Sunday Show and Tell August 2nd!

watercolor journal page 1 sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

Watercolor journal page 1.

I have 16 pages in the new watercolor journal and I have finished my first entry in the book! Wahoo!

I took this photo of a bumblebee at the Edgefield McMenimins Just outside of Portland Oregon last summer. I thought it was so cool that I was able to catch the bee sitting still and see the shine on it's wings.

I remember when our son was little he used to pet the furry bumblebees hanging around the lavendar bushes in the front yard. He would always laugh and then run to tell us about the soft bumble bees. :)

Here's to summer memories!
cheers, SB

Friday fun time--my last one of the summer

watercolor postcard portals 3 sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

This is my last friday of summer break. I'm kinda sad about that as I have been having so much fun getting back into my art!

I have decided that I'm not going to let work get in the way of my creative side. I have the evenings and I'm going to make them count.

I hope to remember that after I get home from work I can rechage my personal batteries with a homemade latte and a sketch. Even if all I do to start out is the Everyday Matters (EDM) Challenges.

For now though, I'll share my watercolor postcard portals series number 3! It's yet another stone wall entrance to another place...It was done with Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils, Pitt xs black pen and Prismacolor Color Pencils.

As Always I love to hear what you think! Please leave a comment or suggestion.

Cheers! SB

Wednesday meet up and a painting!

watercolor postcard portals 2 sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

I got to meet up with Carol C from the EDM group today!

She was in Vancouver for a work training seminar and today she only had 1/2 a day of classes. We met up at a funky coffee shop in the Uptown Village. I got there first and started a drawing from a photograph #2 in my Portals series! Woohoo!

We were going to sketch but started chatting about this that and the other and all of a sudden 2 hours had passed and I had to get home. Carol is a very charming lady with a lot of talent and the gift of making friends really fast! I hope to get together with her again some time!

Here's the pen and ink drawing with watercolor pencil wash. I was so excited to see this one come together . The colors worked and the pen work is looser than I usually do.

I hope you have a productive and enjoyable time in your next artistic endevor!

cheers! SB

2nd try watercolor postcard marbles

So, today looks like a day of doing things again. this is my second go at the marbles.

This time I went for a lighter and brighter effect. I think it works except that line around the biggest marble. All done with Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils on 140# watercolor paper.

There will be a 3rd time and hopefully I'll get it right next time.

What do you think? Is it better, worse or just different??
let me know!
Cheers, SB

Self portrait part 2

edm draw your self portrait 2 sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

Today I tried another self portrait. I just grabbed what ever paper and it ended up being 140# watercolor paper. It was drawn with just an old mechanical pencil that had HB graphite in it.

I didn't do any real blending of the lines just some sketchy shading and accidental smudges. it was done pretty fast (for me) about 20 minsand was drawn from a photo of me that my husband took from last spring (07).

The only way I'm gong to get any better is to keep trying and working at it. BUT I want it to look like me NOW! sigh...

cheers!
SB

Monday Monday I loved this day....

edm 29 A Border Abby Scotland
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

Yeah, even after going to the dentist I love this day. Hey mom, look no cavities. Just my regular cleaning and I'm on my way.

I got several uninterrupted hours and was able to get this drawing finished that I satrted lat night.

I really like how is feels substantial and very stone like. Though I am thinking of maybe do a bit of a color was on it, I haven't decided yet so here it is: A Border Abby Scotland, I can't rememer which one since we saw several abbys in just a few days and it was 10 years ago.

It was drawn almost completely by stippling with an XS Pitt pen on 140 # watercolor paper. It's not very big only 4.25 x 5.5 inches so even though it looks really involved it is small. :)

I'm thinking of doing a bit of a series based on doors and windows. I love the idea of entrances, exits and ways to seen into or out of a place.

Cheers to you all!
SB

Sunday show and tell

watercolor portals 1

Good afternoon,

This morning I took out another photo from WetCanvas.com. I'm still learning what the different watercolor pencils can do. Playing with light tand shadows too. This doorway is in an old church cloister. I don't know what country it is in as the photo didn't say.

I did a quick pencil sketch to get the basic shapes and then started in with the colored pencils. The photo was 'really dark' except for the open door and the outside. I HAD to put in a bit of the other door. :)

This was mostly done with Graphitint pencils with a bit of prismacolor watercolor pencil for the yellows. This is small only 5.5 x 4.25 inhes on 140# watercolor paper.

As always any constructive comments greatly appreciated! thanks for looking and letting me know what you think. :)

Thanks Rachel for the suggestion of darkening the shadows! I think it is much better now.

have a lovely Sunday!
cheers, SB

Steping out and trying something new!

watercolor marbles

I found the coolest photo of marbles on WetCanvas.The light coming through and all the reflections was just too inviting. I had to try it! (and it fits EDM challenge 61-draw a grouping of 2 or more objects!)

