Study Group at Starbucks

So I decided to hangout at Starbucks one day and managed to paint this watercolor.

It was a group of people studying for what seemed like an economics exam. I thought this would be a challenge. Rendering multiple people in a group is often challenging because of their little movements and relational perspective. Its really easy to end up with a group of well rendered people of noticeably different sizes.

I think this watercolor was rather successful in these regards. The figures are correctly propotioned to one another. I also like how I rendered the chairs in this.

I started the sketch in yellow watercolor pencil and then added the color. It is kinda neat how cool  and blue dominate I was able to keep the painting despite the yellow pencil base.  My heavy often leads to pictures that are dominated by the base drawing. 

Little Mountian Book 19-24

So, almost done with this sketch book, my friend and source of creativity. Will be sad to say goodbye, yet excited to start a new book. 

Here are five more of my drawings.

The above view is from Kailua High School on the Windward side of Oahu where I work. I had some time in the morning while waiting for one of my students to arrive.

The next few are from a hike I did up Ka'au Crater. 

I decided to try one of these in black ink instead of the red. It has a really cool, color-wise that is, look. I am unsure if I like the landscapes with the black pen in them.

This is a view of Olomana from the overlook. It's unusual for me to look at the peak from that side. 

 I like how the clouds came out on this one.

This one above is looking at the ridge line on the Koolau Mountains from the top of the hike. I had a little difficulty with the red ink in this one, though the effect it creates is kind of growing on me.

This last one is the ridges leading up to the Koolau Mountains on our descent down the trail. I like how I'm using yellow in these last couple sketches.  I may do a few more like this with the remaining pages.

Student in the Library

I used to work as a math tutor for a student who attended Kailua Intermediate.  He would watch me draw other people and one day he finally asked me to create his portrait.

I used the yellow ocher watercolor pencil; it gives an interesting glow to the figure. I'm not sure how it works as a watercolor though. I do like how his hands came out.

Procession - Mural idea

I was approached to do a mural with a friend of mine. So I did a few sketches of ideas and this is my favorite of them. The wall is a long wall, about 6' by 20,' so my idea was to create a historic Hawaiian processional. This would be the first part of the processional and the wall.

I was going for a Big Island feel to the mural and the procession. Hence, the black space in the background and the blue sky for contrast. The Big Island of Hawaii is all lava rock and vibrant blue sky.

(I have not taken this to my friend the Hawaiian Studies teacher yet to get the authenticity rubber stamp, but I am liking the spirit and motion of this work so far.)

I have done my own extensive research on this. I am trying to picture a royal procession on the Big Island under the chief Kalaniʻōpuʻu, Kamehameha I's uncle. The figure holding the spear is Kīwalaʻō, Kamehameha's cousin, and the man he had to battle to unite the Big Island. The figure holding the idol, Kūkaʻilimoku, is Kamehameha, although he is not known by that name yet. 

I am debating about adding traditional tattoos to the figures. I need two Kahili Bearers, the first figure, but it was hard to resolve on the small scale. Also looking through historical images. There are a lot of different kinds of Kahili that would have been in use so I can have some fun with this.

This is only on the proposal level. So we will see what comes of it.  In the mean time, I am enjoying the creative process...

Students Drawings I

So at school I have some free time during lunch while the kids are eating so I have taken to doing quick sketches of them. Here are a collection of some of them. 

 Remember him

"All of life is a constant education."

 ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

HMoA Draawing Class 09/10/12 - Sergio

Another Monday, Another figure drawing class at the Honolulu Art Academy. Yesterday the model was one of the regular artists at the class, Sergio.

Above is my favorite of the night. It is a two-gesture drawings with a 20 minute sketch on top. The combination of the blue wash and burnt sienna pastel are always a winning combination. Another of the artists in the class commented, "It has a very painterly application of color."  I'm really happy with this drawing.
 

 This is 4 two-minute gesture drawings, 2 five-minute drawings and the 1 ten-minute pose. These are starting to look pretty good.

For his second pose, Sergio did a standing pose. I think I spent a little too much time on the face; the body looks a little unfinished.  

Last pose of the night was a reclining pose. I chose to focus solely on the torso for this pose.It came out OK, I guess. I am currently debating if it's worth the trouble to go and redefine some of the structures of this drawing or not.

