Writing on the Wall

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Elisa Choi

Have you ever written on the wall? I did. Somewhere in the crevices I draw and sometimes I write my name.

Who’s your national hero? Are you inspired by him or her while carrying out your dreams? I am.

I don’t know if I REALLY know who I am. Most of the time I struggle to be wholeheartedly ME. But I always pray that every time I am turning out into “WHO-AM-I?” I will stay CONNECTED with myself. Be MORE AWARE.

I love God so much. He’s part of my life. Without Him I am nothing. He’s the reason for my every thing.

Sometimes I want my drawings to be perfect. Then something like a “oopsie” moment might happen like the wrong splash of colors or the wrong stroke. But hey I remind myself that darling my drawing is A-OK! Stop being too hard on oneself.

All the hurt, pain, regret, anxiety, fear, guilt, past, sorrow, shame, negativity… Let it Go. It’s difficult, yes but slowly bring in the learning and positiveness and courage for that DREAM.

Climb every mountain ford every dream. Follow every rainbow till you find your dream.

Welcome to my Sketchbook Project 2012: Writing on the Wall. Above are just some additional pages of my sketchbook. It has been an incredible and amazing journey of creating and brainstorming. It’s definitely a worthwhile first experience of getting my work out there.

The Wall is my sketchbook and the illustrations that are portrayed and the things that I pasted here are personal to me. I am illustrating my life after all. If you want to see the other pages of my sketchbook feel free to browse my several previous posts here.

Anyone from Brooklyn, Chicago, Portland,Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Greater Boston Area, Portland, Toronto, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Austin…?

I hope you could drop by and check my sketchbook (along with thousand others) and drop me a message when you do! I would really appreciate that since I don’t live near those places and cannot see those incredible sketchbooks myself. The places and dates are here. Tour starts April 2012!

How about you PPF artists, did you join the Sketchbook Project 2012? I love to see your work!

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Overlaying Colors

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Elisa Choi

I was studying how to overlay colors and decided to try my hands on this exercise of painting a still life of a swede and a pear.

Since watercolor is transparent, we have to put in the lightest color first then gradually build up the color as we work so that some of the underlying colors will show through. I managed to put in light paint first by diluting it with water. Then I started mixing bolder colors to give it depth and tone.

Still this painting is quite a “disaster” for me. However, I am learning how to layer colors using watercolor paint but often I find it frustrating that the colors don’t just blend in but instead they look like another set of colors just piled in. Also, I learn not to control watercolor but it’s funny how hard I always try to fix it which results to more chaotic mess.

I am sharing this with Paint Party Friday and needing your advice: Have you ever tried layering colors using watercolor paints? If so, how do you do it? Any tips on how to avoid colors running around each other? How do I blend the colors harmoniously?

Thank you everyone and have a great weekend! God bless you all!

The Tone in Colors

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Elisa Choi

I fancy architecture. I draw this piece from the cover of my watercolor pencil case. I am studying tone in colors and thought I could apply the concept in this drawing.

I color this with Derwent watercolor pencils. You can see how the light and shade (tone) are created on where the sun and shadow hits the different parts of the structure. To make a tone darker, I learn to add black + the original color varying the intensity with the former. To achieve a lighter effect, I add more water.

I love the vividness of the colors. I love how a little black can create a whole range of tone that makes a drawing three dimensional and more interesting. What I am aiming to achieve next is to make drawings as accurately as possible.

I am sharing this on Paint Party Friday and hope you might learn something. If you have additional lessons or experiences to impart about tones feel free to share them in the comments. I love to hear them (and respond)!

I hope you all have a great day! God bless everyone!

Watercolor Pencils Fun

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Elisa Choi

I got another new set of “toys” to play with and that is none other than the watercolor pencils from Derwent! Thanks to my boyfriend who has given me this gorgeous set! I am loving my art toys so far!

I can’t wait to try them and so I grabbed my sketchbook and a chair and hop outside for some garden drawing. There is this beautiful colored plant that caught my attention and I sketched it right away. I traced it with my Micron Pigma 3.0 and then started to color them with watercolor pencils much like how you use a color pencil. Then I use a round brush 6 dipping it a bit on water and started to gently brush the color on the paper and voila! Here is my painting of the pink with prussian blue + black strikes plant!

I love how it is very easy to mix and control the paint around with watercolor pencils. The two colors don’t bleed much into one another because of the little water used.

But of course watercolor paints are great to use as well. I love the medium very much and I am going to practice more whether it’s watercolor pencil or watercolor paint.

Have you ever tried watercolor pencil? Let me know how you find it!

Please join me at Paint Part Friday hosted by Kristin and Eva for some inspiration and appreciation of art. Happy weekend everyone!

je t’aime

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Elisa Choi

If there is one place in the world that I am crazy about, that would definitely be Paris.
Paris is music to my ears.
The Eiffel Tower is such a magnificent structure. Beautiful piece of iron.
Drawing it and making it look pretty doesn’t do justice for this famous tower.
Nevertheless, I have never felt this close to Paris.
Making this watercolor art definitely bring me closer to my dream destination.
Je t’aime!

What’s your dream destination?

Please join me and see what our other artists are up to at Paint Party Friday!

Have a great weekend everyone! Take care!

Battling Thoughts of an Artist

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Elisa Choi

I am sharing with you the first 3 pages of my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012.

All the negative thoughts are precipitated to the sea but often times it will condensed back to the brain.

Make as many pies as you can. Depends on the occasion!

Create with wild abandon! Or create without thinking.

* *

I often fight with my mind. Sometimes it wins over me but other times I triumph over it. The 3 pages of drawings are what I am going through every now and then and how I always remind myself to stop worrying and just create.

These are all created in watercolor and just right for Paint Party Friday! PPF is a great initiative by Kristin and Eva where we submit our paintings every Friday for others to see and enjoy. I hope you all have a great weekend ahead!

Do what you love. Love what you do.

Category Archives: Sketchbook Project 2012