Sunday Sketches ~ Flower Catalog

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Be sure to visit all the other great participants of Sunday Sketches over at Sophia's place!

Or if you are feeling sketchy, join us by posting your sketch, and linking it with dear Mr. Linky over at BlueChairDiary.

I've decided to start a flower catalog, much like the doodle directories many artists have produced, in order to keep track of the flowers I use in my pieces.  I am always looking at past pictures to get ideas for flowers, and I thought this would be a great way to have a quick place to look for ideas.

I took this 12" X 24.5" piece of paper and marked it off in 3" X 4" sections...

Then I just started filling in squares with different flowers I have used before in my pictures...

I am planning on including lots of leaf and vine sketches also as I love to combine all of these elements in my work.

I got the idea for this from Eden who has made a wonderful doodle directory, but also from our dear Sophia, who has recently started sketching every day, just for fun, with no heavy expectations.  I find this flower directory to be very relaxing, creative, and no pressure!  I don't have to worry about ruining a piece I have spent hours on, this is just for fun!

Also I posted this below during the week, but wanted to be sure to share it with all of the Sunday sketchers as you have watched her evolve over a few weeks...

You can see the full post about her below.

Hope you are all having a wonderfully relaxing weekend, or if not, that you are enjoying each moment.  In light of the tragic events unfolding in Japan right now, it reminds me how much we need to treasure the wonderful people in our lives, not the things, and not let even one day pass without thinking about how we can make this planet a better place for those less fortunate.

Hugs to you all and as always...

S M I L E S

The Re-Birth of an Artist

I have been thinking a lot lately about how my art is evolving, and what it means to me to call myself an 'Artist'.

I decided it would be fun to share here a little bit about my artistic background.

I remember as a child drawing all of the time - but I was always drawn to any kind of artistic expression - picture me at six trying to make my tiny fingers move correctly so I could knit and crochet like my mother.  My brain could see how to do it, but I couldn't make my fingers produce consistent little rows...still I never gave up and eventually mastered the basics of crocheting and knitting, enough to make booties, scarves, and half a baby sweater once.

Drawing is something I remember doing from a very early age. I drew all the cartoon characters of that day, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn.  Lots of birds from a bird book my Grandmother had, and really just anything that took my fancy.  I made homemade stationary and decorated the edges with tiny flowers and vines, made tons of cards and filled little lined paper pads with tons of little drawings.  I don't remember recieving a ton of support for my drawings when I was little; my mother was a single mother of five and stretched far too thin to take notice of my little artistic 'treasures'.  For that reason perhaps, I have never known, personally, if my art was ever any good. (an insecure artist, imagine!)     :-)


Through the years, I have had periods where I have completely submerged my artistic side, (putting myself through college working 3 jobs with two small children to raise) and focused on my cerebral side.   At other times I usually had some sort of craft going, sewing quilts, or children's clothing, or little stuffed animals for my kids, but drawing has taken a back seat for years at a time.

Fast forward to February of 2010. 

I was advised by a friend to start a blog about being a busy Mama of 7.  My passion at that point was writing writing writing! (that's still true to some extent.) So I started this little blog and reached out tenative fingers into blogland, exploring and looking for like-minded people, people who were creating something personal and sharing it with a community of creatives.

I was immediately inspired by all of the wonderful art based blogs I stumbled across.  I dusted off my sketchbook and graphite pencils, my colored pencils and pens, and started drawing again.

I can't really remember how, but I stumbled on the weekly art prompt 'Sunday Sketches' over at Sophia's Blue Chair Diary, where Sophia asks artists to share a sketch every Sunday and comment on the other participants.  This seemed like such a no-stress, fun way to draw regularly that I was inspired and started participating every week.  A tiny spark started to glow and I found myself looking forward to coming up with something new to share each week.

I'm pretty sure it is also through this co-op that I stumbled across the artwork of incredible artist Rebecca Anthony.  She was in the middle of completing a series of Diva canvases, and I was blown away by her intricate doodling on the faces of her Divas!  I remember mentally thinking "You can do that?" and answering "Yes, you CAN do that!"  It was like a damn of creativity opened up at that point, and I actually felt all the preconceived notions I had about drawing fly out the window. 

