Almost Done War Pony

I like to draw faces. I don't plan usually who it is or anything. I just start drawing. This one actually turned out to look like one of my neighbors. I used olive and lavender undertones in her skin. 

During all the packing no one was allowed to pack my colored pencils and 1 coloring book and 1 sketch pad, watercolors(just 1 travel set) or a selection of acrylic paints and brushes that are on my desk. I have a couple of canvases to finish work on and a few more I wouldn't mind doing. Since all my packing is done except the necessities I will have 3 weeks to play with my art, that is if I can keep from killing myself before we move. I'd appreciate that! 

I just finished the War Pony with the exception of getting my nephews little paw prints on it. I asked their mom to have them print on tissue paper so I can attach them. We'll see how that works. I would have them do it directly on the painting, but I could just see my little minion sliding his hand across the whole canvas and I just can't get that picture out of my head. LOL

Pears

I made my way to the begining Art Quest which is to paint pears with only a picture on paint my photo to go by. Big Art Quest Begins. I sketched them out on watercolor paper and then colored them in. I had done the background first but it looked aweful. I had wet the paper well and tried to drop the colors in and they were not spreading like I wanted them to. I ended up pilling up the paper trying to get them to spread out. So I trace the pears on heavy vellum type paper that I have.  I covered the pears with my mask and wet small sections of the background and tapped on some Brusho Crystal Color in black. It is my favorite because of the mix of burnt sienna and blue crystals. Then I resprayed it to spread the color. After I finished the background I lifted my mask and found out that some of the crystals had gotten under it and splattered on my pears. So much for being careful. LOL I guess I should have made sure it was down better. I also got a little more shadow on the bottom pear. I still love the way it turned out. 

This is my first stab at the acrylic pears. The background ended up being a lot darker than I wanted and you couldn't see the shadows. So I decided to sponge in some burnt sienna on the background to warm it up. I like the way it turned out. No it is not a masterpiece but for no instruction other than paint the pears in the picture I am quite pleased with myself. Had I done it as my very first painting, I think it would have looked very different. After having done a couple of paintings with Cinnamon's guidance, I had at least a few ideas about how to make certain colors. I can't wait to come back to this in a year and do another for comparison. I think it will be a lot of fun to see how much I have learned by then and how different I am at working with these tools.