Fall is here. Back to Blogging…

Hello there! Can’t believe it’s September already. Now that summer is almost over I feel a little more like spending more time at the computer. I’ve spent most of August trading a lot of custom portraits on atcsforall.com and illustratedatcs.com. It’s been challenging and fun.

Here’s one of the cards that I made for a trade on illustratedatcs.com.  I like the way the eyes turned out in this portrait. I’m still not comfortable with watercolor, but it’s not bad. Just a year ago I was so terrified of watercolor. I’m so glad I decided to just get over myself and give it a try. Perhaps I’ll be able to take a class next year, but right now I’m just going with my instincts.

I’ll post a few more of these portrait cards next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Every Day in May: Day 21 – Mysterious Man ATC

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor

Here’s another artist trading card.   I was watching  an old movie called  Ten Minutes to Live , which is a 1932 independent film by African American film director Oscar Micheaux.  It was included in a box of public domain DVDs we bought a while back.  There was this scene where the villian is coming down a flight of stairs.  I loved the way it was lit, so I paused the film and made a rough value map and a quick sketch altering his features to make him a more romantic sort of mysterious stranger.  Later I did this drawing and painted it with indigo blue watercolor.

Every Day in May: Day 20 – Portrait ATC

2.5"x3.5" watercolor and colored pencil

I’ve been spending the last few days just making cards.   I have a long list of requests.    I’m expecting a flurry of cards to arrive  in the next few days.    It’s so wonderful to get something in the mail besides bills and yet another flyer trying to convince me that cable TV will complete me.

Every Day in May: Day 12 – More ATCs

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor and colored pencil

I’m still working on this dreaded IllustratedAtcs.com PAT.    One of the themes is the Welsh goddess-queen  Rhiannon.  She has a pretty sad tale.   Her child disappeared when she was asleep and her ladies-in-waiting, fearing they would be blamed,  killed a puppy and smeared the blood on Rhiannon while she was sleeping.  They them laid the bones around her to make it look like she killed her own child.  Dang,  those Welsh myths are pretty gruesome. Well, she was punished and forced to spend her days sitting by the gates of her castle  and carry guests up to the castle on her back.

Well I came up with this.  As you can see, I’m no illustrator.  Rhiannon is associated with a white horse and the number 7 so I included them in the picture in an attempt to identify her.  Well, two more to go.

Every Day in May: Day 11 – Playing Catch-Up with ATCs

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor

I’ve been working on sketches for cards I have due soon.  I’ve been having a heck of a time.  I signed up for something called a PAT or Pick-a-Theme.  You sign up for a group (usually about 5 people) and each group member chooses a theme for the others to work on.   Well, when I signed up for it two months ago I was all for moving out of my comfort zone and not being afraid, yadda, yadda…Anyway, now they are due soon and I’m panicking!

I’ve been making sketches, which I will not share, and I managed my first card on Monday.  It’s supposed to be a “wisdom-filled crone.”   I think I did pretty well considering I was working from my imagination.  Maybe she looks more cynical than wise.  I don’t know.

Well, three more cards to go.

Every Day in May: Day 7 – Incomplete Watercolor Portrait

8"x10" watercolor

I’ve been working on this for a few days. I’m getting close finishing it.  I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the background.  The hair needs work as well.   Heck, I’m still just trying to figure out watercolor.  I get some good effects, but they just seem so accidental.  I want to know what I’m doing!!!!  Argh!

*Whew*  Tantrum over.   No point in stressing about it.

I’m putting this aside for a few days and coming back to it.

ATC: Self-portrait in Indigo

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor

For a recent trade I was asked to do an artist trading card of half of a face.  So I used the least expensive and most available model I know–me!

ATCs: Lillian Gish

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor

I made these cards for a trader who liked my Buster Keaton card.  She asked if we could trade Lillian Gish cards.    I’ve seen lots of her silent movies and  find her face fascinating so I agreed immediately.  I decided to use the trade as an opportunity to practice a little brush work and move away from markers. These cards were done with Ultramarine and Indigo watercolors.

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor

Lillian Gish (1893-1993)  made 119 movies from 1913 through 1987.   Most of her films were silent.  One of her more famous (or rather infamous) films was D.W. Griffiths The Birth of a Nation (1915).

Watercolor Portrait: Learning As I Go

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor

Well, February is over and I’m not going to miss it.  When I started this blog I was determined that I wouldn’t use it as a platform for whining or complaining about things.    I looked through some old journals and found that February tends to be my worst and whiniest month, so that’s why I’ve not been posting so much.  So glad it’s March and I feel like I’m over my February funk.  Do you find February to be just a waste of a month too?

During my month of whining, fretting, and being generally dissatisfied with things I managed to get more practice in with watercolor portraits.   I used a photo of myself taken by my husband as a reference here.  I totally missed on the likeness, I was  focusing more on using color and observing how my glazes were working out.  Here I used raw sienna, scarlet lake, ultramarine blue, and violet.  I used a little payne’s gray in the hair.

This is one of my better efforts for the month and I’m really pleased with my progress with watercolors.  I have so much to learn about the medium and about using color, but I have good instincts, so I am encouraged.   It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was totally afraid of using watercolor.  Now I’m really enjoying it.

Having a Merry, Merry Time

2.5" x 3.5" pen and watercolor wash

This has been a great season for me.  Usually I fall into major winter funks that always seem to coincide with the few weeks before Christmas.  This year is different.  Maybe it’s because I’m spending so much time drawing and painting.  All that creative energy flowing seems to push away any funky feeling.   It’s really so important to find time to spend on things you love doing.   Make the time.   It’s always worth it.

Here’s a little self-portrait artist trading card (ATC).  I like this expression a lot.  It seems to be somewhere between naughty and nice.   My husband was nice enough to tell me that I actually look like this.   What a nice guy!