It was fun while it lasted.
As of now I am finished battling large format paintings and acrylic paint. I still intend to paint but will move to watercolours and/or digital colour.
I’m not sure how this will play out. As the saying goes “Time will tell”. There are several options that I can follow to pursue this new direction.
They are:
- detailed rendered ink drawing — add colour (digital or watercolour)
- line drawing with minimal hatching/rendering — add colour (digital or watercolour)
- watercolour washes first — add ink drawing
- random watercolour washes — add ink drawing and “look” for drawings in the colour washes
- straight to colour with basic pencil guide lines
- drawing and colour using an iPad — start to finish
I have options.
I did do some very quick testing this past week. I created two quick “throwaway drawings”. I then added watercolour over these ink drawings. The results are purely for test purposes (that’s why they suck).
Below are some small thumbnails of these experiments. They will get better over time, if I don’t give up!



By the way, I think nature was attempting to delay my start on this post.
First: one of three baby Robins in a nest located in our outside porch rafters fell out (or was pushed) from its nest. I put the little critter back. As of this writing it is still there.
Update: there are actually 4 babies in the nest. (A parent was staring me down so no updated photo.)

Of course now I am constantly checking the nest to make sure the little thing stays in the nest. Mom and dad Robin could have built a bigger nest — yeesh!
Second: small bird caught inside our netted strawberry patch (protection from deer). How it got in is a mystery. I set it free.

Another “by the way”, I overcame my computer obstacles from last week.
I can now add my second “My Dailies” feed from Instagram. This feed was started 24 days after my first “Dailies”. These are daily drawings of mostly mountains, trees, rocks and clouds. Most sketches are 5 – 30 minutes. The current drawing is always 134 days in the past.
You can read more about “My Dailies” if you wish.
That’s it — no mind changing words of wisdom. Just a status report. 😉
As usual, for email readers I have included the header image below.
