Long Forgotten Laundry

A goldfinch perched in flowers that took up residence within a forgotten pair of jeans.  I just loved this concept when I imagined it.  It's very exciting to have it here brought to life.  Drawn with archival ink pen, painted with watercolors and accented with alcohol ink and colored pencil.

Shared with Paint Party FridayA Favorite Thing

Settled on a Petal in a Quiet Part of the Yard

I've been spending the last few days decorating and setting up the art cottage.  It's a 10 x 10 kit shed.  My husband built it, added insulation, paneling, and carpet.  I put up curtains on three of the four walls to add color and texture plus it softened up the small space.  The girls and I found second hand a wicker settee for seating that they can enjoy and a kitchen island that will work well as an art desk.  We picked up a small shelf and a few art pieces for the walls at the local department store.  All that is left now is finding a shallow storage cabinet to safely store supplies in.  I've already begun using the space to create.  This is a watercolor lily and butterfly that I drew and really enjoyed painting.

Shared with Paint Party Friday. Link Love

Sunday Sketches

Daffodil Watercolor Painting Art Cottage Joy

After having a fun home school Easter party with the girls we spent a lovely part of the morning enjoying sunshine.  My husband was hard at work in the new 10 x 10 shed he is constructing.  Some of you may remember in October that I reorganized the shed to have a space to use separate from the house for artsy fun but the idea was quickly shunned by him and dropped.  He made up for it with this building which I will be transforming over time into an art cottage.  I'm beside myself with enthusiasm.  The girls and I went to the store and bought lilies for the cottage to have a front garden.  Lovely Oriental Stargazers and Commander in Chiefs, the girls found strawberry plants they will be growing this summer too.   We have daffodils in full bloom out front so it's easy to get into the gardening spirit.  Here is the finished daffodil watercolor painting that I started last week of those plants when they first started to blossom they're much fuller now.  Isn't spring great?

Shared with A Favorite Thing

Flower and F is for Fitness

Similar to the lizard I made before here is a flower that I added to the same spread. Done with india ink, colored pencils and acrylic paint.  The bottles are a photo paper and then I added the flower.  Also my A to Z of Me letter F.

Shared with A to Z of Me

Draw Something Orange

I went overboard with this one.  I asked my daughter to find some orange toys for me to draw I then took what she brought me and stacked them, snapped a picture and drew.  One looking at the photograph upside down and then another looking at it right side up.  The thing on the horses head is a toy tangerine.  Both with a max of five minutes including color the goal was to avoid the over think bug and just go with the flow.  Later that morning my husband walked in with his yearly Valentine's Day offering of roses I love it but I act nonchalant I'm a turd like that.  I don't want him to think I'm too won over by the act, but I usually am.  After he sets them on the counter and walks away I look and realize those too are orange.  Something new to draw, oh yeah!  Two, two, two drawings in one.

EDM 296 Times Two

EDM 296

Shared with Mandarin Orange Monday

Drawing a Leaf Collection

While Aurora was playing outside I spied a pretty leaf and picked it up.  After hunting around for a few more I tucked them away and saved them for drawing.  They are the most lovely leaves I could find with their deep reds and hints of yellow.  After finishing I checked my every day matter list and figured they apply to #41 - Draw a collection.  I've also included a photo of my work area to share with What's on your workdesk Wednesday.  This is actually my kitchen counter I find this area the easiest to work at when the girls are up during the day.

Draw a Fall Leaf

The object for "Draw a Fall Leaf" fell into my lap, literally.  I was watching the girls play in their sandbox with my sketchbook in hand wondering what I was going to draw.  I leaned over and plucked a random plant.  The three leaf clover with the cool little hole in it.  When the clover was almost finished the leaf came down I almost brushed it away then realized I had plenty of white space to fill. 

I would have gone on a hunt for a third object to round out the picture but the girls were winging sand everywhere and didn't stop.  Just like school one person makes a mistake and everyone has to stop playing.

Tonight I'm going to set a large bowl out under the trees.  Whatever it catches I'm going to draw tomorrow.  How's that for random art?

Don't forget to link up your art for Show Me Something Creative the deadline for this week is Oct 9th.

EDM 34

Shared with Sunday Sketches

Spectrum of Rose Scents

The picture here is a rose I made the other night I was a little tired so the blending isn't as good as I would have liked but as an exercise I thought it was fair.  The white areas are cut out which gives it this cool real feeling when I hold it.  When I draw roses I think of my Mom.  She loves roses and as a little girl growing up I learned the pleasure of the differing aromas.  She would tell me the name of the rose and insist that I must smell it.  The perfume/soap smell that the stores name "Rose" doesn't capture what naturally occurs in nature.

I spent a portion of today brainstorming a few more alphabet inspired drawings.  Lately my brainstorms are taking place in a lined notebook and usually involve strange little doodles.  Mostly I play around with placement and finding the sweet spots that make the future drawing work best.  I hope to get the final drawings done later this week for letters E, F and G. 

