From Estonia - Kariina's getting lit by Allah in the dark Imam mosque, Esfahan, Iran

Reference photo was lovely and moody, not so happy with my result. (Apologies to Kariina!)
Another sketch from the photos of the ADV riders "From Estonia with love". Reference photos for these sketches can be found on an amazing motorcycle ride report: advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480532 (Page 1)

Franklin the cat

Franklin

My nephew's fiancé's cat. A surprise for her recent birthday, so not posted until she sees it!

I'm not a 'cat' person, and have never sketched a cat before, I hope I caught a little of his personality!

January 28 - Can't stop sketching these! Why am I?

More sketches from this amazing rider report. Love the brilliant saffron of the monk's robes!
Thought I'd show the original photos with my sketches this time.

I suppose some of you are wondering, why does she keep painting from someone else's photos? She's never been to these places, she doesn't have a motorcycle (anymore).  She surely doesn't enjoy roughing it. 

Well, when I started reading their posts, their love of what they were doing was what made their photos so attractive.  Their passion about riding around the world, and sticking to it somehow came through and reached out and grabbed my attention.  The colors and composition, sure, but what I paint from these is a feeling.  Maybe that's why it's mostly people that I've used as reference.

So enough philosophizing, I'll get more done soon!  And, I promise to go through their report again and review all of these, so I can add where they were taken and any other specifics.

If you haven't yet read their ride report, at least scan through a page or two.  You will get an idea of the passion that was with them on their adventure.

Reference photos for these sketches can be found on this motorcycle ride report:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480532 (Thanks for sharing!)

Monk in saffron color robes - Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Buddhist Monk with umbrella

Malaysia, east coast - Muslim school girls

Sumatra - Women walking on beach

From Estonia...

More sketches from this amazing rider report.
Reference photos for these sketches can be found on this
motorcycle ride report:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480532

(Thanks for sharing!)

The ostrich photos are a riot!  I wonder if he nearly got the camera!
I still have about 50 to 80 more I look forward to sketching!
Jan. 23: just added the primate sketch. Love his intelligent expression.

New palette for the new year

I've been reading about 'minimalism' and this got me started cleaning out lots of stuff in my basement. It's also reflected in my revised palette - less colors. Took out a few that I hardly used to make room for larger pans for the ones I use most. This page is carried with my sketch kit for reference, but also because I just *love* looking at pure color!

Sketching 20120113

A very cold, snowy and windy day. Great time to update my watercolor palette and do a little bit of sketching...
I dug out my old proportional dividers to help with portrait sizing. I'm not yet able to do that squint and measure thing with my pencil yet!

 

Some painting supplies

I just *had* to do a quick sketch of my basic tools used to sketch with.

From left to right:
1. $2 brush (or maybe it was a dollar) from home improvement store

     (I love using this brush to make a messy start!)
2. Black Gold, size 8, travel watercolor brush (Feels luxurious)
3. Cotman size 5 watercolor brush (Eh, good all-purpose)
4. Robert Simmons size 1 watercolor brush (Hardly ever used)
5. Pentel waterbrush (again, hardly ever used)
6. Pentel pencil
7. Click eraser (used too much!)
8. Pitt artist pen
9. Micron .01 pen
10. Noodlers Flex nib - had trouble with this at first, have learned to love it!
11. Lamy safari with Lex. grey ink (new ink color, not used to it yet. Also, I love the flex nib!)
12. Uniball red pen
13. Uniball/Signo white
14. Plastic grid/ruler

From Estonia with love

Reference photos for these sketches can be found on an amazing motorcycle ride report:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480532
A young couple from Estonia took a motorcycle trip around the world.  It took them several years, and they kept a blog on the Adventure riders website.  Margus and Karlina traveled 170,000 km over 1,126 days, and traveled through 70 countries.  The photographs are what dazzled me - the quality, and the content - they have fantastic images of people, places and things they encountered.  I do not presume that my sketches are anywhere close to the quality of their photos, just that I was touched by them.  So, here are a couple - just a start.  I received their permission to post these.
If you have some time, stop by and read their report - you won't be bored!

Ship on dry land, Cap Blanc, Mauritania

Mexico, San Cristobal de las casas native

Another sketch from their fantastic photos...

Turkana tribeswoman in Kenya