Why do all my plants die?? WOYWW #23

 

Dear Readers,
 As you can read from the post title, this is a slightly shamefaced admittance that as a botannical illustrator, ALL of my plants die.  I can illustrate the life out of them, just not keep them alive!  I guess it just isn't my gift.  The problem that this leads to is that I have nothing to draw in the winter.  These pictures are of an African Violet that is currently ending its life on my studio table.   I was so excited when I got it as a present- I even bought African Violet food!  But nothing worked and now it is dying.  Sniff.  So I'm drawing its slow ending of life.


 

Season's Greetings! WOYWW #22

 

Dear Friends,

Season's Greetings!

Since next Wednesday is Christmas, I doubt I will be putting out a post!  But I wanted to share with you what happened with me that definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.  On Friday I found out at school that 49 families were going to be without presents due to a mix up in communication.  I teach in a very low-income area and I knew there was a chance my students might not get presents at all because of this.  I went home and posted on Facebook about the situation, and before I knew it people were sending me checks and presents in the mail!  It was so overwhelming and wonderful!! I spent all day Sunday fetching and buying presents for my students.  As of today I have received a total of 79 gifts!  It was unbelievable!  So out of gratitude to these wonderful people I did a little painting of a holly leaf as a thank you for each of them.

 A Christmas miracle indeed! 

 May God Bless all of you this season.

Liz

 

Holidays are coming! WOYWW #20

Dear Readers,

Happy Wednesday!  I am sure that you are busy, so thanks for taking the time to stop by.  I know what the holiday season can be like.  So this year I am trying to slow down by planning ahead.  Most of my gifts are purchased and wrapped, thanks to online shopping.  ( I am a recent, but BIG fan!)  This also saves on the stress of fighting the crowds.  So since I have a little extra time than I otherwise would have done I am taking that time for making of gifts.  This top picture is a image of my in-law's adored dog, Luke.  I am making a drawing of him even though I usually draw flowers.  It was tough!  I am rusty at drawing anything besides flowers.  I need to keep my hand in!  (This is my 3rd attempt. You're not allowed to see the others)  The next shot shows all the holiday themed flowers I am working on!   I am painting holly, as well as some others I will show next week.

I hope that you find time to relax this coming holiday season.

 

 

 

What keeps me fueled... WOYWW # 19

Dear Friends,
Hello!  Happy Wednesday WOYWWers!  I thought it would be fun to take a picture of exactly what I use to keep motivated when I'm painting.  I don't know if I mentioned it on the blog yet, but I LOVE Starbucks.  Yes, it's expensive, but...yum.  I try to keep it to once a week.  Also in this picture are some of my husband's candy stash that I snuck to go with my coffee.  Hopefully he doesn't read this post.  :)  I am still painting at least a line a day, and I am happy to report that I painted every day this past week!  So progress. 

I also didn't want to blog without mentioning that all of you who were affected by the storm in the Phillipines are in my prayers. 
Prayers for all of you today, and God Bless.

Painting in the Dark-WOYWW#18

Dear Friends,
Well, it has been 2 and a half weeks since I started my "not a day without a line" challenge, and so far I've missed 4 days.  I'm doing ok, not great.  I am pretty happy with how my painting is turning out, and I've begun another painting of my in-law's dog for their Christmas present.  I'm not sure how that one is going to go- I don't usually paint animals.  But I'm giving it a go! I'll keep you posted.  Happy Wednesday!

My new Studio!!!! WOYWW #13

Dear Friends,
I am finally back! And proudly presenting: My new studio! I am sooooo excited to finally have one-it has been 8 years since I have had a room just for art! I am thrilled that it is here and I look forward to many days and nights of drawing and painting! Below are just a couple quick sketches I have been working on. Its good to be back to WOYWW!

Packing! WOYWW#12

Dear Readers,
It has been too long!  I was particularly sad to miss last week, since it was the anniversary swap!  But I had literally no art made to post about. :(  Sad but true-buying a house and packing has taken over my life.  We closed on the house this past Friday (YAY!!!!) so I was actually able to do a little art this weekend. 
The second picture shows the disaster just behind my drawing table!  Packing has taken over, and will continue to do so until July! But I will keep trying to make art in the midst of chaos.  Hope everyone is enjoying June! Stop by and visit the other WOYWWers!

Half Marathon Adventures! -WOYWW#11

Dear Readers,
Welcome back! I apologize for my long absence, but in that space of time I have gotten a new job, put in an offer on a house, and run a half marathon!  Whew!  In fact, it feels as if the last 3 weeks have been one long marathon.  But I proudly ran my half in 2 hours, 16 minutes!   The half marathon was at Ocean City, so I did get a little sketching in!  Sunday morning, 7am, it was just me, some surfers, and a couple bikers looking for shells.  So glad I made it through that stretch! Happy WOYWW!

WOYWW #5-I love sepia!

Dear Readers,
Happy Wednesday! I thought it would be nice to show you my drawings next to the images I was working from. This week I focused on pen and ink. I've been getting frustrated with watercolor lately. So bring on the amazing Prismacolor sepia pens! These are a Joe Pye Weed and a Black Snakeroot. Don't forget to check out the rest of the amazing WOYWWers!

