A portrait of my baby niece made as a gift for my sister. She and Cate are already friends even though they are so different in personality. Lizzie has the most dainty whimper of a cry but Cate has a powerful set of lungs and doesn’t hesitate to use them!
I posted work in progress shots of this drawing in my last issue of Delicate Paperwork. If you are interested in seeing more behind the scenes images from me, you should subscribe. I’m sending the February issue out on Wednesday where I’ll be showing you a sneak peak of what I’m working on for the upcoming Twitter Art Exhibit.
This abstract drawing is inspired by the tufts of hair of my flokati rug. These days I like to make abstract, repetitive drawings while Cate takes mini naps during the day. This drawing was especially fun to make with my Noodler’s Flex Nib pen.
Congratulations to Endment who is the winner of my notecard giveaway. Please contact me with your information so I can mail off your prize. If I don’t hear from you by Friday, Jan 20, I will draw another name.
If you haven’t signed up for my free email newsletter Delicate Paperwork yet, it’s not too late. I’m sending off the first issue tomorrow. Click here to sign up.
I did some multitasking one evening, alternating between reading, listening to the TV and sketching Ruben (whenever he changed position). I felt so productive.
This is the first year that I can remember that I haven’t been stressed out over Christmas. I decided not to gift anyone artwork this year, and my family decided on a one present per person policy which really simplifies shopping. Now that my shopping is all done and I don’t feel “pressurized,” I actually haven’t minded the few times I’ve been out in the stores. I spent a couple of nice afternoons visiting Thornes Marketplace and Kringle Candle.
I’ve been posting to Pinterest for the past few months, whenever I find an interesting image that I want to save. Pinterest is a great site for finding online inspiration, and I love to browse through other people’s pins. If you use Pinterest, feel free to follow me, and leave a comment so I can follow you.
Above are some small sketches of Katie, and not very good ones at that, done over the course of a few days. Whenever I sketch Katie, or any animal, most of my sketches are no good and only a few really please me. It is such good practice and so much fun that I keep doing it though.
I seem to be having more and more ideas for new projects than ever, but less and less time to work on them. A few days ago I saw this article titled Balancing Parenthood and Your Art Career by Lori McNee, and I felt like “the universe” was reading my mind.
I’m trying to think of ways to do more work, or rather, to finish more work. I feel that I need to work faster, or at least in a less tedious manner. Interestingly, I’ve been feeling like this for a long time now, well before Cate came along.
Baby Cate arrived last week and I’m finally getting into the swing of things enough to make some sketches while she naps. I am no expert on baby portraits, but I will definitely get a lot of practice over the next few months as I’ll want to do plenty of sketches of my precious baby girl. I am so lucky!
I was always suspicious when I heard women say that childbirth was their most creative act. In my case, the only creativity involved was making some sketches from my hospital bed while waiting for the contractions to set in.
This is a quick sketch of Katie from a few weeks ago. Katie has become my best buddy these days. I’ve been trying to do as much sketching and painting as possible recently because my due date is fast approaching. I am getting nervous and really excited!
I’ve spent the last couple of days putting a lot of hours into the painting that I’m going to use as my Christmas card. I love sending out a Christmas card with my own artwork on it, but I’ve been procrastinating all year. When I found out about the sale that Moo is offering right now, I didn’t want to miss out. Through tomorrow, they are giving 15% off their holiday cards (with the code CARDSYAY), in addition to the 15% off sale that they are already running. I say this every year, but next year I am going to be more prepared for sure and get my artwork ready ahead of time! I’ll be posting my painting, along with some Work in Progress photos in an upcoming post.
Below is a really nice short film by and Danny Gregory and Tommy Kane that I enjoyed. I thought the music was especially fitting.
Today was the first time that I sat down to do sketching of any sort in the past week and a half, because of various things that came up, namely:
a death in the family
a personal emergency of sorts (can’t elaborate)
moving
having to divest about 70% of my possessions (because of the move)
I’m not going to have my drafting table anymore or a separate studio space, and I have had to make some hard decisions about my art supplies. I had already decided not to delve into any new media because I didn’t want to buy new supplies. Now, I had to make decisions to get rid of things that were nice and that I had spent good money on, but I probably wasn’t going to use for awhile and couldn’t store. Thankfully my ink and watercolor supplies don’t take up that much room, but I had to donate a lot of paper for lack of space. Also, I’ve gotten rid of a number of things that are nice to have, but not necessary because I don’t use them too much.
These things have left me stressed out to say the least, not to mention that I am expecting at the moment (due in late October). I am very excited about it, but I wish I had a better handle on things right now. Wish me luck because I think I am going to need it in the next few months!
