Sketchbook Project - Week 2

I've successfully completed a second week of contributing to my sketchbook, and honestly, I'm pretty damn proud of myself.  I'm very pleased with these entries.  Mostly, I haven't had much difficulty deciding what to do, but I did struggle with that one day this week.  It was Saturday, which ended up being the toadstool sketch.

I hope you enjoy these pages!

If you need to catch up, you can read about why I started the project and see pages from January 1-10 here.

left: Micron pen   right: Watercolor with micron and white gel pen, cut out and pasted into book

left: Prismacolor colored pencil with Japanese brush pen background   right: Prismacolor colored pencils

Watercolor

left: Mechanical Pencil   right: gouache

I'm trying not to pick favorites, but I think I have one this time around--the dog nose.  It's our dog Luna's nose!  I've always wanted to felt it in wool, but haven't yet, so I just decided to draw it.  And in case you're wondering, I intentionally left the rest of that page unfinished--just the nose for now.

Thanks for keeping up with this project, friends!  Have a great week!

My Sketchbook Project

I didn't intend to make this a public project.  I didn't intend to make a big deal out of this.  But at some point yesterday, I decided to share a page of this sketchbook and ask folks on instagram if they'd be interested in seeing the pages of my sketchbook fill up.  The answer was a resounding YES. 

Here's the backstory: I've been listening to lots of podcasts and reading posts about creating daily habits.  Learning about others' creative and artsy daily projects was very appealing to me.  Though I'm creating daily for my business, I don't create for myself. Actually, I rarely create for myself.  So, this sketchbook is for me.

Even though I'm sharing it, I'm going to do my best to be selfish about it.
To create what I want. To not judge my art.  To not compare my art to others'.

My only rule is to add to it daily.  I don't care how much I add--it can be a full page, partial page or multiple pages.  So far, my mediums and subjects have ranged greatly in just the past ten days. I've been choosing my subjects from something that inspired me that day or something that happened.  So, in a way, this sketchbook will also serve as a sort of journal.

This will be a vulnerable process, but I look forward to how it will help me grow.  And I'm very much looking forward to having one (but hopefully more) FULL sketchbook!

So here are my entries for January 1-10.  I'm making a goal to share an update on this sketchbook every Monday.

copic markers with white gel pen

pencil on watercolor paper taped into book--the black cat background soaked through

colored pencil, white gel pen

Japanese brush pen, colored pencil

gouache

left: Japanese brush pen, watercolor  right: Japanese brush pen

left: gouache and watercolor  right: gouache and watercolor

Japanese brush pen, white gel pen and watercolor

I hope you enjoy getting to peek in my sketchbook.  (You can watch a video flip-through here.) See you next with with the next update. 

Oh hey.....

I think it's time to revive this little blog.  I didn't manage my time well enough last year to keep up with writing. But THIS year, I have some fun projects and plans, and writing about them will be a key part of their success.  I spend so much time on Instagram, but I'd like to expand my reach and be able to let my projects grow beyond one or two images a day.

So without further ado, it's time to jump right into my first project.  See you soon, friends!

A Quick Fall Themed Tutorial - Needle Felted Acorns

Hey guys! I sent a poll to my Art Letters mailing list asking what types of tutorials I should make.  Needle felting acorns was mentioned in the comments, so I jumped right in to making a quick video for you! 

You can do this with any size acorn, but the cap can't be too shallow, otherwise the wool won't stay in.  The acorn cap needs to resemble a deeper bowl. Let me know if you have any questions.

PS: If you have a suggestion for a tutorial or course--if there's something you'd really like to learn how to felt--leave a comment and tell me about it!