Succulent Sketch

Sketch in a box.

Birds of Prey

I decided to do one more bird.

A beautiful raptor, the Osprey.

My husband and I used to see them when we were kayaking.

They are so beautiful, so fierce if you get too close to their nests!


Pen drawing - no corrections.

A little correction with the mighty erasure.
.

And, my favorite, the color edition.

Shadow on neck is fading out.

Bachman's Warbler

Photoshop Elements Collage

Maybe I should just call it a compilation of images instead of a collage...

I scanned Dover images into PSE.
Then I removed the background on all of them.
And put them all together!


I thought they would make a really cute screen for a kids shirt.

Here's one -

And here's the other one -

Originally I had another mouse in the first one - peeking out from behind the tree.
But I removed him because he wasn't printing well on fabric.
Here's a sample print.
You can see the extra mouse behind the rabbit.

I can barely see that he is a mouse.
So, he had to go.

I printed this with Simply Screen (water based screen printing paint). It is #98528 Sugar Plum (a metallic).
I bought the paint on sale at Hobby Lobby. Cheap, effective and a nice variety of colors.
But a little tacky after it dries. Not so noticable on fabric but it is on paper.
Which is where I usally use up my excess paint after a printing session.



I haven't printed the racoon screen yet.

But I have printed this lovely unicorn I sketched out.

And it's really wierd that this scanned out as this pale color.
It was printed with a #98530 OMG Pink. Which is a neon pink...
Weird, I tell you.

But the prints are not.
They are really cute!

Pen to Paper

Since I can't seem to accomplish anything else in the studio these days (I have been fishing though!), here are a few marks I have made.

My plan is to prepare these images for my shop of thermofax screens.

A bit of a different color palette for me. Just playing around...

 

 

 

A rooster!

Same rooster, darker lines.

Right. Left.

A few feathers darkened as well as the chest. I like it!

I guess I was obsessed with rooster for a few days...

Possible Up and Coming Thermofax Screens

Possibly.
Maybe.
Well, we'll see (as my mom used to say) (OMG or was that me?)...

A collage of kitties

One cool kitty.

A pack of dogs.

Pen to Paper

I'm baaaaaaaack...

I sketched this while looking at a photo in a book.
I did draw in pencil first (couldn't locate my pen) and then
I just drew right over the pencil lines.

Sleeping Cats

I've been rather quiet on this front - my blog.

I have spent a bit of time resting but mostly busy working on a couple of projects that will go into books that will be out by the end of the year or next year.


I have been collecting some leaves and things for eco dyeing.
I went to Clemson Botanical Garden (about 25 minutes from my house) and gathered a bag full of fallen leaves from the two eucalyptus trees that they have on site.
No worries as I did call and ask permission to do this before I did it.
I brought them home and stuck most of them between book pages.
That way they would take less space to store (for later use) and they would be nice and flat to use for printing as well.
I had a couple of handfuls of torn and tattered leaves left so I dumped them into a stainless pot, covered them with rain water and let them sit. A few days later I added two scraps of cloth- cotton and silk- to see how each one accepted the dye in the pot.
That was about a week ago. Last time I checked them, the results were as expected- the silk was slurping in the color and the cotton was just sipping at it.
I'll leave it until I can't stand it any longer then show you the results from my lazy girl experiment.

As is my habit, no matter what else goes on, I am drawing/sketching/whaeveryouwanttocallit.
I fill bound pieces of paper with pen & pencil marks.

We have a cat now after not having a pet for about 8 or 9 years so I spend a lot of time looking at and drawing him.
He has taken to jumping up in our laps in the evenings so I have taken to drawing him.
It ends up being a lot of "sleeping cat"  sketches but practice none the less.

Draw what is in front of you.

He will let me move his feet around a little bit to get a better view of his face.
He did "fang" me once to suggest I quit messing with him though.

When he curls up all I can see is the top of his head
and his feet turned in all sorts of directions.
I occasionally add notes about things I hear
or see that I want to research later.
This night it was about a WWII  group that maintained
sketchbooks while away from home.

My sketches are beginning to look more like him.
I love the stripes above his eyes.
They come together in a triangle shape on his face.
They do make him look like he is a little worried though. 

I'll try to be a better blogger and share more of what I fill my time with.

Sometimes I feel as though it isn't very interesting. I guess I could just take that filter away and see what others think.
Maybe I will do that this week.

Are you drawing?
Are you finding a way to use the everyday happenings to add some creativity to your life?

It's a simple process really - taking your creativity in hand and letting it walk by your side.
You have to learn to look at the world, your world, in a little different way.

For example - instead of sitting in front of the TV at night, letting everyone else entertain you- entertain yourself with sketching out the TV (or what's on it).
No one has to see these sketches until you're ready  to show them.
But do keep them so you can go back and see how much progress you have made!

You will be amazed at what you can do!

Sketching at Home

I am doing my best to draw every single day.
Sometimes at home, sometimes in public.

This particular day it was at home.
A Trader Joe's bag, beside the TV.

I smudged the journaling to protect the privacy of another.
No deep dark secrets about me (not today anyway).

Lavender

I'm trying to do some research for a new piece of artwork. Something that I have had in mind for a long time but have just now had time to really think more seriously about.

I just turned in two pieces of work for a (secret) book coming out later this year (maybe next year?)...
It's going to be an Awesome Book judging by the artists submitting work in it!

