Quail's eggs in Camembert box

Quail's Eggs

more eggs to follow.......wasn't sure if this was finished  but the sun is shining and the sea beckons

Feeling blue

Preparing a canvas mock up for a still life lesson, which the kids will draw in the style of Giorgio Morandi,
I couldn't get into the subtle colours straight away.......so this was my warm up...or my cool down (and detail down) painted sketch... I couldn't resist a little play with salt on the background either. Not easy to scan work of one colour I've found. It appears much brighter on the scan
Also run out of white paint which didn't help but it was fun....now I have to stop myself dipping my chopstick in the ink!

Learning curves

I went to my first Japanese painting lesson  yesterday and it totally blew my mind.

The biggest two hour learning curve I've had for a very long time

After lots of practise with the paints and inks on soft paper I did one postcard (the postcard paper absorbed in a  totally different way to the practise paper)...not good at all but represents something new and exciting to me ...this is the first time I have used a chopstick to draw! 

I started out with a western mind but by the end of two hours I was beginning to get the idea behind it. 

With my detailed work I'm sure this will be so good for me.

It has made me look at the world in a different way .

Sayaka is a Japanese ink painting teacher, Ink artists' Association Member,  and a Special Prize Winner Prize Ink artists' association in Japan.

And an amazing teacher!

Shades of brown

Water Chestnuts and peanuts..............................

the mai tai were not as fresh as the ones I drew here

quick sketches of peanuts

Oranges

Oranges ( in progress......been working extra hours this week so a bit lazy today)

Slippers

Slippers at work, done in my sketchbook, waiting between lessons.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes on a plate............

Watercolour and acrylic on Canson Watercolour (140lbs) paper  24cm x 32cm

not the easiest of vegetables to paint........................
..............now in the oven roasting with garlic and rosemary

Kiwi fruit and strawberries

Kiwi fruit and strawberries.......

Watercolour and acrylic on Canson Watercolour paper 17cm x 22 cm

Strawberries

Six Strawberries..............

28cm x 15cm Sandford watercolour paper (140 lb)

Paints

A5 Sketchbook (from marumam.japan...a new purchase has quite nice thin watercolour) paper)

Thanks for you comments everyone....this is for Pooja, Nancy,Vicki and Ann.

My basic sketch supplies.
 
I bought this small (and in-expensive) Van Gogh travel watercolour set half-way through Everyday in May, for convenience, and have been very happy with them. Before that I used anything I had at hand and usually acrylic paint that I use with lots of water.
Many years ago I had a Windsor and Newton tin box but this little set was such a bargain.
I was looking at larger sets last week as it might be fun to have lots of colours, but was recommended professional quality paints as the Van Gogh ones are only student quality (? this could have been a pushy assistant )....the problem with this is the fact that they quadruple in price (and my supplier doesn't sell them individually). Any suggestions?

The main thing I have come addicted to this year is good quality paper and do prefer to do most work on loose sheets...usually Bockingford watercolour paper (Acid free 140lbs).
It saves many problems with rippling, is good for HK's humid climate and is good quality if I sell a sketch.
I tend to work about A4 size or a little larger so the Arthouse Sketchbook was good for  teaching me to scale down.
My favourite tool is a 2B pencil...although i sketch at first with HB and sometimes use 4B at the end for darkness.
On my next sketch I'll do a proper step by step but here's a little one for the above to get in practise. Although after stage two I broke up the still life (as I needed my paints etc.....and sat on the balcony in the sunshine......can only do that with an aerial view)
Thanks everyone for making me think about the process, as my sketching time is limited I usually put on the radio and just do it. I'll also be adding details of paper and size on my posts from now on.

Time to clean my paints!!

Bananas

Banana skin....................got ideas for other slippery things but this suggestion was the quickest

EDM 308 draw something slippery

Saturday's samosas

Take away vegetable samosas......

EDM 306 - Draw a snack

Noodles

Ingredients for Friday's noodles.......

see yau wong chow mein

California Rolls

Thursday's lunch...California rolls

Vegetable soup

EDM 307 draw something raw.......
 ........the ingredients for vegetable soup, sketched  (then chopped up for soup by the household sous chef   Thank-you! ) and painted later

Giveaway winner

Thanks for your comments everyone and for taking part

The names were put in my new woolen hat ......

 and the name pulled out is......................

 Alex Zonis  at http://pencilscribbles.wordpress.com

For those of you who haven't seen Alex's amazing portraits go and take a look at her blog.

Send me an email with your address Alex and I'll put it in the post.

Sushi

Haven't had any time for sketching this week...here's a 20 minute sketch of sushi in my lunchbreak
My mouth was watering so much!
Drawn on the kids art paper and using their coloured pencils which didn't have the right colours

the sushi at the back is inari sushi (soy bean sheet with rice inside) and the front one is a mixed sushi.
Here's the same image with a little paint added......

I'm pulling the winner of the draw out of the hat later today...when I've drawn the hat!

EDM 40 - Draw something with folds

A beautiful gift from my lovely friends....not easy to capture the woven red silk in colour or texture (so stopped before I messed it up)

Thank-you boys!

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Year of the Rabbit.
The knot decoration I drew last year...this is a different painted version.

EDM 300 - Draw something bright

A big THANK-YOU to all EDMer's and followers for your encouragement and comments over the last year.
This painting is a CNY giveaway, leave a comment below to be put in the draw..........
I'll pick the winner on 12th February.