E is for Eel

Benny and the Electric Eel
5 x 7
Copic pen and multiliner
on Canson Canvas paper

I won't be doing this project again--5 x 7 is too small for me to work.

D is for Dinosaur

D is for Dinosaur

For the Sketchbook Project for the Brooklyn Art Library and for Frankie, 5 x 7 Canson Canvas Paper, Copic markers and a touch of Copic multi-liner,  I probably will not do any more 5 x 7 sketchbooks.  My hand isn't steady enough to work that small.  This one is maybe my favorite so far?

Somehow, in spite of the fact that I have multiple art blogs, this has become my art blog.

I think it's because I never think my art is good enough to post to the actual art blog.  :-(

This one might be good enough?

Y is for Yeti

I'm making very slow progress on the little book I am making for Frankie and the Sketchbook project.  I find painting in oils on 5 x 7 size canvas very difficult.  I will not do it this way again,

Sunset Swans, 7 minutes

Sunset swans
7-minute sketch
watercolor on Arches cold-pressed paper

I am not terribly fond of this painting, but that's not entirely the point.  I have a tendency to labor over watercolors and overwork them, so I wanted to spend some time painting as quickly as possible to learn o work quickly and not labor the painting.  However, I was unhappy with the previous one and spent two more minutes adding a touch of blue.  I may want to redo it more carefully.  But I need to do these quick sketches, like finger exercises, even if they do not always turn out well.

Swan Sunset 5-minute sketch

Swan Sunset
5-minute watercolor sketch,

Sorry I haven't been around lately, been working on my poems for my reading tomorrow at Musings.

Renaissance Multimedia Paper Test #2

Testing Renaissance Multimedia Paper (Arches)
with:
colored pencil, Copic Marker, Sakura Pigment pens, pastels

The paper had enough tooth and enough smoothness to work well for all of these media.

backside

of the seven media I tested today and yesterday, only the Copic markers bled through the paper strips.

Multimedia Paper Test #1

Multimedia Paper Test #1. Erica Chappuis gave me some samples of paper from a sketchbook she got and I have tested them with, from top to bottom: acrylics, watercolor, water soluble oil pastels (Portfolio) and gouache. Subject, my hubby, Keith. The paper did not bleed through with any of those media and the results were excellent ((barring my own incompetence and, since this is just a test, lack of time commitment to make it more excellent.)  I think it is important to not have bleed-through so you can use both sides of the paper.

Cheetah

Cheetah, by me, Mary Stebbins Taitt, from the ten-minute sketch series. Done in Portfolio water soluble oil pastels on Canson Multimedia 9 x 12 paper (in my sketchbook) at dinner tonight, drawn quickly and then painted with plain water.

Keith on Couch, 5-minute sketch

Biker Buddy on Couch
5-minute sketch
Copic marker on Bristol
9 x 12
by me, Mary Stebbins Taitt
last night

Super-Quick 5-minute Marker Sketch of Biker Buddy

Biker Buddy (keith
in wide-tip Copic Marker
9 x 12 watercolor paper
less than 5 minutes

I did this at dinner last night--it is, like all my work, imperfect, but I am pleased that my skill has developed to the point where SOMETIMES I can make a quick sketch and have it come out relatively well.

I have not been posting much to my Detroit Daily Blog for some time now, but I wandered around downtown for several hours the other day and took lots of pictures and am posting them, one day at a time, if I have time, to my Detroit Daily Blog.