Illustration Friday - "Hoard"

This is my first Illustration Friday offering since our BIG move to South Texas about a month ago. I can't tell you how good it feels to finally be almost set up and ready to rock out some great new work -- well at least attempt to :>


moleskine, pitt pen

I wasn't really sure what to draw for 'Hoard' and was about to pass this challenge by - until I started unpacking sketchbooks, plant & flower reference books and a HUGE envelope of pressed flowers.

My 'Hoard' offering' was right in front of me - I am a hoarder of everything flower-related. I'm also learning Spanish right now so after scanning this spread in (and desaturating it, it looks better in b&w I think) I added some text: "the pretty flowers - enchanting & beautiful"

Thanks for visiting and Happy Friday. Have a great weekend y'all!

Postcard Exchange - My trade

Finished my postcard for the art exchange I set up with one of my favorite artists, Emila Yusof, so thought I'd share it with you. Emila had sent hers to me a few weeks ago and I only had a general idea of what I was going to create for mine. However, after sketching out my entry for IF's 'Alphabets' last week I was inspired to create this card with the letters H and I (hi) with different greetings from around the world - so fun! I've been totally inspired with these whimsical flower illos and want to thank you all so much for your wonderful feedback and support - and yes I am considering your suggestions to make this into an alphabet book or card collection!! :)

I used a few techniques on this for the watercolor - wet into wet, salt resist, stippling etc. then when dry I detailed it out w/ prismacolor pencils. Finally I sealed it w/ a fine matte finishing spray.

This started out as a sketch in my moleskine, I then cut the page out (eeek! I'm sure if there's any moleskine purists out there, they'd shudder hearing that - however I've learned that if I don't take my supplies too seriously I have the most fun and the BEST results so no problem here 'wrecking this journal' hehe!). To give it more stability for going through the mail and to write my greeting to Emila, I glued another moleskine page to the back, weighted it until flat and then for a nice clean finish, rounded the corners.

Illustration Friday - "Alphabets"

f is for flower....and some other [nice] 'f' words. and i say that with tongue in cheek as that's how it came out when my daughter asked what this sketch was about :)

i do love this time of year and flowers are always a favorite subject, whether i'm rendering them realisitically or just making doodles :) anyhow, i would love to do a whole alphabet in flowers like this - great fun! [and yes it's in there]

one more thing - cheers to all those celebrating the last official long weekend of the summer!!!




















moleskine, watercolor, colored pencil

Muse Monday / Inspire Me Thursday: Watercolor

Muse Monday is taking a short intermission - not much going on in the way of progress re: my new space and next Monday is Labor Day so it will return the following Monday - hopefully I'll have some great news to report that we're finally making headway. I do have a how-to organizational project that I'm working on - a great solution to having all my tools displayed neatly and within easy reach, hint: involves pegboard but not in the traditional sense. What I have in mind is way more cooler and decorative than the sheet the guys hang up in the garage!! :) Stay tuned!

Busy week coming up so I wanted to get some quick journal entries done in my moleskine with watercolors and colored pencils. I like using watercolors in my moleskine because the wonderfully creamy paper (I love my moleskines!) resists them initially so you have time to work them before they settle in.

I find myself lingering over the last bits of summer before it fades away and have been savoring my garden's final offerings - flower designs have been on my mind and showing up in my doodles and sketches. I generally don't write a lot in my journals (I'm working on that, it's hard for me to do) but I did write all over the background very subtley in white ink on the single flower pages, a bit of a breakthrough for me :)

Have a great week and wherever you are, I hope the sun is shining on you.

"Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun." -- Kahlil Gibran