Al Fresco Art Club Challenge, July 12, 2020 -- Ink and Watercolor à la Miyazaki

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Today’s Al Fresco Art Club Challenge took place in the kitchen rather than outdoors. Besides being a little lazy, we had another good reason for staying inside: it’s too hot and windy to expose our carbon-based bodies to direct sunlight

Today’s challenge was the same as last week’s: paint an ink drawing and using watercolors. I looked into my copy of The Art of Kiki’s Deliver Service, A Film by Hayao Miyazaki and found a great drawing of Kiki lying in the grass daydreaming about her future. Rather than draw Kiki, I drew my own character, Jimmy Jay. Tonight I’m going to watch the movie again, in Japanese, of course.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge -- Pencil and Watercolor

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Winsor and Newton Cotman Water Color paints:: cerulean blue, Antwerp Blue, Compose Green, Raw Sienna, Sepia, Sap Green, etc.

Today’s challenge was to do a one-hour sketch and paint using graphite and watercolor. I sketched and painted the vegan crocodile character from my second children’s picture book. My inspiration, though it may not be apparent, is Hayao Miyazaki’s charming Ghibli Museum’s Watercolor Set, which is based on the actual watercolors that he uses himself. The only way to get the kit is to buy it at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. It just so happens that one of my long term goals is to learn to read and speak enough Japanese to travel to Japan and live there for a while. Of course, I’ll go to the Ghibli Museum to buy my own watercolor kit.

My resources

  • Ghiblicon.com

  • Mateusz Urbanowicz, Youtube: Recreating Hayao Miyazaki’s Watercolor Set Part 1 and Recreating Hayao Miyazaki’s Watercolor Set Part 2

  • A list of the colors in the currently available set:

    1. Crimson Lake (W 010)
    2. Opera (W 013)
    3. Vermillion Hue (W 019)
    4. Yellow Ochre (W 034)
    5. Permanent Yellow Lemon (W 035)
    6. Permanenet Yellow Deep (W 037)
    7. Permanenet Yellow Orange (W 038)
    8. Yellow Grey (W 151)
    9. Viridian Hue (W 061)
    10. Permanent Green No. 1 (W 066)
    11. Cadmium Green Deep (W 070)
    12. Bamboo Green (W 078)
    13. Cobalt Blue Hue (W 091)
    14. Cerulean Blue (W 092)
    15. Ultramarine Deep (W 094)
    16. Compose Blue (W 096)
    17. Prussian Blue (W 097)
    18. Lavender (W 116)
    19. Bright Violet (W 175)
    20. Light Red (W 130)
    21. Burnt Umber (W 133)
    22. Burnt Sienna (W 134)
    23. Davy's Grey (W 155)
    24. Ivory Black (W 138)

Chore Day, May 9, 2020: Cooking and Sketching

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As expected, I cooked up some veggie burgers for my pug. I should mention that I did more weed whacking, and then the laundry. In other words, the same chores as last week. But, I got done a little early and had time to read. I’m currently re-reading Nausicaä by Hayao Miyazaki. He’s a master of pen and ink. I attempted a copy of one of the simpler images in the 1,800 page book.