Fun on the Internet

I find that Internet challenges are a great way to try out new supplies or techniques. For instance, there's a portrait challenge on Instagram @faceportraitclub that's gaining followers. They manage to pick reference photos of people you'd like to draw and they find insightful poses that result in portraits with meaning. I've been practicing small format colored pencil portraits:

@quanghoart

 

@danajerimaier

 

 

@treadle_trowel_thimble

Another time I tried Intaglio printing using Tetrapak. More on this technique on my Flickr account: HowToAlbum

 

 

 Ukrainian solder, based on photo by @sergekhivrich

Then there's the 2022 version of EDiM ("Every Day in May") that just took off. I'm trying out various pencils on black paper, experimenting with my Caran D'Ache Luminance and Derwent Coloursoft pencils as well as a white gellyroll. You can easily meet this challenge with quick sketches of everyday objects so I'm trying to keep up. Day 5 was "fruit":

Find the rest on my Flickr album:  EDiM

A walk in the desert in the spring

"Springtime in the desert"

Polychromos on A4 Dawler Rowney smooth heavyweight paper

 

Isolation Blues

"Let the games begin"
Ink on paper, just for fun!

Inktober 2020

 

Inktober was useful this year to keep us all busy during the pandemic. I decided to try out the sumi ink I had in my closet. I'd found it second hand in Les Petits Riens in Bruxelles.

There are many good u-tube explanations of the technique. Here's one I consulted by Henri-Li: how to paint goldfish

I also found some internet sites that translated english to chinese later in the month so that my characters were less like complete jibberish. 

 More resources:  https://www.comuseum.com/

The result is in my Flickr album.

Inktober 2019

Inktober 2019 gave me a chance to try out a variety of inks and pens from my stock, including some vintage items I recently acquired at a flea market ("brocante"). I found these "Figues de Barbarie" (Prickly Pears) from the supermarket extremely sketchable but when do you eat them? See my entire album here: My Inktober album in Flickr

"Day 31: Ripe"
Pelikan ink, water, and Blanzy dip pen
Sketchbook 40 (14x14cm)

#Inktober2018

#Inktober2018 - "flowing"

 Click for my Inktober album on Flickr: CH Inktober 2018

This month is "Inktober", a daily drawing challenge taking place on social media. Jake Parker started this back in October 2009 to practise his "inking skills" and it caught on. He publishes a new prompt list every year to help everyone find ideas and motivation here: The Official List

I had never participated before but after following last year's submissions, I couldn't resist trying one or two of the prompts. After that, it's difficult to stop. In my opinion, they are designed to keep you going: easy ones interspersed with more difficult ones. Some people stick to a particular theme or style while others use alternate prompt lists. In my case, I'm just experimenting with some supplies I own but seldom use and trying to make it to the end of the month.

Flickr groups displaying work by other participants:
  Inktober 2018
  Flickr Inktober 2018

KOH-I-NOOR colored pencils

Today, I sketched a scene from Google's Street View for the Virtual Paintout in Lithuania. This is "Lukiškės aikštė", the largest square in Vilnius:

"Lukiškės aikštė"

Koh-i-Noor Hardmuth Polycolors on 9"x12" Dawler-Rowney Lyndhurst paper

I've enjoyed using these pencils so much that I recently decided to purchase the ones I was missing.  My chart below shows all 72 colors (except no. 37 which was not available).  Numbers 1 through 36 came with my original box of 36. I'm not sure it's really worth having the entire set because a few of the colors seem very similar but I'm glad I got the silver and gold (39 and 40) as I use them everywhere. There's also an "0" that you can use for blending.

The pdf chart you can download from the Koh-i-Noor site (Downloads, Polycolor) may be more practical as it's organised by color rather than number (with lightfastness levels, etc) but you can't see the colors very well so it's probably worth making your own chart. 

Virtual Paintout - Chile - February 2013

Hola amigos! Estoy en la Región de Valparaíso en Chile! Actually, I'm visiting the area in Google Street View for the Virtual Paintout. Above is a scene I found in Viña del Mar -- looking towards the valley from the Avenida Angamos.

