autumn bliss

"every leaf speaks bliss to me,
fluttering from the autumn tree"
emily bronte


{wishing you a blissful weekend!  xox}

inspiration monday

i've spent this past week up in the mountains of north carolina.

there's been an abundance of autumn-leaf-eye-candy all around......

and inspiration is absolutely everywhere!
happy autumn, bloggy sweeties!!



{artwork created in my moleskine notebook using a 6B graphite pencil,
derwent watercolor pencils, and pitt pens}

all play and no work

practice makes perfect.  :)

  and while i'd love to be more perfect in painting flowers and leaves (i've never had a knack for it), i'm having more of a problem with the "practice" part.  because when i start practicing, and painting leaves, for example, it doesn't take too long for my mind to start wandering.....

and before i know it, i start to think of other things i could be doing with those leaves.  

like doodling little fishies.....

or little birdies flying in for a landing.....

or writing secret little messages.....

or other strange things that pop into my head

(i'm taking suggestions as to what to call this little guy....)

so i really shouldn't be too surprised when i sometimes feel like i don't get too much accomplished......

or why i still can't paint leaves too well......heeheehee.

:))

grow strong

this is another little doodle quiltie that i created using inspiration from one of my journals. i'm always looking for projects where i can combine lots of different things that i love to do, and these doodle quilties seem to fit the mold!

this quiltie is a little smaller than the others, but still has lots of hand-stitching, beading, hand-carved stamping, and i even snuck some of my painted dryer sheets into the leaf layers....

grow strong!

you can read more about this quiltie here in my etsy shop

grow strong

i took a little time to play in my journal today.  these leaves were created by carving a simple leaf shape, and then carving a separate vein stamp to layer on top of the leaf image.  watercolor pencil was used to finish the tree limb...and my monoline letters are somewhat bumpy on this textured cold press paper.  but, that's the beauty of art...thankfully, it doesn't have to be perfect!