Happy Thanksgiving! And my last MATS assignment

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Shawn, Archer and I have the great fortune of having several family members stay with us in Croton-on-Hudson this holiday, and it has been more fun than we'd even hoped. 

Before our guests arrived, I submitted my final assignment for Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells online course (Part B). For this last week, we focused on the Party Paper market (plates, napkins, cups, etc.), and our theme was flora.

The mini assignment was given to us on Monday, which was to gather and draw/paint flowers, leaves and anything that is currently growing in our region. On Wednesday, we received our actual assignment: use the art from our minis to design a plate and napkin for a party.

I spent most of the week creating watercolor and ink drawings of the dried leaves and plants I'd collected on my walks, but I kept thinking about the winter-ready holly bush right outside my window. It's so green and alive amongst the other bare bushes and trees, and birds stop by to eat the bright berries all day long while I work. The holly is festive, and with the guests' impending arrival, I imagined a wintry holiday party. The prickly shape of the leaves lent themselves to collage, and in the end, I went with this presentation below.

Below are some of the watercolor sketches from my mini assignment:

This was probably my favorite assignment in MATS B. Although none of Lilla's assignments are easy for me, I felt most at ease with the subject matter. It was a great way to end the course, and I look forward to her next class, MATS Bootcamp, which starts in January.

As always, your comments are welcome. I hope you're all having a tremendous Thanksgiving weekend!

Holiday Promo Card

I really want to send out promotional postcards this holiday season, so I took advantage of Moo.com's latest sale.

Below is a potential front (my name will be on the back). What do you think?

You, the Magician

Well, we did it! One year and stacks of sketches later, "You, the Magician" is now available for purchase at youthemagician.com.

I'll blog more later this week about my art process for this book, but for now, please check out their Facebook page at facebook.com/youthemagician. Here, you'll find more information about the book's wonderful and magical message, plus an introductory reading of the book by authors, Josh Carothers and Jodi Maestas Carothers. Take a look!

Scrapbooking and icons

Although I have never really connected with the world of scrapbooking, I approached Week 3's Scrapbook Market assignment from Lilla Rogers' MATS B course with an open mind.

For Monday/Tuesday, our task was to research and draw vintage clocks. On Wednesday, we received our final assignment, which was to create a full sheet of scrapbook icons, utilizing clocks, time and anything time related.

Lilla continually stresses the importance of creating icons (for all markets), but I find them difficult. In the back of my mind, they feel like clutter, and I fight them. I am getting better at them, however, and I am adding more tidbits and little extras. Below are some of my sketches and a snippet of my final assemblage with a color change.

As Lilla says, the great benefit of creating icons is that I now have more to work with. Although I'm not jazzed by my green/yellow color and texture choices for this submission (bottom image), I can make some tweaks and use several of these elements for other things. More icons = more ideas and more opportunities. Keep an eye out for re-use of these birds and flowers for sure.

Cowgirls/cowboys and baby apparel

My second week with Lilla Rogers' MATS B course focused on the baby apparel market. I've printed on many onesies for my Etsy shop over the years, but I know very little about creating a pattern, or the popular market, so I was looking forward to this one.

The assignment was to create a cowgirl/cowboy-themed print for a onesie and/or baby dress. I thought it was a super cute theme, and I messed around with a few cowgirl and silly horse characters, but I just couldn't get into it. I then tried some collage forms and chunky "yee-haws!," but it just wasn't coming together for me. So I decided to simplify, and I began gesture sketching horses running and galloping. And though it didn't turn out very baby-ish, I really enjoyed drawing for this.

Below is my final submission, followed by a couple of other sketches.
Your comments are always welcome!

Another class with Lilla Rogers begins...

The much-anticipated e-course with Lilla Rogers started this past Monday. If you've read my previous posts, you know that I really love taking classes with Lilla. Something about her approach keeps art-making exciting, and not so scary. I find myself more courageous and enthusiastic, and I truly value what I learn in each week's assignment.

This first week of Part B focused on the Paper Market — greeting cards, stationery, journal covers, etc. Lilla begins every assignment with a creative warm-up, or a "mini," where we spend two days just exploring and sketching a specific subject (not concerning ourselves with any end result). This week's mini was about penguins and igloos. After some research, I realized quickly that I was very attracted to the Emperor Penguin, and I spent a great deal of time drawing these penguins with colored pencils, ink and watercolors.

On Wednesday, Lilla asked us to take our sketches and ideas and turn them into a greeting card. I wanted to translate my penguin sketches to a bolder style, and I began to work in collage. I tried some initial cut outs, just to help me visualize the shapes, and then I began to assemble my various penguins.

Directly below was my final submission. Further below are some of my other creations from throughout the week. As always, your comments are encouraged and welcome!

Day 4 of Von Glitschka's 21 Day Drawing Challenge

For Day 4 of Von Glitschka's Drawing Challenge, the task is to draw your own non-dominant hand in several ways. I drew a lot of hands, but it was difficult for me to work in different styles. No matter which style I had in mind, I still kept drawing a similar type of hand. A challenge for sure. Here are some of the less-same sketches of my hand...