Amsterdam Inspiration - 2

A quick ink drawing of the Amsterdam scenery. 

Amsterdam Inspiration

I spent a lot of time in Amsterdam this year and was inspired by the canals and the narrow buildings.  I have started a series of sketches and paintings based on my pictures from Amsterdam.  Here is one of the first from the installment.

This is a quick study of the architecture in ink, watercolor pencil and wash.

Venice study

Here are a few sketches of scenes from Venice from our trip to Europe this summer.

Rialto bridge in charcoal.  Reference was a photograph I took from one of the piers.

A quick study of one of the Venice canals with a multi-colored pencil.  I found this interesting pencil which contains a multi-colored lead.  It is one pencil with a lead with multiple pigments in it.  Unfortunately, it contains a lot of red and hence the reddish hue to the sketch.

Europe Inspiration

We visited France and Italy this summer and I was inspired by all the renaissance art and architecture.  I started making a few drawings/paintings/sculptures based on this inspiration.  Here are a few of the quick studies from the trip.

I started this sketch of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on the train ride from Florence to Venice.  The reference was a photograph.

This is a pencil study. I will be posting more from our trip shortly.

Sculpture study

One of my bucket list items is to sit in a famous art museum in Paris and study one of the masterpieces.  But, whenever I visited the museums, I was either not prepared or did not have the time to sit down.

This month, I got to visit Paris on work and had a chance to visit Musee d'Orsay.  I saw many art students copying pieces of art (copying a painting or sketching a sculpture) and that inspired me to give it a shot.  I had some time all for myself so I could sit down and study one of the art pieces.  Unfortunately, yet again, I was unprepared.  All I had was a clutch pencil from my hotel and a few sheets of printer paper.  Nothing to scream about, when it comes to sketching.  But, I wanted to give it a shot and knock off one of my bucket list items.

I picked the 'Woman bitten by a snake' by Auguste Clesinger.  It is a marble statue of a woman writhing in pain from a snake bite.  I liked the sculpture because of the tension and torsion in the statue caused by the twisted pose.  And, there was a ledge right across the statue in the museum.  Perfect for sitting on and studying the work.

Below is a picture of the actual statue in Orsay, and a few pics of me sketching it and the final result.  Overall, it took me about 30-45 mins to complete the study.  Enough time to rest my feet before checking out more art!
 

Russell Wilson

After Seahawks clinched the NFC West Championship title, I had to sketch Russell Wilson.  This is a pen and pencil sketch.  I initially started with a pen outline and shaded Russell's face and hands with pencil.  Later on, I could not resist but color his jersey, helmet and the ball. 

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela: 1918 - 2013