Wildflowers and Carnations in Watercolor, Pencil and Ink

Here I started with watercolor and then added detail with colored pencils

This time I started bu drawing it in ink. 

Next I added colored pencil over it.

This carnation started with watercolor and then finished with some detail in colored pencil.

Here's a little overview of the project so far.

Watercolor, pencils and a pleasant afternoon

I'm just relaxing and kicking a few old ideas around. On the card I started with a detail view of an old acrylic painting and thought I'd try the idea in watercolor and see how that worked out. A friend of mine commented on how much her letter carrier enjoys all of the envelope art and it gives them a chance to talk so I feel good about that too.

For decades I've been doing roses on my envelopes. I like these mixed media ones best.

The landscapes need work. I plan to spend more time by the lake this summer to see if that will improve my technique.

Some of these work out better than others but everyone enjoys a bit of fun and color in the mail.

Roses in watercolor and pencil

The weather is warming and as the snow melts my first thoughts are about my roses and the new bed I hope to start this spring.

Since there's nothing I can do in the yard yet I figured I'd grab my paints and pencils to decorate this card with them.

The cards are heavy and made for mixed media so as soon as the paint dries I begin to layer the pencils over them.

New Pencils

I'm happy to say I was given a new set of pencils and figured that while I was breaking them in I'd try one more version of my sister's happy birthday design.

This will get my pencils sharpened and try them out while giving me another design for my stores.

It won't take much to get the worktable cleaned off after this and I haven't quite decided what project I'll use it for next.

In the meantime I'm crocheting another hat to donate to charity and reorganizing my craft supplies.

I even made a 1.15 royalty on a product in one of my stores today. Who knows? maybe things will start looking up for me.

The short pencil

Orange, yellow and gone

The watercolor brush markers are gone now, the yellow and orange were the last to go and I couldn't resist using them to the very end whether there was enough to really do anything with or not.

Yes, it's another note card and envelope which just goes to show that the mail is interesting even when the art is not.

With the watercolor brush markers gone I'll go back to colored pencil and regular watercolors to keep the mail interesting and try drawing and painting a number of different subjects.

...as soon as I get those pencils sharpened...

Asiatic Lily in Colored Pencil

Still horsing around

1. I liked the look of that top horse so I decided to see how it would look in different colors.

2. It's always good to get your pencils out and try new things.

3. I added more color and will try this one on a few products in my store.

4. Eventually I'll paint this design on one of my wooden horses.

Four Hours of Colored Pencil Drawing

I haven't quite finished this drawing yet. I plan to darken the stem on the hosta flowers and may do a bit of other work on it as well. I'll post the latest picture as soon as I'm done with it. My current plans are to scan it into my zazzle store and see how many things I can make out of it starting with stamps, stickers and greeting cards and I'll let you know where it goes from there.

As well as designing a lot of things with this drawing on Zazzle. I made a card for my sister out of a photo of the drawing and then did a little drawing on the envelope to go along with it. Yes, I'm sharing it with everyone in every way that I can think of and hoping we'll all enjoy it.

Getting started with pencil and ink

Exploding with color

Color is on my mind these days...and in my yard...and everywhere! I'm still working on that daffodil painting and was feeling restless so I ran away from home a while and bought new sheets and pillowcases in the most amazing shade of PURPLE!!! Imagine waking up to that. It just makes me laugh and reminds me of the importance of color in our lives to affect our moods and keep things interesting.
Meanwhile my favorite tulips are blooming like mad and ready to draw or paint. They won't wait!

My First Zinnia

This is my first Zinnia. I grew it in the dining room over the winter and now that it's bloomed I'm seeing just how many ways I can capture it in various media. I started with watercolor but plan to draw it in pen and ink or colored pencil next before heading to the studio to see what happens with acrylics.