Several other artists along the way have also provided incredible inspiration:
Ces over at Ces and her Dishes
Jessie at The Purple Treebird
Lissa at A Chance of Sunshine
Heather at Rose Hill Designs
Eden at Draw Doodle And Decorate

And many many more!

Now I am developing my own 'style' I guess you'd call it, (I love detail work!) and I am learning to ask myself if I  like what I am doing, and to smile and accept that to me, at last, it is good.

I love sharing each piece with you all, and when I read your feedback, and lovely lovely comments, I am six again, glowing at the praise of those whose opinion matters to me, those who have inspired me week after week to push my self-imposed artistic limitations, and really bloom as an artist.

And with each piece I finish and love and share, each wonderfully supportive comment I read, I start to suspect that I may just be an 'Artist' some day!

So thank you to all of you who follow me and share my artistic journey.  Your comments, your blogs and writings and art and personal stories, all of it, mean so much to me!  I wish I could travel to meet all of you in person, sit and share coffee, and just enjoy getting to know you all better.  You have shared so much with me and your friendship and support have given me wings!

Smiles!

Julia

Sepia Gal finished!

For her 'skirt' I was going for almost a 'moss covered tree trunk' effect and although that is not exactly how this turned out, I still love it - What do you think?

Yeah!  She is finished (for the most part)!!!  This is the biggest project I have done thus far, and it has taken me hours and hours of detail work and over two weeks to finish,

but I am over the moon with the finished piece!!

I love how the Henna'd flowers  on her body turned out, pretty much exactly as I imagined...

I am also in love with the tree I added to add context to this piece - the tree almost

steals the show, don't ya think?

This was really such a long project (for me) that I was aching to get her finished and put two long days in on her yesterday and today. 

Thanks for your positive comments on her thus far.  I hope you all like how she turned out!

Smiles

Sunday Sketches - Sepia Girl

Happy Sunday All!  I am not sure if we will be having Sunday Sketches this weekend or not - Certainly not without our lovely hostesss Sophia, so I will just post this to share and change it to SS later if Sophia is up to hosting - Either way, our thoughts are with Sophia and her family during this difficult time.

Thought I would post some progress pictures of 'Sepia girl'... :-)

Not sure what to call her yet but I am using lots of sepia colored ink on her so that is her lovely title for now. (I apologize for the shadows in the picture)

Below you can see I have started to layer in some rich browns for the flower and hair - I had originally intended to do the whole flower/leaf part of the drawing in brown tones, but it just didn't come out right so I switched it up with my favorite green and pink pencils.  I love the color combinations!  You can also get a peak at the lower part of this piece.  I am thinking of doing some vinework, sort of like a body hennae treatment on the upper part of her body, and the lower part will be wrapped in a sarong type wrap.

This is how she started earlier this week...

Love to hear your thoughts as always.  Wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing Sunday and week to come!

Another work in progress

Couldn't resist showing you this new piece I am working on today - I just love how she is turning out!

She is nearly full length (all the way to her knees) and nude on top with a sarong draped across her lower half. I'm super excited to work on such a large piece - It will challenge me on many levels.  I also have sketched my first pair of folded hands in this picture, so will look forward to showing you how those turn out (yikes!!)

Wishing you all a wonderful day!!

Smiles

Work in progress - call for feedback

Hi Everyone...

I'm posting this because I desperately need some feedback - I am not too crazy about how this is turning out and want to know what you all think.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

This is still very much in the beginning stages, but it just keeps bugging me...not sure why - too much color maybe?

Love to hear your thoughts if you have any!

Smiles

Sunday Sketches

Good Sunday Morning Everyone!  Sunday Sketches has been cancelled due to Sophia's father's illness.  Please be sure to head over and give her your support during this very difficult time.  She will need lots of support as this seems like it will be a long treatment and recovery for him.

