watercolour

Shoot it, Sketch it: Little bear

| Anna Cull
Little bear in a pretty cabinet – ink and watercolour, 150 x 180 mm, 2012.

I will admit to getting a bit carried away with this week’s Shoot it, Sketch it. I like all the lost edges in this drawing — I wanted to make it look really old and a bit mysterious…

This little bear sits inside a tall wooden cabinet full of treasures and family heirlooms. The original image (below) is another one of my phone photos. It was taken through the glass of the cabinet door. I cropped the image to remove the elements I didn’t want (namely my reflection and that of the heat pump on the wall). I could’ve solved the reflection problem by taking the photo again with the door open but I really like the bookcase and the globe in the ‘background’.

original photo

Check out what Bec from Clouds of Colour and Alana from The Little Leaf have done for Shoot it, Sketch it this week too.

Shoot it, Sketch it: Black bird

| Anna Cull
Black bird on a grey day – ink and watercolour, 125 x 170 mm, 2012

Here is my second sketch for Shoot it, Sketch it — take a photo of something and then sketch, draw or paint it. The initial sketch was done with dip pen and ink. The watercolour background (something I painted for another project last year) was added in Photoshop.

The photo (below) was taken on a grey, spring day when I spotted this little bird on a tree outside my studio window. It was taken in a hurry, through the less-than-spotlessly-clean window, but was still good enough to use as a reference. Something about the silhouette appealed to me and I thought it would be fun to draw — and it was.

original photo
original sketch

Check out what Bec from Clouds of Colour and Alana from The Little Leaf have done this week too. They’re the bloggers who introduced the Shoot it, Sketch it feature.

Shoot it, Sketch it: Blue door

| Anna Cull

Blue door – ink and watercolour, 220 x 205 mm, 2012.

Bec from Clouds of Colour and Alana from The Little Leaf started a new feature on their blogs this week. It’s called Shoot it, Sketch it. The idea is that you take a photo of something and then you sketch, draw or paint it. Just for fun. And I’m joining in…

Here’s my first offering. The reference photo (below) is not great quality — it was taken on my nothing-special Nokia phone which I carry everywhere mainly so that I can collect images for drawing and painting (such as this door) when I don’t have my camera with me. It’s quite handy as a phone too ; )

Mole in New Zealand

| Anna Cull

Mole in NZ – ink and watercolour on paper, 290 x 410 mm, 2012.

MOLE THE WORLD — international art project

Mole the World is a global connection of artists from many countries through photos, drawings, graffiti, graphics and any other creative use of the project symbol: Mole. The goal of the project is to spread the idea of ‘moling’ — using the symbol in artistic ways.

Feeling creative? Visit the website: Mole the World.

My thanks to Katya for her post about the Mole the World project.

Shower rose

| Anna Cull

Shower Rose #2 – ink and watercolour on paper, 245 x 185 mm, 2012.

Something just for fun.

I came up with the idea for the shower rose a couple of years ago. It was a student project where we had to make a picture by combining a man-made object and something from the natural world. I wasn’t happy with the drawing I submitted (done in pastel, see below) but I’ve always liked the concept. I had another go at it a couple of weeks ago, this time using watercolour (Shower Rose #2).

Shower Rose #1 – pastel on paper, 350 x 280 mm, 2010.

This was my first attempt to draw with pastels. It’s not a medium I’m drawn to (no pun intended) but perhaps I should give it another chance. After all, I had fun with charcoal — eventually.

And this is the photo I used as a reference. The rose, for anyone who may be interested, is French Lace and is one of the few plants (other than weeds) that has managed to thrive in our garden.