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I have new addiction: wire-wrapping rocks! Oh my, oh my! I have just discovered the love and fun of wrapping rocks, especially geodes, in wire! You can be as random or as skilled as you like. I personally like wrapping my specimens in random ways following the curves and textures of the rocks themselves. I love cracking open the geodes to find the undiscovered beauty within and wearing the insides on the outside as jewelry!
This is a graphite drawing of a lotus seed head. It was my first real attempt of a graphite rendering and it was hard! Graphite is such a good study of tone and value and it really made me take a deeper look at my subject. I really enjoyed doing it and hopefully will be able to make a few more in my near future.
These are a few of my favorite things! Wherever I go I snap photographs because the world around me is my greatest inspiration! I hope you will enjoy the fabulous patterns and colors of Mother Earth!!
This is my latest drawing/painting I am working on: a Magnolia Grandiflora. It has amazing sunset colors and it is nice to step away from the more brown tones of the sunflower seed pod I recently finished.
I like to detail the process of my drawings since this type of art (botanical illustration) is quite different from most other art forms. It is a very structured type of art which fits into my other favorite type of art: Origami. I guess I like to follow strict rules with my art. As a novice artist it is nice to have these very specific ways to make a drawing. it keeps my distractions to a minimum.
Anyway, here you will see my initial subject matter and how it gets placed into view for my first pencil strokes onto tracing paper. From there, the completed drawing is made and then the real fun begins...color!
Many photographs are taken of the actual plant in very dramatic light to enhance the shadow on the right side. Carefully, step by step each section of the magnolia seed pod is filled in. I use many layers of colored pencil to bring my subjects to life. Hours and hours are spent finishing the first part of my drawing which is where I am now.
Next stop...leaves!
Stop by the Holiday Craft Faire this Saturday, December 10th and support local artisans by purchasing gifts direct from the source! There will be a FREE kids' craft corner along with FREE coffee and tons of cool stuff from homemade baked goods to jewelry to letterpress items to artwork and much, much more!
I will be selling my botanic art cards, botanic art prints of a few of my selected colored pencil drawings, my Botanimals Coloring Book and my Botanimal Poem Coloring Cards!
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I am participating in my Botanic Illustration student show and will be in the company of other amazing artists who will be displaying their works of art. There will be watercolor and colored pencil pieces.
Join us for an evening of great art, food and drinks and purchase a signed copy of my new coloring book, Botanimals: A Coloring Book of Flora and Fauna which is now available on Amazon!
This is print of my Sunflower Seedhead drawing I did in colored pencil. This print is available in my shop along with many of my other botanic artwork prints!
This is my very first coloring book, Botanimals A Coloring Book of Flora and Fauna, Vol.1. It is now available on Amazon and has been in the works for almost 6 months. It has a plant and animal theme with some wit and charm to keep you coloring for hours on end!
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This week we are celebrating the Supermoon which hasn't occurred since 1948 and won't be this large again until 2034 or so. I had fun designing these models of howling wolves (or coyotes)...awwwwwoooooo!!!!
This is my cover image before I receive the proof in the mail next week. It is a coloring book for all ages including all of my own hand-drawn images of nature, namely animals and plants/flowers. There is an underlying wordplay theme throughout making whimsical connections between animals and accompanying botanic names. It has truly been a labor of love taking me 5 months to complete and having had to learn much about self-publishing. My book will be available on Amazon very soon and I cannot believe it is actually happening. Now the marketing fun begins!
This is one of my included "hints" as to the kind of the plants which will be found inside my coloring book. Since then, I warped the text next to each image to curve around the images for a nicer overall design. I find it helpful to show the "behind the scenes" process so others can see how finished products evolve over time.
Here is another one of my "hint" pages for my coloring book.
The last of three "clues" as to what will be discovered inside my coloring book.
I made cards from my plant "hint" pages as they seemed lovely on their own. They can either be colored in or left untouched.
Here I have used colored pencil to begin adding color to one of my cards.
I finished coloring in one of my Botanic Cards. It was too much fun!
This is a printed version of the cover to my Coloring Book. It took many re-workings to get it the way I wanted it to look. Thankfully, I have a good friend who is a talented graphic designer who helped me make adjustments along the way.
I do much of my work at the dining room table as I have two kids for whom I need to jump up and help at any given moment so I need to be readily available to help with any "spilled milk".
This is our squirrel project complete with acorns and a branch. I love hearing about all of the tales the kids tell me about how much their parents hate the squirrels because they eat their garden vegetables and fruits and how "Dad" wants to make squirrel stew! Each and every day is a full of new material for my brain to muster over and the kids keep me feeling young with their fun stories and their enthusiastic love of the craft!