I pulled out the Prismacolor watercolor pencils, the Inktense and Graphitint pencils and went to work. I did this in about 2 hours of futzing and putzing. I'm not totally satisfied. Some of it actually worked but parts I over worked and started turning to mud and not getting the right colors.

I'm still figuring out how to use all the watercolor pencils and not using any ink. This was really hard for me. I'm going to try doing it again and see what I end up with.

Any constructive comments most gratefully accepted. :)

Hope you have a great Friday evening!
Cheers, SB

I did it! My own portrait

I actually did a pencil sketch of myself.

I'm working on portraits after several years. This is the first time I have tried to do one of myself. I like most of it but the eyes are really problematic for me. In the photo I'm looking toward the sun and sort of squinting 1 eye more than the other.

(I actually cheated a bit on this as I had a photo that I played with the brightness and contrast, then I printed it out and traced it to get the eyes mouth and nose in the right places.) I want to learn how to see where all the parts go with out any crutches.

I will get better as I practice more. :)

I hope you have a great evening!
cheers, SB

It is cool outside and I love it!!

It's a lovely cool day and I'm feeling really inspired to do some more images. It's so nice to put on a sweater and sit on the front porch. I enjoy these times much more than the really warm days of summer huddled in the house with the Air Conditioner.

I got a drawing done from the Drawings from Other Members Photographs DFOMP-5 and it also goes for Everyday Matters EDM 43! so I'm pretty excited to have those completed!

I'm having fun learning how the Inktense pencils work. They are different than regular watercolor pencils but very simialr too. I really like being able to color, get it wet and then not have the color move after if I want to add more colors. I'm also figuring out how to blend the inktense pencils. I'll get better as I learn more.

Thanks for looking!
have a great day, cheers! SB

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Tuesday and flowers!

I got the flowers finished that I started yesterday! Wahoo!
these are for EDM 76 draw some flowers. I really had fun with these. I inked the stems and leaves then prismacolored every thing. :) Lots of layering of the colors to get them 'right'.

I figured that by not inking the petals I would keep them softer and more petal like. Do you think it worked?

I am really enjoying using color pencils again. It has been a few years since I really used them. I feel like I have way more control over them than the watercolors at this time. That's why I'm really looking forward to Cathy Johnson's CD watercolor pencil magic lessons. I'm hoping to learn how to have more control with them when they get water.

But until then, I'll have fun with my Not soluable pencils and blend and burnish to my little heart's content!

cheers! SB

Two EDM Challenges today! 24 and 91

It was beautiful today, soft summer sun, 75 degrees and an easy breeze to keep the air moving. It was perfect to go in the yard and sketch!

I actually got 3 sketches done, the blueberries and the apple along with some lovely flowers that I'm still working on. I inked the apple and the branch then colored it with Prismacolor Pencils. The Blueberries were done with just the color pencils over a light graphite pencil sketch.

So the blueberries are EDM 24 draw a piece of fruit and the apple is EDM 91 draw an apple.

Both of these could have been the challenge of draw something summer because daring to my sisters and cousins to eat little green apples was one of the silly childhood games we played as soon as the apples were bigger than plums! Oh the puckered faces we would make!

And well, blueberries were always a summer fruit! we'd get to have fresh blueberry pancakes, and muffins then freeze a bunch for winter to have little sparks of summer in the darker parts of the year.

I hope that you have some tasty memories of summers past to carry along with you too!
cheers, SB

Sometimes a doodle turns into a snail...

I sat down after a nice walk with my husband to do a bit of doodling. I got out my white card and pen and started laying down my string.

Little did I know at the time that string didn't want to be a doodle. It wanted to be a snail. With just a couple added lines the snail came crawling out and said I need a reason for hanging here with my head down. A rock magically appeared and all was well.

Silly I know. Not correct as far as a 'real' snail would look but, well, It came from my imagination.

Sometimes the pen knows what it's going to draw and I just hang on for the ride and see where it takes me!

Hope you have a great ride in store for you too!
Cheers, SB

Sunday show and tell EDM 66

Today's show and tell is a Fire hydrant from a photo I took in Illwaco Washington near Black Lake.

It was so cool, all the peeling paint showing layers of different colors. I wonder how many years it has been quietly doing it's job?

It was done in watercolor pencils, inktense pencils and pen on 140# wc paper. I should have stopped a little sooner with the pen as I think it shows up too starkly. (I may do some more work to tone that down but all in all it's a pretty good image I think).

