2013 So Far

Sketch-a-day status: holding fast.

Jan 2. Lesson of the day: I need to work from photo reference.

Jan 2 extra

I'm well aware this is not a sketch. Just a record of me trying out my new watercolor set and experimenting with layering/mixing. Thanks Kris for the lovely Christmas present!!!

Jan 3 - apparently the Christmas spirit does not subside even when it's well into the new year and you've been rocking it since before Thanksgiving

Jan 4 - Dave's parents' house. Foliage sucks. Shadow of tree across driveway looks like many-fingered devil hand.  Much to learn.

Jan 5 - Dad and Pirate

Jan 6 - PHL airport

Sorry about the shoddy picture quality on some of these. Right now I'm taking photos with my phone, and good light on the go can be a little hard to come by. But I'll figure this out as I go along.

I'm going to post a daily sketch roundup here every week (or so). Right now planning on Sundays. But if you have a smartphone and you'd like to follow along in real time, you're more than welcome to follow me on Instagram. I'm a private user, but if you request me I'll be happy to friend you!

I am enjoying my new watercolors but I'm hopelessly uneducated in how to use them (which is sometimes fun but mostly frustrating). I think the first thing I've realized is: work light to dark, back to front. This recent Armand Cabrera post, Learning To See (part 2), was extremely helpful in pointing out how to organize elements of a painting. (The whole 'Learning to See' series is good - part 1, part 3.)

If anyone has any tips or knows of any good watercolor tutorials, please point me in the right direction! I've been rewatching some old Gurney Journey videos for inspiration and a bit of instruction. This one in particular was helpful:

Last but not least - for any of you making new years' resolutions, art-related or otherwise: here's a great article that I've been meaning to link for a while, 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person. I felt really motivated/affirmed when I read it, because it's really a list of things that I'd been realizing myself in the past year. It's tied up in the same sort of thing that I've been posting about a lot. Like Noah Bradley says: "Shut up, stop whining, and get to work." Nike says: "Just do it." Yoda says: "Do or do not. There is no try." That's really the biggest thing I've realized this past year: Is there something you want to accomplish? Either you're going to do it, or you're not. It's that simple.

At the end of 2011 I typed up a big long list of stuff I wanted to fix in 2013, with things like "listen to more new music" and "don't buy things you don't need just to qualify for free shipping." This year, I'm simplifying the process. These are my resolutions for 2013 - written down on a post-it note stuck up on the wall next to my computer.

THINK BIG PICTURE.

People are paramount.

Do more with less.

Be a creator, not an absorber.