Ready or Not 2007 artistic goals

In a few hours 2007 will be here...ready or not...2007 will be a year of evolving and growing in my artistic life. Some of the things I would like to achieve for 2007:

--Sketch and paint daily in my moleskin or sketchbook.

--Each month focus on a subject:
buildings
landscapes
interiors
figure drawing
portraits
cars
boats
birds
cats
food
wild animals
and anything else that strikes my fancy

--Continue my Venice series completing one 1/4 sheet colored pencil per month

--Continue to work on my whimsical series of dogs using FC artist pens.

--Finally figure out how to do layers in Adobe Photoshop.

--Become proficient with my Wascom Tablet.

--Take a class in Adobe Illustrator.

--Develop my dog illustrations into a children's picture book

--Spend a month in Paris sketching and painting from life.

--Spend a week in Venice sketching and painting from life.

I know sounds ambitious,but I'm up for the challenge!

Happy New Year

Gladioli with leaves

Hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of the year. I've been thinking about this past year and amazed at all the art work I've done. I feel more confident in my art, and I think it's about time I focus and make some goals for 2007. I have a few ideas and tonight will make a plan and post tomorrow.

Having a blog has helped me to stay on track and experiment with markers, artists pens, colored pencils, watercolors, graphite, different size of papers, and different journals..like a moleskin. I've even tried my hand at making a few art journals, that once I got the hang of it, they were pretty cool to make. Also I've been doing more sketching when I travel...my trip to Venice,Italy this past spring really took the fear of drawing in public away. People are so busy rushing by that they really don't pay attention to what I'm doing.

So for now...here is my lastest drawing done with Faber-Castell artist pens on 9.5" x 12" smooth bristol paper. The book I've been working through "Watercolor flower portraits" by Billy Showell has been a good incentive to think out of the box as far as art materials. Gladiolias are one of my favorite flowers, along with Peonies.

Longiflorum Lilies

I always find it interesting to do flowers and learn their names. This Lillie was done on smooth bristol paper 9.5" X 12", with Faber-Castell artists pens.

The disadvantage of using artists pens rather than watercolors are that greys are harder to pull off especially if the grey range with the artists pens is limited to about 4 shades of grey. With watercolor, I could mix up a grey mixture and increase the intensity or decrease the intensity by adding water.

Day Lily

I finally finished this drawing of an orange Day Lily. This drawing was done on smooth bristol paper 9.5" x 12" using Faber-Castell artist pens. I like using the FC artist pens, but I have found that the color range of FC is a little limiting. Once I finish working through the flower drawings using the FC, I'll probably do this whole series again using tradition watercolors. I guess I'm learning to stretch myself with a limited palette and really think through the colors.

Flower Portraits

I recent bought this book, Watercolor Flower Portraits by Bill Showell. Instead of using watercolors I decided to try my Faber-Castell artist pens on smooth bristol paper, 9.5" x 12".

Calla Lily
Amaryllis

Calla Falling

I have found as much as I enjoy taking classes, lately the classes I have taken just seem to be a repeat of things I all ready know how to do. So now I'm going to go through all my art books and practice doing the demonstrations from the books. By doing this, I feel it will train my eyes and hand to capture what I'm seeing, also allow me to try different mediums.

Herding puppy

This guy is a Herding puppy, kind of looks like a German Shepard. He was created on 5" x 5" smooth bristol paper, using Copic Sketch Markers.

The more I use the Copic Sketch Markers, I love the way they handle and all the colors I can use. At the moment I only have about 25 markers. I'm not sure that I'l buy the complete set ...which is 72 markers per set @ $428.40 and there are 4 sets of 72, which translates into about $1714.00.

Yes it would be wonderful to have all 4 sets,but I have found with watercolors,colored pencils, and pastels that I really don't use all the colors. So I'm buying the markers as each drawing dictates;so far 25 seems to be a good number.

Belgian Sheepdog

My latest addition to my whimsical series. This was done on smooth bristol paper 5" x 5" using Copic sketch markers. I've added a black mat, which I'll be including with this guy.

More Whimsical puppies

I'm slowing working my way through the Herding Group of puppies.

Here's two more....a Bearded Collie and a Australian Shepherd. Whimsical style, on smooth bristol paper, 5" x 5" in size, using Copic Sketch markers.

Alpacas and horses

I really like using these Copic sketch markers. I thought I'd take a break from puppies and sketch Alpacas and horses. These drawings will be part of my whimsical animal series.

More Whimsical puppies

Ok, I got carried away drawing these guys. It's kind of like potatoe chips, you can't stop at just one. Another set from my whimsical puppies series.

Whimsical puppies

Here is a batch of my whimsical puppy series done with Copic Sketch Markers on Bristol Smooth Paper. Size of each drawing 5" x 5".

Whimsical puppy drawing series

I decided to try my hand at working with Copic Sketch Markers. I really like the fact that I can do a whimsical drawing in less than a 20 minutes. I was having problems with true color when I scanned the image, but with the help of Joe @http://Josephlacorte.blogspot.com few suggestions I finally think I might be able to upload my drawings with true color.

My birthday present...Happy Birthday to ME

Ok, this isn't me, but I definately have the coat! Tomorrow is my birthday and I got a new reversable fur coat from my husband. The weather has been so cold that he gave me my birthday present early so I could enjoy it now!!! This coat can be worn two different ways...Silk side with tuxedo fur collar and cuffs,as shown, or it can be reversed to the all fur side. I've been wearing with the fur inside.

I guess the only good thing about living in Washington State is that it's cold enough to have a fur coat. I wouldn't be able to wear something like this in California because it's warmer.

So "Happy Birthday to ME"......