Gone Fishing

Ice Fishing(pencil, watercolor on the next page)

At Easter holiday in Lestijärvi, we decided to go ice fishing. When ever we go to the lake, I usually fish too, but this time I decided to do some sketching instead. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining and the wind was mild. I had three jackets and three trousers on me and that way I was able to sit still and draw.

All the sketches were made of the same person. I had about 20 minutes at a time and then he changed his position. He had only one fish and it was so small he threw it back to the water. Maybe you can see his frustration on these sketches, or then I just imagined it.

Getting Nosy

One day I decided I have to start practicing more. I have always wanted to learn how to draw different faces and all the interesting details on them. Of course this is only one area I have to improve, but you got to start somewhere. Or continue somewhere, because I've been practicing over seven months now.

So I started my practicing with noses, just because I like them. Noses can be very distinctive and they are fun to draw. I did the first few from a model, but then I started to design my own noses. Few of these look pretty unnatural, but I don't mind, as long as they can be recognized as noses.

The background I made earlier with a water mister so the white page wouldn't be so intimidating.

Noses(water mister, pencil)

A Sick Looking Chick

A Chick(watercolor, black, non-permanent ballpoint pen, feathers, white ink, pencil)

I wanted to draw something for Easter. I chose a green ballpoint pen and when I added some watercolor I realized the pen was not permanent. The green color spread and it didn't look very nice. I tried to fix it with white ink, but it didn't help very much. The background was made earlier at the same time as the next page with a frog on it(The Frog Prince, posted 29.1.2015).

If I could start this page again from scratch, I wouldn't use a green pen because it makes the chick look a bit sick. Obviously I wouldn't use a non-permanent pen either. I would like to use happier and brighter colors. Maybe next Easter.

The Whole Spread(watercolor, black, non-permanent ballpoint pen, feathers, white ink, pencil)

You Should See My Kitchen

What a Mess(pencil, watercolor)

Sometimes you just have to make a mess. And I really did. It was fun and the end result looks quite bad. When I realized I have to show this to people I went pale at first, but now I'm just happy of the brilliant mess I made. What a good way to wind down and then teach myself another good lesson about courage by posting this here. You should all give it a try!

Important Things to Learn

Dried out Tulips in a Lazy Vase(ballpoint pen)

It has been a while since I've drawn something with a ballpoint pen. Perhaps the watercolors have taken all my attention. I love watercolors and usually I'm the most inspired while using them, but I think it's important to use different techniques. When I keep changing my way of working I have to stay alert and challenge myself all the time.

This time I happened to have some dried out tulips on a vase. I had been too lazy to throw them out and actually I kind of like the way tulips look when they get old. Originally, I was meant to paint a colorful picture of the fresh tulips, but this sketch was a good variation for me.

I still need to practice my thinking while drawing. With this one I didn't bother to draw all the reflections on the vase and now it doesn't look very convincing. It's almost impossible for me to draw something and leave it unfinished so that I could continue working later. I'd rather finish a work quickly than let it wait for me to get my inspiration back. That's actually a big problem for me, because when working tired and uninspired, I usually do something stupid. Like get lazy and leave something out. I think I'm going to add this thing to my list of Important Things to Learn(That I just made up). Point one: Don't force it, it's ok to continue later.

Art Gallery

Art Gallery (collage)

This time I asked some help for my sketchbook page. I would like to thank Senni, Jukka, Siiri, Pietu, Miina, Titta, Anne, Mika and Raimo for helping me out with this art exhibition. I only made the frames and drew one of the portraits and the rest was made by this great art crew. Although they are all great, my personal favorite is the groovy red cat on the top row made by Senni, our youngest artist.

A Brief Moment with Some Tulips

Tulips (black fine liner, watercolor)

Here's a quick sketch of tulips lying on a table. I should definitely do more of these pages that take so little time and effort. Still, when they turn out to be good they give you so much joy. The only problem with these is usually the lack of courage that troubles me sometimes. I tend to worry that I somehow ruin my whole sketchbook with a bad page. Maybe I should do one really bad work to get rid of this problem once and for all.

Although this is not one of the best works in my sketchbook, I'm still happy I made it. I've noticed that with art the more I'm afraid the more I learn.