four days of art bliss

last week i drove to donna downey studios in charlotte, north carolina

for a very long-awaited four day workshop.

i joined a room full of very sweet, talented and eager artists,

and our instructor was creativeGIRL danielle donaldson!

i will tell you right up front.....

it was four days of pure art bliss, danielle-style!

we started the weekend by drawing some fun art supplies....

and after danielle showed us how she paints her fabulous multi-color flowers

and her sweet little illustrations, it was our turn to dip our brush

in the watercolors and give it a try.

then danielle gave us a wonderfully detailed lesson in 

drawing one-point and two-point perspective objects.

this instruction was probably the most important (and the most difficult!)

of the entire weekend, as it's the foundation for all good drawing.

to be honest, drawing ellipses, determining vanishing points, 

and figuring out two-point-perspective boxes

 started to play with my head by the end of the day,

but i was so thankful to danielle for her willingness to dive in

and give us this essential instruction.  she taught it beautifully!

then danielle set up a still life that was as long as our work table....

it was fantastic, and i wish i could have spent another week there 

trying to capture it in my journal!

but for now i'm very happy to have these little objects 

as a reminder of a wonderfully creative workshop with one of my 

all-time favorite instructors!

many big hugs and heartfelt thanks to danielle for traveling

across the country to share her beautiful creativeGIRL-self with us.

i learned SO much,  i drew art that i didn't think i could draw,

and discovered new reasons why watercolor is so stinkin' cool.

(and i will forever smile when i think of her "grandpa story"!)

and thanks so much to donna and the group of talented art gals who were

also in the the classroom.....getting to know you and laughing with you

for four days did my creative spirit more good than i could ever say!

hope to see you again soon!

xox

{supplies:  newsprint, .3 mechanical pencil, 

strathmore 400 series CP paper, daniel smith watercolor}

color blox

several months ago i posted about my fabulous 

weekend workshop with danielle donaldson ,  

as well as inspiration taken from mimi robinson's book "Local Color".....

and as it turns out, my in-the-box-grid-girl has been

so very happy painting these colorful little squares ever since!

it's such a great way to document the loveliness of a day.....

as well as some of the not-so-lovely.

so, i decided to create a little journal for these color gems

so they could celebrate all their blocky splendor together in one place.....

and here's a peek inside!

(you can watch this video in larger format here)

these are the supplies i used to create my journal:
canson moulin du roy cold press w/c paper,
daniel smith and sennelier watercolor,
pilot .3 mechanical pencil


xox

bear square

i recently spent a fabulous workshop weekend with a room full

of very talented and enthusiastic artists at donna downey studios….

and our instructor was the uber-talented danielle donaldson! 

our first day was spent painting squares.

beautiful, boxy squares painted in a row…..

and some painted in a grid.

{i couldn't resist labeling them….

those heavenly boxes were just calling out for some letterforms!}

and then we stretched the square into a rectangle

and created our own "paint strip".

on the second day it was back to squares in a more nostalgic way….

danielle showed us how to paint a rainbow viewfinder disc!

then we switched things up a bit and created a collage square, 

and i'll be honest…..

while my inner-grid girl was absolutely thrilled with

painting squares,  i tend to hit a brick wall when it comes to collaged

squares.  while a collage looks like just a bunch of tidbits randomly

placed on the paper, there's still a lot of intuitive order going on 

when it comes to placement,

and i've never been able to figure out what that order is!  

but thankfully, sweet little rachel who was sitting at my table gave

me some great suggestions and jolted me back to reality,

and my deer-in-the-headlight stare slowly faded away.

and just so we'd have something to sit on top of our collage square, 

we ended our day with a drawing lesson from danielle.

she has the most wonderful imagination, and her little animals are

as precious as she is.

by the end of day three, everything came together as a finished piece….

and every time i look at my bear square i'll be reminded what a 

truly marvelous artist, instructor, and sharing person danielle is,

and i'll think of all the awesome energy in donna's studio,

the inspiring people i shared the weekend with (hi joanna!), 

and how hitting a brick wall can sometimes be one of the best lessons

of the entire weekend!   :))

{danielle offers online workshops, too…..click here for info!}

from chairs to jars

just when i thought i was completely focused….

and totally immersed in one art fixation….like chairs, for example….

i turned around to discover lots of tiny little jars

had completely taken over my art journal!

happy-distractions can turn into lots of happy-fun!

