I’m continuing to try draw and paint on a daily basis and the art challenge that my sister DaphSam and I host the DaphXine Art Challenge has been really helpful in giving my ideas. I’ve been primarily focusing on specific elements, figuring that these will be useful building blocks to work on. Baby steps. I tend to try to take on too much at one time and want to be the best at what I do immediately. I’ve been reminding myself that you need to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run.

My confidence is still lacking so after drawing the Arc de Triomphe numerous times, I finally got it down on the watercolor paper. But once I got that far, I decided to scan it and color it in using Photoshop. I was initially afraid to finish the watercolor.

I continued practicing other sketches, including one of the Eiffel Tower.

By the end end of the week, I decided to go ahead and paint the original pen drawing (Micron pens) I had put down in my sketchbook (Canson Mix Media paper) earlier in the week. Using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors and the no. 21 Gray, I set to work while listening to the audiobook of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.

I really enjoy this month’s travel theme, I enjoy focusing on places I visited or foods I have eaten in certain places. Next week’s challenge theme is Italy. Hmmm…..I wonder what I’ll attempt next.