Woman with Meconopsis

Simple portrait practice, in PS, 1-2 hours max. I need desperately practice again, since during holidays I couldn't use my Wacom. Maybe I'll do something more advanced lately with this reference.
Referenced from this beautiful picture at DeviantArt.
I didn't look for a photorealistic style, just keep it as it was a pencil/ink drawing, to experiment a new style. Used round brush, kept very elliptic.

Rita Levi Montalcini - Painter

I found at home a very old disk of Corel Painter Essential 3, so I installed it and tried to see how it works. 

I spent a lot of time trying the different settings for brushes, and fighting against some bugs and mysteries of this program, which works in another way than Photoshop but is somehow similar to Artrage.

I tried to follow a tutorial of the wonderful Corrado Vanelli from the last issue of ImagineFX, but looks like my program version is so old that I couldn't find many of the described tools, ahah.

As practice, I did a quick portrait sketch in honor of the great scientist and Nobel laureate Rita Levi Montalcini, who passed away few days ago. The reference pic is a photo found in Google.

You so Hot

This is just a quick stuff, made for fun after having seen two chili peppers in that posture. Don't know why, but they made me think of two Spanish slugs (Arion Lusitanicus), which are a kind of obsession for swedish gardeners (here they're called mördarsniglar, or Murder slugs).

I put this picture under the label 90' sketch, but it probably took me a little longer than so, 2-3 hours. I've got some back pain now in late pregnancy and it's getting difficult staying long time in front of the computer.

Bombycilla Garrulus

A very quick study in PS of a graceful and happy bird (Bohemian Waxwing) often visiting our garden.

It is called Sidensvans, Silk tail, in Swedish, and is very much found of Rowan (Sorbus) berries.

I took several photos of this bird, but the quality was always very low because of the zoom, so I wanted to paint a more detailed picture.

Canadagoose

This is a quick sketch (1-1.5 hours), made in between other bigger stuff I'm painting right now. It's, in fact, intended to my other blog, to tell that the gorgeous Canadageese are back to our bay and announce spring time. They fly quick and unexpected, and I never succeeded take a photo. So, I just sketch them.

Their moving through the sky is so elegant and filled with joy.

Swans

It has been long time since I posted some quick sketches.

Last Sunday we went to our cottage by the sea, and notice a couple of swans still staying here despite the hard, cold climate, and the ice slowly covering the sea surface. It would have been nice to take a picture, but the birds weren't that close, so I tried instead to take some quick pencil sketches while watching them with binoculars (not the most comfortable way to draw, but I think it is used by many birdwatchers).

Once at home, I sketched them quickly in Photoshop after the pencil drawings.

Jellyfishes

I need to speed up my way to paint. I love odd creatures, from every kingdom. Today I bought a wonderful book about sea life. Today I had a couple of hours just for myself. 

So, here comes three speed paintings: a Melicertum octocostatum, a Cyanea capillata and a Haliclystus auricula, about 20-30 minutes each. I enyojed it very much.

 

  

 

The Crystal Ball

It is not a mystery that I love Preraphaelites technique and subjects, so I felt ambitious enough to (try to) reproduce one of their paintings. Here I chose Waterhouse's "The Crystal Ball". There's a little of all: still life, architecture, a human subject with a not too difficult anatomy and simple fabric effects.

This is the original (from the Internet):

Then comes the 90' (well, i would say 2-hours) quick sketch:

I focused my efforts mostly on woman and still life. I couldn't manage to finish the furniture and give the correct perspective to the floor's tiles, anyway those details are less important to me right now.

Then, I wanted to give more details to the woman and the still life, so I worked it up a little more:

I love very much the potential gothic atmosphere which is hidden in this simple and apparently innocent subject: the Crystal Ball itself, book and skull have good potential to turn this painting into a much darker one.

So this is my dark interpretation of it: a sorceress doing divinations in the night. Don't think that Waterhouse would have liked it, but he will never know anyway.

Norwegian Volcano

Last 90 minutes exercise of my sick leave (from tomorrow I'll be less productive with Photoshop).

This time I copied a coastal landscape from Northern Norway, but adding a completely new and odd subject, a volcano. I wanted to insert the new element so that the final effect would nevertheless be realistic (hopefully). My boyfriend complaines that it doesn't look enough epic and cool; well, I'll try something more cool when I'll became more skilled, since I don't want to paint something which at the end can for sure look ridiculous (this is a common mistake among beginners, I think...)

Pumpkins in 90 minutes

Another 90 minutes sketch from yesterday evening. This one also a copy from a old photo:

1 hour 30'

Today I'm sick so I've time to do something. To get faster I got the suggestion that I should paint some quick sketches in no more than 90 minutes each.  Here are the (embarrassing) results:

A picture of my son from a photo. I'm not happy at all with proportions and especially with the face, but I'll try harder.

Then, another landscape from a photo taken one summer from our cottage:

I think I must paint more and more of these 90 minutes-sketches, it helps a lot. I must admit that I feel much more comfortable with landscapes. May I'll get specialized on that stuff.