Little Pet Shop Birthday Card

I make Birthday cards for friends and relatives.  It is fun as they are the challenge of doing something completely different artworks.  They usually aren't original designs but they end up different than an oil painting.  My one niece is obsessed with the Little Pet Shop figurines.  This one is a super rare Super Cat figure which was available only at a Comic-Con convention and it sells for $600 on eBay.  I know nothing about these things but it was an interesting exercise of reproducing this from a photo with watercolor pencils and ink pens.

Pagoda, Washington Monument, and Cherry Blossom

I finished this tonight with small add-ins and signing the bottom.

Willow Sketch

Happy Labor Day, i worked on the house and this sketch of a willow tree as part of my work to improve skills.

Catch and Release Trout - Block-in

I worked on this today.  I blocked-in this Brook Trout.  This is from a photo from the motivation file, which is cut out photos which intrigue me.  This will need some more color variations in the scales, which is the beauty of these creatures.

Pagoda, Washington Monument, and Cherry Blossoms - Close to being finished

So no traffic problems tonight on the way home, so I worked on this painting.   I worked on the water and reflection, added highlight detail to the blossoms and just generally added detail, worked on softening edges, and plotting the finishing touches.

Sugar Maple Sketch

Tonight is a pencil sketch from the weekend.  I had the Hell commute tonight because of an accident on the beltway.  I new record of stupidity, the 4 hour commute.  So no artwork tonight just dinner a post and to bed.  Hopefully, I can get some real work done this weekend.  I use lead pencils with dark lead, 8B and 9B for the darks and an HB medium dark pencil with a blender and a kneadable eraser to get the lighter sections inn this sketch.

Pagoda, Monument, and Cherry Blossoms update

The commission for the Pagoda, Washington Monument and Cherry Blossoms is almost finished.  The water still needs some work, the blossoms need some highlights, and some small details need to be added to the pagoda to give it shape and depth.  It will be finished by the end of the weekend.