art: this & that.

I have been super otherwise-occupied of late and have not gotten much artwork or crafty stuff accomplished. Not that I'm too sad about that; I've had other fish to fry. Namely that cute little fish named Avery...and no, I haven't actually fried her...

Ok, off topic. Sorry. So anyway, here are a few quick bits of art I've managed to doodle up in the last 3 months.

close-up of the HP crew

Ta-da! Hopefully I will be able to get some more time in my art studio again before too long...

art: girl power & dinosaurs.

I had the chance over the last couple of days to peck away at some sketches and to make a new little piece of art for Avery's nursery! Here are a couple of things I've done:


A few more girl power pieces--

Some practice sketches of Avy and Fred the Triceratops, for possible later use in some picture books currently brewing in my brain--

And my favorite: a finished watercolor + colored pencil piece featuring Fred the Triceratops, to be framed and hung in Avery's nursery.

There's actually a silly story behind good old Fred. A few years ago, Mike and I, along with his sister Elly, went on a little mini-vacation to Washington, D.C. We were very taken with a triceratops skeleton in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The skeleton implied that this dino was, we joked, the perfect size for a pet. So we nicknamed him "Fred," and referred to him as our future / hypothetical pet throughout the trip. When Mike and I returned to D.C. for our honeymoon, we of course took photos of ourselves with our friend Fred. And here is a cute picture of him for Avery's nursery! We can't wait to take her to see him someday. I also would love to feature him as a character in picture books down the road, perhaps!

Well, that's it for now. Sketching and painting are just one of the many things I've been doing lately to try to keep my impatient mind occupied while I wait ((uncomfortably!)) for Avery to arrive!

art: hand-lettering practice.

Aside from illustration, I've also recently become interested in hand-lettering. I see it pop up a ton on Pinterest, blogs, Etsy, all over the place. I used to have a cute little calligraphy set when I was a kid, and my dad has always been a big calligraphy junkie, so hand-lettering and I go way back. But it has become kind of trendy of late--which you won't see me complaining about, because I love the current half-messy, half-fancy aesthetic that seems to be quite popular right now. I dig it.

So, I've been dabbling a little, just for fun. I recently purchased these cheap Crayola watercolor markers (got them a couple bucks cheaper than this at Target), which look a lot like the expensive brush pens serious hand-letterers all seem to use. I'm sure there's quite a bit lacking in control and brush quality in comparison, and the color options are quite limited, but they're a good starter pack for someone who just wants to play around with it casually!

Here are a couple things I've made as I've been playing around with them:

Wilco lyrics

Lucius lyrics

And some things made with other tools:

Plain old Crayola markers! Layered over thin black Sharpie.

Sharpie pen in black

Regular Crayola markers again

Same

Yeah, I'm definitely not too fancy or skilled at the hand-lettering stuff yet, but you have to start somewhere, right? Meanwhile, it's just fun and relaxing to play around with. As I get better at it--and buy fancier tools for it--I may work up some pieces nice enough to frame and hang in mi casa. Until then, it's a fun form of doodling--I feel like a middle schooler with her markers & notebook! ;)

art: nerdy gals watercolor ((for Avery's nursery)).

Finally! I've finished the nerdy gals watercolor piece I've been working on for Avery's nursery! Here is the unframed final result:

((In case you couldn't tell or weren't sure, here are the ladies in order, left to right, starting with the top row: Luna Lovegood, Princess Leia, Wonderwoman, Buffy, Amy Pond, and Eowyn.))

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! The only bummer is that I didn't pay close enough attention to the particulars of the frame I had planned to put it in; the edges of the frame cover up the tops of the top gals' heads and the bottom gals' feet. So, the painting is done but I'll be heading back to the store to look for a new frame!

Here are a couple of snaps of the process, just for fun:

I used to dabble in watercolors when I was younger, but it has been a long time, so I'm still pretty rusty. It's taking me some time to remember some of the techniques, and I didn't try anything too fancy with shading, shadows, negative space, etc. in this piece; I was just going for bright, true colors for the most part. I'm definitely excited to get some more practice and branch out with different styles and techniques in the future! Meanwhile, I think these nerdy gals turned out pretty well, and I'm excited to have them keeping an eye on my little nerdy gal when she arrives. ;)

art: owls ((practicing my drawing + watercolor skills)).

So, how about some actual art?!?

Obviously, with life as crazy as it is right now in preparation for the baby's arrival, art is on the back burner currently. But I recently had a chance to squeeze in these little cuties, to practice my ink drawing and watercolor painting.

The design for these little cuties wasn't totally mine; I adapted them from the book Craft-a-Doodle: 75 Creative Exercises from 18 Artists by Jenny Doh. 

Drawing my cute little owl friends in ink first.

Finished owls in b&w, ready for color.

Finished: painted and ready to go!

Nothing fancy or exciting, I know! Just a bit of practice work. I was reminded that getting back into watercolors is definitely going to take some practice. I'd forgotten quite a bit from my younger, artsier days about mixing, shading, and other techniques with watercolors. But these still look bright and cute, so I'm pretty pleased with them. I look forward to getting more practice in!