A year in Review….2012 Top Ten

Wow!  Another year has flown by…in my head it feels like it’s only September.

It’s time for me to be accountable.  Accountable to myself.  Because if I’m not happy with my choices, I’ll bet ya two dollars no one else will be.  Or care for that matter.

I believe we become what we think about….what we work on….what we spend our time doing.  What else is there to living?  Our choices are either productive or passive.  We are either moving forward or standing still.  Might as well learn a thing or two along the way.

Blog Business:

1- Interviewed 6 very Talented…Artistic ladies

• Sheila
• Janet
• Julie
• Lori
• Rachel
• Hanna

We learn so much from others!  Especially our contemporaries. So many ways to do art, to express yourself, to hone your skill. 

2- Completed 4 Graphite Sketches

• Runner
• OU Swimmer
• Wave Swimmer
• Graphite Girls

I love graphite, but get bored starring at black, white and "50 shades of gray" all day.

3- Enjoyed doodling 8 pieces

• Doodle Down
• Random Doodle
• WaterDoodle 4
• Doggie Doodle
• Alphabet Doodle
• Display Doodle
• Phone case Doodle
• Paisley Doodle

Being rather high-energy, having a portable project calms me down.

4- Added 5 birds to my Bird Series

• Sassy
• Pet Doctor
• Coach
• Ursula
• Kate

I guess you can tell by now…that I like to categorize people.  Probably not totally fair to them but it keeps me entertained.  However, it’s the ones I can’t figure out that bug me!

5- 16 Whimsy artsy drawings

• Freaky Friday
• Wacky Wednesday
• Theatrical Thursday
• Cartoon Creation
• Colorful Contours
• Balancing Botanicals
• Faces of Eve
• Twilight Zone
• Striped Hand
• Skull Candy
• Hair
• I Dance Because
• Right vs. Left
• Vitruvian Man
• Rainbow
• Danaus

Sometimes, I wake up….and I know what I will draw that day.  I guess I only woke up inspired 16 times this year!  Haha

6- 12 Color-Sketches

• Colored Legs
• Crabs
• Beach Girls
• Inward Dive
• Backstroke
• Fly
• Towel
• Portrait Pose
• Candid
• Figure 1
• Figure 2
• Figure 3

I almost gave up colored pencils….This is the whole reason I decided to take a drawing class.

7- 3 Watercolor Sketches

• Watercolor Figure 1
• Toddler Dress 1
• Toddler Dress 2

Lots of plusses to watercolor…..best used for color-flow sketches.  I find it very unpredictable.  But adore it’s vibrancy.

8- Sold 9 items on Etsy. 



I should really explore this avenue more.

9- Opened Draw.Doodle.Decorate facebook page



Still unsure on how best to approach this site.  It either entertains me or annoys me.  Guess that’s the nature of this beast.

10- Miscellaneous

• Quilt Show Inspiration outing
• Ongoing drawing classes

Well, there you have it, what I’ve been up to this year.  I’ve found that if you want to learn something new, you will find a way to work it in.

It’s a SALE….Doodle Directory

Well, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  I know I did .   And in the spirit of Christmas I’m offering a sale in my etsy shop. 



My 50 doodle directory prints will be 50% off (while supplies last). Make sure you use the coupon code 50Sale at check out.



I include these idea prints with every purchase.



If you need a Kick-start…..Jump-start….Push….to get you drawing again.  This directory of different doodles ought to help.

The Fly….Fears

Time for the background build.  The white in the sketch has been protected by rubber cement so that I can keep it white.



Had to keep increasing the amount of color in the water.



Got home and rubbed that rubber cement off.  Also, since the background was darker, I had to enhance the figure.  It’s such a balance!



I really have no idea what I’m doing here.  I purchased some turquoise colored pencils because there is a lot of turquoise in that water.  This may be over my head deciding to do colored pencils on top of the watercolor.  My nature goes toward the details…(you know… like I see the trees not the forest).  But I think the only way for me to make this work is to i.m.p.l.y.  Imply the shapes and the color!  Oh Boy!  

