Watercolor Wednesdays - Remember

moleskine, watercolor, pen, colored pencil, charcoal

My offering for WW's (you can view my post & member feedback here) first week of September challenge - 'honoring those who were lost in 9/11 and those who keep us safe.' I can't believe it's been 10 years since the dark day that changed America & our world forever. I love this quote because it's a reminder for us all to hold onto faith & hope in troubling times.

May everyone stay safe this 10th anniversary weekend.....

Blessings to you & yours.

Illustration Fri. - 'star gazing'

"I would rather teach one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how to dance." -- e.e. cummings

I've been trying to contribute regularly at IF but as we all know, "life happens" so here's my offering for this week's prompt star gazing and last week's caged, or rather un-caged.

Glad for the push to start my first spread in this sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project. I selected the theme 'in flight' and actually ended up rebinding the sketchbook I was sent - I took pictures as I went so hopefully I'll get a chance to post those soon, it was SO easy to do!

I just couldn't work with the thin, cheesy (just being honest) paper that was in it and decided to go for quality over quantity and used 140# hot press watercolor paper. I went with 10 spreads & two single pages - the cover still needs to be done and I also need to decide what to do for the opening/ending pgs.

Oh yes, we did get to see the Perseids here the other night. We drove out of town for a bit and found a nice, darkish spot with a wonderful breeze off the lake - a refreshing surprise as August in our part of Texas isn't exactly cool, no matter what time of day it is :) We ended up spotting about 30 - 40 shooting stars and called it a night...did you get a chance to see them where you are?

Have a wonderful week and as always - be well....

Illustration Friday - 'early'

arches w/c paper, watercolor & pen, 5.5x 7.5

What a crazy, busy day today, finally getting a chance to post this! My offering for IF's word this week - a quirky take on 'The early bird gets the....well you know. And unlike this birdie, I am rarely early for anything :)

I've been studying birds a lot recently, through books and while out with my camera. When I lived in Michigan I loved watching robins (which also happen to be the state bird there) after a rain pulling out big, juicy worms to take home for dinner. I know worms are good for our gardens but hey we gotta share, right?

Anyhow, I'm working on a collection of small bird illustrations - they aren't your usual bird studies though. I've been adding a little fun, pattern, or quotes etc. to them. The images may even work themselves into my new Etsy shop which I'm hoping to have ready to go some time in June. I'll still have my other shop of mixed media originals & prints but this one will be for illustrations & design work including greeting cards & invitations.

Stay tuned for updates as I'll be hosting a giveaway for the grand opening...

Have a great weekend!

EDM #125 - Bird

mixed media, 9x12 sketchbook journal

My response to the bird challenge took me quite by surprise and was very serendipitous. I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to post this for the challenge because it's mixed media, but I decided that embracing the everyday is exactly what Everyday Matters is all about, so here you have it :) Actually, I'd been thinking about which bird I wanted to draw since the challenge was posted because I have a few favorites - but as it turns out a bird was selected for me! However, I do love birds and will most definitely do some full sketches in the future and will share those with everyone too, maybe even a step-by-step version as I've been wanting to do that for awhilenow.

Anyway, how this came about: we've been 'beaching' it here the last few days with temps hovering in the upper 90's and as we were packing up to leave today, I spotted this treasure. There it was, poking out of the sand along the shoreline, barely noticeable really with all the other bits of driftwood and such. Incredible was all I could think when I dug it out and rinsed it off! All it needed was a bit of carving at the neck & beak area and some defining for the tail feathers, but that's it. I wanted to 'stay in the moment' with this, so I quickly sketched out the background and perched it on the 'inky' branch. Because this won't fit in my journal, I'm going to collage this with other bird-related ephemera and put it in a shadow box.

Before I got Danny's books and joined the EDM group earlier this year, I never sketched daily or looked at things the way I do today. I probably would have brought something like this home and plopped it into a glass jar with other finds, never 'seeing' what it could be. Thanks again Danny for reminding us to take the time to stop and really look at everything around us. Thanks also to all the EDMers who share their wonderful responses to these challenges - you are all an inspiration.