Lop eared bunny

My friend's lop eared bunny Regie.

Wet-on-wet. Burnt Sienna,Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Colbalt Blue, FUB, Perm Rose. 9 x 9 aquabee super deluxe sketchbook. Daniel Smith Watercolors. I think the more I work doing wet-on-wet, I've figured out how to control the water and I can actually complete a small painting in less than 15 minutes.

Four colors

I thought I'd try doing a watercolor only using 4 colors...burnt sienna,burnt umber,raw sienna, and colbalt blue. With this watercolor I applied the colors wet-on-wet using my Isabey size 0 round mop brush. I'm just amazed the way this Isabey wc brush holds the color and point. Aquabee super deluxe sketch book 9 x 9, Daniel Smith watercolors.

Do you ever feel this way?

Do you ever feel this way? I seem to be floundering with my art work. I feel like I have no inspiration and can't seem to settle on a direction I would like my art to go in. So lately I've have been looking at various pictures from magazines and interpreting
my take on the subject. I'm hoping
this will jump start me in a new
direction.

So all of these drawings have
been done in my plain paper
moleskin journal using colored pencils.

Colored pencil abstract

Sometimes it's good to do something out of my comfort zone. Not everything I draw or paint needs to be true in color. I've been reading a book on drawing and experimentation. Out of the many helpful hints the book talks about carrying a sketchbook to doodle,catch ideas,map out drawings, and just play. This is something I don't do too often when I'm creating art...is play or let my imagination explore color. This drawing was done in my plain paper moleskin 5 x 7 , using Prisma color watercolor pencils.

Four cars

This watercolor was part of my car series that I was doing. Arches cold press watercolor block 12 x 16", Daniel Smith Watercolors.

Birds nest

I guess I would call this drawing a mixed media. I started a new journal ....Aquabee 6 x 9, using pen and ink, Prisma color watercolor pencils, and Cretacolor watercolor sticks.

ATC size drawings

I've been doing small sketches using my Prisma Color watercolor pencils on card stock paper. I cut the paper to 3.5" x 2.5"(ATC) size. I wasn't sure I'd like working in this size since it's rather small for me,but after doing several of these drawings I was able to adjust. I've also figured out if I do a contour drawing in pencil and then come back in with waterproof ink, I can correct misplaced lines. After I've added the ink, I erase any pencil marks. Then I lay in the various colors of my Prisma Color watercolor pencils. I finish the drawing by using my Pental water brush to release the color.

This is a good way for me to draw daily and not feel guilty if I haven't produced any large pieces of art.

Today is my Wedding Anniversary

Today my husband surprised me with a dozen red roses for our 26Th wedding anniversary. I've been blessed with a wonderful husband who is loving, kind,generous,supportive,funny, and brilliant.

We met 27 years ago and I knew on our first date that I was going to marry him. The day he purposed to me was just a beginning of the many surprises I would have with him. He started the day with sending me a dozen yellow roses in the morning and yellow mums in the afternoon, and ended the day by sending me a white Rolls Royce to pick me up at work and take me to one our favorite restaurants. He had given the driver a cassette of my favorite artist Chuck Mangione. So on the 45 minute drive I got to listen to Chuck. My husband was at the restaurant waiting for me. We had dinner and the whole time I had butterflies in my stomach because I knew he was going to purpose. I'm not sure how I ever got through dinner, let alone eat dinner. I kept on waiting for him to purpose, but nothing happened. We walked out to the car and sitting on the seat was the cutest raccoon with a bouquet of balloons and a sign that said "Will you marry me." Of course I said yes. We met on the 23rd of January and got married one year later on January 23rd.

How big is an elephant???

I thought I'd try only using 3 colors on this watercolor. Burnt Sienna,Raw Sienna, and Cobolt Blue. I painted this elephant wet-on-wet with my new Isabey #0 mop round watercolor brush. I'm just amazed at how much pigment I picked up with the brush and how the brush holds onto the point.

Pan pastels

Yesterday when I was visiting Santa Barbara I went into the local art store and was pleasantly surprised to find Pan Pastels. These pan pastels are new and are so cool to use. They are applied with an applicator, they erase, they blend really well, and the colors are very vibrant. You can learn more about pan pastels at www.panpastels.com

So here is my first piece done with pan pastels...I think I finally found pastels that I can work and live with!

Beware of paper cutters!

Beware of paper cutters; they can be dangerous! Yesterday I bought myself a paper cutter that would allow me to cut paper in various sizes. I took the cutter out of the box and noticed it was not sitting straight on the counter. I turned it over to discover one of the little rubber feet was missing so I took off the remaining 3 feet. As I was turning over, the palm of my hand accidentently was pressed against the blade. Boy did that one inch cut hurt and bleed like crazy. I thought I was going to bleed to death and couldn't for the life of me stop the bleeding. I finally managed to get a rather large band-aid on my cut so I could apply pressure to stop the bleeding. After changing the band-aid several times and having my hand elevated, the bleeding stopped. Needless-to-say,it was an experience I don't want to repeat again. So with a lot of attention to the blade I finally got to cut some card stock paper into 3.5 x 2.5" pieces.

I now have a pile of 3.5 x 2.5" blank pieces of card stock paper that I will draw small pictures of items. I thought this would be a quick way to continue drawing and not feel overwhelmed by a big piece of paper. One of things I like to do at night is to relax on my bed and watch TV and draw. With this size I can draw to my hearts content and if I create bad art, I can always toss .

I've been doing a lot of pen and ink with watercolor or colored pencils. I like the bold line of the pen and ink and it is so easy to add a little color with either the watercolor or colored pencils. So here are two ATC size drawings of finches.

A cardinal

I really like working in pen and ink and then using watercolors or watercolor pencils.

Some new art pieces

Here are a few recent pieces that I've been working on. All were done with pen and ink, then I used Neocolor crayons dry and then used a wet paint brush to blend in the color. All were done on Fabriano paper.

Hand - book Journal

I've been sketching in my moleskin trying to get motivated to draw and paint. I'm not sure if I want to work in watercolors, colored pencils, or faber-castell markers. I'm trying to jump start my creativity. So yesterday I finally opened my hand-book journal that is 5.5" x 5.5". I thought I would use this to doodle and see what happens. As I look through other journals the one thing that always catches my interest is drawing and painting dogs.

I really like the paper in my hand-book journal. It seems to take the watercolor and markers with no problem and no buckling. My plan for January is to draw and paint at least one image a day. I have to draw 7 more images to stay on track. I guess I work better under pressure.