Mini sketches

 Bunch of small sketches in pen and watercolor, ACEO (2.5 x 3.5 inches):

Tuscan window

Pen and acrylic wash on watercolor paper, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

More sketches and illustrations

A few more sketches for the Instagram "100 heads" challenge thing:

And some more illustrations for my latest children's book. Lots more still need to be done:

Gnome Alert (3)

And yet another batch of illustrations for my upcoming children's story The Garden Gnome's Journey. This is the lot, I think; still have to do a cover picture in color. Barring any unexpected troubles, the book aught to be available soon.

My other book, a youth adventure novella titled The Ten Horns, is available here:

The Ten Horns

Gnome Alert (2)

Another batch of illustrations for my soon-to-be-available children's book The Garden Gnome's Journey. Watch this space for updates!

My other book, a youth adventure novella titled The Ten Horns, is available here:

The Ten Horns

Gnome alert

Some illustration concepts for my upcoming children's book "The Garden Gnome's Journey." Watch this space for updates...

Cape Cottages

Fisherman's cottages, Western Cape. Pen and watercolor, 5 x 7 inches:

Flying Things

Studies of marabous:

And a helicopter:

Pen and watercolor on printer paper.

And a few more

Some more random sketches in ballpoint pen and watercolor, on printer paper:

Quick sketches

Some quick sketches. I got hold of one of those cheap children's watercolor pan sets, and wanted to take it for a test drive, so I put an egg and two cherry tomatoes on the table, sketched them in ballpoint and splashed some cheap watercolour over them. I think even the cheap colours may come in handy for sketching.

And then a portrait sketch of Ryan, the son of friends of mine. Seven is not the best age at which to try sitting still for more than ten minutes at a time, so I had to work at breakneck speed, and there was no question of making corrections! 

Pencil on paper, 20 x 15 cm:

Endless changes...

Scarcely did I decide to shift my artistic operations to DeviantArt, or I have reason for second thoughts.

I very much like the layout of DA, and the way its galleries work. But it is also a very big umbrella, and I have noticed that lots of the artists there produce some pretty extreme adult-oriented art. I don't personally mind such work at all, but many people do, and I don't want anyone to get into trouble because they ended up viewing more than my own gallery!

I also noticed that DA's discussion forums are positively infested with neo-Nazis and other kooks, cranks and assorted nuts and dolts.

I'll probably continue to make use of their gallery feature, but for the moment I'll be here again, on a more regular basis.

So, let me first play catch-up, with an assortment of some of the stuff I have been up to since I last posted art work here.

Some more drawings:

Small pencil drawings (18 x 13 cm)

And ballpoint pen:

I like the medium, but it has a tendency to fade. I do notice that nowadays, lots of professional artists make use of the medium, and opinions vary somewhat as to how permanent such drawings are. If kept behind glass and out of direct sunlight, they'll probably last reasonably well; I am not too sure.

Some attempts at somewhat more detailed pencil drawings:

I have never been much good at these - I tend to prefer rapid sketches. But they are a good and necessary exercise, and now and then it is fun to sit back, relax, put on some soothing music and spend a few hours with a subject.

A pen and wash sketch as birthday gift for a friend who wanted a picture of a Tuscan-style window:

I also made a stack of these that I turned into handmade greeting cards. Here's a selection:

Some recent adventures in acrylic painting in a next post...