Here's the link: "Caballos en la calle"

My second submission is on my Flickr account:Vuelve!

In fact, I’m really getting involved in the destination this month. For the first time in my life, I went to a Chilean restaurant: Araucana. We had Pisco sours, Empanadas, Anticuchos, and Torta chilena. Delicious! 

To see the rest of the Virtual Paintout contributions, please visit VPO

"Caballos en la calle"

27 x 36 cm, Koh-I-Noor Polycolor pencils on Steinbach paper

Le Kauwberg - les dessins

I never tire of drawing the patterns created by the slopes and foliage of this park. On May 27th, I brought my Faber-Castell Polychromos and 8.5" x 11.5" Daler Rowney sketchbook there -- I've decided this is the combination that works best for this subject -- and I captured a small family picnic in the grass (above).

In March I drew the sand of the former quarry using the same FCP coloured pencils in an 8.5" x 11.5" Strathmore sketchbook which has lighter paper but it's also grainier so I was less happy trying to make that combination work. 

I find it so difficult to come up with the perfect drawing kit -- always trying to find a lightweight solution that includes everything I could possibly need. The FCPs are too heavy now that I've assembled such a large set but if I try to narrow down the selection, I'm convinced I'll be missing an essential colour. 

Every season at Le Kauwberg provides new inspiration but I tend to spend more time there in Spring:

5.5" x 8.5" DR sketchbook in early June 2010

8.5" x 11.5" DR sketchbook  + FCP in April 2010

8.5 x 11.5 DR sketchbook + Derwent Coloursoft + FCP in April 2011

I've saved most of the above images to my Flickr account as well.  Here is a link to a drawing from late summer last year: 20 August 2011.    (8.5" x 11.5" DR sketchbook + FCP) 

More to come!

Virtual Paintout - Jerusalem - May 2012

"The Shuk"

11.5 x 16.5 inch, pastel on paper
(private collection, Brussels)

The Google team has recently added Israel to Street View.  I am finding some amazing views in Jerusalem and have been trying them out in pastel. Above is a covered market in the old city: the winding path goes on and on and every step along the way could inspire another painting. Below I used oil pastel to capture the panorama from the Mount of Olives.

"Jerusalem Skyline"

6x9 inch, oil pastel on watercolor paper

Virtual Paintout - Gdansk - April 2012

I was impressed by this massive structure in countless shades of red brick on a square in Gdansk and completed the above drawing before discovering it was the "Muzeum Bursztynu". Further research led me to realise that bursztyn was actually the Polish word for "amber" - that souvenir stone I brought back on a necklace when I visited Poland ten years ago. Aside from jewelry, the museum also has a collection of insects found in amber. It turns out that amber is "fossilised tree resin" so the insects must have gotten trapped in the resin before it turned to stone. This fits in well with the other section of the museum, which relates to the building's long ago use as a prison tower and torture chamber!

Here is the Google Street View image that inspired the above drawing: LINK

"Muzeum Bersztynu"

21x29.5cm, colored pencil on paper

Virtual Paintout - Saint Petersburg - March 2012

McDonald's has been established in Russia for 22 years now -- time flies! They opened their first hamburger restaurant in Moscow on 31 January 1990. As usual they tried to add products that corresponded to local tastes. In Russia this meant cherry pie, potato wedges and cabbage pie!

I'm sketching on the Nevsky Prospekt again (via Google's images of Saint Petersburg). I used a combination of pencil, markers, water soluble crayons, ink and yellow highlighter (8" x 11.5").