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. 

"Art is a way of possessing destiny."

 ~ Marvin Gaye

Sketchbook - Red and Black

So I have been riding the Honolulu city bus a lot these past couple weeks for work. I have been working on a few sketches while on the bus.

I have been experimenting with this red ink in my fountain pen. At first, I thought it was far too light to be of any real use. I then had the great idea to go back in with black ink and the results are kind of neat.
I can really play with depth of field using the two color inks. With thick black lines, I can push certain things forward on the page.  By relying on the red ink, I can have things sink into the background. It reminds me of the technical drawings with red and blue pencils.

I really like the above drawing it was one of the first with the duel ink. The seat and the pole really push to the foreground in this.
  

 I like how much I played with the two color inks here. Its interesting to see the effects of the different color cross hatching.  

 

"Everyone is an explorer. 

How could you possibly live your life looking at a door and not open it?"

 ~ Robert D. Ballard

Odd Fellow Meeting - Tedmund

I had a meeting with the Odd Fellows of Hawaii, IOOF on the 4th. As always, I was drawing.

I did a pretty nice watercolor of one of the  members. I liked the pose I managed to capture. It got a little darker then I would have liked but it still looks great. 

"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns 

in order to look at things in a different way."

~ Edward de Bono

Student - RP

This is a watercolor of one of the students I've worked with. He was a great case.

I like a lot of things about this painting. I like how I painted the flowers on his paper lei that he made. I like his hand. I like the shadows on his shirt and belly.

Little Mountain Book 7-18

This weekend I went camping at Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens. I had a good time, but as promised I had some time to do a few watercolors. I was on a roll and did 13 this weekend.  I should probably break this into 3 posts, but let's see if this will work.

Above was done Saturday morning. It is a view of Nuuanu Pali. There are still clouds caught on the mountain peak. I enjoy the detail in this one. It is a large amount of actual space to fit on such a tiny page.

OK, here is a zoom in and to the right of the last one. This is a view of the prominent rock cliff of the Pali with misty mountains in the background. I like how I rendered the mountain with the cloud on it.

 Here is another land locked view of the cliff folds of the Koolaus. I think it is a little less successful then the one in my previous trips 

This is the last one from Saturday morning. I think I managed to capture the feeling of really strong morning light hitting the mountains in this one. I am really happy with the rhythm I created in the folds of the mountains.
 

We went for a light walk around the park and I stopped at a Park bench during a break and did this one.  Looking at these paintings, after the fact, I can see the difference in the light from morning to the afternoon. I painted the shadows more crisply.  I also avoided yellow in the high lights, relying instead on the greens to cover tone changes.

It is kind of interesting to look at the changes in the next few, considering I only painted them a few hours after the ones from the morning. 

I ended up for most of the afternoon on a overlook that had a great 360 view of Kaneohe. This is Olomana and is to the left of the views of the Pali I did (The first two paintings of this post.)  Olomana  has a very neat look to it.

I particularly like the way I rendered the trees in the foreground. I was struggling with them for a bit but I like how they look here.
 

Another view of Nuuanu Pali. I really must have been drawn to them. as I did so many views of them. I think I really wanted to show the contrast of the two ridges with atmospheric perspective separating them. The mountains looks so crisp.   

I then shifted my view on the overlook to Kaneohe/Kailua instead of the Koolau Mountains. I like these two peaks. I think they are glorified hills, but I still like the way I painted them.

This was the last of the pictures I painted of the Koolau Saturday afternoon.It was also my last picture from that overlook. I really like how crisp everything looks.
  

This morning I woke up and painted three more pictures. It was rainy and there were clouds all over the Koolaus.I did this first painting from the same location as the first picture. I really like the blue/gray tone I was able to get in these.

This is of the Koolau ridge line as the clouds danced over them. I am really happy with how this came out.

I was worried it would not work. In watercolor, the white is the white of the page so it can be difficult to make white shapes look good because it represents not putting paint some where. It is one of those weird things with watercolor that so many little things can screw up.

This was the last of the paintings I did on this camping trip. I really wanted to capture the mist covered feel of the Nuuanu Pali. I like how this came out.