Bamboo branches

So I broke out my Japanese ink set again since I was itching to paint something.  I was once again reminded of how hard it is to use this ink.   It's extremely hard to get the right amount of ink on the brush and to do certain strokes.  It took me somewhere around two hours of practicing brush strokes just to make this picture actually look like bamboo and I still didn't get the leaves right.  Anyway I still like how this turned out overall and I'm excited to do more.  

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to grind my own ink from a stick and mix it with water.  Then I load the ink on a small paintbrush to achieve this style of painting.

Anais Nin

Eh....I used to be better with the portraits...but I guess did only spend about 45 minutes on it.  

I took two pictures...wasn't sure which one was better.   She is wearing a hood in the picture which is why there are those lines.

It's been awhile

I haven't posted in awhile....I have been so extremely busy and haven't had time to do any art.   Anyway I'm doing  a drawing for my cousin Chico, because I promised I would do something for him :)   

It's in colored pencil and is something abstract which I never do but I'm trying really hard to be more creative with my art.  

I'm not sure how to do the background...it's a work in progress....

The Sultan's Elephant

The Sultan's Elephant was a street show put on by the Royal de Luxe theatre company.   The show consisted of a giant puppet girl and a giant mechanical elephant that they built.  It only showed in a few cities including London and Nantes, France.  Anyway I randomly came across pictures and youtube videos of the show and I am in awe of it.  I wish I could have been there when they performed.  Here is a video of the performance:

Anyway the painting above was based on the elephant in the show.  I was so inspired by it and....I also love elephants.  

The painting was done with pen, watercolor and colored pencil on charcoal paper.

She Sells Seashells....

I finished the painting for James's mom, Teresa.  I didn't really like how the scallop was going when I first started but I think it turned out ok.  Although I had imagined it completely different.  I'm posting the whole painting and then a closeup of the three shells.

Um so the pictures didn't turn out so great because you can see my hands but the lighting was better this time.  

Whole thing was done with watercolor and some colored pencil was used on the scallop.

sneak preview

So James's mom's birthday was on the 12th.  We are going to see her this weekend and I wanted to paint her something for her gift.  She loves beach stuff and the ocean because she grew up in Florida around the Keys.  Anyway I decided I wanted to do seashells because I thought that they would look beautiful in watercolor.   I'm not finished but here is what I have so far:

I like how it has turned out so far but I'm scared to even touch the scallop.  I'm worried I won't get the colors and texture right (you know to make it look like it actually has ridges).  I know it's not done but I was super anxious to post it!  This picture doesn't do it justice by the way, my camera couldn't get the lighting quite right but the colors are actually a lot brighter.

rainbow cake

Ok soo....I made that rainbow cake which I posted a link about in the last post.  I made it last weekend but my laptop wasn't letting me upload pictures so I'm going to try again.  Anyway it worked out really well and was a lot of fun.  Here are pictures of the process before baking:

Pretty colors!  Aaand here is after baking:

Pretty right?  I really only did it to see if I could...there wasn't any occasion really....and I definitely pretty much ate the whole thing over the course of the last week.  It was good!