This is the finished version of the gal I showed you last week - you can see I tried something different here and put a taj mahal type of building in the background.  This was a fun departure for me from just doing flowers.  I did decide to add in some flowers that were inspired by some red toille fabric I have.  I am loving the sepia ink pens I got recently at Michaels!  What do you think of her?

And this little gal is from a while ago, but I finally finished her and had the graphic company I work with scan her for me.  I am going to put her on lime green and hot pink t-shirts for my 'Smile Campaign'!  I can't wait to show you how the shirts turn out.

Share a SMILE with me ~ it’s free!

What do you think?  I just love how happy she looks among her flowering SMILES!!

I'd love to hear what is making you smile these days!

Lots of snow and warm cosy evenings are keeping a sweet smile on my face!

Hugs to you all and of course, S M I L E S

My new bedroom

Since we bought our home last fall, I have been wanting to do something fun with our bedroom. Once again I found inspiration at Rebecca Anthony's place! She showed some decorating pics from her new home and I was so inspired by her tangerine bedroom!

I love lots of color in my home too, so I took a deep breath, went to the paint store and picked out a gorgeous orange poppy color for one wall in my bedroom.

Then I headed off to the fabric store to look for fabrics for a new duvet cover.

I had shopped online for a couple months, just looking for the perfect cover, and never found one that was quite right...

At the fabric store I stumbled upon this collection of fabrics that I just LOVE!  All oranges, reds, yellows, blues and greens, and they remind me so much of my art too...lots of details.

The center panel here is intended for a pillow, but I used it as the center of my cover instead...                       What do you think?

I JUST LOVE THE SWIRLS AND DOTS IN THIS
FABRIC (and of course all the flowers are so ME!)

Loved this pattern and this shade of green, so I decided to add a strip of it just where the cover reaches the edge of the bed on either side ~ Helps when making the bed believe it or not!  ;-)  I also used this fabric at the top on the backside, so when the duvet cover is turned over, it shows the green against the print and looks really nice!

I am over the moon with how this turned out! (this pic is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea)

 I cannot go into this room without smiling!  Now I just need to make some custom curtains to match and lots of fun coordinating shams and throw pillows and it will be perfect!

By the way the art behind our bed is done by my very talented sister Amber!  It's extra special to have it hanging over our bed, knowing my sissy made it for me.

Don't ya just love C O L O R!

Thank you to Rebecca again for always inspiring me to GO FOR IT!!!

SMILES

Sunday Sketches

Hello Friends and Happy Sunday to you all! 

You can find more great Sunday Sketches over at our wonderfully hospitable hostess Sophia's place.  Be sure to check out all of the other participants, or better yet, join us by sketching something up and linking back to Sophia's 'Blue Chair Diary'!

This is a new gal that I am working on and trying a few new things ~ I did quite a bit of layering of a flesh colored pencil as a base and then used my etching tool to work in some flowers, followed by a green pencil to add detail and dimension.  I am not done but really like how it is coming along.

As always, I love to hear what you think and your feedback is most welcome.  Can't say enough times how much it makes my Sunday to visit all of you and share what we are all working on each week!!!

Wishing you a peaceful day and week ahead!

Smiles

xo

Featured at FAT Tuesday!

Thank you to the very talented Beth over at Beth's Artworx for featuring me on her FAT Tuesday post!
Every week she features different artists and it is a great way to showcase your work and meet other really talented artists - stop by and share!  I just love Beth's art so this is really an honor!

Thanks again Beth!

Sunday Sketches

Good Sunday Morning Everyone! 

How was your week?  I hope it was calmer than mine!

For more great sketches be sure to stop by Blue Chair Diary,

or better yet, let your creative juices flow and join us.  Just sketch something up and use dear mr. linky over at Sophia's place!

This is a sketch I am playing around with - I am trying to figure out how to do darker skinned women, but it comes out very grainy with my colored pencils, even after using a blending stump...So I will have to keep trying!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone sketched this week!

In case you missed my post this week, here is last week's sketch and how she turned out:

If you are interested in how I finish off my pieces and get them ready for the printer,

you can read about that here.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday and a relaxing week to come!

