Christmas Dusting

By Carolyn, on December 28th, 2012

arnold meat box

Christmas Dusting. Photograph ©2012 Carolyn A Pappas

“right now” staying focused on the present, mindful and in the moment, an image from the week, with no words or a few words, that acknowledges the “right now.” Inspired by Ann.

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Christmas Eve Greetings to you, my friends

By Carolyn, on December 24th, 2012

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, spent with your family and hopefully relaxing. I am happy to be home with Cate today, enjoying her company, and then with my whole family for roast beef dinner. This is Cate’s first real Christmas, with tearing open presents and all. I’m looking forward to it.

colored pencil work in progress

©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, Orange Sunset WIP. Colored pencil on toned paper, apx 7 x 7 inches.


Some further work on my sunset painting. I’m liking how this one is turning out.

  4 comments   Colored Pencil, Work in Progress   , , , ,  

Tree Up

By Carolyn, on December 7th, 2012

christmas tree

Tree Up. Photograph ©Carolyn A Pappas

“right now” staying focused on the present, mindful and in the moment, an image from the week, with no words or a few words, that acknowledges the “right now.” Inspired by Ann.

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Non-Stressful Christmas!

By Carolyn, on December 20th, 2011

ink triangles drawing

©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, 12-17-2011 (Triangles). Ink in large handbook sketchbook.

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.

  Leave a comment   Pen and Ink, Sketchbook   ,  

A Dahlia for Christmas, with Work in Progress Photos

By Carolyn, on November 7th, 2011
dahlia floral painting

©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, A Dahlia for Christmas. Watercolor and colored pencil, 8 x 10 inches.

This is my latest painting, which I used as the image for my Christmas cards this year. I painted it in watercolor first, and then went over it with colored pencil. I wanted something really bright and bold, and I think that I got what I was going for even though it isn’t blatantly Christmas themed.

If you scroll down you can see two work in progress photos plus my printed cards that I got in the mail the other day. Opening up my package made all my hard work seem worth it. I ordered my cards with red envelopes. I am really happy with the quality, although I wish I had the option to have 5 x 7 cards printed.

in progress floral painting

This is after I finished the watercolor and had just started on the colored pencil.

in progress floral painting

I worked from top left to lower right and used a piece of paper towel to rest my hand on to avoid smudging the colored pencil.

dahlia christmas card

My finished card.

  Leave a comment   Watercolor and Colored Pencil   , , , , ,  

Desk Calendar Experiment

By Carolyn, on December 27th, 2010

I hope everybody had a great holiday weekend. I had a really nice time myself and now I’m busy cleaning up the house and getting full use from some of my Christmas presents (Bejeweled 3 comes highly recommended). Below are some photos that I copied and pasted together of a desk calendar that I ordered from Snapfish. I gave them away to some friends and family for Christmas. I am really pleased with how my artwork looks reproduced and now I’m getting excited about some other things that I can get printed up. I will definitely make my own calendars from now on and maybe I will make some to sell in the future as well.

Calendar Montage

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