Distillery District Sketches III - Trinity Street

And another sketch of some buildings on Trinity Street, in the Distillery District of Toronto, Ontario.

Distillery District Sketches II - Trinity Street

Here's another sketch of some buildings on Trinity Street that I did this morning. There's a lot of beautiful architecture on this street.

Distillery District Sketches I - Trinity Street

Here's a sketch I did the other day of some buildings on Trinity Street in the Distillery District in Toronto. If you're ever in Toronto, it's a cool part of the city that is definitely worth visiting.

Watercolor Workshop with Lin Souliere

This past weekend I had the privilege of being able to participate in a 3 day plein air watercolor workshop with Lin Souliere. She's an amazing Canadian artist, and a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, so I knew I was in for a real treat! She also happens to be my mother-in-law, and I've been wanting to participate in one of her workshops for years! :D
 
On the first day we all went for a hike on the Bruce Trail just outside of Lion's Head to find our painting spot. This is one of my favorite trails on the Bruce Peninsula, everywhere you look is absolutely beautiful and inspiring! Having never done plein air painting before, I wasn't quite sure where to start and what to paint. Fortunately Lin did a lesson and talked us through how to approach finding an interesting subject matter without getting completely overwhelmed by our surroundings. Our main focus for the day was to get comfortable and confident while sketching in the forest, and to start introducing watercolor to our sketches.

I mostly did some very small pen/marker/pencil drawings at first, and then started to introduce a bit of watercolor. I also ended up focusing primarily on closeups of plants since I didn't think I'd have time to complete any large landscape sketches/paintings. In the end, the day was a perfect warmup for the next 2 days of the weekend.

A couple of plant sketches.

On the second day we went to Tobermory, and Lin started things off with a watercolor demo. She painted the light house just off of Big Tub Harbour, and made it look quick and effortless! After that, we all set up our equipment and spent the rest of the day painting the gorgeous landscape around us.

Lin doing a demo and making it look easy!

Here are a couple of the paintings I did while in Tobermory:

Paintings of Big Tub Harbor, Tobermory, ON.

And a picture of my painting supplies:

On the third day of the workshop, we all went to Barrow Bay and painted the old general store. I discovered that I'm pretty slow at painting with watercolors, so I didn't get a chance to finish either of the paintings that I started. I'm happy with them as works in progress though! Even though I did take reference photos, I don't think I'll go back to either painting and I'll be leaving them as-is.

The old general store in Barrow Bay, ON.

Close up painting of peeling paint on old door.

For more info on Lin Souliere, check out these links:
http://www.dragonflyridge.ca/the-art-of-lin-souliere.html
http://www.dragonflyridge.ca/workshops.html

For info on the Bruce Trail, look here:
http://brucetrail.org/

Nigiri Dynamite, the lovely Mon Calamari Scout

This is a small oil painting I just finished as a thank you gift for a friend. It is of her Star Wars tabletop RPG character, Nigiri Dynamite! During the campaign, her character went out of her way to collect luxurious silks when not blasting Imperial Stormtroopers (mostly in an attempt to gain Admiral Ackbar's attention...)

 

 

The final drawing in my sketchbook...

...and it transferred to the 6 x 8 canvas.

 

The colour comp I did in Photoshop. 

In progress...

 

 

My painting setup with my awesome new Italian easel!

 

The final painting! Not the best quality pic, was only taken on my phone... will try to get a better photograph once it's framed! :)

More Maps!

Here's a few more maps from my little dungeon map sketchbook.

Octopus Sketch

TLDR: Octopus sketch done in a Moleskin sketchbook (3.5"x5.5") with 4H Staedtler pencil (that I forgot to erase once I was done) and Micron Pens sizes 01 & 03.

I have the bad habit of falling in love with a new sketchbook, buying it, drawing a couple pictures in it, and then never getting around to filling it. Many of my sketchbooks never get more than half a dozen pages sketched on. The same thing happens to me with other art materials. As a result, I've put myself on a bit of a self-imposed art supply ban until I start filling up the sketchbooks I already own and using up my current supplies.

I found this nice little old forgotten sketchbook over the holidays and decided it would be the next one I'd fill. A 3.5"x5.5" Moleskine sketchbook that I would have bought back in college, back when everything I drew was so small that I'm surprised I haven't gone blind as a result. Perfect size for my purse!

This octopus is the first new picture drawn in it so far. Knowing me it'll probably be the only somewhat finished looking drawing that ends up in the sketchbook. The rest will probably end up looking pretty loose and rough like all my other sketchbooks if I ever get around to filling it.

Girl Sketch II

Here's a couple images of a quick girl sketch I just made. The first pic is a photo of my initial sketch. The second is the same drawing, but refined a bit more. Not too much though, since I sometimes have the bad habit of overworking my drawings and accidentally destroying them. :P

My Little Book of Dungeon Maps

I've started doodling a little book of dungeon maps, towns, countrysides, etc. With these there's no planning or prep, they are just whatever pops into my head at the time. Most of the time I'm making them when I'm out and about and have some time to kill. Here's a couple pics:

Sylvari Underpainting Update

Haven't had much chance to work on this in the last little while, but the underpainting is now almost done :)

Looking forward to doing more work on this painting!

Harpies!

A couple harpy sketches, the latest installment of me drawing lovely looking creatures that would happily kill you if you met them...

Traditional Oil Painting Time!

I've decided that it's time to break out the oil paints and try to do a portrait. Since I'm on a bit of a Guild Wars 2 kick right now, I decided to paint a Sylvari. Still finishing off the underpainting, but here's my progress so far:

Sylvari Sketch

I started playing Guild Wars 2 over the weekend and particularly liked the look of the Sylvari race. I especially liked the branch hair option on the females.

Art Brownies RAINBOW 2012 Exhibit

The official site for the Art Brownie RAINBOW 2012 exhibition has just launched as well as their shop. Last I checked not all the artwork was up yet, but it should be in the next few days. Both my pieces are up and for sale :)

Official Site

http://artbrownie.com/

Art Brownie Shop

http://artbrownie.com/shop

My Art Brownies
http://artbrownie.com/shop/shop_detail.asp?item_id=5830&artist=Heather%20Souliere
http://artbrownie.com/shop/shop_detail.asp?item_id=5829&artist=Heather%20Souliere

If you're in Toronto from July 28 - Aug 31 go and check it out!

It's at INDEXG at 50 Gladstone Ave.

Barbarian Babe

Another barbarian babe sketch. They're pretty fun to draw :)