sketching feathers

sketching butterflies

Here's a peek inside my watercolor sketchbook, this time I created butterflies! We have more flowers in the yard in our new home then we did previously and I have been enjoying butterfly and hummingbird sightings in the mornings. It's magical to watch them flutter about.

sketching birch aspen trees

After driving past some beautiful birch aspen trees on our road trip through Flagstaff, Arizona last month I was inspired to sketch them. I had a little help on this sketch from a dreamy book I'm using as my watercolor muse right now titled Dreamscapes: Creating Magical Angel, Faery & Mermaid Worlds in Watercolor by Stephanie Pui-mun Law. Here is the photo I snapped while driving and my sketch.I decided to give the trees a bare winter feel with a monotone color palette. I let the paint do its own thing without trying to control it too much which resulted in a nice wispy feeling, I think.

sketching mandalas

a peek inside my sketchbook ...

exploring watercolors for the first time

I have wanted to play with watercolor paints for awhile so, when Alisa Burke (one of my favorite artists) recommended the Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Set on her blog I placed it on my wish list and last month I finally bought it! I don't have any watercolor paper yet so, I made do with my current sketchbook for now just to play.

Watercolors have always intimidated me a bit because I love to work up lots of layers of paint and watercolor doesn't quite work that way. After my first session I am a little more comfortable. I feel like I used the paints in a very "acrylic" way but, part of that is probably do to my paper. So, the next time I am art supply shopping I will have to pick up some watercolor paper to further explore. For me, trying something new is always a welcome challenge.

Have you tried any new materials or techniques lately? Please share or link in the comments, I'd love to see!

the orange tree

Here is my last illustration study for Sara & Josh's wedding invitation, this session I focused on the orange tree, oranges and orange blossoms.   

The young girl stood beside me.
I Saw not what her young eyes could see:
- A light, she said, not of the sky
Lives somewhere in the Orange Tree. 

~ from The Orange Tree by John Shaw Neilson

roses are free

More illustration studies for Sara & Josh's wedding invitation, this session I focused on roses.  

Don't believe the florist when he tells you that the roses are free ~ Ween

the earth laughs in flowers

My dear friend and long time coworker, Sara, is marrying to her love Josh later this year and I am working on their wedding invitations (yay!).  They are planning a beautiful wedding in their garden so, I thought a good place to start would be with, well, their garden! Lucky for me Sara has shared loads of flower pictures from their yard on their blog so, that's where I went for inspiration. 

Above are Sara's pictures and below are my first round of digital illustrations.

These flowers were truly a joy to draw! I have a few favorites for sure. It has been so nice to have a reason to illustrate. They have lots of orange trees and rose bushes which should be in bloom for the wedding so, we have decided to focus on those two plants in particular. Stay tuned for round two of sketches. I love weddings and flowers so this project is a win-win as Sara & I would say ;)

 Earth laughs in flowers.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

ced: life

I have been thinking a lot lately about were I live.  About the places I have lived, where I am now and possibly where I want to live in the future and wanted to pay homage to the houses I have lived in.   They each have a story and place in my life. 

To see what others have been working on this week for the life theme, click here.

travel drawings

Bert & I traveled to New York a couple of weeks ago for a great friends wedding on long island, which was fantastic. While we were there we were able to catch up with some friends and enjoy 2 Phish concerts in Saratoga, which was equally fantastic. It was a really nice weekend away.

Traveling without the kids allowed for some time to draw.  The first one is my very first attempt at a zentangle and I have to say it was a lot of fun and really meditative.

ced: creekside bliss

Here is a new colored pencil sketch from from my sketchbook for creative every day's bliss theme. Doesn't it look like the perfect place to lay on the grass, read, sketch and just watch the clouds go by? Ahh, I can just picture myself there enjoying the creek side bliss.  Today I am in NY for some wedding bliss followed by music bliss! One of my bestest friends is getting married on Friday and we are driving up to Albany on Saturday to meet up with some friends and have a lot of fun at the Phish concert!  May your weekend be blissful.

