Lady at the piano

I found this oil painting on the Internet by Theodore Robinson and liked the composition so I decided to give it a go in watercolor.

Rinaldo and Armida

One of the best ways to improve your drawing skills is to practice by copying works of great artists.  I've been having fun with my new Lamy fountain pen and decided to sketch this famous painting by Nicolas Poussin.  In this painting, Rinaldo is a soldier during the first crusades who is held as a lovesick prisoner of Armida until his comrades remind him of his mission.

Pas de deux

I saw a photo of two San Francisco ballet dancers and tried to capture some of their energy and grace in this sketch

Still life composition

Last weekend I arranged some fruit and a tea cup on our kitchen counter playing around with different positions.  I had trouble deciding where to focus the composition so I started with a pencil sketch and did some thumbnail drawings.  I wanted the apple and banana to be the main subject.  Today I completed a watercolor painting of this still life composition.  I think the apple should be a warmer red and the teacup a more turquoise color..

Before cars there were sewing machines

My wife purchased this sewing machine made over half a century ago by Toyota.

The Countess of Rocksavage

John Singer Sargent painted some amazing portraits.  Here is a drawing of the Countess of Rocksavage which is one of my favorites.  Of course it is nothing like the original.

Roses are red

I decided to try my luck at painting the same rosé I did as a drawing a couple of weeks ago.  I struggled to apply pink that did not appear washed out.  I think next time I'll mix in a little yellow and less white into the reds.  I like the balance of the overall composition.  Last weekend I saw some Dutch floral paintings at the DeYoung museum that were truly amazing.  Painting this rose made me really appreciate the amount of work involved.