Sugar Skull Flower Finished

So last night I took a few moments and finished an illustration project.  It was intended for our house, but my friend Julie likes it a bunch and she talked me into selling it to her.  I will end up making another copy for hubby (he says I never keep his favorites, including this one).

 This is the first big project I finished with my Koh-i-noor 7 pen set.  I am so happy with the performance of these pens compared to the Staedtler Pigment Liners I am used to.  And so far these pens have not been quite as high maintenance as I expected.  I get a greater variety of line width with the 7 pen set than the four pen set of Staedtlers, and since these are refillable I will end up saving a ton in the long run.  If you invest in these and have a Hobby Lobby nearby, consider buying them there.  I paid about $70 for mine after the 40% off coupon I printed off.  And I didn't have to worry about them being damaged during shipping. 

Here is the completed drawing.  It was done on a 14x17" piece of Strathmore bristol board, and the image itself is almost 12" across.

I am selling PDF downloads in my Etsy shop for $4, and hope soon to offer prints.

Skull Flower/Mandala - WIP

Here's a new project I am working on.  It is very similar to my owl flower - it is made the same way.  I start out with a drawing and estimate how many times I want to repeat it.  I then size and photocopy the drawing, create a flower center, and make a mock up with lots of tape and cut out photocopies.   Then I place it on my Lighttracer II light box to trace the final drawing.  Here is a photo of this step with the skull flower.

The next step is to trace the outline of the flower with a pencil.  I also add on to the drawing if I feel it is necessary.  I added a little heart tip to the petals of the center flower and some tiny flowers on the outside to make the drawing a little more full, and to tie the skull nose design in with the center flower.

When I am done with the pencil drawing I start to ink the entire illustration, starting with the outlines then filling everything in.  Before I would use a Staedtler pen set to do this, and I would burn through a set with every drawing.  Now I have my Koh-i-noor 7 pen Rapidograph set and I get more even lines, better details, and I don't have to worry about buying a $15 pen set for each drawing.  The pens were expensive ($70 at Hobby Lobby after a 40% off coupon), but they will pay for themselves after 5 drawings, and I really prefer them.   Here are a few pictures of the inking process. 





I am not quite done with this one, but when I get done I will post a picture for you to see.   I was hoping to have this one displayed in my house, but my good friend Julie has already spoken for it.  I do plan to make another one for our home, especially since hubby really likes it.

New Lino Cut - Submission for Cloth Paper Scissors

I am so excited about the current Reader's Challenge for Cloth Paper Scissors!  It's the Carve It Up! Challenge and you can read all about it here.  To sum it up, you can use any carving material you wish and make a stamp that is 6"x6" or smaller, make a print, and mail it to their offices.  I decided to use linoleum for my carving material so I can also offer prints of the image as freebies in my shop.  I like it because it is firm and durable, and I can readily find it already mounted to a board. 

Here are the sketches I prepared for my carving.  The smaller one is the original, and the larger one I resized with my all-in-one printer and did a bit more doodling on.  The sketch is actually a reverse image of my original pencil sketch.  You have to remember that when you print it your image will be a mirrored image of what you carve. 

Once I had my basic sketch the size I wanted it, I used carbon paper to transfer it to my linoleum.  I use a Staedtler carving tool in size 1V to carve more detailed cuts, and a larger V tool I got in a wood carving kit at WalMart to do the larger cuts. 

Here is a picture of the carved linoleum.

I did a test run of prints, but I think I will do another run before I select my favorite print to send off to the Cloth Paper Scissors offices.  Here is the first run of prints.

Keep an eye out for my post of the second run because I will be giving away four of these prints!  Until then, here is a closeup of the print.  It is a 4"x6" image on a piece of 5"x7" drawing paper.







Files and Journal Organized

With all the organizing going on around here I thought I would organize my office papers.  I had all kinds of papers just piled up and crammed in the shelf that now houses my important studio tools and supplies.  So they had to go somewhere.  I now have a filing system going for all my papers, like hubby's JoonBuggy shop, my future I Spy shop, my poems and songs, my novel notes (yes, one day I plan to write a novel - with my sister), short story notes, sketches, photography, and so on.  Here's a peek into my file folder.

Wow, it's so organized I almost don't believe it's mine.  I also had lots of scraps of short poems, little doodles, and word and craft ideas and inspirations that needed to go into my journal.  I cut them all out and taped them down or just wrote them into my journal.  I got several pages done, but here are four of my favorites.

Lino Cut Owl

With sales slowing down to a hault in my hubby's Etsy shop, JoonBuggy, I decided to give buyers an incentive to purchase books from our shop.  I will soon be introducing a print of my owl lino cut as a freebie to those who buy any book from his shop. 

This is the sketch I started with.  I used carbon paper to transfer the drawing to the lino surface.  I had to stop when I was half done and start over again because I forgot to transfer the reverse image to the carving surface and I did not like this guy as well in reverse.

Here is the lino halfway through the carving process.

I finished the carving and did a test print, but I really need a good brayer.  I have spots in each print that have less ink, and I also have places where the ink fills the carved lines.  This is all because the brayer I am using is a cheap plastic brayer that is very uneven.  It even has a few indentions in it.  Yikes.  I also forgot to sand the protective coating off the linoleum before I got started which causes the ink to kinda pool up on the surface.  Next time I will make sure to do more research before starting a project with an unfamiliar technique!

Here is the finished carving and a (sorry excuse for a) test print.

I believe I can make this work with a good brayer.  If not I will recarve this cute guy again.  Live and learn, right?

Pillows - As Promised

So here is a peek at the pillows I have been making.  I did these right, with pillow forms and covers so I can wash them whenever my daughter decides to smear blueberries on them or leave a piece of candy on top of one.  Or just in case hubby spills cereal or something on them, lol. 

Here is a picture of all the decor for the living room piled up into one place.  I had to move everything into the dining room so I could paint the living room. 

And here is a picture of everything semi-arranged.  I still need to get a better rug for the floor and some matching coffee tables. 

Not the best picture, sorry, but the light in our living room gave up the ghost and needs to be replaced.  

Living Room Art

Yay, I have quite a bit of work done on the livingroom in our house.  Here is the painting I did for the wall above our couch......

Here is the painting half way through.

And finished, with a side view so you can see how it wraps around.  I painting the entire painting and frame white.  Then I projected an image on it with my Art Tracer, and painted over my lines with black gloss paint. 

The finished product hung on my wall.

Mixed Media Toe Nails?

Okay, so please tell me if this is carrying mixed media too far.  I just could not bare the look of plain white French manicure nails.  They are just not me.  So I had to dress them up a bit.  I did details on my toes since I am not ambidextrous enough to accomplish the task on my fingernails. 

I added white nail polish for the tips, coated with a layer of clear coat, then added details in black acrylic paint and white gel pen.  It all took well and did not smear when i added clear topcoat to seal it up.  Fun!

Please note that my little toe did not make it into the picture because it sticks up.  I mean it.  I have freaky pinky toes.  Don't judge me!  I didn't make you look at them.  Just imagine a perfect pinky toe to the right and pretend I didn't say anything.