A Spiny Family

I enjoy giving myself little challenges when drawing… and learning more about my subjects.

Painting different colors of watercolor in my art journal helped add color to a blank page…

I then challenged myself to use mostly black pens – each pen a different variety – to draw Cactus; from the book I showed you in this post: Drawing Cactus and Succulents

According to Dictionary.com; Cactus (noun) and plural can be cacti, cactuses and cactus!  

As a definition:  Any numerous succulent plants of the family Cactaceae, of warm, arid regions, having fleshy, leafless, usually spiny stems and typically having solitary, showy flowers.

I never really thought about a “cactus” being a succulent plant!

I challenged myself to create these “succulents” with a variety of green pens:

Succulent (noun):  A succulent plant as a sedum or cactus… and as (adjective):  Of a plant – having fleshy or juicy tissues.

What I learned from this challenge for myself:

• Calligraphy pens are great to draw with…
• Going outside the color “square” is OK!
• I really do have eight green pens.
• Creating challenges makes drawing fun!
• I enjoyed learning the names of plants… must be a weird bird idea in there somewhere!

Do you give yourself challenges when you are creating?  I’d love to hear what you do!

Cheers! 🙂

Cactus and Flowers

Hello Friends,

Thank you for your good wishes for my recent surgery.  I so appreciate it!  🙂

I have been drawing Cactus and flowers in my sketchbook since my last post and coloring them with different markers such as Tombow, Copic and Artist’s Loft (an inexpensive brand from Michael’s Store).

Did you notice the paper collage for the Cactus planters?

I was excited to buy U.S. postage stamps with Cactus on them this week!

Happy Friday!

Cheers! 🙂

The American Robin

I haven’t drawn a REAL bird in awhile so I decided to try the American Robin.  

I have been observing them outside my kitchen window snacking on dried red berries from my crabapple tree.

I started with a light pencil sketch on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper before I added a wash of color:

The robins have been fluffing up their feathers to keep themselves warm since we still have winter with more snow on the way! ;-(  Apparently, the robin’s body temperatures are 104 degrees Fahrenheit so by fluffing up their feathers they keep their bodies warm.

I finished my painting by adding details with watercolor pencils:

I will be adding this American Robin to my mixed media sketchbook.  I will show you my completed page next Monday.

When I see a Robin in winter, I will picture them a little differently now.  A sauna comes to mind… perhaps there is a future weird bird here! 🙂

Happy Friday!

Cheers! 🙂

P.S.  If you’d like to see a previous post I did on a Robin, you can find it here:  An American Robin   It is wonderful to look back and see how I am making progress in my drawing and watercolor skills!

Collage Grids

There is something wonderful about creating collage in grids…

Maybe it is like a box of chocolates…

Knowing that each space is filled with something delicious!

Or maybe it is finding that one unexpected surprise!

Or perhaps, it is a uniform and consistent result:

That brings you a feeling of comfort…

What collage grid do you like?  How does it make you feel?

I hope you share it with me!

Cheers! 🙂

New Year Inspiration

Happy New Year Friends!!

Have YOU put on a your creative thinking cap(s) for 2019?

 

I purchased this art book a few years ago…

It is just the daily inspiration I need in the new year!

I made a book-marker for it… You can see I have a square as part of my design (see yesterday’s post).

What inspiration will YOU use in your creativity in the new year?  I hope you share it with me!

Cheers to new creative discoveries! 🙂

Holiday Traditions

I often find myself thinking about holiday traditions this time of year and remembering times from my childhood…

This drawing of a sweet girl recently appeared in my sketchbook and I was reminded of the faux hand muffs that my sis and I had as young children, anyone else remember them?

I don’t remember wearing them very much as they weren’t the most practical in keeping my hands warm.  😉

One of my holiday traditions that I started several years ago was making this easy and yummy, Caramel Snack mix:

I thought you might enjoy making it apart of your holiday tradition!

Cheers! 🙂

P.S.  Do you have a favorite childhood memory or holiday tradition?  I hope you share it with me.

Autumn’s Display

Fall was in the air this last weekend at the lake!

I always like when the wild rose hips turn a blushing reddish-orange:

I did a pencil sketch of them in my journal:

I enjoyed taking these photos of Autumn’s Display to share with you:

 

I hope they brighten your Monday!

Cheers! 🙂

 

More Quirkiness…

I don’t think we can ever have too much quirkiness, do you?!  I love drawing these whimsical faces.  🙂

I created these drawings in the Dina Wakley sketchbook that I told you about in this post: A New Art Journal

The first drawing is extra scribbly.  I started with a black Micron pen and added the white gel pen afterwards:

A young man in an extra tall quirky hat!

I’m really liking how the white gel pen pops on the brown kraft paper:

I added a little color and shading to these quirky gals with color pencil…

I am so enjoying Lucy Cooke’s Quirky Characters online class!  Lucy recently did a short video of the quirky character drawings from the class – I hope you check it out at:  ArtcyLucyStudio.com and go to her “Blog” which will lead you to the class artwork.

Cheers! 🙂

Drawing Quirky Characters…

I discovered this online class over the weekend at JeanneOliver.com – Quirky Characters with Lucy Cooke…

And I haven’t been able to stop drawing… a very good thing! 🙂

Here are my beginning drawings in my sketchbook on Friday:

I wanted to loosen up and create more quirkiness in my drawings…

So I decided to start my faces with something familiar…a little paper collage:

Experimenting with different drawing materials helped me relax too.  I also like how Lucy gives different ways to start a drawing of a face:

I started the ones above with watercolor hair and then used water soluble Faber Castell graphite pencils to add the details.

It was super fun to give little “stories” to my characters as I did with my collage ones.

I did the sketches below with a .7mm pencil, blending stump and a little color pencil where mentioned:

I think I have come a long way in my pencil sketches in just 3 days!  I think that Lucy Cooke is such a good teacher.

This class is teaching me so much and I’d highly recommend it if you’d always dreamed of drawing faces that are playful and fun!  It is one of the more reasonable online classes I’ve taken in price yet it doesn’t disappoint in content either.

Cheers to quirky drawing! 🙂

A Whole New World

I recently purchased two synthetic “Dagger” watercolor brushes from Dick Blick.

I learned about these brushes from my blogging friend and talented artist, Patty Anne. Please check out her beautiful watercolors on her blog:  Patty Anne Art

I had never heard of this brush and loved the results that Patty Anne got with her roses.

I started by just experimenting with the 3/8 brush by “testing the waters” so to speak…

I found it extremely relaxing not painting anything specific and just experiment with the brush and color.  I created this on 300 lb watercolor paper:

Afterwards, I outlined the shapes in a black Micron pen and added a few houses.  It looks like a whole new world to me!

This last weekend, I created this abstract in my small watercolor sketchbook:

It was super fun to add details with a black Micron pen and gel pens in different colors. What do you see?

I encourage you to experiment with different materials in your art!  You may discover a whole new world to explore!!

Cheers! 🙂