After all the awesome comments I have decided that I had better just leave --Well Enough Alone-- The piece if finished and I won't mess with it anymore. :)

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!
cheers, SB

Drawing from Memory edm 173

What a lovely Saturday!

It was overcast this morning which kept it cooler than the forcast, even though it did clear out and get sunny and 75 degrees. Perfect!

I decided to try out a Derwent Spectrum Blue Watercolour pencil (that came free with my new set of Inktense pencils) on a quick sketch from my imagination of a girl's face and head. It came out sort of neat. I like the varitations of blues from the one pencil since I did wet parts of the drawing. My proportions are a bit off and the eyes look like flat disks not orbs, but part of that is not knowing how the pencil and water were going to react.

Any helpful suggestions are more than welcome! I have already ordered Cathy Johnson's Watercolor Pencil Magic cd and I'm on pins and needles waitning for it to get here! (of course I just ordered it today and it's going to take about a week to get here!)

I hope you all are finding something creative to do today!
Cheers! SB

Friday Evening and EDM #2

edm 2 draw a lamp or light sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

It's leftovers for dinner tonight, that gave me time to get this drawing scanned in and posted.

I went to the Provecho Mexican Grill in downtown Vancouver for lunch today. It was someplace that I hadn't been before and I wanted to try them out. Yummy soft corn tacos with grilled chicken and a beef one. Oh yes! I'll be going back again.

So, while I was waiting for my order I started drawing the hanging light. I though it was kinda cool and funky with it's 3 different glass globes covering the light bulbs.

I will say that this was a big challenge. I only got 2 branches of the light done when my food came. I stopped, charged up my batteries with yummy food, when the plate was cleared I finished up the drawing.

I'm working on perspective, it's pretty good but parts are twisted funny and somehow I added a piece the the front and center branch that's not on any of the others. Weird...

Oh well, it was fun and I'm getting more comfortable drawing in public. Two of the workers even came by and looked at some of my stuff. One of them is an artist and he had a few of his images on his phone that he shared too. :)

If you want please let me know what you think!
Cheers, SB

So many colors!

There's an old song by Harry Chapin that goes:

"There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun,
So many colors in the flower
and I see every one"

I feel like that. So many colors, and I don't want to have to choose just one!

Even when we look at something like an orange. If I just draw an orange colored circle on the page, it would just look like a big polka dot! You have to add some red, and maybe some burnt umber and then a bit of a sunny yellow and may be even a touch of blue to make it LOOK like an orange.

What do you think? Can you imagine a world where every thing was just crayon box flat colors with no mixing allowed? I don't think it would very fun. There'd be no place for subtle variations, or gradations of tone. Hum...something to think about...

cheers! SB

Something Different again!

doodle circle embriodery 071708 sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

hey there!
Today's post is a bit different. It started as a doodle drawn directly on fabric (white muslin with a small white flower pattern on it) and then handstitched all in black #5 perle cotton. This was all done today (thursday). it's not as detailed as most of my pen doodles but hey, I knew I'd be stitching all those lines!

I'm pretty excited that I took it from just an idea to a completed project in just one day. I am so impatient that I have to be able to do a project from start to finish in one day.

Well, unless it's a big quilt project and then it can take a couple days to piece the top and then another to machine quilt it but that's another story!

Are you the impatient type or the kind that can start and then let it sit for a couple days and come back to finish?

I'd love to know what you think!

Cheers! SB

Just to give you a smile!

EDM 80 something that makes you happy Girl with rooster statue at Powis Castle, Wales UK Gillian Mowbray photographer.

Gillian Mowbray of The Fading Rose was so gracious to give me permission to use one of her photos of a statue as the model for a drawing. This is the pencil sketch that I did this evening. I'll probably do a pen sketch of it too at some point. I need LOTS of work on my faces.

This statue makes me smile. It makes me think of the joy of being a child and not worrying if the bird is going to poop on my head.

I miss those days...
Hope you have a great evening.
Cheers! SB

Wednesday Woohoo!

edm 21 draw something old or vintage DFOMP 4-insect collection
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

Loving this day so far! Dropped off some stuff at the college-looking at a technology job--Who knows something might come of it. :)
Went downtown and sat outside and drew up a challenge that actually goes for 2 groups that I'm in now.

Oh yeah!
edm 21 draw something old or vintage and DFOMP 4-insect collection. this bug drawing is part of a photo of an insect collection that was from the 1920s or 1930s. so most definately old or vinatge.

I am so happy to be able to get out and draw! I'm sure that when the rains start I'll be just as happy to stay home or indoors at coffee shops and such but right now, the warm air (only 74 degrees) and soft breezes beckons!

I hope that all ofyou are finding something to be happy about today and that you get the chance to exercise your creative souls.

later gators! cheers, SB