The Fly….Takes Time

You’d think I’d know better by now….but NO!  When I do faces….I always think I have to “pencil in" the pieces and parts….you know, like outline the shape of the lips here.  Well, this child doesn’t have lipstick on so it was quite unnecessary.  Oh-evie!



Moved on to the better stuff!  The folds in the cap and the goggles.



Didn’t have the color I was looking for in my colored pencil stash for the blue in the cap…..but….I can make my own colors with watercolors!  Two points for the watercolor department. Yeah!



With shopping and decorating it didn’t allow me as much time as I’d like.  So, I'm glad I got this far.  I'll be needing major help with that water and class is tomorrow!  Yea baby!



Now, I get to enjoy my family and my tree 

2012 Blog Banners

It’s a curse and a blessing….This visual boredom I get.  I know a lot of you probably read this blog thru your readers so you’re more interested in the content.  But not I… I like to hit the page directly, see everything, on everyone else’s blog, too.  The first thing I notice is the header. 

For two years I’ve been updating my blog banner’s monthly. It’s an easy way for me to stay tuned in with my photoshop software and a welcome break from drawing. It helps me to get over the hump of a difficult sketch and will inspire me if I’m in a rut.

Here are my twelve 2012 banners used on this site.



JANUARY- limited the banner to 6 pictures.



FEBRUARY- quite simple…used the ROYGBIV theme, first pic red, then orange…



MARCH- not my favorite…the black/white stripe is too strong.



APRIL- more my style….light and fun.



MAY- “d” is for draw, doodle….this turned out better than expected.



JUNE- “j” is for june.  This is kinda boring.



JULY- Not much art here…but it’s interesting.



AUGUST- much better use of black.  One of my favorites.



SEPTEMBER- a little too busy.



OCTOBER- very simple….and one of my favs.



NOVEMBER- different format.



DECEMBER- lots of Christmas going on.

Again, I wish these banners remained “static”. Meaning that they stay with the posts at the time the posts were uploaded.  But such is not the case.  And I’m probably the only one that cares. Possibly there will be an app in the future that will enable me to do that.  But for now…this is as good as it gets. 

Am I the only one that notices blog banners or even cares?  Haha

Toddler Two Dress….Ta-Done!

I could not resist taking a picture of these two Toddler dress girl drawings side by side.  They look pretty cute together!



Had super-major trouble with this thumb.  In the picture the child is holding sunglasses so her thumb is curving around a shape.  To draw in the object would’ve just confused everyone (mostly me) so I opted to curve in her thumb to her chest.  Not pleased with my rendition!



Ok, so….I cheated!  Things were going way...too…slow with the watercolor pencils so I had to finish things up (details in the feet, hand and clavicle) with regular colored pencils.  I needed the control and consistency.



The far left is the original picture from KK Childrens Designs….then my color-replacement….then my drawing.  If I could do it over again….I’d probably still change the dress to red…but leave the leggings white.  White is fun to work with, who’d have thought?

The Fly….Takes Form

My absolute favorite thing to draw….is swimmers!   I almost didn’t attempt this picture…because it’s so wide…..and it’s hard to see the details in the body.  But my Art teacher really liked the composition which encouraged me.



I want to do this right….so I put the watercolor pencils away and re-acquainted myself with those beloved colored pencils.



It’s like coming home!!  Drawing on this illustration board is sweet, paper type makes a huge difference!



I plan on doing the water in watercolor.  The initial bottom layer of the figure was a watercolor wash.  Much faster working with a wash than starting off with colored pencil as the base.  Thumbs up for that trick

Toddler Dress Two….Forming

I feel like I’ve been working on this forearm F.O.R.E.V.E.R!  The w/c pencils are a bit thicker, so the application tends to be heavier.  Must keep that pencil sharp.



I must admit, applying the folds to the dress has been fun.



The dress was too flat so I had to take up some red to create more folds here.



Almost done…the hand shouldn’t be that hard since I don’t have to deal with fingers.