Another finished painting!

Two in one month...I'm on a roll!

This beautiful little girl is our granddaughter, Piper.  I painted her with colored pencils on Mi-Tientes paper.  The paper is colored, a shade called "hemp", which is sort of a medium, warm flesh tone.  I expected that the colored paper would make it easier to create skin tones, but I think I still ended up using every single peach, light pink, beige, tan, light brown, white, and cream colored pencil in my collection. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm heading back to my studio.  There's still a week left in June, and who knows, I might just finish another painting this month!

Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply Challenge

Technique Junkie is sponsoring the challenges at Gingersnap Creations all month
and this week the challenge is the Spicy Supply Challenge - Take on Twine. No problemo--I love twine! What proved to be a real challenge was keeping with the overall theme of Cowboys and Cowgirls. Aside from the fact that I totally forgot that the month had a theme, I don't have any Western stamps except for a few horses. Hmmm, looks like my stamp collection still has a few gaps that need to be addressed. Imagine that.

Back to the card I made for this week. I had this new stamp (Beach Bonita by Victoria Case for SCACD) from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design sitting on my table and I think twine looks great on ocean inspired designs so that's the direction I took.  I colored Bonita with Prismacolor pencils.  Having just returned from a portrait drawing seminar, I decided to experiment with some of the colors that were recommended for auburn hair.  I used several different colors in the hair, including cream, mineral orange, sienna brown, dark umber, goldenrod, vermillion, poppy red, and indigo. Fun!  I can't wait to try those colors on a real portrait.

For the background, I used watercolor pencils with my Blended Blotches technique from the April/May 2011 Technique Junkie Newsletter.  The Kraft brown mat also has a TJ technique--Cuttlebug Highlights from the October/November 2008 newsletter. 

You're all invited to play along with the Gingersnap Creations challenges and there are prizes to be won, too.  To see how to enter and got tons of inspiration, visit the Gingersnap Creations blog.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today!

Spring Tulip

It's finally gotten warm enough around here to turn the heat off and open the windows.  Well, most of the time anyway.  In honor of spring finally arriving, I thought I'd share this tulip ATC with you today.

For those of you who haven't joined the ATC movement yet, ATC stands for Artist Trading Card.  There are no rules for making them except that they have to be 2.5" by 3.5 inches.  The idea is to make them and trade them with other artists.  I made this one for a recent trade on Rubberstamp Chat. 

The stamp is from Magenta, and I colored the flower with Prismacolor pencils.  The background is a technique from the Dec. 2010 Technique Junkie Newsletter called Colored Pencil Resist. 

Happy Friday!  I hope it's a beautiful day where you are too.

Accidentally Relevant

With all of the excitement surrounding the impending royal nuptials, it's probably very fitting that I made a card with a decidedly British royal theme.  Truth is that I just now made the connection.  So my card is relevant, but only accidentally.  I find that amusing for some reason...I may be the only one who does, but that's OK.

So why did I made this card, you ask?  I'm still working with the March new stamp release from Class Act, which includes this Buckingham Palace guard in the English doll set and it occurred to me the other day that  Basic Grey Boxer would be the perfect paper to use.  So here you have it!  I colored him with colored pencils and used a clear glaze pen to add polish to his boots and buttons.  I also used some black Flower Soft on his helmet (hat?). 

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, and GO UCONN!!!  (both teams, men and women--ha!)

Little Drawings

Last week I told you about my big plans for the year, and those goals will take up a good portion of my time.  But what if I need a little instant gratification along the way?  My rubber stamping hobby fills part of that need.  Cards are quick to make (in theory, anyway), and making them gives me opportunity to experiment with my art supplies. 

But what if I want to do some instant gratification artwork that is entirely my own?  For me, the answer is to work small.  I've fallen in love with the Artist Trading Card (ATC) format and find that the 2.5" x 3.5" size is just perfect for practicing and experimenting.  Small enough so that I can finish a drawing in about and hour, but still large enough to allow for a fair amount of detail. 

These are a few of the ATC's I did for the holidays.  With the exception of the poinsettia with I painted with acrylics, all are colored pencil on Bristol vellum.

Christmas Poinsettia

A miniature version of my 2010 Christmas card.

My little chef nutcracker.

Santa Nutcracker

Soldier Nutcracker

Snowman Ornament

Thanks for stopping by my studio today!

'Tis the Season!

Oops!  It seems that I've forgotten to post anything here in over a week.  Maybe this will explain...

Ha-ha...cracks me right up!  The stamp is from Sparkle-n-Sprinkle and it's colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The background technique is one from the December 2010 Technique Junkies Newsletter, called Pencil Resist.  The papers are Basic Grey Fruitcake collection, and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up!

I've got to go make merry...hope you're enjoying the holiday season as well!

Finally!

I can finally start sharing some of the projects I've been working on lately!

I'll start off with this set of Artist Trading Cards that I just finished for a trade over at Drawspace.com.  The theme was Windows and Doors, and I decided to use Art Deco stained glass window designs for my cards.  I sketched the designs in pencil first and then inked them with a Rapidograph pen.  The coloring is done with Inktense pencils.

Have a great day!  I'll be back tomorrow with a greeting card or two to share.

Tuesday in My Studio

It's Tuesday, and I almost forgot my "regular" Tuesday post again. Almost. It's not midnight here yet, so this still counts.

Last week was a very eventful week--Riley (our adorable new little granddaughter) was born on Friday; also on Friday, my husband Dave retired after more than 40 years at the same company, we went with friends to see a Patriots football game on Sunday (they won), and on Monday we got to meet Riley for the first time. She's a cutie, isn't she?

I did manage to find some in my studio, though, and almost finished this drawing.  I did the main part of the drawing with Prismacolor pencils on Colorfix sanded paper.  I've used rough paper before, but never anything this rough.  The paper demands a much looser style than I'm accustomed to, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable.  Since Colorfix is a paper intended for use with pastels, I thought that doing the background in pastel would be absolutely perfect.  And, it may well be a perfect solution.  The only catch is that I don't have the first clue how to use pastels.  So as soon as I take care of that little detail, I'll finish this one.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

Tuesday in My Studio

I just realized that I missed my Tuesday post last week.  So much for this being a regular feature on my blog...guess it'll just have to be semi-regular now. 

My drawing table is empty at the moment.  I've got a few projects started that I should be working on, but they aren't quite capturing my attention right now.  I've got some class assignments that I should be working on, and I think I will work on them this afternoon.  But for the most part, I'm in "I just finished a drawing and I don't know what I want to do next" limbo. 

I did finish up a little drawing of a cardinal yesterday.  It's a copy of a drawing from Kaaren Poole's "Drawing Birds in Colored Pencil" book, and I did it in hopes that it would help break me out of my limbo.  I'm starting to get some ideas for my next project, so maybe it's working.

Well, I'm off to tackle some of my classwork.  Have a great day!

More News

I got a note from Pat Huntoon last week asking if I was interested in joining the Technique Junkies Design Team.  Heck yes!  So I'm happy to announce that I'll be contributing to the newsletters starting with the October/November 2010 issue.  I'm so excited--thanks, Pat!

Today happens to be Try That Technique Thursday at Technique Junkies so I thought I'd play along.  The featured technique this week is Gated Tags from the February/March 2008 newsletter.  I don't usually make these special fold cards, but I have to admit, they are fun.

 

All of the stamps I used for this are from Starving Artistamps.  Since there is so much going on with the card itself, I kept the stamping and coloring simple.  The images are stamped in various shades of chalk ink, and the lighthouses are colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping by!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 33

Our inspiration this time comes from Lovely Package.  Would you believe that these are tequila bottles?  They really are lovely!

I was especially taken with the beautiful soft pastel colors so those were my jumping off point.  I decided to mimic the colors on three panels just the way they are on the three bottles.  I stamped my flowers (Inkadinkado) with White Brilliance ink onto the colored cardstock and then added color with Prismacolor pencils.  The dotted borders and the green zigzag border are also drawn with Prismacolors.  To further carry the floral theme, I debossed my background panel with an Impressibilities stencil. 

I have to say...I'm pleased with the way this card came together.  And, I would also like some pretty tequila!

Be sure to stop by the other Diva's blogs to see how they were inspired by the pretty tequila bottles.  There blog links are in my sidebar.  And as always, we welcome you to play along with us (use keyword DDIC33 or DDIC if you upload to SSC or PCP).

Thanks for stopping by the studio!

At the Beach

Starving Artistamps just came out with TONS of new stamps. One of the new collections is called Juniper and Jupiter Go to the Beach, and these stamps are from that collection. For this card, I gave my Copics a bit of a break and pulled out my Prismacolor pencils. And, (*GASP*), I also used my sewing machine. The blue background is Core'dinations paper, embossed and then sanded.  The layout is from this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch #176.

It's going to be way too hot here for a real beach day, so this will have to do.  I'm staying the the AC today for sure!

