EDM 197 - A Remote Control

I'm not a big TV watcher, but I used to be. I reached a point where I knew I would never say, "Gee, I wish I had watched more TV in my lifetime," but I knew I would surely regret spending a big chunk of my life absorbing all that programming. So, I dialed it back and back some more until now, when I watch very little. That's one bad habit conquered. Onward to address all the others....

EDM 197 - Remote Control; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 196 - A Rope

This was actually a great drawing exercise from beginning to end--proportion, line, pattern, and SHADING. The knot is a Flemish Eight. Now you know...and so do I.

EDM 196 - A Rope; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 195 - A fork

I can't use real silverware, so we use boring old stainless. I do have one ornate piece of very tarnished silver flatware. It's a serving spoon. I'm hoping to use it in an art piece someday. For today, its fancy end served as the model for a fork...that I don't have.

EDM 195 - A fork; 3x3" watercolor

Painting for Green Day

I don't typically celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but I was inspired to paint some green stuff. You never know when you'll be asked to design upholstery fabric, so you should practice. :) Happy Wearing O' the Green Day!

Inspired by St. Patrick's Day; watercolor on mixed media

Drawn in Church; Painted Later at Home

I drew this in church a few weeks ago using a ballpoint pen. I finally added the color today. I've always loved to color! Please, excuse the poor photo. I need to make photography a higher priority, but I tend to take the easy road, which is snapping pictures with my iPhone.

Psalm 63:1; watercolor & ballpoint pen on mixed media paper

Drawing in Church; Painting at Home

Here's another simple piece I drew during church, so it was inspired by a verse and drawn from my imagination.

A friend introduced me to a lovely color combo today. She actually had the paint chips in her purse! She recently repainted her daughter's bedroom in a lovely, unexpected combination of bright blue and orchid. I decided to use her colors for my painting today. I like!

Proverbs 27:9; watercolor on mixed media paper

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #4 - Shoes with Pens

I titled this piece "Comfort Times Three": soft, comfy leather shoes; warm, handknit wool socks; and faithful, old blue jeans. Ah!

I used Prismacolor Premier 005 fineline pens in four colors. I should have stopped there. I've done plenty of all-pen drawings before, and I'm usually very comfortable with that medium. But, I felt like this drawing needed some watercolor. Hope that doesn't affect my grade!

The photo of the finished piece is deceiving. The shoes, which were the all-ink part of the drawing, look really flat and dull, almost like a photocopy. The watercolor part (jeans and socks) is vibrant and more three dimensional and looks like it's still wet. The contrast between ink and watercolor is not nearly as stark in the actual piece.

I just want to go on the record and say that it took three weeks for us to get to an assignment I was comfortable with. The first two weeks were CHALLENGES! This one was FUN!

WPWW 4 - Shoes with Ink; pen & watercolor

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #3 - Abstract Watercolor with Limited Palette

Well, the next challenge in the Weekly Workout group was to paint abstract shapes in a limited watercolor palette. Like the first week's self portrait, I was a little intimidated. This time, it was the word "abstract" that got me. I don't think I quite met the challenge, because my painting isn't abstract enough. What can I say? I'm an illustrator. My abstractions have to look like something familiar!

I painted an abstraction in four hues reminiscent of spring and embellished with fine point colored markers. I hope the abstraction turns into the real thing soon! We are winter weary!

WPWW 3 - Abstract Watercolor

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #2 - Self Portrait

Best thing about this is that when the model is tired of sitting still, you know you're done.

WPWW 2 - Self Portrait; sepia pen on mixed media paper

This project reminded me of my first week of art school back in 1984. I had almost no formal art training when I started studying commercial art and design in college. I had already finished a bachelor's degree in a non-art major, so I was older than all the other students in my art classes. I really wondered if I belonged and if I was going to make it through. I had very little confidence in my abilities.

When the first project in my life drawing class was to paint a self portrait, my first thought was, "Yup, I'm gonna to hate this." I was okay with the idea of drawing a face, just not MY face. I was also unfamiliar with the assigned medium. We had to use a brush and ink wash. I had almost no experience with painting, and I'd never thought of ink as something you would paint with. It was tough! It still is tough to do self portraits, and I avoid them at all costs. But, I made a commitment to stick with this 12-week challenge. What was I thinking?

I completed this portrait by looking in a mirror, which was excruciating! I chose crosshatching with a fineline pen because I'm very comfortable with that technique. Overall, it isn't horrible. Unfortunately, it looks a lot like me! I figure this challenge thing can only go up from here!

Wet Paint Weekly Workouts

I've been participating in a 12-week painting challenge called "Wet Paint Weekly Workouts." It is a Facebook group, and like other similar groups I've been in, it is proving to be very inspiring and great fun. I decided to post my weekly contributions here.

Week one's challenge was to choose or make a sketchbook and decorate the cover in a way that would make me want to pick it up and use it. I decided to construct my own book, using Arc binder disks from Staples. I made slip-on covers using some basic bookbinding techniques. The image on the front is my monogram, printed in color on Kraft scrapbooking paper. The floral letters are my design. I sell them individually as prints in my Etsy shop. For this project, I embellished the color copy with opaque gel markers to make the image "pop." The white "lace" edge is drawn with white acrylic ink using a dip pen. After adhering the image to the front cover, I sealed it with several coats of acrylic sealer.

I filled the book with mixed media paper, cut to fit and punched to snap onto the disks. I left out the middle disk so that I could include a long piece of coordinating ribbon to tie the book closed. This project was so enjoyable, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Stay tuned for the rest of the Weekly Workout challenges.

Wet Paint Weekly Workout book

WPWW book inside

EDM 194 - A Baked Potato

Once again, the EDM list had me drawing something I would probably never otherwise think about drawing. AND, in this case, the list also determined how I would cook the potatoes we had for dinner. I've wanted to try a recipe for Armadillo Taters. They are pretty cool looking. They tasted okay. We probably would have preferred plain old mashed potatoes, but that would have made a boring drawing.

EDM 194 - Baked Potato; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 193 - Closeup of Something

It's not a Montblanc, but it's mine. Besides, my eyes have seen the real Mont Blanc (the one in France), and that's way better than any old fountain pen! :)

EDM 193 - Closeup; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 192 - Something That Floats

The music of wind chimes came to mind first. I love all wind chimes. They are the instruments that men make and that God plays. It sounds like random melody...kind of like life sometimes.

EDM 192 - Something That Floats; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 191 - Paper Money

For a while, my husband liked to include an origami shirt when he tipped a restaurant server. It was fun watching him fold them while he waited for me, the slow eater, to finish eating.

EDM 191 - Paper Money; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 190 - Colors on My Palette

I'm not usually a big fan of undiluted paint colors. They seem almost too rich and bright, and I always prefer to mix them. Watercolors are meant to mix and mingle, I think. They usually get along very well if they aren't overworked. But, for this challenge, every color keeps to itself. Sigh.

These are not all my paint colors, but they are the ones I use most often. I don't bother with black and white paint. The paper provides the white, and when I want black, which is infrequently, I like to mix it myself. Having said that, I did use an opaque white pen for the details here. I only pretend to be a purist.

EDM 190 - Palette Colors; 3x3" watercolor

This is actually a smaller version of a color wheel I painted in one of my art journals last year. It was bigger and better...and on much better paper. I love the paper in Moleskine watercolor journals!

EDM 189 - A Shaver

Ah, the good ol' days! I don't actually like the expression "the good ol' days," but I do like to draw good ol' things--things that aren't made of plastic and that look like they'll last for more than a couple days of use.

EDM 189 - A Shaver; 3x3" watercolor