WOYWW #4- Background Musings

Dear readers,
Happy Wednesday! Unfortunately I missed last week due to craziness at work. My partner art teacher left unexpectedly, put on 2 months of bed rest. Nothing was ready, so I've been scrambling quite a bit! But I am back and still working with my new backgrounds. I have to say, I love the red behind the jack in the pulpit. The orange, not so much. What do you think?? Hope you visit some of the other wonderful artists at WOYWW!

WOYWW #3-Busy Week and a Wild Indigo

Dear Readers,
Well, it has been pretty nutty, grades due at work and 3 observations this week. But I am loving this background! What do you think? It's a Wild Indigo.
 I've also been loving all of this feedback I'm getting on WOYWW!  Thanks for visiting!

WOYWW #2- IPhone blogging!

Dear Readers,
Once again I am attempting something new. I am blogging from my iPhone tonight! I wanted to try this to see if it would make easier transitions from camera to computer. This way it could all be done from my phone. We'll see how it goes! Thank you to all the wonderful people who visited from WOYWW- and here is my finished flower from last week! I look forward to visiting your blogs- once I figure this out!

 

My messy art area-in case you thought my drawing table was too neat! :)

Hurricane Housebound, Day 2

Dear Readers,
Well, Hurricane Sandy was a rough one- my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who was affected by the storm.  Where I was was not hit very hard- power lines down and some flooded cars.  We were able to go out in the afternoon today- and back to work tomorrow!  So before I head off to the real world tomorrow, I thought I would leave you with a few works in progress.

These first two are hand-painted cards that I hope to sell soon.

This is a work in progress- a canvas using acrylic- I am so excited to see it finished!

Hope everyone is well and safe tonight.

Hurricane Housebound, Day 1

Dear Readers,
Well, if you are anywhere on the East Coast, you are in the same boat as I am-sitting in your house, waiting out the storm.  So far, we have not lost power, but I feel as if that is coming within the next hour or so.  So I thought  I would put up a blog post, since I spent much of today painting.  (The rest of today I was trying to figure out a soy mocha, not as successful.)

Lately I have started experimenting with backgrounds, simple ones like clouds.  I like it a lot, I think it adds something to the art.  I know it is not "purist" botanical illustration, but with one eye on hopefully having a show this summer, I am trying to make my art more sell-able. Let me know what you think... and stay safe out there today!

My view of the hurricane!

30 Things I Want to Do When I am 30 (Personal Musings)

Dear Readers

Today I want to post some personal musings I have been having.  Because of this I will not be posting this post to facebook, as I sometimes do to have more people look at my art.  But just you my wonderful blogger readers will get to read this one.

Some of these musings have been occurring because I am going to be 30 soon, but I decided that instead of thinking about that birthday negatively, I want to think about it positively.  To that end I wrote up a "30 Things I Want to Do When I Am 30" List.  It made me feel very excited about this upcoming year!

Other of my musings come about just from the nature of being a completely unknown artist.  Over the summer I did a lot of thinking about why I make art, even when nothing happens and nothing gets sold.  I came to the conclusion that I want to always keep on making art, even if I only ever sell one painting, like my hero Van Gogh. This page has been sitting in my sketchbook for a while, but I thought it would be good to put in my personal musings post.

Thanks for listening, my friends.

Drawing Challenge Days 20-27

Dear Readers,
Well, I told myself that I am not allowed to go outside and play on this beautiful Saturday until I have sat at my computer and blogged!  Not that blogging is a chore, but my drawings have been piling up and I've been running around working my new job, so there you have it. 

 I've been very inspired by what I've seen on other blogs lately, in particular artsyville wrote a post about taking an art retreat-this is something I definitely want to do!  Let me know what you think readers- maybe we can make this happen.  What do we think- mountains or ocean?

Either way I am finishing up my 30 day drawing challenge (it took 60, but hey, my rules were weak.) Come back tomorrow for the last 3!

Day 20-

One of my new favorites!

Day 21

 Day 22

 Day 23-

A quote I find very profound given my current obsession with flowers.

 Day 24- 

My Favorite Coloring page

 Day 25-

A marker doodle

 Day 26-

"Pirate Pig is NOT Amused"

No idea and I love it!

Day 27- 

An unfinished ink drawing

Teacher's Week! (Drawing Challenge Days 12-14)

Dear Readers,

Yesterday was my first day at my new job, and already, I love this place.  One of the first things they did when they got all of the newly-hired art teachers in one room, was hand us a beautiful new sketchbook.  To keep.  Just to draw in and inspire us!  If any of you know how teaching works, this is not usually what happens.  

My beautiful new sketchbook!  

So I have decided to use my new sketchbook to keep at work (or in my car) and to doodle/draw inspirations in when I have time during the day.  And I've already started! 
I don't know what side of the fence you are on in the "doodle during lectures" debate, but I am a copious doodler.  But, in my defense, I also take pages of notes at the same time! (A technique perfected in college)  During teacher week, I have been attending lots of meetings and using my sketchbook at the same time.  Are you a doodler? I'd love to see some doodles!

Day 12- A Klimt inspired doodle

Day 13

Day 14- My favorite doodle so far- a Celtic Doodle!

Drawing Challenge Days 10 and 11

Dear Readers,
 Two more drawings today, as well as a BEAUTIFUL painting from Annie. Working on scanning in my art, so still adjusting fonts and colors. 
Thanks for reading! 

Day 10- A quote I've been thinking about a lot lately!

Annie's Amazing Day 10!

Day 11- Definitely needs more color!