This Halloween cat illustration in the sketchbook was pretty quick and dirty, but turned out really nicely for what was a quick one-hour exercise. It also feels great to get seasonal in my new workspace, even if I’m still technically settling in!
Right now, my morning sketchbook and warm-ups are centered around soft colors, cute shapes, and flowers. We’re starting to have warm days, with shoots are coming up in the garden, and groundhogs are trundling around the yard. I am ready for spring. My projects are rolling along steadily in the background, and I can’t wait to show here, soon, a ton of things that I’ve been working on.
I started this painting of a basket of Alice-in-Wonderland-style flowers with faces to practice gouache over watercolor on some new watercolor paper. I taped the paper down to a piece of board to prevent some warping, although since I was looking for a sort of uneven look to the watercolor layer, I wasn’t really fussy about it. The paper is cheap enough that it would be hard to get a solid wash of color anyway, even if I did everything “properly”!
It’s still in progress – only some of leaves are what I’d consider finished. It’s fun to have a progression of how it’s going, and I’m getting better at taking pictures every day. Next, I’m planning on going back into the flowers and adding details around the faces. I’m not sure how I want to do it yet, though!
