Birthday Girl Cards

 So I haven't posted here in...when?? No need to always say that but I do not keep up like I should. I am still living and breathing, 😅and thinking about and planning art. This whole year I have been busy with other things and have not done nearly enough artwork to make me happy. But I did start 2022 with a plan to make hand-painted watercolor birthday cards for a lot of my friends this year. And so far, I have painted over 60!!! Wow! I did not realize I had done that many, and the year is not over yet! 😄 

I started out tracing each design fresh onto the watercolor paper card, then decided to print it out to save time and frustration. To make each card, I have to first cut my watercolor paper to 8.5x11 inches, then feed one by one into my printer. The paper is pretty heavy and this printer can't handle more than one at a time. Then after the outline is on the paper, I have to again cut the paper to the card size, which is about 5x7 inches after folding in two. Only then can I start putting the paint to the paper. I have made so many and none are ever exactly the same! My husband says I should take photos of them and just print  cards that way, but I wanted this first year to be all hand-done. I have started shooting pictures in hopes of one day maybe printing them out, and maybe selling them??? 

In this picture you can see the watercolor paper texture.

I just recently changed up the design, so now I have 2 choices going.

 I want to do more designs, like one with balloons instead of flowers, different shoes again, another style dress, etc. Also, I am toying with the idea of paintig another calendar for next year, but I haven't fully worked out what I want to do on it. I have an idea for a little children's book, too, that I had hoped I could get done before Christmas for my Grandkids, but I am beginning to think I won't get it finished by then...

Catch-Up Time

 Whew! It has been too long since I posted here. What with the PLANdemic, Toilet Paper Panic, Covid-19 Corona virus Plague, 2020 Election and all, I have not remembered to update. 

I finished this watercolor painting of my grandson back in the fall of 2020, after having him here with his mother and sister for a time in August. We had gone to a park and I took some videos of him swinging in the toddler swings with his little sister. I had to clip this out of the video stream. This is the last large painting I have completed- it is 17x19 inches without the frame.

I worked on a new calendar for 2021 after this, and I had 100 copies made. I have about 4 left now- I am happy I could get most of them out to my friends and relatives, and some former customers. Here are the pages from my calendar. 

 

Portrait in Ink

Another project finished! This is the result of a wish that my daughter had, of me doing a picture of her in her wedding dress. I could not do exactly what she had in mind, but she says she really likes how this turned out. I spent a lot of time looking (or researching, as I tell my husband) at other artists' works, especially on Pinterest, and pulled a lot of ideas together. I kind of made it up as I went along, hoping for the best! Every time I finish a new piece, I realize I have learned a lot in the process and keep widening my scope of experience. 

From start to finish, here are the stages of my latest artistic endeavor.

I used Micron ink in black and sepia,

mostly 003 and 005 for this piece.