See the earlier Alphabet Inspired art pieces.

* Shirley brought it to my attention that my blog settings were limiting comment ability. I updated the settings and look forward to hearing from visitors who were otherwise unable to comment in the past.

Shared with Paint Party Friday

Draw Something You Got for Free

My daughter brought this leaf in yesterday and asked me to draw it for her.  I love when she finds interesting back yard treasures that she wants memorialized.  The thing that I got for free was a chance to make my daughter happy with a piece of art.



EDM 250

Draw Somewhere New

An exploring adventure close to home.

EDM 72

Stop Think and Play Make the Heart Glow

Just for the record I absolutely LOVED making these art cards.  The colors, the way they flowed across the paper.  Everything about them I felt as they were created.  There was quite a bit to learn with regard to color placement.  An entire piece can be ruined simply by improper placement.  I had multiple test sheets for Heart of the Matter, Concentration and Warm Glow.  It ticked me off that Warm Glow didn't fall into place.  Such a simple design, right?  It was originally drawn as a white daisy and brown moth but the moth's size with regard to the flower kept forcing my mind to see a sunflower.  A brown moth on a sunflower would get so totally lost in the brown flower center that the whole thing was revamped.  Concentration took the most strokes to create.  There are layers upon layers of warm violets and cool blue violets.  I really wanted the petals to have the look of velvety depth.  Every card has a creation story, here were two.  Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did bringing them to life.

At Play

Warm Glow

Stop Over

Concentration

Heart of the Matter

Luna Moth Purple Flower Artist Trading Card

I drew this card for an MMH request for a large moth on a flower.  This moth is called a Luna and they do get relatively large.  The flower is similar to flowers that I am currently growing in my gardens.  The colors on this card really compliment each other.

Luna Moth

Birds Eye View of the Garden

08-01-2011 The title basically says it all. 

Private Bench

Rose Arbor

Angle Path

100 Card Challenge 41 thru 48

06-30-2011 On a roll!  Last week I drew 41 to 48 of the 100 card challenge.  This week I added the color.  Finally finishing them last night.  My favorite is #43 pictured here. 

#43 of the 100 Card Challenge "Dying"

Teamwork didn't come out as nicely as I would have liked. The drawing was shaky.  Standing Still I strove for getting the glass of the lamp correct.  Dying was a focus on the shadows beneath the water as well as getting the concrete to look very hard with the flower petals soft and light.  Two Roads was a bit more complex then I would have liked.  I think the overall idea is achieved but I had trouble figuring out how to make the sun beam look natural.  Illusion was just for fun.  I had an extra lemur from a previous special request and I thought the look on his face was interesting so I tried to make him look like he was having a psychedelic moment.  Family reminds me of how every family has the Too serious, the Too goofy and the How did I get in this family? members.  Creation makes me imagine flowers and honey bees when I look at it.  I liked the complex thoughts that came with a simple design/name.  Finally Childhood may not make sense to anyone but me.  My first pet as an adult ending my childhood was a cat named Mobley. He was a Turkish Van cat and that is a homage to him and the end of the days of climbing trees.

To Smell a Rose

05-06-2011 Some rose cards, I was very pleased with the results.

Violin Roses

Glam Roses

Rose Bowl

Windows

"The theme is Windows. Have you seen some that the architecture is so interesting? Or maybe a simple window with curtains and a flower box?"

Purple Window

Tropical Window

Wall of Windows

Butterflies in the Garden

03-08-2011 Three flowers with some butterflies (possibly moths) on them for the In the Garden Series.

Butterfly #1

Butterfly #2

Butterfly #3

"Butterfly #1" Copic Recipe:
Flower YR31, Y35, Y38, G99
Butterfly E59, YR16, Y28
Background YG17, 0

"Butterfly #2" Copic Recipe:
Flower YR07, YR16, Y38, YR31, G21, G14, G28
Butterfly YR16, Y38, YR31, E43
Background BG01, 0

"Butterfly #3" Copic Recipe:
Flower G17, R22, R29
Butterfly Y11, Y15, Y17, 100
Background YG17, V15, 0

Beauty and the Beast Series

11-14-2010 These marker drawn art trading cards depict "beauties" and their "beast" counterparts.

Set One
Bird Wing Butterfly/Caterpillar

Set Two
Happy Baby/Mad Toddler

Set Three
Ocean Salmon/River Salmon

These six cards were sent to Claudine in my ATC Club for the Beauty and the Beast swap.

Rain Drops Series

11-02-2010 I created these cards using bic, sharpie and copics and high lighted them with acrylic paint.  My favorite is the red rose petal.

Leaf

Clover

Purple Petal

Rose Petal

These four cards were sent to Pear in my ATC Club for the Rain swap.

Lonesome

9-9-2010 Lonesome is the first leaf cascading to the ground as autumn begins.  Leaving behind all the other leaves, soon to follow.

This card was sent to Corrine in my ATC Club for the Fall for Fall swap.