EDiM Part 2

#19 A rope. Ink in A4 sketchbook.©Sue Pownall 2014

It's May 31st and the end of another Everyday in May daily challenge. I've completed 26 out of the 31 prompts. I've struggled with some especially as I've wanted to do locational drawings for some of them, but the daytime temperatures here have soared to a massive 50°C (122°F). 

Day 19, above, is one of my favourites. It is incomplete as I had almost finished this old, unloved, rope tug, when Degas decided it was the ONLY toy she had to play with. Right is Degas chewing HER rope.

 

This Chinese cloisonné vase came from a weekend in Beijing. The prompt was something bought on a trip, but I didn't actually buy it, as it was a gift at the factory we visited on the way to The Great Wall by a lovely American lady, who said I couldn't leave without it.

#30 Something bought on a trip ©Sue Pownall 2014

Days: 17, 18, 20, 21 attempts 2 & 3, 23, 25, 26, 27, and 31 ©Sue Pownall 2014

Below is day 29's something in my favourite colour. It is easy to guess my favourite colour just by looking at the work over this month. This blue glass is part of a set I received as a secret santa present and is filled with blue & white sea glass collected  from the beach near my house. I had fun with this using Inktense pencils and watercolour.

#29 Something in my favourite colour ©Sue Pownall 2014

Which of my challenge results do you like best? Why not leave a comment below to tell me?

Preparations for the summer

Ghala Industrial Estate, Muscat

With only 8 sleeps until I leave Oman for the summer, I'm busy sorting out my art equipment to pack. I wanted another yellow and have to thank Liz Steel (www.lizsteel.com) for her great advice. Until I can get to a decent art suppliers, I've raided the Van Gogh watercolour set, which was a gift from last year's Urban Sketchers symposium. I want to test drive some colour choices... I prefer to spend time sketching than mixing colours... plus I've evicted the Winsor & Newton Payne's Grey tube squeezed into an empty halfpan (left of photo) to try the Van Gogh version.

I've had this watercolour box since art college.

Having added new colours, I wanted to paint, so took my sketchbook and paints to the day job. During lunch I sketched from an upstairs window. I didn't realise until I sketched this view, that the cement factory is on a different level. That's the beauty of urban sketching, you really see details.

 I discovered that the Van Gogh Paynes Grey's pigment is less blue than the W&N's. I need to do some more paintings to decide on my final pan, but do like the blueness of W&N.
Which do you prefer? W&N, Van Gogh, or someone else's Payne's Grey? Please tell me in a comment.

Everyday in May 2014: part 1

#8 Something with a mirror image

 As I mentioned in my 1st May post, I'm participating in the Everyday in May (EDiM) daily challenge, which I first did in 2010. As we are halfway through, and I've only skipped 3 challenges so far, I thought I'd post the drawings to date.

Day 8, something with a mirror image, is one of my favourite so far. Degas often sits on the bed and plans mischief with her evil twin. Yesterday's mischief included chewing on the palm tree in the garden. Ink & watercolour from photo reference in A5 sketchbook.

#15 Biscuit

  Day 15, painted today, is another personal favourite. The prompt was "cookie", which in British English is biscuit. The only biscuits in my house are Degas' and I am pleased with the looseness of this pen & watercolour sketch.

Although Degas is a terrible scavenger - dead fish, fish bones, and chicken being her favourites - she takes her time eating her biscuits. She has a terrible habit of getting a mouthful, carrying them to the lounge and dropping them on the mat. I think she prefers to eat in the same room as me, even though she can see me from the kitchen.

Below are my other drawings to date. As you can see, I've have been experimenting with techniques and materials from the very precise to loose with ink, pencils and/or paint.

Days: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 13,14 & 16

Recording Britain Now

Into the Shadows. Ink. 30 x21 cm. ©Sue Pownall 2014

 This is a drawing that has lurked in my head for a few years. It first emerged as a drawing for Illustration Friday's theme crooked in September 2012 (whole post here there-was-crooked-man). I wrote then

"The stile is actually an element in a idea for a drawing I've been toying with for a couple of years, so maybe now I will start on it."

 Obviously it took a bit longer to get started on that drawing...  not until 1st March 2014 when I thought it would be perfect for the John Ruskin Prize: Recording Britain Now. I submitted the drawing on 2nd April, and heard yesterday that it had not been selected for the shortlist. Knowing 588 artists entered does not stem my disappointment.

This drawing is for sale. Please contact me if you are interested on:

studio (at) suepownallartist.co.uk

A week of sketches

 First, 23rd April and trying to paint the stormy sunset with Degas on the lead on Qantab beach looking west to the mountains.

Next, 24th April, Sultan Qaboos Highway & Ministries District from NTI building in Al Khuwair. It is unfinished, there are buildings missing in the background, as I had to go to a meeting. 

Then that evening, I drew the peel of an Egyptian clementine.

Finally, today 1st May, and the first of the EDiM (Everyday in May) challenges: a window. This is my kitchen window through the kitchen door.

All in my Stillman & Birn, Gamma series, A5 sketchbook. A free gift at last year's USk Symposium.

If you want to join in EDiM, the facebook group is here.
The flickr group is here.