Smiles   :-)

Creative Process

My dear friend Ces asked me a little bit about the process I use in getting my pictures ready for printing on canvas.  If you've followed my blog for a bit you know I use colored pencils, indian ink, colored ink, and some applique flowers in my work.  When I finish a piece, then I have to decide what kind of border I want to put around it.  I was quite excited to learn from my Print shop that they can scan any paper, fabric, etc and digitally place it behind my work, thereby 'framing' it.  You can see the finished piece below.

This is probably not news to those of you that are super-graphic savy, but I have absolutely no idea how to do anything in photoshop, so I was really excited with this concept.

I found this piece of handmade paper in an art supply store and knew it would be a perfect background for my purple gal.

The finished scan is printed in Gicle on Canvas and gallery wrapped so it is ready to hang on the wall.  The super cool thing is the 'Matting' extends all the way around the edge to the back of the canvas!

The graphic designer I worked with was also able to insert a small border between my finished piece and the border to ofset it.  I think it really makes it stand out.

Love the hot pink border around this one!

The finished canvases are fairly large, but I can order them in a variety of sizes.  I can also have these printed on fine paper for someone that may want to frame it instead.  The canvases or prints can be shipped without being framed in a tube, making it that much easier to ship to a potential customer.

I have had several people suggest a card set of these too, so that is an idea to think about.

Just for fun, I printed each one of these on 4"X6" high gloss photo paper and then laminated them for the kids to use as bookmarks.  That's also a really great way for me to show someone my art without having to lug a canvas with me.

So figuring out how to finish these off has been a fun creative process for me!  Having a gallery interested in representing me is even better!

I know I love it when I get to share in the creative process of all of you wonderful artists.  I hope this was a fun way for you to see how my work evolves!

Smiles!

'Lady in Red' Complete

Yeah!  I am finished with this lovely lady.  I am so excited with how she turned out!  If you click on the image, you will see that I used sepia toned pens (brown ink) for the flowers done without color and for most of the dot work.  I really like these new pens!  Now I am off to the art store to pick out the border that will be used around her.  I will have some finished canvases to show you all soon. 

Love to hear what you think!

Smiles

Work in progress "The Lady in Red"

Just couldn't resist showing everyone how my "Lady in Red" is turning out.  I am using an etching tool for the flowers, the hair, and the leaf detail and love how it is turning out.  I am also laying in a soft yellow background and the combination is soooooo beautiful!  Can't wait to hear what you think!

Smiles

Sunday Sketches

                                                                                             

 Hello Everyone!  Happy Sunday to you all.  Here is my fourth finished gal in my series of five.  How do you like her?  I am really looking forward to seeing her on canvas.  I went to a local art supply store and bought some homemade paper that is a yummy shade of purple and has a great crinkled texture to it.  I plan on having it scanned and then use it as a frame around this piece before it is printed on canvas and stretched.  I am getting so excited to see this series of five finished!  Can't wait to show you them all in one post.

This lovely sketch is a possible start for my fifth and final gal in this series - the color for this one will be RED, my favorite decorating color (you will find shades of red everywhere in my house).  I think this sketch may be too docile for a red theme though so I am still trying to decide...what do you think?

As you can each week, if you head over to Sophia's place, our lovely hostess will provide links to some wonderful and fun sketches.  Be sure to stop by and check them out!

Looking forward to visiting all the other participants.

And thank you to everyone that takes the time to leave a comment.  I just enjoy hearing your thoughts, feedback and suggestions so much!

Smiles and have a great Sunday!    

Most recent work in progress...

Hi Everyone!  This is the fourth in my series of five gals - She's obviously my Purple gal...haven't come up with a name yet (any suggestions are welcome:-) Still have some background detail to add, and a bit more color but so far I really like how she is turning out.

Have gotten two canvases back and I just love them.  I will take pics and post them soon - I can't wait to share them with you all!

Do let me know what you think...I love to hear your wonderful ideas and feedback!