Street View Link


"Макдоналдс"
8 x 11.5 inch, pencil and marker in sketchbook

Virtual Paintout - Санкт-Петербург - март 2012

"Невский проспект"
21x29.5cm, Neocolor II in Daler-Rowney sketchbook

This month's Virtual Paintout takes us to Saint Petersburg! I can't believe how much it has changed since I saw it in 1988 (as Lenningrad). I tried to find my photographs to locate the same views but have misplaced them. By clicking around in Google Street View -- looking at views from bridges -- I wound up on the Nevsky Prospect and began to draw in a sketchbook with Caran D'Ache Neocolor II's. Here's the link:

Street View

Virtual Paintout - Sardinia II - October 2011

This is my second contribution to the Virtual Paintout for October. I have not moved very far from my initial spot on this road in Sardinia overlooking Lago di Cucchinadorza but I think I managed to get a better reproduction of my drawing this time by taking a picture rather than scanning, following the suggestion of a fellow VP artist. I have since realised that most of the images I submitted were photographs and not scans (since they were usually oil paintings). I am also experimenting with various papers for my Faber-Castell Polychromos. This was my first drawing in a giant "Peacock Heavy Weight Wire Bound Sketchbook" (from the back-to-art-school sales in September). Although it was fun to work on a BIG drawing for a change (12" x 16.5" or 29.7 x 42 cm), I found the paper a bit too smooth for these colored pencils. Getting the right combination of pencil and paper is mindboggling. Back to the drawing board!

Here is the link to the scene that inspired this drawing: Google Street View Link

"Sardinia Landscape"
29.7 x 42 cm, colored pencil

Virtual Paintout - Sardinia - October 2011

This is a quick message to provide anyone interested with the URL address of the Google Street View photo that I used in creating the above drawing. I worked on this over the weekend (it's raining here in Brussels now) and just submitted it to the Virtual Paintout

Google Street View Link

8.5" x 11", colored pencil (Polychromos) in Canson Sketchbook

Virtual Paintout - New Orleans - September 2011

Google Street View

I've never been to New Orleans but have been visiting the city using Google Street View because it is the subject of this month's Virtual Paintout. At first I tried looking up addresses I'd heard about but nothing came of that since places had either changed or were obscured by passing cars and so forth. Meanwhile I began to notice these amazing trees whose branches reach clear across the street (see the link above). 

Graphite and colored pencil
8x11inch Canon One sketchbook

Virtual Paintout - Fairbanks AK (II) - August 2011

This afternoon I took out my pastel pencils, which I (also) haven't used in a long time, and tried them out on another Alaskan scene where these caracteristic rows of trees are reflected in a lake. See the Google Street View here .
Google says the address is approximately "Interstate a-4 / Jeannette Way, Fairbanks, Alaska, United States".



"Jeannette Way"
11.5 x 12.5 inches, pastel pencils on paper

Virtual Paintout - Fairbanks, Alaska and Points North - August 2011

I think Bill Guffey chose a cold spot on purpose for our summer paintout this August. However, the weather here in Brussels has been worse than what I'm seeing on Street View Alaska! It rains nearly every day and people have been wearing winter boots and trench coats recently. Hopefully August 15th marks the start of our real summer.

Meanwhile, I decided to take out my pastels and see if they hadn't dried out (they seem to still be usable). I was also eager to try out the colored paper which was part of my birthday present from my daughter. I don't think I've ever used pastels on colored paper before. I was planning to do a few quick sketches of this road that I found between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay (Dalton Highway)and then decide which view to paint in oils but I'm not sure I'll get any further than this.

"Points North"
12.5 x 8.5 inch, pastel on orange paper

Bristol, UK

The Mshed museum and harbour (oil pastel).

Studio Atelier February 2011 Painting Project (first stages)

Below are my preliminary sketches for the Studio Atelier challenge (see link towards bottom of sidebar). Not sure if I'll manage to get an oil painting done by next Sunday. This month we can choose any of the previous images posted on the site. The water lily photo is beautiful but why does Pacman keep coming to mind?!

Faber-Castell Polychromos in

Winsor & Newton 8" x 11.5" Sketchbook

Here's a link to the Studio Atelier challenge where other artistssubmitted their interpretations of the same photo:

http://studioatelier.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

I've also had fun trying out different colored pencils on the red boulder photo. First with Derwent Artists pencils:

Above using Faber-Castell Polychromos and black ink

Both in 7x9.5inch handmade sketchbook

Here's a link to the Studio Atelier page where other artistssubmitted their interpretations of the same photo:

http://studioatelier.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

In the end I decided to paint the water lilies (see next message).

water lilies