Sunday sketchbook

I thought it would be fun to take you on a walk through my sketchbook today.

Happy Sunday! 💚

My sketchbook is filled with a lot of quick sketches. As you will see, I don’t spend much time on detail or shading. Below are a few of my recent favorites.

I like to play with shapes and work on different ideas.

My sketchbook is all about playing and having fun.

I do most of my sketching with a pen and that means no erasing. 😊

I think sketching that way builds muscle memory and confidence.

Sometimes a little floral sketch will inspire a painting.

I like to use a variety of micron pens in different sizes and colors. A colorful sketch like this one makes me smile. It’s fun to play with color and try out different combinations.

I love to doodle and sketch underwater life. My hope is that these little sketches will lead to more ideas and bigger projects.

I hope you enjoyed this quick stroll through my sketchbook. Until next time, keep playing and having fun.

🌸 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

Sketching and painting birds

I’ve been wanting to learn more about painting with gouache. After watching a Skillshare class by Kate Cooke, I was inspired to paint this little bird.

I decided to practice a little watercolor version first. Once I get better acquainted with gouache I’ll be sure to share my adventures with you.

Happy Sunday, friends! 💚

watercolor bird painting

I just love how this little guy turned out. Oh those sweet little legs.

Which then inspired more birds…so here we go!

bird sketching practice

A few quick sketches working on shapes and not worrying about detail.

It’s always good to warm up and play. I really need to do more of this. Just fill the page and have fun.

watercolor bird sketch

Tip: A little planning and sketching before any paint hits the paper is really important. By sketching first I can make sure the shapes are as desired and that all elements fit nicely on the page.

Chickadee practice and color mixing

This little guy was painted in a separate sketchbook to get ready for my larger painting above. I mixed up a variety of neutral colors and tested them out on my paper.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Art is for everyone. Just play and have fun…be good to yourself.

Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

You can see more of my work on Instagram @pattyanneart

Garden inspiration watercolor

I have some happy flowers to share with you today. I had fun painting and sketching this garden inspired piece, hope you enjoy. 😀

Happy Sunday, friends! 💚

I painted a loose floral on 12 x 18 inch Canson watercolor paper. Using a large round #14 brush helped when painting these big leaves and petals.

Tip: Let the white of the paper show through in some areas of your flowers and leaves, it adds a little sparkle to the piece.

 

Laying down ink on top makes the painting more lively and fun. The painting underneath acts as a guide and inspiration to the sketching on top. In some areas, I follow the flow of the painting and other times go off script and sketch what I’m feeling.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do what you love. Thank you for sharing this creative journey with me. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸  Patty Anne 🌸

I’m on Instagram at pattyanneart

Patty Anne Art

Quiet Thursday – sketching

A quiet post for you today with a few pieces from my sketchbook.

Happy Thursday! 😊

Waterlily sketch – using a technical pencil

 

Queen Anne’s Lace ink sketch – using Micron pens

 

Cardinal ink sketch – using Micron pens

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 💙

follow me on Instagram @pattyanneart

Patty Anne Art

Sunday – Digital sketchbook

I’ve been having fun playing with Procreate on my iPad. I am so impressed with this app and all of the possibilities. I’ve been watching online videos trying to learn how to create digital art. I have a few pieces to share with you today.

Happy Sunday, friends! 😊

A quick tree that I sketched without using my new apple pencil.

For this floral sketch, I used layers to build up the sketch. It was fun playing with a bright color palette. With time I hope to do a better job layering and blending.

Kingfisher on a branch. I’m starting to get a feel for how much pressure to use with the pencil to achieve the line thickness I desire.

It will be so easy now to create art while I am traveling. Hopefully Procreate will help me improve my sketching skills this year as well. One thing is for sure, I am having a blast playing with Procreate!

I hope you are inspired to create art and do what you love. Thank you for stopping by and following me on the creative journey.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

Patty Anne 💙

follow me on Instagram – PattyAnneArt

Patty Anne Art

More Inktober sketching

A few more sketches to share for #Inktober. It’s been a lot of fun, hope you enjoy!

Happy Sunday, friends!

Sketching things that make me happy, like these flowers.

When sketching flowers it’s easiest for me to start in the middle and work my way out. I usually place a few light dots on the paper as a guide for the initial placement before putting down any heavy marks.

 

A little duckie, simple and sweet…

For my birds, I usually need a light pencil sketch first in order to get the correct placement and shape of the head and eye.

This little guy makes me happy. 💛

 

A little bird looking away

I think the light areas are just as important as the dark areas. For this little sketch, I kept the head darker and tried to keep the chest and underside soft and light.

