POWDERZ AN LOSHUNZ AN BYOOTIFYIN STUFFS

I'm currently taking Susan Sorrell's fun Sketchn'Contour Embroidery mini class at Joggles. She always comes up with the most intriguing ideas! And since this month's Sketchbook Challenge is "Everyday Objects," I decided to sketch some of the skincare and cosmetic containers in my bathroom closet. Drawing these things made me chuckle and think of Joni Mitchell's song "Sweet Bird."

"Sweet bird you are
Briefer than a falling star
All these vain promises on beauty jars
Somewhere with your wings on time
You must be laughing"

June's Sketchbook Challenge: Pathways

May's Sketchbook Challenge

The Sketchbook Challenge for this month is “Can’t Resist.” Well, I can’t resist new spring leaves and splashing around in watercolors! I gathered a few varieties of leaves from the yard, sketched them and cut them out to use as stencils for this fun little exercise from Ann K. Lindsay’s book, WATERCOLOR: A NEW BEGINNING. Starting in the foreground, successive rows of overlapping leaf shapes have watercolor glazes added around them, pushing them further into the background. The stencils act as a kind of “resist” to the paint.

This was done on heavy watercolor paper because the paper has to be wet for the initial wash. I will glue it into my sketchbook.

April Sketchbook Challenge

The theme this month is “Branching Out" – but I seem to have only sprouted…



Below is the same sketch with the photocopy filter applied in Photoshop. It gives it kind of an old world look. I may print this on fabric for further embellishment. This could be a way to leverage plain pencil sketches and studies.

Sketchbook Challenge: "Spilling Over"

When the theme for this month’s Sketchbook Challenge, “Spilling Over,” was first announced, I was really stumped as to how I would illustrate it. Couldn’t think of a visual to save my life, but I did wax poetic:

Spilling over, overflowing;
Don’t have a clue where I am going.
Ideas for this theme elude,
My sketchbook sighs in solitude,
And wonders when
My Pitt Art pen
Will once again
Its ink exude.

Then, the other day, we had temperatures in the glorious mid-70s and I was walking around the house and noticed how the ivy spills over itself as it climbs the foundation. I decided to sit outside for a while and sketch it. Forgive my messy smudges – occupational hazard of being left-handed…

I Especially Heart Black Cats...

February’s Sketchbook Challenge is “Opposites.” I knew right away that I wanted to try making a cut paper collage using the Japanese positive and negative design concept of Notan. This was so much fun – kinda like cutting out Valentine hearts as a kid. For this simple, symmetrical design, I used a 3½“ piece of black paper folded in half diagonally, then cut the cat and heart shapes on one side. It’s amazing how much space a 3½” square takes up when all the cutout pieces are glued into their correct positions. And it’s interesting to see the design that’s revealed by the negative space. The second image is the design repeated and flipped in Photoshop. I think it has an Art Nouveau look to it. I will definitely be revisiting this process.

Help! I Need a Clone!

Real life (business) has gotten in the way these past few weeks - even more than usual! Been tempted to give up the blog altogether; after all, it’s been nearly six years! That’s a pretty good run. But, to be honest, I have truly missed it (and my readers – hope you are still out there!) and would like to get back into the online swing of things a little bit, as time permits.

I’m in the middle of so many projects and commitments, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge. The theme this month, "Highly Prized," was so broad; I found it difficult to narrow down my choices. Of course, DH is most highly prized – and his sweet visage can be found in every Santa doll I make. (Everyone who knows him says so!) My little cats are highly prized and I certainly prize my doll collection (got a few new ones for Christmas, including three American Girl dolls!) as well as a few favorite pieces of antique lace and porcelain. But I just couldn’t decide what to illustrate. I had nearly given up, when I set about the bittersweet task of taking down the Christmas tree two weeks ago. I think I’ve mentioned before that the Christmas tree has many ornaments made by my mom over the years. Well, the choice for the highly prized theme hit me like a ton of bricks! I decided to draw a couple of my cherished ornaments! The sketchbook I’m using is Canson’s Mixed Media. It is spiral bound with perforated pages and will accept both wet and dry media. I’m very happy with it. A bargain at $8.99 each, I bought two (sport that I am!). I’m using the other one for my nature journaling.