Well, back to the  research.

When I begin a new series or even a single piece of work, one of my favorite things is to research the subject. I collect images of what I am thinking about...I read articles about it...I draw it in many different ways...

I've been drawing lavender lately. Sprigs of it, flowering and non. Seed heads, sprouting, etc...
I am familiarizing myself with my subject.
I even carved a stamp or two of it.

Here's a look at the beginnings of my research...

One of  the pages is a duplicate image - I went back and began adding more details. I still have to finish these pages but I wanted to share how I typically begin working on/thinking about a piece of artwork that I could make.

Sometimes after I have spent time doing this, I decide that I don't really want to use that particular image in my work right now...I save it for later or move on to the next thing that catches my attention.
I try not to put a lot of pressure on myself to use anything that I started if I don't want to follow through with the idea.
Sometimes what I think I like turns out to be totally different after I have worked with it for a few days.

We all need to learn to listen to our heart a little better, don't we?

Urban Sketching

I did some sketching while staying in a hotel this week. The lobby had a couple of dried flower arrangements that I took a couple of artistic liberties with.
I also added lines for journaling later.

Remember that Susan Sorrell and I are hosting the first "Sketch-In" in Greenville SC this coming Monday, March 14.

Won't you join us for this fun event?

We'll be starting at the Brew & Ewe in downtown Greenville at 108 West Broad Street (Greenville SC 29601).
If it rains, we will reschedule to another day.

Bring your sketching supplies - paper or sketchbook, pencils and/or pens, watercolor paints and waterbrush.
We are planning on walking down to Falls Park and do some sketching.
This is going to be a lot of fun!

Jane LaFazio, Keys and Secrets

I decided to re-visit the Jane Lafazio key drawings.

I really liked the sketchy type drawing itself even though it needed a lot of work.

No shadows, just kinda plain.

So, I decided to "Carol Sloan" it,

more commonly known as "doing it my own way".

Which is what we ALL need to do!

I added some of those beloved little dots, my trademark zippers (!),

(my friend Denise calls the lines around the edge of my drawings "zippers")

and a different word.

It's been my experience that a key almost always hides a few secrets...

Weekend Sketching

Working on a new face while riding in the car this weekend.

What's on Your Table?

This is what's on mine...

I'd like to know who put the other mess on it...
Probably Callie.

Have a great weekend and
remember to practice your drawing/sketching!

September News

This past month was a blur...
I spent a week in Colorado Springs, teaching at an art retreat.
Four days after returning home from that, I participated in a two day arts festival in West Greenville, SC.
Five days after that, my husband and I went away for a few days - to Virginia to see friends and we managed to sneak in a day or two in DC...
After we got home late Saturday, we switched clothes and supplies in our back packs to go kayaking.
We met my husband's sister and her husband at their dad's house.
We drove the five minutes to the lake to let them try out our tandem kayak.
They did great of course!
After that my husband and I practiced flipping the kayak...
and "rolling" it...
Which is a "wet exit" in kayak terms...
I now have a few more bruises for show and tell.
Oh, and this watercolor sketch/painting of a feather that I found.

I used a travel size watercolor set and Koi water pens.
Oh, and my usual Pitt Artists Pens.
No running, no bleeding and no worries...

Get you some!

Random Sketching

Hot days in the south
time to stay inside and draw.
Add a bit of watercolor paint
and what do you have?

A watercolor painting of your silly sketches...

People - Draw!
Paint!
Repeat PRN...

Sketch Book

I was away from home this weekend...
following my husband around in the mountains.
I did do some sketching,
some embroidery and some book making.
I completed the sewing of the signatures in a book that I am making.
I used 300 pound watercolor paper for my pages.
Instead of sewing on linen tape, I used leather tapes instead.
I really love book making.

Really.

I have a couple of finishing touches and then I'll post pictures of the finished book.
This isn't the book that I was talking about, the "DJ Book"
but another one that I am making.
I posted photos of the painted pages a while back.
This one has blank pages that I have painted and no other inserts (at this point...).

Here's a scan of the sketching that I was doing.
My inspiration was a journal page that I did. It all began with a simple poppy seed head sketch...
you can see that it certainly didn't stop there,
now did it?

What light through yonder window breaks...

What an odd light coming through my studio window today...

Sketching, stitching and painting the afternoon away.
Celebrating a Big Birthday this evening - my son is 21 today!
Wow - I can't believe how quickly the time passed...
I won't write a bunch of mushy mommy stuff in case he reads this...
but can't all you moms out there just imagine what I am thinking of today?

One Last Thing

What do you see in this photo?

Just a weed?
Some scraggly old random plant?

(This one is blurry)

(sorry!)

But what I saw was a very interestingly shaped specimen.

I saw a dreamy vintage lace color on the tightly wound bloom.

I saw spiked leaves, not quite opposite but a little apart from each other on the stem...with delicate lines that were just a tiny bit lighter in color.

I carried my watercolor sketch book with me, along with my compact watercolors.

And this is all you need - oh, and a Pitt Pen.

I sketched out what I saw and then did a quick five minute paint job.

I took the pictures so that I could look at them after I got home...

that way I can grab a look at the plant again - see if I'm painting what I saw or painting what I thought I saw.

Try it - you'll like it!