 

Watercolor added to this sketch brightened things up. The blending and variation of color in the leaves and stems worked well here. 🌿

I hope you are inspired to create art and do something fun!

Until next time, have a great week!

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

follow me on Instagram

Patty Anne Art

Poinsettia Watercolor and Ink

Hi everyone! I’ve been having fun sketching and painting Poinsettias. The first few that I painted we rather fussy and boring. Then I decided to watch a few videos online for inspiration and tips.  I found this Jennifer Branch tutorial online, Poinsettia Christmas Card Painting. It was very easy and a lot of fun. I liked her loose style and all of the great tips that she shared. Below are a few of my paintings after watching the watercolor tutorial.

I didn’t have the Perylene Maroon that Jennifer used for the rich dark color, so I mixed up some Daniel Smith Deep Scarlet with a little Quinacridone Rose and a very small amount of Ultramarine Blue. I think that mix worked well for my dark Maroon color.

Poinsettia 1 watercolor

 

Below is another attempt with the same loose style.

Poinsettia 2 watercolor

This second painting I don’t like as much as the first one. I think the green leaves are brighter and more fun in the first painting and the flower has more depth and contrast. I suspect I didn’t use enough Ultramarine Blue to punch up the center of the second flower.

 

Poinsettia Ink Sketch

I’m still having fun with ink sketching so I worked on a Poinsettia sketch as well. I used my Platinum desk pen with fine nib and a .01 Micron pen. I had to reload the ink cartridge in the desk pen about two thirds of the way through this sketch. I was a little nervous thinking I was going to make a big mess but it was pretty easy to change (and no mess, yay!). I’m not sure why, but it took a little while before the ink started to flow nicely in the pen again. I suppose the ink in the cartridge just needed to loosen up a bit.

Tips:

• Keep a notepad to list things you might like to sketch and paint. There have been times when I was ready to work on my art but not sure what I wanted to paint. What has really been helpful for me is to keep an Art Inspiration list. I work full time and can’t afford to waste any of my precious art time searching for inspiration.
• I also keep a little note on my desk as a reminder to relax and loosen up. It simply says, quiet mind, drop shoulders, relax jaw, and try to smooth out your thoughts. This note helps me de-stress and relax.

Do you keep little notes of inspiration or reminders on your desk or work area? If so, I would love to know what works for you.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, Patty Anne Art. Until next time, have a great week and do something fun!

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

 

 

Inktober Fun

I’ve been joining in on the fun of #Inktober creating some ink drawings this week. I decided to work off prompt and draw what inspires me. I added watercolor to a few of them because it is fun and I just can’t resist.

I used my Platinum desk pen with fine nib as well as a cute little set of black Micron pens with various size tips. The Micron pens have a nice little carrying case that I just love. My drawings are all on Canson 7×10 inch Mix Media paper. This paper is smooth and great for ink drawing and it has a 98 lb weight and can handle a little watercolor just fine.

Micron Pen set

Below are a few of my ink drawings this week:

Simple Pine Branch

A simple pine branch in ink with a little bit of watercolor. I like this one a lot, it may become one of my Christmas Card designs this year.

Daisy in ink

My Daisy simply in ink. I liked this in black and white so I didn’t add any watercolor.

Pine Branch with pinecones

A pine branch with pinecones in ink and watercolor. I need to work on pinecones a bit more but that will be something for another day…

Simple Branch with leaves

A simple branch with leaves. This painting has just a touch of ink with Micron pens (size .03 and .01) and watercolor. There is nothing complicated about this one, and I really like that. Maybe that is why I find this one to be quite calm and soothing.

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simple click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, PattyAnneArt. I hope you have a great week and do something fun.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

 

 

Watercolor Animals – Then & Now

I’ve been having fun painting animals lately. It seems like a good time for a then and now post on watercolor animals.

In January I painted this Elephant in my 8×10 inch watercolor sketchbook. I looked back through my notes to find that my Elephant below is painting number 289.

Elephant watercolor

I recently painted this Giraffe on 9×12 inch Saunders watercolor paper. I’m so in love with this paper! I worked on a few giraffe sketches before I started painting and I think that made a difference. I am amazed that this is painting number 498! I’ve really been cruising along along this year, that makes me so happy.

Giraffe watercolor

I tried to work with the water and allow the color to mix and mingle as much as possible. The painting came together rather quickly and without much fuss. My second giraffe is the featured image on this post, she is more playful and is peeking out with those big eyes and long lovely lashes.

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, PattyAnneArt.
I hope you have a great week.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne