Summer of Color 2013, Candy Apple Red and Yellow

A few weeks ago I posted some pictures of the new dahlia plant I brought home.  I knew these amazing flowers would work their way into my art at some point so when the week five colors of Candy Apple red and Yellow were revealed at Twinkle, Twinkle for Summer of Color 2013 it seemed the time had come!

It also happens that yesterday I saw this amazing cubist flower on Pinterest and I knew I wanted to try it.

I have to admit that I started by coloring in the flower and got so caught up in the reds and shading that I completely forgot I was trying to do the cubist thing!  This is not surprising considering I call each of my children by the other's name most of the time.  Still I was able to sneak in some interest in the background and a little as a top layer in the flower.

This was done in my big journal in colored pencils.  I quite like it and I have to say that my hand is so tired!  I was going to use Sharpies which would have been easier but in the end I wanted to be able to blend colors.  I think I used up a good 2 inches of my red and yellow pencils.

#26Acts and Hungarian Flowers in Watercolor

In honor of the 26 who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School a week ago today I have been participating in #26Acts.  For each person who died I am doing something kind.  Some are small...like a positive message with a dollar bill attached and some are bigger...like giving to may favorite charity in memory of one of the victims.  I am making sure that each one is associated with a specific name in the hopes that they will not be forgotten.

 

Getting ready to start:

 

 

Here's something I painted as a Christmas gift for my mom a few years ago but never got around to sharing here:

Here is my list of the kindness acts so far.  I'm not counting the cookies and chocolates because they didn't have a victim's name attached and I strongly feel the need to associate a name to each kindness.  I still feed good about brightening those guys day, though, they work hard!


Happy Holidays to All!

Sharing with my friends at Paint Party Friday.

Oh, December!

Oh, December!  We've entered that time of year when I can't remember anything and I have to rely on lists and my calendar and my iPhone to keep me on track.  There are so many extra activities, holiday parades, holiday sings at school, holiday parties, gifts, plans...I get a little frazzled.  I somehow found the time to draw this Hungarian folk art bird which I am loving.  I love it in black & white, love the graphic nature of it, but I think I will love it even more in color and will do that soon.

Mostly what I have been doing lately in my free time is reading.  I find it funny that in the year I've been blogging I have not mentioned reading because I love to read.  I read about 3 or 4 books a month but in the last 3 weeks I've read the Night Circus, Gold, The Art of Fielding and am now on The Second Empress. 

What are you reading?

Friend me on Goodreads and you can see follow my books and I can follow yours.  (Hopefully this link works...I've been having a hard time with it!)

Finally I leave you with this pencil sketch of more Hungarian inspired flowers...this was done a couple of years ago but was lost in a sketchbook until this week.

Happy Paint Party Friday!  I'm hoping for equal parts relaxing and getting some holiday stuff done.

Flowers! Flowers!

It's Friday and I'm ready for a weekend! 
My husband and my grandmother share a birthday (she'll be 91!) so there will be some celebrating.  And I am still feeling great and relieved to be on the other side of the doldrums...and creative again!

I have been enjoying a return to acrylics and canvas lately.  This is a painting inspired by something on the bathroom wall (of all places!) at my yoga studio.  I've had the idea of painting this for about 3 years and finally got around to it.  I'm really pleased with it.

Acrylic on cavas 16X20

 

Plumeria still blooming

I never get tired of flowers.

Happy Friday! 

Happy Birthday A!

Yesterday it was A's birthday.  She & L are two of my oldest, dearest friends.  L & I went on a Anthropologie shopping spree for A's gift and we needed a card.  I painted these 3 little cards on handmade paper from Spain, texted the pics to L and we decided upon the peacock.  A loved it.  Which one do you like best?

 

 

Look at these unbelievable blooms!  I'm not sure what they are called but they blooms faithfully every year with very little fuss.

 

Illustration Friday - Faded

 

Even faded flowers can be beautiful.  I gave these yellow spray roses to my daughter after her last ballet recital.  I hung on to them even after they started to droop and brown and now I'm glad I did because they were perfect for this week's topic.  Watercolor on paper. 

Illustraion Friday - Puzzle

Puzzle.  Watercolor & marker on paper.

In my sketchbook with original colored pencil doodle.

1, 2, 3

1. Crazy weather today. 
Top - 8:30 am, pouring rain, thunder and lightning
Middle - 2 pm, beautiful and sunny
Bottom - 3 pm, pouring rain again
(and in the time it's taken me to write this post we've gone through the sunny/rainy cycle a couple more time)

2. On my art desk today, more flowers based on Hungarian folk art

3. Close up

Hungarian Flowers

 

 

I love drawing flowers based on Hungarian folk art.  Pencil, watercolors, acrylics, I've tried them all with very different results but I always longed for deep, saturated colors that I couldn't achieve with the previous media.  I have wanted markers for this purpose for a long time but didn't want to invest just for experimenting. 

I finally took advantage of a 50% off coupon to buy a 24 set of Prismacolor Premier Double-Ended Art Markers.  It's definitely fun to use markers and it's taken me a bit to learn how the colors actually appear on paper.   And by the way, the photo's don't do it justice, the top pic is quite dark, the bottom quite light.  In reality the colors are somewhere in between.

I did this piece freehand, no pencil sketch or plan...just where the markers took me and I'm happy with the results but I'm not sure I love these markers.  For now they serve the purpose.   Some day when I make money with my art (!?) I would like to invest in something better.  Do you use markers?  Curious to hear feedback.

Finally blooming!

This orchid plant entered my home as a house plant bought at a grocery store and was moved outside in it's pot when it finished flowering.  For years it has not bloomed.  Last year it produced one feeble flower stalk but the buds shriveled up and fell off.  This year I moved the plant to a new location and really babied it with water and fertilizer.  Enjoying my lovely blooms!

Doodles

Todays doodles.  Pen on paper.

more flowers!

Pen on paper.  Trying to decide if I am going to add color or leave as is...what do you think?

Flowers

 This video is so pretty

It makes me want to paint nothing but flowers.

Dahlias 2009