I got bored with drawing faces and took a break to do some monument sketches. The sketch I was thinking of is the "Cathedral of Learning". It has this amazing building and a number of trees surrounding it. I realized I have no idea how to sketch trees. So started with this one tree. Here is a partial tree...maybe I can do some historical buildings now...Cathedral of learning and Edinburgh Castle top my list right now.

My second stipple : Shirdi Baba

Here is an incomplete sketch of shirdi baba...Thanks for your blessings...I couldn't have made it this far without you

The twins

I wasn't sure it is a good idea to draw pics of people you know...but then I thought ...ok lets give it a go ...here are the twins...The sketches are good and cross hatching is for people with little patience...complete the two in 2 days.

Here is what I had said about the sketches in one of the previous posts:

I completed two sketches...one last week and one today of twin girls...both in pen and ink...I love the cross hatch technique of shading ...so this is what I have learnt so far ...
lesson one : pen and ink is an unforgiving medium... in the sense if you make a mistake there is no way you can correct it ..at least I haven't found one so far.

lesson two: dont get carried away...I made that mistake in the first sketch and the others as well...an area where you start shading can quickly darken...in my first pen and ink portrait I started with a happy women with bright eyes..and before I knew it the overshadowing that turned her into a victim of domestic violence....

like in Khyati's sketch above....I ended up overshading the lips and looks like a 1 year old is wearing lipstic...

My first stipple sketch

Here is my first stipple sketch ...it took me ages to complete but I kind of love the final results

I started with my first stipple sketch yesterday. It started as a regular sketch but then I realized why not try stippling this time. Stippling is great for people who have loads of patience. I am not one of them unfortunately, but I have decided to keep on going. Will post the final results as soon as it is done.

So what is the worst thing that you can do as a fledgling artist who is trying to self learn by trial and error ..??
....make portrait of someone you know...and then have the person beat the hell out of your work...:) well even though I know the dangers , I couldnt help but give in to the temptation of sketching someone I know...lets see how it goes from here

This was my first attempt using pen and ink. For ages I have scribbled on notebooks...books...scraps of papers...but I never really had a sketch book...I really enjoyed doing a complete sketch for a change instead of just eyes...or half a face (my all time favourite..dont have to care about symmetry..)

Since this was my first attempt I showed it around to anyone and everyone who cared to see it...and I got interesting comments ...its funny how you can start seeing things in the same sketch ..things which were not visible to you before...the first comment was "is it a man"....and I was like "oh no...." but then I did see the strong jawline...
Another comment was "she looks sad...were you sad when you sketched this..." and I realized....ya I have this underlying sadness in all the sketches...is it a reflection of the thoughts within....maybe ....

This is a water color we did last semester. A big thanks to Aparna for coaxing me to join the class. The only shred of sanity left in me the last semester was because of this class. I wanted a blond bride, a contrast to the indian skin tone...but I hestitation to put color on face backfired a little...she looks a little nauseated to me ....have to improve on that...but I still feel that the photo does not do justice to the actual thing.

I dont know what to write actually. Last year I started sketching again after a long time and showed around my sketches. Someone suggested that I should create a blog with the sketches. and I was like "Whaaat..I am not that good " but then I thought .."Hmm..ok maybe its not such a bad idea"...I was taking a sketching class at the Pittsburgh Centre of Arts and this is my first sketch. Its a place near Seattle called the Snowqualmie (not sure of the spelling...) Falls...I used a combination of pen and pencils in this one ....

I just love the rocks...the magic of working with pen ...I worked on the cracks and just loved it ...for some people it is easier to work on landscapes, but it is tough if one is used to symmetry and order because nature lacks that ...and thats the beauty of it. I find it hard because I have to make an effort to make asymmetric things...like the trees in this sketch for instance..I wasnt really happy with it because I thought they looked too symmetric...almost unnatural...but overall I still liked the end result...

It looks like a gloomy day ...there is a lack of sunlight and shadows in the picture...