Multiple Sketchbooks

I always have multiple sketchbooks on hand to work in. I like a multimedia sketchbook that can handle watercolor and has a nice smooth surface for ink sketching too.

I’m still enjoying painting figures in watercolor and trying to remember that less is more.

Figure painting is a great way to warm up and explore.

I pulled out my ink brush pen not knowing what I wanted to sketch. I thought about the fun shapes the pen makes and started to experiment with flower centers. I kept playing and created this nice floral. I love the contrast in this sketch.

Sometimes you have to just jump in and sketch. If you don’t like it you can always turn the page and try something else. It’s a sketchbook after all and there are no rules. 😊

In this poppy painting there was a lot of experimenting with leaves and seed heads. The painting could use some darker colors. Maybe I will explore this further in another painting on heavier watercolor paper.

I hope you enjoyed this quick trip through my sketchbook. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

-Patty Anne 💜

Join me on Instagram @pattyanneart

A few pages in my sketchbook

It’s been a while since I opened up my sketchbook for you. Today I have a variety of sketches made using pens and markers.

It’s been challenging getting nice photos of different pages in my sketchbook. It always seems to be either too bright or too dark when I’m taking photos of my artwork in winter… 🙂

I layered tiny flowers and vines in this sketch using both Tombow markers and Micron pens. The little unexpected blue leaves and flowers make me happy.

A practice page of flowers and leaves. I love how this little sampler turned out. It was a good way to try different colors together and see what works. Most importantly, it was fun and very relaxing.

A simple little bird sketch found its way into my sketchbook. I think I’m going to start adding more birds in my sketchbook.

Tulips with marker pens. I love how the stripes of different green markers look on the leaves. I played around using the large and small tip of the markers. Parts of this sketch I really like and other parts not so much but this is a sketch and it’s important to explore and try different things.

This was an in progress piece. While prepping the photo for this post, I accidentally rotated it to the left and now it feels complete. In my sketchbook the top of the page has the three magenta vines on top. I really like it better with them on the left as you see here.

I’m going to have to remember to try this with my paintings as well. Sometimes simply changing the orientation can make all the difference.

I hope you enjoyed this walk through my sketchbook. I encourage you to play and have fun sketching. I really need to remember to do more of this myself.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌻 🌼 Patty Anne 🌼🌻

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Visit my shop on Society6

Inktober 2021 Sketching

Let’s take a stroll through my sketchbook today and I’ll show you a few of my recent #Inktober sketches.

Happy Thursday, friends! 💚

Sunflower

There are sketching prompts for each day of the month. Many people like to use the daily prompts but I like to sketch whatever inspires me at the moment.

Floral pattern play

This was the first page in my new sketchbook. I didn’t know what to sketch so I decided to just play and see what happened. I love this type of sketching because it often helps me develop ideas that I can use in future sketches or paintings.

Playful cityscape

I worked on a quirky cityscape in my small sketchbook. Something very different for me but kind of fun.

Happy Flower

One more flower to finish off our tour.

I hope you grab a pen and some paper and join in on the sketching fun. Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent.

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Visit my shop on Society6

Going back to the sea

I painted the base for an undersea sketch last month. I finally got around to adding more life to it with some ink sketching. Hope you enjoy seeing my progress.

Sometimes I need to leave a painting on my desk for a while and return to it later when the time is right.

This is a close up view as I started my sketch. I usually work on the ink detail over a few evenings. That way I’m not rushed and can enjoy the process. It also gives me an opportunity to step back and make decisions about where go next.

At this point, it was starting to feel more complete but not quite there yet.

Undersea – watercolor and ink sketch on 7 x 10 inch mixed media paper

After adding more leaves and other details below, I decided to call it finished. I wish I had used my larger mixed media sketchbook. Hopefully I’ll remember that next time. 😊

I’m getting excited about #Inktober2021 just around the corner. I purchased a new sketchbook and will be participating when I can. Hope you will be joining in too.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. We all need more of that. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Visit my shop on Society6

Undersea painting – watercolor and ink

I thought it would be fun to work on an underwater scene. I’m fascinated with sea life and really love visiting Aquariums.

Happy Sunday, friends! 💙

I painted some circles and fun shapes first. Then once it was dry, I started sketching on top.

In my sketchbook I practiced a bit and played with different pens and colors. It doesn’t look like much but it really helps build confidence before adding all of the ink detail on the final piece.

This is a close up of the finished piece. I really like this color palette of blue, green, and gold. I layered different shapes and used a variety of pens and markers from my stash.

It’s so much fun to just let go and see what happens.

7 x 10 inch mixed media- Ocean

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Thank you for stopping by and following along.

Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram @pattyanneart

Soft flowers with ink detail

I have a sweet little floral to share with you today.

Happy Sunday, friends! 💚

I started out painting some pretty watercolor flowers and layered in some leaves and buds.

