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Mark Making Part 16: Fountain Pens
Yay, the mark making project continues! Fountain pens are a medium I used to think was more for literary types rather than visual artists. I’m not sure where I picked up that idea, but after reading different artist’s sketch journals and following various urban sketchers, I’ve found they are a popular sketching tool. The lines have a unique quality, compared to felt tip fineliners and other pens. And the fact that the ink blends with water can be an asset!
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Mermaid Wanderings
Yay, watercolor paintings! These mermaid pieces are from October of last year – again trying to catch up on my 2020 art sharing. I’m happy with how flow-y the hair turned out on all three pieces. I felt extremely rusty with using watercolors, and the background of vague seaweed shadows on the first painting was…ugh. Still, even feeling rusty, there are things I can find things I like about the first painting: the light and shadow on the tail and the jewelry pattern.
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Sketchbooks: Sept. & Oct. 2020 (and new altar setup)
This post has been sitting in draft mode, pictures all ready to go, but no words. The longer it sits, collecting virtual dust bunnies, the harder it is to write something to go with it! How the heck does anybody find a creative cadence that works?!
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Sketchbooks: September 2020 (Part 2)
Happy Saturday! Posting one day after I last posted, ::gasp:: how is it even possible within this space-time continuum?! Anyway, here is part 2 of my sketchbook pages from September – right before moving to my house! <3 The wooden manikin hand I bought from Dick Blick was cool to study. It caused a light bulb moment: the pads of fingers are actually slanting 45 degree(ish) planes in space -not just like ending in round sphere sausages or something. I didn’t even realize I had been thinking of them as spherical until that moment of studying the manikin! I used more of SenshiStock’s hand reference photo pack, as well as…
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Mark Making Part 10: Prismacolor Pencils
Prismacolor colored pencils are one of my favorite mediums; I find them relaxing, perhaps in part because they are a medium with relatively minimal setup and cleanup. They also blend well over other mediums, like markers or watercolor, making it tempting to include them in other traditional art illustrations. I keep mine organized by color in a large pencil case, which is a much better set up then my Copic marker situation of having all of them jumbled together in a photo keepsake box from Michaels (though at $3, the photo boxes work well enough for many of my art supplies. Plus you can label them within the pretty front…
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Grounding and Centering
Lately, as this new routine of isolation and extra caution settles in, I’ve been turning to nature and spirituality for comfort and guidance. I wish it hadn’t taken a crisis to help nudge me into this direction, as I’m realizing just how much I was missing having spirituality in my life as a primary part of every day. Spending more time in nature, reading books I’ve been meaning to get around to, journaling more (in my private, personal journal), tending to my altar: it’s all been helping me to feel more grounded and centered. I’m feeling more motivated, knowing I’m trying to align many parts of my soul, including my…
Keep your muse happy
