Exploration + Things I Like

So my wintwin Kelsey is back in California, and yesterday we (I'm looking for a word but I can't find it - is recommenced a word?) met up again for our weekly Win Twin Tuesday, wherein she makes delicious food and I take photos but mostly just eat it all. Then we went on an adventure down to the canyon near my house: I am personally a big fan of getting good and muddy when traipsing through a foresty area, especially when one has big boots, and one manages to not fall on one's behind. I was not disappointed. It was a good walk, and hopefully there shall be more in the future!

Also, here's some Things I Like:

This Week

I'm sick with a gnarly headcold - hopefully the medicine will kick in and I'll be able to do some art (or clean my room which desperately needs it) but until then, I'm sitting in bed and sipping coffee and dayquil. All I've got in terms of an update are a few pics from the week, so enjoy: It's finally raining in San Francisco! The best way to spend a day off is home in bed listening to rain pour outside, in my opinion. Hope everyone's doing well, and have a good weekend! xo.

New Ink + From the Sketchbook

My co-worker gave me a little jar of walnut ink to try out, and today I thought I'd give it a shot. It's awesome! It's like a watercolor and ink in one, and the perfect shade of brown.
Just finished watching the new season of Sherlock and it's incredible. So I doodled John Watson and Sherlock Holmes.

John turned out much better than Sherlock. Surprisingly. Why can't I draw you, Benedict Cumberbatch, with your amazing cheekbones?

And because I have nothing else to share, here's a few doodles from the sketchbook from lately. The pages of blind-contour people are how I keep myself entertainted while waiting for planes to board at the airport.

New Paintins

Just a small note to let you all know there are some new tiny (3x3 inches-ish) paintings in the shop! Feel free to check them out!

Tutorial: Watercolor Sketch

So I was doing some watercolor sketches of whale skulls today, and I thought maybe you all would like to see a quick little step-by-step of how I do them? This technique (If you can call it that) is super messy and fast - perfect for if you're on the fly or traveling or just don't feel like committing too much time to a piece but want to play with some color.

So first you start with a sketch. I did mine in 3B pencil last night while waiting for something to load or something. It's a sperm whale skull! Hence the teeth on the lower jaw.

Then I did a light wash of yellow ochre and burnt umber. I used this freebie sumi brush but it sucked.

Another, slightly darker wash over the darker areas. Switched to a better brush this time.

Then I decided that this baby needed a background, so I mixed some burnt umber with some red and washed away.

Then did the darkest darks on the skull. I didn't have a reference picture, so who knows if the shadowing is accurate or not.

Blend out the darkest darks. Dang, this sketch is wet!

Another layer of darkest darks.

Blend the darks out again.
And there you have it! One Sperm Whale skull watercolor sketch done. Took about 10 minutes total, and most of that was drying time. Watercolors are so fun to mess around with and experiment with! Hope everyone enjoyed this dumb little tutorial! Bye for now.

Things I Like

Here are some things I am currently digging:
Spent yesterday and today watching all of The Office (UK). So fantastic.
Sherlock season 2. Haven't watched the second episode yet but the first was fantastic and I can't get enough of these two. (I seem to be on a Martin Freeman kick.)

And pretty things:

All photos link back to their sources.

New Digs!

Well everyone, it took me about two days total, but check out the new layout! Ooh aah, right? I've even got PAGES up there (which I haven't put any real content on yet, hahaha). It took me AGES to figure out how to get a background image behind them, holy moley, but I can say I learned a few new things about CSS today. Still a few things to fix, but I think I like this layout a lot.

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to take a photo every day, and so far, so good, but I dunno, I think I had better go on an adventure or two sometime soon because taking photos around the house is pretty boring. Although I did get to start my new year in Seattle, so I have a bit of a variety, photo-wise.

Things I Like

Well kids, my stay in Seattle is winding down. I'm heading back to the bay tomorrow, away from this gray weather and my mom's amazing cooking and these great thrift stores. And so, since I have nothing else to say of much importance, and since my new computer doesn't freeze every time I go on tumblr, how about some things that I like right now? Happy 2012 everyone, hope you're all enjoying the new year!

Holidays

Wow. Trying out the new blogger interface and it is weirdddd.

Hi everyone! Hope everyone's having an awesome holiday season. I'm up in Seattle enjoying the lovely (gray & wet) weather, and eating myself into a food coma.

Speaking of holidays, I got quite a haul for the Christmas, including this epic stack of used books. (I love a good used book. Especially these, which were on clearance, what whattt! Thank you Half-Price Books in Seattle.) Here we see the Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes (I have no idea if this book is going to be good or not but hey, two dollars.), The Man Who Would Be King and Other Stories by Rudyard Kipling, A HUGE biography on Napoleon Bonaparte (thanks, Mom!) by Alan Schom, the classic Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton, What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool, Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg, and Men Against the Sea by Charles Nordhoff. Quite a strange stack, but I'm totally stoked.

My Mom also helped me get a brand new computer (soooo necessary, my old one is on it's last legs) and it was insanely generous of her, and it is so awesome! So much faster and better than my other one! Oh, and maybe my favorite thing about Christmas?

WHALE KNEE SOCKS. AHHH.

Kat in the Kitchen - Or, Failure.

So the other night my friends picked me up from work and we went to see the midnight movie of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

I recommend it. If you are like me and enjoy the Victorian era and slow-motion explosions and, you know, Robert Downey Jr, then this movie is well worth your twelve dollars. (Man, remember when movie tickets were like 7 dollars? Those were the days.)


Also last week my pal Kelsey made these amazing cup pies. They are so freaking good. You should check them out.

I am currently trying to make a frappuccino a la this recipe, but it's all foamy and I don't think I like it. Maybe it's because I used fat-free milk? Or didn't put in the xanthan gum? Maybe the coffee isn't strong enough. This is why Kelsey has the cooking blog - I can't even make a dang mixed drink right! I guess I'll stick to being behind the camera!