The Rest of the Fish

These are the last two ATC's in my tropical fish series.  Both are done with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils on Arches hot press watercolor paper.

These were fun to draw, but I'm ready to move on to something else. 

I'm off to contemplate my next project...have a great day!

Something's Fishy!

I've been having a blast drawing fish for an ATC swap over at Drawspace.  I'm loving that I get to use all the really fun colors in my pencil sets!

This first one is a Black and White Heniochus Butterfly Fish.  I love the way the fish came out; not as thrilled with the coral/rock stuff I concocted, but I'm calling it done before I make it any worse. 

And, this second one is a Queen Angelfish.  I used LOTS of pencils coloring this one!

I've also been using these fish as an excuse for not starting my super-scary-I-don't-want-to-do-this-maybe-I-should-just-quit self-portrait for the online art class I'm taking from Cindy Wider (awesome class, btw). Well, I'm happy to report that I've finally started said scary project. The deal I have with myself is that I can't do anything else until that portrait is finished.  No excuses.  Period.  So next time you see me here, you'll be seeing...me.

Fun Stuff!

True to plan, I've been packing lots of fun into this weekend.  Yesterday, Dave and I went out and did some shopping, and I scored a couple of new outfits and an external hard drive so that I can back up my thousands of photos.  We had dinner out and stopped for an ice cream cone afterwards, and then I spent a couple hours in my studio.  After Dave went to bed, I indulged myself with a couple of episodes of True Blood.  What a perfect day!

Today is going pretty well, too, even though I do have to do a couple of unavoidable chores, like laundry.  I slept in a bit, had a late breakfast, and noodled around in my studio all morning finishing up a few projects I have in the works.  This little pink fish ATC is my favorite of the lot:

It's done with Prismacolor pencils and Derwent Inktense pencils on Arches hot press watercolor paper.  Fun stuff, but I have to stop now because I have to get ready to go to a party.

The only bad thing about a weekend like this is that work is going to stink all that much more on tomorrow morning, lol.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Technique by Design

I made this card for the Technique Junkies Technique by Design challenge.  The challenge gives a sketch along with the added requirement to use a TJ technique in at least one of the background panels.  On my card, I used Dabbed Shimmers on the left and upper right, Metallic Parchment on the middle right, and Polished Stone on the bottom.  I colored the flower (Hero Arts) with colored pencils, masked it, and then stamped the text background (Inkadinkado).  The card seemed a bit unbalanced so I added a few Dew Drops and some Barbara Trombley's Earth Elements Tailings, which added just the right amount of sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you bright and early Thursday for the next Divine Diva Inspiration challenge!

Lookie, Lookie...A New Card!

I didn't have as much time as I'd hoped for stamping last weekend, but I did get a few done, and today I even had time to take photos.  So without further adieu, here's a new card!

I'm still having fun with my DoodleFactory Creatures II set from Starving Artistamps.  This little cutie is Sprat, and I colored him with my Caran d'Ache Pablos pencils.  The printed paper is Cosmo Cricket Early Bird, and the background is a piece of Core'dinations that I embossed and then sanded. 

Well, gotta run for now, but I'll be back later in the week. 

Awesomeness Alerts!

The first Awesomeness Alert I have it this...Starving Artistamps will be releasing an awesome new DoodleFactory set on April 1. No fooling...I'm serious. Keep your eyes peeled right here because I'll be posting a sneak peek tomorrow.

The second Awesomeness Alert is awesome mostly to me, but I'm sharing it anyway...I recently finished my first colored pencil portrait!  This is my step-grandson, Matt, done in Caran d'Ache Pablos pencils on 11" x 14" Strathmore smooth Bristol. 

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed doing a portrait.  It's true what they say, "You never know unless you try."

I'll see you tomorrow with a peek at that DoodleFactory awesomeness I promised.

Clean and Simple, Quick and Easy

This could have easily been a one layer card, too, but I just couldn't resist adding the orange mat to frame the images.  The stamps are from smARTworks, and I stamped them onto white card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  On my card, I stamped the owl first and then masked it before I stamped the hats, but it would have been quicker and easier and just as effective to simply stamp the hats next to the owl.  I used Prismacolor pencils and a colorless blender to do my coloring and added just a little bit of sparkle by putting some Stardust Stickles on the hats.

Well, I'm off.  I've got a few chores to do, but then we're kicking back with some friends to enjoy the first full day of Spring.

Think Spring

Just thought I'd share a page from my sketchbook today.  Can you tell I'm wishing for Spring to get here?

My sketch is drawn with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils from a reference photo by "madmum" at Wet Canvas.