More work with texture

My pen has felt a little resistant lately, so this week, I decided to give it a rest and focus on another love of mine -- textures. Since I gravitate toward bird-creating, especially when I'm feeling a bit stuck, I started a "Rusty Bird" collection. I am unsure if I'll add to the backgrounds, or keep these as solitary birds on a blank page, but here is a preview of what I've been working on....

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

In like a lion

While working on my happy lions for the circus pattern project a few weeks ago, I made a rough sketch of a voluminous lion face. I tossed it aside at the time, but I keep running into it, and I decided to try another one today. I'll post more once the linework is completed and I've added color, but I look forward to seeing where I can go with this. Stay tuned!

Lilla Rogers and Jell-O patterns

I submitted my second assignment for Lilla's MATS Bootcamp earlier today. The focus this month was on patterns, bolt fabric and Jell-O — Jell-O molds, colors, retro ads, anything Jell-O. I found myself uninterested in the molds, but I really loved looking at the desserts. The colorful stacks of Jell-O layered with whipped cream and a cherry on top, served in a tall glass with a pronounced stem. Just cool.

As with every Lilla assignment so far, it was another fantastic experience of learning, questioning, researching and drawing. Not only did I spend time checking out old Jell-O ads (totally enjoyable), but I also paid more attention to the patterns around my house, I drew gazillions of fun desserts, and I tried some new color combinations. Another perk this month was finding www.colorexplorer.com. Using the "Image Color Import" function, I was able to upload images that I was drawn to (my Ikea bedspread, a shirt at the Nintendo store, a mudroom on Houzz.com, etc.), and Color Explorer provided Illustrator-ready .ase swatches for me to use with my drawings.

I created several variations for my final assignment, but I went with this one in the end:

There were a few other contenders, too...

Which one is your favorite? And why?
I welcome your comments!

Textures and more bird sketches

I'm working on a project that now requires more background colors and textures, so I spent time yesterday creating watercolor paintings with different shades of blues, greens, and oranges to add to my library.

After I scanned these texture paintings in, I pulled out my white and graphite transfer paper and sketched on the still-damp paper. The wetness of the paper and the smudginess of the transfer paper give my drawings a dream-like quality, and I generally love the results.

On the cropped out sections below, I added some saturation in Photoshop to boost the background texture further...

How I will incorporate this particular background, I'm not sure yet. I am hoping for further instruction while I sleep tonight.

Your comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome.

My final cuckoo clock submission

After a somewhat scattered process of sketching and assembling images, I created my final collage for my first MATS Bootcamp submission (more about this assignment + sketches can be found here).

I wanted my cuckoo clock image to portray time as a bit static and stuck, but also very layered and rich. This is the image I posted to Lilla's online gallery...

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

MATS Bootcamp has begun!

I've enrolled in another course led by Lilla Rogers. This one is called Make Art That Sells: Assignment Bootcamp. It's different than the MATS A class that I took last year in a few ways:

• In Bootcamp, we get three weeks for each assignment, plus one week downtime before the next one starts. In MATS A, we had one week to complete an assignment and no downtime. 
• Lilla will not be critiquing the class submissions as she had in the A course, so there is much less interaction with Lilla herself.
• Bootcamp is less expensive. Less Lilla, less $, I suppose.

The class began on February 3rd, and we were given the subject of Cuckoo Clocks. Lilla posted some great examples for reference and encouraged us all to just play for this first week (no worrying about money, career, results). I thought this was a super fun topic, and on various occasions, my son and I sat down at the kitchen table with his craft basket and drew with black pens and his favorite purple marker. Some of our drawings are here:

At the beginning of the second week, we were given our actual assignment: create a phone cover with a cuckoo clock theme. Because of the vertical nature of the cover, and because I love drawing city buildings, I began focusing on the cuckoo clock as a Brooklyn brownstone. Here are a couple of examples:

Sketching bricks and worn-down facades kept veering me toward decay and the assemblage of broken pieces, however, and I start sketching hardware and darker birds, like the crow...

Ultimately, I realized I was envisioning a collage. Gears, hardware and premonitory blackbirds. A bit of melancholy and a bit of peace. I'll post my final piece shortly.

Snow days and a late Valentine's Day party

It's well after Valentine's Day, but we've had a ton of snow out here this winter, and my son's class is actually having their party today. We created cute little bags for his classmates, and I thought I'd share the template and our results.

To get the ball rolling, I made some of the hearts and a few other decorations, but my five year old impressively put in another two hours coloring the rest. I did the cutting, and my husband did the gluing (with a little Mod Podge). Together, we made 23 of these:

We stuffed them with a piece of dark chocolate and a few heart stickers and sent them off with my son this morning. I am looking forward to hearing what the kids think!

If you'd like a copy of this template, you can download this picture below (select Fit to Print on your printer), or leave a comment, and I will email you a PDF.

Happy belated Valentine's Day!