Penn's Sketchbook

Longhorn cow.  Pen and ink sketch.  2017 I took photos of the steps taken to draw this longhorn cow for day 4 of Inktober. We encountered this very pretty cow during one visit to Lake Tobias. The materials I used were: a cell phone photo, sketchbook, .07 mechanical pencil, kneaded eraser, Faber Castell ink pens and brush pen, and a water brush filled with a mix of reddish watercolor ink.  1) First, I drew a rectangle box to contain the shape of the body and a triangle that would contain the shape of the head. I then drew straight lines to mark off angles and body parts. Next, I began drawing lines to define the cow's form. 2) I drew lines within the straight line boxes to define the animal's form and parts. 3) After the shape of the cow and its parts were defined, I began to draw little details and mark areas where shading and color could be added later. 4) I outlined the pencil lines with ink and used a water brush filled with ...

Saturday, September 2, I went out at 7:30 AM to paint the Leola Thrift Shoppe. The sky was overcast, but I wanted to complete the storefront challenge opened by James Gurney, which had officially ended two days before, and also start using my new customized outdoor easel. I setup my watercolors and began with a careful sketch of the storefront. I used a ruler to help with straight lines and angles and to estimate perspective. When the shop manager arrived, I explained what I was up to and requested permission to continue. She was very encouraging and expressed interest in seeing the final result. Customized outdoor easel After correcting the sketch to a satisfying degree, I began painting quickly, mixing and adjusting colors as needed on the fly. It began to rain, so I held an umbrella in one hand after unsuccessfully clamping it to the side of the easel. Before opening time, two associates, one of whom happens to have plans to study art, arrived and came over to see my ...

I took the advice of my sister recently and added some of my sketches to Instagram . My plan is to update Instagram with new sketches as I am working on them. Watercolor sketches have been slow for me lately because of other commitments, but when the time becomes available again, I will be doing another portrait painting and a landscape painting, if God wills. Here is the account: https://www.instagram.com/penntomassetti/

En plein air  refers to the practice of painting outdoors on location and is French for "outdoors." This is the opposite of painting in a studio. Below is a plein air painting by John Sargent of Claude Monet painting outdoors. Claude Monet  Painting by the Edge of a Wood  (1885) by  John Singer Sargent . Oil on canvas. 54.0 × 64.8 cm.  Tate Gallery , London. [Image from Wikipedia .] See more works by Claude Monet from artsy.net . Since learning more about this practice of painting and drawing, I am slowly beginning to try it out. This weekend, I had an extra hour, so I went to a park and found the tree below, which I painted on location in watercolors. I used a water brush (inspired by James Gurney's post here ) and a portable watercolor palette that I added some paints to. I wanted to do a study of a tree and found this perfect young oak as a subject. The next day, I was at the playground with my wife and son, when s...

"Do you want to see how to draw a box? I'll show you." My dad picked up the pencil and drew a square on a piece of paper. I watched as he connected diagonal lines to mimick a 3D box. From that very early lesson, my mind was settled that drawing was what I wanted to do. My mom would often take my brothers, sister and me to a large public library located in Exton, PA, where I would pick out books about animals and attempt to draw from the photos and illustrations displayed inside. This and many outdoors experiences led to continued drawings of animals and birds, even during and after design school. Cactus Wren. Watercolor class project. 2003. Illustration class project. Watercolor and Color Pencil. 2003. In 2006 I began working in the wall coverings industry as a digital graphic artist. I later worked in textile design before switching to another role. During much of the last decade in the commercial art world, I no longer produced much regarding ...