Lone tree near Langverwacht

 Pen and watercolor on paper, 10 x 15 cm:

I haven't done much in watercolor, so it's a medium with which I'm a bit out of my depth. But it's also a medium that can give lovely results, so I'm considering practicing a bit, to see where, if anywhere, that will get me...

In the meantime, I also get up to all manner of other stuff on the web.

Small watercolors

 Every so often I go through a mania for watercolor painting. Did a bunch of ACEOs etc. When working in watercolor, my preferred technique is line and wash. ACEOs (i.e. 2.5 x 5.5 in, or about 65 x 90 mm):

                                     

And a small picture of 10 x 15 cm (= about 4 x 6 in):

This last one is for sale; contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.

Or go check out what else I get up to all over the web...

R707, Free State

 Watercolor on paper, 5 x 7 inches:

I have been playing around with watercolor, a monstrously difficult medium, but a very attractive one. 

Mini sketches

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

Random bits and pieces

I can't always just work for the market; I'd go crazy that way. I'm an artist, not a money making machine. And thus, in between, I make time for all manner of random things. Like a fun hobgoblin:

It's the evil hobgoblin from Hans Andersen's story The Snow Queen, with his magic mirror. I may just get it into my head to do a whole set of illustrations for the story, which is on eof my favorite Andersen tales.

A portrait sketch:

And some quick studies after Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, and artist whose work I have long admired:

Autumn Treasures

Autumn in the southern hemisphere. I have long loved weathered late-season leaves, and this time of year there is such a glut one doesn't know where to start. On my morning walk, I collected a bagful, and sketched some in ballpoint and watercolor pencil...

Garden sketches

I went out into the garden, and sketched whatever caught my eye. Ballpoint pen with watercolor pencil.

Blossoms and butterfly

Another experiment in Chinese style, following a tutorial I found here. I'm thinking of using it as art project for a bunch of middle school kids:

I didn't have a suitable red, so the blossoms came out a bit too scarlet!

In the meantime...

I have been rather busy, getting my latest children's book ready for publication. It's the first one with lots of color pictures, so there are all manner of technical considerations of which I knew little when I started out, so I am going through a rather steep learning curve, so I have little time for much else. But I did try to fit in some experimental bits and pieces and random sketches.

I now and then indulge in these rather relaxing and meditative pseudo-mosaics, done in ballpoint and colored pencil:

A botanical sketch:

A quick colored pencil sketch after Van Gogh:

And some experimental watercolors, after YouTube tutorials:

I hope to put final touches on the new book by the end of next week, but who knows - things always take much longer than planned!

Snowman

A fun little experiment in watercolor on cardboard, 15 x 21 cm:

Heads and cows and things

I have been rather busy drawing illustrations for the latest children's book I'm working on. In between, made time for the Instagram "100 heads" challenge. Here are #12 - 15:

And a selection of the illustrations. The mostly empty pages will be filled up a bit with text. That, at least, is the present plan. The thing has not quite come together yet; I may or may not make extensive changes:

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:

New experiments

I have been rather wildly experimenting with all manner of things. I am developing ideas for an illustrated children's story:

The first of the above is in acrylics on cardboard; the second in watercolor. I am more inclined toward watercolor. Other attempts with acrylics did not work out quite satisfactorily. Illustration is really a new thing for me, and it's a quite different skill set from "fine art" (i.e. stuff intended to be hung on a wall). Thus a little journey that is both fun and frustrating at the same time.

Two more in the #100heads Instagram challenge. Due to lack of time, these heads are going to have to be pretty sketchy:

Studies of cattle, as preparatory work for the illustrations - the story will feature a cow:

And in between the cattle, some studies after Hergé's Tintin books. No time studying Hergé's work is ever wasted!

My latest sideline, Chinese brush painting:

I can't get hold of real Chinese brushes around here, so I just used a pointy western one. But this is yet another steep learning curve. The style is not nearly as easy as it may look!