Pencil portraits

Portrait

More flowers

Watercolor pencil

Paintbrush and homemade stick-pens and berry eyes

Fountain pen

Flower Power

I painted these flowers in March, after not painting anything since October. I was obsessed with trying to keep up with my "One Drawing a Day" sketchbook, which was fun at first, but after months it started to frustrate me. I didn't have time to keep up with it the way I wanted, plus find time to paint in my other sketchbooks. (Unfortunately the paper was too thin to take paint.) So I had to stop it early. Kind of a shame... I only had about two months to go before I completed the year! But, it was a great experience, and I got a lot of ideas out of it. It does feel good to be painting in my other sketchbooks again! I missed my watercolors.

Painting Portraits

In December I joined the online artist community Sktchy. It is an app where people upload their photos (mostly portraits) for artists of all skill levels to use as inspiration. It has been so much fun drawing and painting from photos - something that has never really interested me.

My high school art teacher had taught me to never share the inspiration or reference photo that I used to do a piece of artwork. As soon as you do, viewers will compare the two to see if you have captured the likeness, which could make it difficult to appreciate the artwork on its own.

This app links your drawing directly to the inspiration photo, so you have no choice - people are going to see both. Despite that fact, I've really enjoyed using the app. It was a lot less stressful for me to draw strangers than to try to draw a family member, and because I could relax, I learned a lot more. 

These are the drawings/paintings that I've done so far, in order:

Winter Cardinals

I received a lovely surprise the other day when the sketchbook company I use, Stillman and Birn, liked my cardinal painting on Instagram and asked to repost it on their Instagram feed, Facebook page, and blog. I had to write a brief artist statement too. Needless to say, I was pretty darn excited!

Here is their blog post with my statement.

My crazy daisy

I stopped at a florist the other day and grabbed a few different flowers with the intention of sketching them. I chose a few daisies, gerbera daisies, and sunflowers. Then they sat there for days. I loved looking at them, and all of the details, but I think I overwhelmed myself. When was I going to have time to deal with all these flowers and all those little details? Then one night I was like, "okay, get a grip. You don't have to draw every detail. Who said you even had to draw every flower? And really, why do you think you have to draw an exact replica? When in fact, if that's what you wanted, you should just take a picture. Use one as inspiration, and make it your own." Wow, self, what good advice!

Summer Sketches

I've drawn quite a bit this summer, and took two online drawing courses from Sketchbook Skool, which has been really fun. I love feeling a part of an artistic community, especially since I don't have many local friends who are into drawing the way I am. (I'm a little obsessed with it.)

I also love being able to sit outside to draw and paint. Here are some sketches I did in my sketchbook this summer:

Quick! How much time do I have?

Short answer: not much.
So I've been squeezing in some fairly quick drawings when I can.

These are some of Simon's favorite stuffed animals drawn in my Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook with a Kuretake pen, Micron pens, and Tombow markers.

The following are all drawings that on a normal day wouldn't take very long; however, I work on them in the few minutes I have in my car before I go into work. I may have ten minutes, or I may have two. Whatever I can add to the drawing in that time is what I put down, so they can take days.

They are in a Moleskine sketchbook drawn with Micron pens and colored with highlighters.

4, 3, 2, 1...

When it comes to decorating for Christmas, I take the less-is-more approach. My six-year-old does not appreciate this. He thinks we should really be decking the halls. One decoration I have is this little snowman who counts down to the Big Day. He came with three number blocks, so I guess if you wanted to, you could keep him out all year and start the countdown the day after Christmas. I am not that dedicated. So he comes out every December. Or maybe the day after Thanksgiving, if he's lucky.

Owls

I like to think that I liked owls before they became trendy. But the timing was really close. Maybe I'm a trendsetter! Maybe I started the whole owl obsession! Probably not. Luckily I didn't go overboard with owl paraphernalia. But I will admit, there are a few owls around the house.

This is Owl (the stuffed animals in our house have very original names), a puppet from IKEA that I couldn't resist. 

Moleskine, Microns & yellow highlighter

And an ornament that my sister bought me.

Bond paper sketchbook & Micron pens

Sketchy Car Rides

It's been awhile since I've posted. I can't believe how fast three months can go by! I haven't made time to draw anything for an extended period of time, so I try to find a few minutes here and there when I can. Sometimes I have five to ten minutes before I need to go into work, so I get out my tiny Moleskine and draw the stuff laying around my messy car. Sometimes I take Simon for a ride so he will nap, and I pull over somewhere and draw. Today I went to Havre de Grace, and before I left I drew the alley in front of my parking spot. They're not always the most inspiring things, but it keeps me drawing. And that keeps me sane.

Moleskine sketchbook & Micron pens

Moleskine & Microns

Moleskine & pencil

Moleskine & Microns

 

Stillman&Birn (Epsilon) sketchbook, Microns, Winsor&Newton travel watercolors

Toyland

Our house is full of toys. From the tiniest little Lego brick to a giant stuffed moose. There are a lot of them. So whenever I'm at a loss for what to draw, there's always a toy close by.

Here are some toys I've drawn this past week, and some that I've drawn over the last few months that I never got around to posting.

Owl from Winnie the Pooh

Peas in a Pod from Toy Story

Wooden Fire Truck from Target

An alligator from Diego

Some of our tubby time friends

"Little Doggie" from IKEA

Little Pig Car

Little Rooster Car

A little truck from B.

"Big Bear" from IKEA

Rocking Moose from IKEA