Little Mountain Book 1-6

So I really have been wanting to try my hands at some landscapes. I decided to warm up a little to this prospect with some starter sketches.I purchased a nice little watercolor book and headed up to Ho'omaluhia for a few hours on Sunday.

With my fountain pen loaded with ink and a bunch of watercolors, I ventured to paint the beautiful landscape of Windward Oahu. Virtually the backyard where I live.

Above isthe first landscape of the day. I really like how the red ink mixed with the watercolors making an earthy rust color as it mixed with the green and purple as it mixed with blue.

I look at the group of six and I enjoy the progression. They are getting less and less figurative and more and more abstract. This was a fun time for me.

 We have two views of the ridge line.I think I need to put more blue in future views.

 This is looking to the smaller tunnel of H-3 interstate from Ho'omaluhia.

 I tried to to do a view that was just the mountains and trees without the sky or the mountain ridge line. It is interesting to see it blown up to the size of a screen as the original is much smaller. I really like this one. 

On this last one I really wanted to get the purple mountains in the distance. I like some of the water bleeding in this one. I am unsure if this is looking quite the way I'd like.

I am going camping out at Hoomaluhia this weekend so I should have ample time to do a few more sketches. We can see what I produce this weekend.

"We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains." ~ Li Po

HMoA Drawing Class 08/28/12

 

I again participated in the drawing class at the Honolulu Art Academy.  Above is my favorite drawing of the night. It has a great feel to it. It is three, 2 min gesture drawings with a 20 minute drawing on top.

I  like how I rendered the face and the body. The picture still has a very loose feel. I also love how I managed to capture most of the pose. The incomplete parts work well with the more completed areas. 

 

The above work is three 2-minute gesture drawings with the two 5-minute poses on top. I do like this set of them. I especially like the figure on the right. I think it is so strong. 

This sketch has a great look to it. I may take it to Kinko's and try to blow it up on the architecture copier. 

I was kind of streaky that night. I did three great drawing then two awful drawings I didn't even bother to photograph. I like this one and am debating if I should go back into this one a little more.

This life drawing class is on Monday at 7PM. It is located at the The Honolulu Museum of Art School, formerly the Academy Art Center at Linekona. There is a 10 dollar class fee. 

“The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.”

~ William Faulkner

Saint Icon - Damien of Molokai

So being raised a Catholic, I have an appreciation for the saints. I have great aloha in my heart for the traditions, ceremony, and formality involved in how my Church honors our saints.

I want to do a series of saint icons for saints that have special significance to people I know and love.  I started this project a while ago, but finally put the finishing touches on this first one.  And it's a great one to begin with.

Damien of Molokai (Links to Wikipedia and Daily Celebrations) is important to many people in Hawaii. He is the name sake of my uncle's Alma Mater.

Damien is one of 15 American Saints and most notably he did most of his missionary work in Hawaii with the Kalaupapa lepers on the island of Molokai. He continues to be an inspiration to those in the service of the sick and those who are outcasts.

To create this piece, I started with a red oxide ink wash. I then did the drawing in red ink then in black ink. I am pretty happy with the effect. The hand pose is a nod to the Spanish Renaissance artist El Greco who really liked that hand layout.

I like the alcove in the background, though I am unsure if the drawing is really complete yet.   

I have a whole bunch of pages prepped for this project. Let's see how many of these I can do.

"Art is everywhere you look for it,

hail the twinkling stars for they are God's careless splatters."

~El Greco

Watercolor at Starbucks

Had some time and I did a watercolor of someone sitting at Starbucks.

There are some things I really like about this painting. I like the lower right corner of the page. I think I rendered the legs and the foot very well. I also like the cord of the computer.

All in all a nice sketch.

 

"Art is the desire of a man to express himself,
to record the reactions of his personality
to the world he lives in. "
~ Amy Lowell