{these jars were inspired by one of the lessons in danielle donaldson's

"storybook and studious girls" online class. 

supplies:  stillman & birn beta series journal, watercolor, .3 pencil} 

celebrate today

sometimes the best way to solve the

"i-don't-know-what-to-draw dilemma"

is to look around and document 

all those things that surround you every day.

some of them might seem a little humdrum,

but it's always great practice and sometimes quite challenging!

i mean, who knew i'd get stuck….and do a lot of erasing!…. 

trying to draw a hairbrush!

(thankfully, i had less trouble drawing the chocolate….

it's a subject i'm very familiar with….heeheehee)

here's to celebrating all the little things….

and a big thank you to danielle donaldson for such great inspiration

through her "storybooks and studious girls" class….i'm having a ball!

{and my celebration continues today, as i've been featured in Dasherie, 

a beautiful publication devoted to the lettering arts!  

i'm thrilled, honored, and very thankful to be included in the Summer issue,

where so many fabulous artists have had their artwork showcased!

all orders for this gorgeous magazine that are placed today will 

ship tomorrow….all those placed after today will ship the first week 

in August.  you can read more info here!}

{journaling supplies:  stillman&birn beta series journal, .3 HB pencil}

have a seat….and a video

for me, part of the fun in creating my chair collection was 

the challenge of how to find a proper "home" for it.

 i usually like to create a little book for my artwork,

but since each one of my chairs was illustrated on loose sheets of paper,

that made the book option difficult.

 and then i started thinking about the actual chairs in my illustrations,

and took inspiration that chairs are most comfortable arranged in a cozy room…. 

and when you open the doors to the room…. 

each chair is there, inviting you to have a seat!

so, instead of making a book, 

i created this simple box structure for my chairs to live in.


 

here's a little video peek of my illustrated
chair chamber!

 

you can watch this video in larger format here!

{you can read more information about each chair in this series

and the inspiration behind it here}

{to create these illustrations, i've cut 140lb CP watercolor paper to 6" x 6", 

and i've used watercolor, a little colored pencil, and graphite pencils.

the cover was created using a sheet of canson mi-teintes paper.}

have a seat, part three

after illustrating lots of these little chairs,

i'm learning a lot by adding different styles to my "collection"!

some are easier than others, 

and some look a little wonky, no matter how long you work on them 

(i may have worked on this one a little too long….)

so when i've had too much of a brown bar stool,

there's nothing like a sweet little garden chair 

with a little blue birdie to lighten things up a bit.

and then it's on to the ultimate challenge….the papasan,
which i've also dubbed as "the neptune chair"….
because i'll have to practice this one many, many times to be able
to draw that cushion so it doesn't look like a giant seashell!  :))

oh well, as they say….
chair-practice makes chair-perfect,
and keeping the process fun makes a lot of chair-happy!!

i'll be sharing a video soon showing all ten chairs together...

 you can also see other chairs in this series here and here!

{these chairs were inspired by one of the lessons taught by

danielle donaldson in her "storybooks and studious girls" class.

to create these illustrations, i've cut 140lb CP watercolor paper to 6" x 6", 

and i've used watercolor, a little colored pencil, and graphite pencils}

have a seat, part two

i'm still having tons of fun

drawing and illustrating these little chairs….

and i've discovered by the time i'm finished with one chair,

i can't wait to start on the next one!

i am seriously hooked!

it's been a while since i've been able to sink my creative teeth 

into a fun project like this…..i can't tell you how good that feels!!

you can see the first three chairs in this series here!

{these chairs were inspired by one of the lessons taught by

danielle donaldson in her "storybooks and studious girls" class.

to create these illustrations, i've cut 140lb CP watercolor paper to 6" x 6", 

and i've used watercolor, a little colored pencil, and graphite pencils}

have a seat

i am slowly but surely getting back into my studio,

and i've been having an absolute ball as a student in 

danielle donaldson's online class, "storybooks and studious girls"!

danielle offers many hours of fabulous instruction on illustrative sketching

and watercolor basics, not to mention

instructions and demonstrations of how to draw her sweet little "girls"

and put it all in your very own "rainbow storybook".
she also offers a great lesson on perspective drawing….

and speaking of perspective drawing,

she takes the mystique, and let's face it, the pain, out of the process

by showing us how to draw a chair…..

and i must confess,  i'm kinda hooked!

i never realized there were so many types of chairs…..

or how much fun it would be illustrating them!

you can read more info about danielle's class here.

{supplies:  strathmore 140lb. CP paper, watercolor, 

colored pencil, HB and 6B pencil}