Eli’s cow

I love cows. I love most animals, but farm animals hold a special place in my heart. My favourite toy as a child was a toy farm and when I was about 6 I was present at the birth of a calf. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen and that event has stayed with me my whole life. I love cows. I also love to draw them. And Sktchy muse Eli’s photo of this cow was irresistible.

I drew this in my Midori Cotton sketchbook using a Unipin fineliner, Copic markers, and Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Harry

This portrait of an aspiring Harry Potter was a case of “more haste, less speed”. It’s my entry for this week’s Old School Sktchy weekly challenge which has the theme “Harry Potter” and I ended up trying to fit it in between dog walks and hospital visits (my husband is in hospital this week). The result was that I feel that I rushed every stage of it and nothing quite worked. Lesson learned.

I painted this portrait in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Jean-Pierre

I’m always intrigued by how a portrait can end up both looking like someone yet being “not quite them” , even though I’ve measured the features and represented them reasonably accurately. This is many respects a good likeness of Sktchy muse Jean-Pierre, but his face is a little too wide and not quite long enough and so everything’s just a little off. I don’t mind these inaccuracies at all – I don’t aim for photorealism and these quirks in my portraits are what create my style.

I painted this portrait in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Joseph

More ballpoint practice with this portrait of Sktchy muse Joseph in my tiny Moleskine sketchbook using a range of Bic multicolour ballpoints.

Donkey

I’ve never drawn a donkey before but I did choose a very pretty one for my first donkey portrait. This was drawn from a photo shared on Sktchy by Linda. Isn’t she a beautiful creature?

I drew this portrait on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

North

This is a drawing from Sktchy muse North’s collection of photos. It’s a portrait of a child and, as usual, I’ve made her look years older than she looks in the photo. I think it’s because I’ve elongated her face – something I have a tendency to do a lot of the time. but I love how the hair and eyes turned out so it’s not all bad.

I drew the portrait in my Midori Cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Jessica

This is a portrait of Jessica, my contribution to this week’s Sktchy Block Portrait Party. I drew it on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Selfie

I don’t like selfies. I rarely take or share photos of myself and I don’t much like drawing or painting myself either. But this week’s Old School Sktchy theme is “Self-Portrait” so I’ve drawn my first one in around a year. This one is very realistic, maybe next time I’ll exaggerate and play around a little more.

I drew myself on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Eucalyptus leaves

Today’s painting is, as usual, inspired by Sktchy, but it’s not a face but some eucalyptus leaves, drawn from a photo uploaded by Sktchy artist Jennifer Linderman. I was attracted by the wonderful range of colours in the three leaves; I had a ball mixing up those hues!

I painted the leaves in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished then with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Michael

Drawing Sktchy muse Michael’s hair was the best part of drawing this portrait. What fabulous hair he’s got!

I drew this portrait in my Midori Cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.