Arnovecchio Workshop wih Sandro Sacchetti (second Part)

Here we are at the second meeting in Arnovecchio for the drawing course. The weather was cloudy and almost rainy that day, but anyway we were able to finish the lesson. We drew from model in wood of mallard, male and female. They were still, so I had more time to refine the work. I used watercolor on a 25x35 (ca) Fabriano paper, and pencils in  my sketchbook for the awkward perspective of the female (about 5x5 cm).

The sketch in pencil

Final painting

And the female one:

From my POV it had more sense the positition of the tail as in the first B&W sketch. but finally it made more sense to modify a bit what I was seeing. This is not good, but hard not for me to do when drawing forsehortened parts. Maybe a solution is to firmly close an eye, and think in terms of form!

Watercolur Sketches

Hello!! This day I want to share some watercolours I've done during the last months. Some of them come from last summer, so it's almost an year... But anyway, the time has come for them to be on this blog. They are the product of my spare time of the weekend, often some strolls nearby my hometown. Some photos are a bit altered by the digital filters. Feel free to ask if you are interested in some of this watercolour!! They are made on Fabriano Artistico 12.5x18 cm.

Summer Watercolour

Sorry, it's almost a month without publishing.. and I'm not going to share some recent drawing.. Here are two watercolurs I made this summer. They can be useful as a lesson to watercolor. It was a late afternoon in July; I started this one...

Merry Christmas!!

Yes, I know, it's not original as a text... but anyway I made this simple illustration in a hurry, because I wanted to leave some hand made cards to my closest friends and kindred. I succeded in doing about ten cards like the one I post here. I used carbon paper, watercolor, ecoline and fineliner. Everyone is a bit different. In this I tried to write with a nib pen and red ink but the result was poor... partly becuase the tool didn't just fit (the watery ink and the rough paper) and partly because I suck at hand-writing... Anyway, I still have to begin to deliver these effort.. who knows the reactions!! :P

Plen air sketch: Monte Albano

Here's a recent plen air sketch. Done in watercolor on spot in about 45 minutes. A child and his father stopped by me while I was sketching. The child was curious, and was also full of question which is a great thing I think... the photo has an uneven lighting because some sun rays were filtering through the branches of the pines. The dimension is about 20x15 cm on Fabriano watercolor paper.

June Sketches

An eucalyptus in Empoli:

Watercoulor, waterbrush and watercoulor pencils.

San Miniato

A windy day. 8th March 2015. Still cold, even if you can see the coming of the spring in some buds and and canes. I was able to see white rushes and the snow on the far Appenine. I went to Corniano, on the southern side of San Miniato, with my new Schmincke Horadam watercolour.

I know.. The city with the famous stronghold isn't in my sketch... but it won't be the first time that I ignore buildings... Maybe I need more patience and precision, and I relax at best with painting natural object. But it could be a field were I pick up. And also I could try to paint the tower and the town someday.. Let's notice: too color density on the near hill. But I had to test the glazing with this strong watercolour brand. You can get almost a guache effect, and that's good for me, but need practice obviously. Pehaps, for the sake of watercolour, it's better to stay away from high density, but I think that finally the attention is focused on San Miniato hill, and that's not bad, because we have a stronger subject.

Paesaggio in Ormicello 2

Sabato ho fatto un acquerello ispirato allo studio che feci a Ottobre (qui). Ho provato il nuovo acquisto: gli acquerelli per artisti Horadam Schminke (set da 12 + 12 posti vuoti). La qualità è buona.  Io ho provato solo i Cotman della Winsor & Newton, che comunque fanno il loro lavoro. Rispetto a questi però ho trovato una maggiore uniformità nella stesura e una più agevole sovrapposizione nelle velature (per i colori più trasparenti).

Last Saturday I made a watercolour inspired by a recent trip I did some months ago. I tried my new watercolour from Horadam Schminke. The quality is good! I've only tried Winsor & Newton Cotman. The colors are livelier and less granular. The overlapping of transparent glazes leads to a better result in terms of color richness.

Acquerello su carta (circa 35x25)

Fra l'altro ho cominciato anche un lavoro ad olio sempre ispirato a quel bozzetto..

Besides I begun an oil painting from thi study.

Acquerello copia / Watercolor copy

Ecco una copia da un libro economico ma ben fatto della DIX.

su carta Favini, circa 20x30

A copy from a book about watercolor technique a couple of year ago.

Acquerello lungo l'Arno

Un acquerello recente su carta Fabriano, con alcuni tocchi di matita.

A recent watercolour near the Arno river, about 20x30 cm. Some coloured pencils were used to enliven the picture.