Soft pink and yellow petals combined with green gold leaves make up this palette today. I just love the layered petals and peekaboo flowers.

Adding ink sketching came next.

Outlining the petals and adding some detail in the center always wakes up my flowers. Some ink leaves and vines were added to balance things out and add some playfulness to the painting.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram @pattyanneart

Watercolor and ink bouquet

Today I have a watercolor bouquet to share with you.

Happy Sunday, friends! 💚

I decided to limit my color palette to four colors. Then I mixed up a few more shades with those colors.

I started out painting a few big flowers and then developed the rest of the painting around them. I just love how the little buds and leaves surround the bigger flowers.

The muddy patch in the middle needed some attention so I set the painting aside for a while to think about it. About a month later I decided to go back in and add some ink.

I pulled out my micron pens (Sepia 01 & 005) and started in with a few leaves and some detail in the center of the big flowers.

The simple ink lines on the vase worked out well. I like how it cleaned up the edges and added a little more weight to the bottom of the painting.

More detail and leaves were added on the last round. I decided to call it done at this point before completely overworking it. 😉

Colors used: Daniel Smith Yellow Ochre, Pyrrol Scarlet, Indigo, and Sap Green. The additional color combinations mixed are on the right side.I really like the lighter shades of green and peach.

I think the ink detail was the added touch this painting really needed.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

In my sketchbook today

I have another round of sketching to share with you today. Can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on.

Hope you have a wonderful day friends! 😊💙

I’m sure it’s no surprise to find there are flowers in my sketchbook. 😉

Pretty posies this time. I used purple and blue micron pens to create a playful pattern.

I like to pull out my sketchbook in the evening. Sometimes I start with plan and other times I just start with a doodle and go from there. This time a few pretty posies happened and I just continued on.

A lively botanical sketch. I just love how this one turned out.

My process is to start with one flower and then I just keep filling in with more flowers, leaves, and buds. I try to balance out the piece as I go. I stay away from too many details because I like this simple floral style.

In my sketchbook I don’t worry about making mistakes. It’s a place to try out different shapes and combinations. I can just let go with my pen and my imagination. Over time with lots of practice I’ve built up muscle memory and sketching confidence.

Another quick evening floral. I like adding a few patterns here and there for more fun.

I decided to try sketching pines in a different style. I need to work on this style more but it was fun to watch the branches come to life when adding some shading and darker values.

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and following along. Sometimes I have a hard time finding my voice and putting together a post. I’m not a writer, I’m just an artist sharing what I love. I hope that you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love.

Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram @pattyanneart

Closing out Inktober fun

I have a few more sketches to share as we close out #Inktober2020.

Hope you have a wonderful day friends! 💚

Inspired by all of the falling leaves, I worked on some simple leaf shapes filled with fun #doodle patterns.

A pretty vase with some happy flowers. 🌸

I played a bit more with patterns on this piece. This time using purple and blue micron pens. I think these colors really add to the fun here.

I always love how this type of sketch ends up surprising me. I wasn’t sure about a few of the patterns but kept going forward and ended up really liking the results.

Oh these girls just make me smile. I love to play in my sketchbook with these sweet characters.

I have a small pad of 6 x 6 inch black mixed media paper. Using my silver uniball signo pen, I sketched out a quick little floral. I just love the contrast and how the design seems to jump off the page.

Although my sketches are quite simple, I’m always learning and exploring new ideas. I really think that daily sketching even just 10 to 15 minutes a day leads to more growth and creativity.

I hope you enjoyed this little walk through my sketchbook.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Follow me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Inktober 2020 – here we go

October has arrived and so #Inktober2020 has begun. I will be trying to increase my sketching this month. Hopefully I will be able to sketch at least 30 minutes a day. I have a very busy month ahead but think this is a reasonable goal to set.

Happy Sunday, friends! 🧡

A quick little underwater sketch with day 1 prompt, “fish”. It was fun to play with different patterns on the fish and have some of them only in partial view. I found myself counting and trying to find all of them later. I’m going to have to sketch a few more of these and maybe add some bright color… Just love how one idea leads to another.

and this sketch of flowers, no detail and no real plan. Just Pen to paper and letting things happen and not overthinking anything.

Ink leaves – pattern and color play sketch. I used both Sepia and Rust colored Micron pens for this one. (Sepia .01, .005, and Rust .05)

I will continue to play in my sketchbook this month and hope to have more to share sometime later. It’s a busy month ahead with my son getting married soon.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Art is for everyone, hope you join in on the #Inktober sketching fun.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸🌼 Patty Anne 🌼 🌸

I’m on Instagram at @pattyanneart, follow along to see more of my work and whether I can ever pass the 450 followers mark 😁 (not sure it’s possible since it hasn’t really changed in the last year). It used to bother me but now I find it rather amusing.