Portraits in pen and ink

Couple of posts ago, I said I was having fun with pen and ink drawings, and I still am. I've been doing a bunch on portraits with them, and this one turned out particularly well, I thought. The source material is a reference picture at wetcanvas. I drew this on my sketchbook on an XS Pitt artist pen.


Jayne, originally uploaded by flyingroc.
All that crosshatching almost drove me crazy tho.

Things to be grateful for: a sandwich and a beer

This Lent, I am trying to nurture a spirit of gratitude. It's good to be thankful for the many blessings that we get--not only good in absolute terms, but good for you as well. Apparently, keeping a gratitude journal makes people more happy. So I decided to document what I'm thankful for on my blog.

So here's what I am thankful for: the simple joy of having a sandwich and a beer. This picture was taken at the Empire Alehouse in Mt. Vernon. Last Saturday, I felt like driving for no reason, so I drove north until I got hungry, and ended up in Mt. Vernon. The beer was good, and so was the sandwich. And for that, I'm thankful.

Sandwich and Beer, originally uploaded by flyingroc.

Oil Pastel Self Portrait

I'm taking a drawing in color class, and today we did a self portrait project. It involved printing out a picture of yourself and use a gridding technique to draw your face. I'm pretty surprised at how accurate gridding can be.

I did my self portrait in oil pastels while the others in class did it with colored pencils. I just love how you can use the oil pastels almost as if it were paint.

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by flyingroc.