artist's dining room table often looks like:
Mostly I eat in the living room at the coffee table. I do clear off the dining table for guests, but then I can't find anything afterwards, having hidden stuff away out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind...not a good thing for a creative person!
See you next Monday for more InkTober fun.
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