Awakening of Nature

From Google street view in a botanical garden in Buenos Aires (sculpture by Juan de Pari (1857-1931)).

Cleaning Fish

This sketch drawn with water soluble markers in my sketchbook refused to dissolve with water as it should have so was washed over with watercolor. Even the watercolor sunk into the paper so blending/moving the paint was impossible. Oh well, I kind of like its graphic nature.

Woman with a Shell Necklace

Haven't felt like painting for what seems like quite awhile, but happy I broke out the brushes today to paint this lady from Ghana via google street view. Usually street view images are blurred out for privacy but I was able to see her features just enough. The bright colors of her garments gave me a jolt I have been needing this long and grey winter.

Dreads

Another model from the Sktchy app. It has been many years since I sketched or painted from the model so I am delighted my old skills are getting a workout again. There are so many interesting people to choose from there too; it's a veritable candybox of choices to draw from.

Wistful

Another Sktchy painting. I was initially attracted to the pink hair of the model but in drawing her, it was her expressive gaze which held me.

Lady Justice

My heart is so sickened by the actions being taken on a daily basis by the newly elected president. How can it ever be right for the United States to turn its back on immigrants? It's unthinkable. Meanwhile, I paint and paint and paint, trying to make myself less miserable about it but it's helping less and less as the injustices pile up.

My First Sktchy Drawing

Sktchy, if you haven't heard of it, is an online gallery of reference photos for artists to draw from and then share the drawings. I'm fairly new to it and wasn't sure if drawing a stranger from a photo would be fun or weird, but I'm happy to report it was fun. And no worries about having the family/friends chime in on whether the nose is too big or the eyes the wrong color. In fact, I didn't try too hard for an exact likeness, although I think it is pretty close. I stopped at an early stage in the painting because I felt I captured the essence of the expression and didn't need to go beyond it.