Every day in February, and Tea

I finally got back to sketching via Liz Steel's teacups. I decided to try a few myself, and while they don't come up to her standards, I can see the fascination with trying different things--water soluble Tombow markers, painting without drawing first...I'm sure there will be more to come.

The first one is Tombow marker, and I realized, since it was soluble, that I'd better not draw the parts that I wanted to stay true to color, so I stopped with the marker and just painted from this point on. Things still got a little muddy--should have quit five minutes before I did.

This one was going to be a drawing with a new (also water-soluble) fountain pen, but I couldn't get the pen to work. I don't know if it's old ink (who knows how long these things sit on the shelf?), if the paper is clogging the nib, or what, but I got a few strokes out and that was all she wrote, so to speak. I gave up, drew this with my faithful Micron pen, and then painted.

Yesterday I got curious about whether there was an "Every Day in February" exercise (a little late!). There is. The theme is "travelogue," and each day is a country. You can paint anything to do with that country's landscape, flora and fauna, culture, or what have you.

Today, fortuitously, was "Greece," where I have always wanted to go, so I took a painting trip to Santorini. The intricate cluster of buildings on these cliffs is daunting when you dwell on each individual nook and cranny, so instead of doing that, I tried to squint and get the basic shapes. I penciled everything in lightly, painted, and then erased most of the pencil lines. It's not entirely a success--I think I needed to go a lot darker with shadows to provide more contrast for that bright whitewash--but I think it captures the feeling of the intensity of the light on Santorini.

I doubt I'll be able to keep up with the daily paintings, but I'll drop in when one is particularly appealing to me. (Ireland is coming soon...)