To see what others have been working on for the bliss theme, click here.

ced: storybook bliss

Here is another colored pencil sketch from from my sketchbook for creative every day's bliss theme.  It is based on one of my favorite storybook's, I Love You Little One by Nancy Tafuri.  I received this book at my baby shower 6 years ago and it has been a family favorite. When Ethan was an infant, I was able t recite this story to calm him down whenever he was upset. That made this story very powerful for us and I have bonded tremendously with it.

To see what others have been working on for the bliss theme, click here.

ced: bliss in bloom

 

Here is a colored pencil sketch "Bliss in bloom" from my sketchbook for creative every day's bliss theme.   To see what others have been working on for the bliss theme, click here. 

sketchy doodle

pattern on my eye glass case

I joined another group on meetup.com. I'm such a groupie! I can't help it, I love seeking out and connecting with like minded people. The group is called sketchy doodle and the mission is to practice sketching in a small informal group, meet other people who like to sketch, develop your artistic skills, and learn by seeing how other people draw. Sunday was my first sketchy doodle adventure.

tiger eye from a Swarovski ad

cogs from inside the candy factory store

plants located around the edge of the food court

imagery from the paradise bakery signage

I really can't remember when I sketched for fun with other people. I have sketched with others at school or for a design job but, both of those have certain goals you are trying to obtain. To just sketch for fun with others was nice. We had small conversations with one another between creative bursts and in the end we shared with one another what we created.

We met in a mall food court. In a setting with so many people around it's no wonder most sketched people. I love seeing the different styles of drawing each one possessed. Figure drawing isn't my favorite and I haven't done it in about 10 years so, I stuck to my comfort zone and sketched other images I saw while looking around.

digital sketch: spring flowers

I have been playing with my wacom graphics tablet today! Here are some fun spring flowers I created to use in an upcoming Soft Flex Company E-newsletter.

sketchcrawl

You can learn how to draw objects, humans, trees and other things by learning how to sketch first. I love to sketch and hope to come home from our thanksgiving vacation with lots of new sketches to share. The movement and strokes seen in a sketch are beautiful. I like "seeing" the process, to me it shows the human element and gives the artwork authenticity. My sketch above was an exercise from the book The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist you Truly Are by Danny Gregory.

I found this uber cool article on ehow about doing a sketchcrawl. What's that you say? The basic idea is wandering from place to place --with a sketchbook-- and with a single, constant goal to record everything around nonstop ... to observe, sketch and enjoy. I think I may need to take a day and do just that. How to do a SketchCrawl.

weekly reflection

Drawing is a visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. For this drawing i used colored pencils. The word 'drawing' is used as both a verb and a noun:

• Drawing (verb) is the act of making marks on a surface so as to create an image, form or shape.
• The produced image is also called a drawing (noun). A quick, unrefined drawing may be defined as a sketch.

The term drawing suggests a process and intent that is distinct from the traditional act of painting. While there are drawings that are finished artworks, drawing is often exploratory, with considerable emphasis on observation, problem solving and composition, often as a means of preparation for a painting. In contrast, traditional painting is often a means of execution or finishing an artwork. It is fair to note that modern painters often incorporate methods of drawing in their painting process, particularly in the early stages of a painting.

I was inspired to create this drawing by a pendant Rhianna was wearing in an ad. Of course her's was in all diamonds!

sketching: road trip 2

It's amazing that I still have more sketches to post from Alpine. Getting away from the everyday and enjoying cooler weather really inspired me. Above is the wonderful wood burning stove from our cabin that Bert lit a few times a day.


I traced the outline of one of the mountains we saw while driving. I wanted to play with negative space.


This view while driving was just so pretty. I think i was too much in awe to really get a good sketch out of this scene.


I did this one looking out the cabin window. The pine trees weren't exactly standing in such a nice row but to me that is how I felt they were at the moment so that is how I sketched them. I really like this sketch and hope to paint it on a larger scale one day.


This is the only sketch that i started in alpine and then finished on the drive home. It started out as the outline of a delicate flower but, after i looked back at it the petals took on the resemblance of ladybugs wings. How fun!

sketching: road trip 1

cactus sketch on the 87 headed north

forest sketch done on the 260 headed east

pine sketch on the back porch of the dinky castle in alpine

daisies sketch done at our cabin while in alpine

salt river canyon sketch on the 60 headed south