I love earthy colors, so this floral arrangement has almost all of my favorites! I painted the vase to be a ceramic look. I used mostly Mungyo Gallery oil pastels on my Strathmore toned tan paper art journal. Tape off the sides with washi for a clean edge finish. This first photo show the basic sketch with a charcoal pencil. It helps me to see the proportions and direction of the stems. I have a video at the bottom of the post , if you want to see the sped-up process. I hope you try ... View the Post
Rosa Gallery Watercolors
I let this swatch and small sketchbook painting fall through the cracks. I quickly painted this small landscape to try the beautiful Rosa Gallery watercolors. The botanical set is so rich and pigmented! I have since painted several things that show the watercolors off better than this little guy, but I thought I would show it in case anyone else thinks their sketchbook isn't an important part of creative growth. Everything we paint isn't going to be a masterpiece, but it all will help form our ... View the Post
Fashion Drawing Templates
Now, don't chuckle. I think of this lady as my fashion librarian. It's just in my head. :) Seriously, if you love drawing clothing, these fashion templates are an amazing help! There is another set that I trace with, if you prefer that kind. They are just as useful. Between the two sets, you can draw just about any pose! I trace lightly with a pencil, then go in with my design, erasing any unwanted pencil marks. Easy peasy! You don't have to give them faces and hair, but they might like you ... View the Post
Oil Pastel White Cottage Landscape Painting & VIDEO
I love this little white cottage in a field just peeking out from the side of the painting! This was a lot of fun to paint in oil pastels on my favorite Strathmore toned tan paper. I love the layers of color and texture you can get from oil pastels. The closer you look, it seems the more colors you see. :) I used mostly Artecho oil pastels on this one, but you can certainly use what you have. This would also be great with gouache. Using colored pencils to add fine details is also helpful. I ... View the Post
My Latest Procreate Beachy Boho Mosaic Drawing
Surface Pattern Design is a natural extension of what to do with some of the paintings I create. Usually, it is oil pastels or watercolor with acrylics. There are certain things that are just better created with Procreate digitally. I just trade my paintbrush for my digital pen. It is also nice to try new ideas or simply to be able to draw when I am too ill to get down to my studio. I keep my iPad handy for these occasions. I loaded this mosaic beauty up to my Spoonflower shop to sell as ... View the Post
Oil Pastel White Flowers and Doodles
There are days when I just want to randomly doodle. I grabbed my Strathmore toned tan paper and oil pastels and just started putting down colors and lines to see what would happen. :) I ended up loving these as elements in my surface pattern design that I use for digital downloads and fabric at Spoonflower and Raspberry Creek fabrics. Don't underestimate your random doodles on these days that you don't feel very productive! Of course, you can do this with any art supply, but my oil pastels ... View the Post