Book Review….Print & Pattern 2

I was in need of a “real-live” book….Yea, Yea, digital books are great, but there is just something comforting about perusing the 303 pages of this design book!! 

I did a book review of the first Print & Pattern book 3 years ago.  I still like to pick it up and thumb thru those pages. 

Here’s a review of my Top Ten prints:



Alys Paterson:  Love her colors and the size variants here.



Amy Butler:  I’ve bought her fabrics before.  I liked this because it only uses 4 colors and it has flowers….I’m a sucker for flowers.



Graziela:  Very German here, love the colors and the simplicity of each figure.



Jennifer Elroy: More flowers, helps feed my fetish.



Jonathan Adler: Again, a limited color pallet, and what fun suns!!



Jenny Bowers:  Now this I gotta try, need I say more?



Marimekko:  Classy & Elegant are those black & white designs



Mercedes Cortes:  Love the simple stripes in the flowers.



Rob Ryan:  La piece da resistance, this one nailed it cuz it’s so true!! 

“You Can Still Do a Lot With a Small Brain”

Well, these are my top 10 for today….but if I were to compile another list in 6 months, I bet I’d have a completely different top ten.  My tastes seem to fluctuate, haha.

You can get the Print & Pattern book here.
Check out this blog that produced Print & Pattern.

Giveaway Winner!!

First of all.....I want to THANK YOU everyone for liking my facebook page! Wow! 212 likes!!

And the winner of the Free Caricature Sketch is Rocky Cross Studio!  Please contact me here:  elg921[at]yahoo[dot]com

• I’ll need a jpeg from you.  It looks like you opted for the WACKY style!  Good choice, this should be fun!

Thanks again to all of you that commented and even those that didn’t comment but liked my page anyway.

Caricature Giveaway Promo

Since I am 7 likes away from 200 on my Draw.Doodle.Decorate Facebook page AND I’m in need of a portable project.  I’ve decided that I will offer up a Caricature Sketch as a prize when I reach 200 page likes.  As long as you meet the following criteria:

• Must Comment on this POST with the “Caricature Style” you like (see below)
• Must LIKE my Facebook page (I will need to cross reference commenters to LIKERS...if you've already liked it...then just comment here if interested)
• Must be “ok” with me drawing a jpeg that you submit for Caricature and be “ok” with a blog post about it.

This is a $30 value and just think, you get it for FREE. 



Please let me know which “Caricature Style” you would like:

1. Crazy
2. Freaky
3. Sunglass
4. Theatrical
5. Wacky
6. Zany

CONTEST will end JUNE 23rd.  Then I will pick the winner.

Swirly Alphabet

I was in need of an “escape”, an “excursion”, a “mindless task”….so out came the markers and my medium moleskine. 



I can do these relatively quickly, unlike my other alphabet doodles that take up the entire page.



I’m not a swirly-girl…I have trouble bringing in open loops….but this was good practice.



This was just plain fun!



I plan to actually spell some stuff out with these digitally, but man can they expand!



Went to get the mail today and was impressed to see that my recent purchase (Zenspirations) from amazon had arrived…..Hopefully I’ll get some good ideas for the remainder of the alphabet from this book.

Horse Racing….Place….Head

Well, it’s pretty slow going around here with this Color-Sketch.  But with the small tidbits of time that I could draw, I focused on the head last week.



These views help me the most, my “tree-view” expands to the “forest-view”.



I bounced between watercolor pencils and colored pencils a lot in the straps.



He’s getting there……The mane on this guy will either make him or break him!!

Interview at Jennibellie

Jenny’s a relatively new blogger (only 2 yrs) and she’s been doing regular-folk artist interviews for a year.  There’s a ton of information and inspiration at her site.  You will be impressed!

I answered the interview questions months ago….and never heard a thing….Possibly they just weren’t interested.

Until today….I saw that my interview is featured on Jenniebelliestudio blog.

Thank you Jenny…..Love your blog, your art and your style.  What fun!!

Petite Pixie…..drawing by Janet

This is the tiniest of the Pixie girls that Janet drew….hence “Petite Pixie”.



I wish Janet had a few more for me to color!  Haha



This is the colored girl prior to extra embellishment.



If you haven’t tried Sharpie Poster Paints yet (waterbased), ya gotta get yourself a few.  They are very opaque and keep their color even when applied over markers.



What a fun collaboration and I hope to get the chance to do this again.  Thank You Janet, your pixie girls are so beautiful, intricate and unique.  You’ve given me hours of enjoyment

Horse Racing….Place…Still

I evened out the horse color with a larger brush and a darker brown.  Which now means I have to “replace” the shadow lines.



Being super frustrated with my inability to draw the horses body consistently, I had to concentrate on something else.  I will need to go in and make the eye area more pronounced.  Glad this part came easier.



I love working in my kitchen….It gets lots of sun….all…day…long.  Natural light is always the best!



This is pretty much the standard look when I work…..the hard part is grabbing the correct pencil.  I’m surrounded by dozens of watercolor pencils mixed with even more regular colored pencils.  And there is a purpose to each.  At this point, when I’m doing more of the detail work…guess which pencil I grab?  Yep, the regular colored pencil one.



Now for the game……Can you spot the differences between the two pictures?

Pretty Pretty Princess….another Pixie of Janet’s

Here’s the 2nd Pixie Girl that Janet graciously allowed me to color.  It’s so nice to doodle with markers in this way. 



I find the expression on her face so interesting…is she gonna smile?  Is she happy? Sad?  No clue!



I love the pattern of the bigger squares up there banded together.  Added some petals to make the dots flowers.



I really should’ve added some white reflection to the lips…oh well!



How’s that for a hat??

Thank you, again….Janet, for letting me play this way!