Author: koalie

Man gazing at blooming tree

My friend Daniel gave me a book on Chinese Brush Painting. Although I have owned for years now three or four Chinese brushes and a few sheets of rice paper, I was not ready for this undertaking, and chose to continue with watercolor, since I have recently enjoyed it so much (and my vacation was getting to an end, so I went for the most gratifying process.)
It took me several attempts sketching the figure to keep to realistic proportions (the man still has a slightly too big head and too short a torso), I used a Pentel black ink Brushpen, which performs wonderfully on really thin and thick lines:
Pencil sketch and black ink outline on a postcard sized watercolour sheet.
I then erased the pencil and turned to watercolor. I used alizarin crimson for the flowers:
Pencil sketch erased. Dark pink paint added to mark the blossoms.
I added a few touches of black with my Brushpen to create the details of the flowers. I prepared yellow watercolor and painted the hat by drawing rays and leaving some white. I darkened my yellow with yellow ochre and added a few touches to the hat and went on painting the skin. I darkened further the mix with a bit of burnt sienna to paint the stick. Lastly I mixed a bit of turquoise and white to paint the belt.

I added water to my ochre/brown mix and with a light wash painted the background so the white robe would stand out. Here is the resulting painting framed (12.2×17.2 cm):

Carl’s house (from the movie Up)

Remember the movie “Up”? Carl is compelled to leave (in) his house when it is squeezed too tight between skyscrapers.
Pencil sketch on Canson 10,2×15,2 cm One Art book:
Pencil sketch in an open artbook on a table. My fingers holding the page open are visible.

I used alcohol-ink brushmarkers and promarkers for colouring and a light grey Stabilo Point 88 for the thin lines:
Colours applied: black for the asphalt at the bottom, shades of warm grey for the two tall skyscrapers, green for the tiny lawn, grey-blue for the roof and window of the little house, reddish-brown for the chimney.

The watercolor effect in the sky was achieved by using a light blue promarker in one hand and the blender in the other. Then I did the same for the grey buildings in the distance. I used a black 0.1 mm Uni-Ball pin pen for the black lines, and a white Posca pen for the white ones:
Sky and background buildings added and coloured, shadows added, details added in white. I handwrote a title at the top, signed and dated at the bottom.