Aquarium of the Pacific

My mom was visiting this last week and we took a drive to Long Beach to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific. It is a great place to view the wonders of the sea. I managed to sketch a few interesting bits here and there. This turtle was resting in a corner and posed for me the whole time I was sketching him.

Sea Dragons are the weirdest but coolest little guys. The Weedy Sea Dragon looks like twigs and brown leaves. The Leafy Sea Dragon just looks like a bundle of green leaves. They move around like sea horses, almost a floating dance. Jelly fish are always a favorite, as long as you are not in the water with them. I love watching the beautiful ballet they perform.

Pen and Watercolor

Robert Bateman Sketchbook

EDM challenge # 7

Tins or bottles from the kitchen.

I chose some tins from the pantry and although I liked the drawing it looked a little plain so I poured out some of the mulling spices to give it a more finished look.

Pen and Watercolor

Robert Bateman Sketchbook

EDM Challenges 3 and 35

Here are a couple more EDM challenges.

I was hoping to catch up but I seem to be falling more and more behind. I guess that's okay as I will always have something to draw. The rusty tricycle is in the art room at the college and looked interesting. I then added the gear/sprocket of a bike.

Pen and Watercolor

This is my favorite ever red leather wallet from Brighton. It is a great little size and can hold a lot.

Pen and Watercolor

The Kokeshi dolls are from an exhibit at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum. They are a form of traditional folk art dating back to about 1830.

Pen and Watercolor

Robert Bateman Sketchbook

Recent Monoprints

Here are a couple of monoprints I have done recently.
The train image is titled, "Midnight Express. This print is the result of inking and printing the plate and then manipulating it and printing again without cleaning it and manipulating and printing a third time. The train, leaves and furrows were cut from file folder and then inked and moved around with each printing.

The flower plate was painted with water based inks. I let it dry completely and then painted it again in different colors. I painted it a total of five times. As prints are pulled from the plate the colors come off in layers, giving me a variety of colors and textures.

Everyday Matters Challenges

Finally got some of the EDM Challenges done. Number 83 is a local body of water. I went for a bike ride on Saturday at the park. It was a great sunny day and there were lots of people out on the little lake in the rental water bikes. After I rode for awhile, I went back to the car for my sketchbook which I try and take with me all the time now.





Number 40 is something with folds and I decided a beautiful little fan from Japan was perfect for the challenge. Number 106 was sour or tart. I think this simple drawing could use a little more work but I like the simplicity and fresh quality is has.




I bought two Robert Bateman sketchbooks and numbered all the pages, each book will hold 100. This way, I can do all the EDM challenges and have them all together in one place. I've only done about six of them so far.....so this might take awhile.