Feeling artistic all over again

I rarely pass on any given opportunity to sketch, although the quality of my sketches these days are detriorating. Having said that, when I put some effort and time into it - I'm quite amazed at what I could draw.

I drew this a few months back for our rogaining team, the Sleepy Crawlies. We're meant to be in a bug inspired sleeping bag. I think it's cute :P Most of my drawings are still in pencil. I don't really know how to use pens properly yet.

I've recently completed a 5 week acrylic painting class at the WEA. I struggled more than I expected to. Blaargh, long gone were my glorious painting days! I've only used poster paint in the past and acrylics behave quite differently. It was quite challenging to get use to the quick drying time and the fact that the paint becomes insoluble in water after it has dried. I don't have a lot of colours so I've got to mix a few colours to obtain them. This also proved harder than initially thought to be!

On the first 2 lessons, we were asked to mix colours and paint the colour wheel. The third lesson was the most interesting, as we were taught to paint a subject using different techniques. I've never painted so many bananas in my life.

On week 4, the task was painting still life. Our teacher, Rebecca, arranged some props like fruits, bottles and foliage on a table. If the class went on for another hour, I may have finished it... maybe not :P 

Our final assignment was painting anything of our choice. A friend was doing some research before her big Europe trip and uploaded a really stunning scenery (Tuscany, I think). I saved the picture on my phone and decided to use it as my reference. The finished product:

To be frank, I'm quite surprised it turned out pretty awesome (by my standards). Awesome! :)