Perfectly themed Artist Trading Card swap for me to join now, as I’m collecting a wall of Mexican and Central American inspired artwork, so I am looking to do artwork trades on this theme to help fill my mini gallery.

I used art markers, watercolor paints and watercolor pencils on these 2.5″x3.5″ cards. I will send them off to trade this week and await for my swap returns next month, can’t wait to see what I get!

I thought these gourds would be perfect practice to try to learn more about my watercolors, and it was getting time to decorate for Christmas, so I had to get them out of the way.

These were done with a limited pallet of colors of different brands, I inherited a lovely box of lightly-used artist quality watercolor paint tubes from my mom’s many art classes, so I got to pick & choose.

I took a some pix in progress while I played with the paint:

I erased some pencil after this to lighten it all, probably more erasing than is healthy for the paper but the initial drawing to me is the scariest/most important part.

Took a break to let it dry here, now I wished I had a larger brush when I painted this so I bought a #10 round yesterday but haven’t got to use it yet.

Then things got chaotic around the house & I came back about a week later to finish it.

 

I had to move everything because I had guests over in the meantime, so I may have set it up a little off the second time, I’m a bit unhappy with how the gourds come together in the center.

But I did like playing with the paints and I feel like I learned a lot doing this exercise!

This sketchbook is so much fun to work in, especially when I’m busy with work and other general life busy-ness, it is a lot of fun to be able to come in and do one tiny art project to help me relax.

It’s also kind of fun to collect all my “tiny treasures” in this journal – I have always loved to collect small things ever since I was little and used to collect miniatures with my grandma. Here I have a picture frame and mirror about an 2″ high, teeny potted cacti, a 6″ elephant figurine, and a little birdie pendant made by a jewelry artist working at Cactus Joe’s, an awesome little cactus nursery outside Las Vegas.

Last weekend I was excited to take a charcoal drawing class from my old friend Steve Plichta, an artist I worked with years ago in Chicago at my first “real job” after college. It was a 6 hour workshop, almost all the time spent drawing, and I created this portrait of the newest addition to my family, my sweet tomcat 3-PO.

I have quite a few sets of charcoal and other soft drawing mediums that I’ve collected over the years but I’ve always been a little intimidated by these “messy” tools, afraid of smearing them and unsure how to work with them. I felt really clueless getting started and had to borrow a bunch of materials because I just didn’t know what to use with charcoal, but he gave me a lot of help in class. The workshop put me at ease and gave me a lot of great tips, now I want to get out and add more tools to my collection so I can try to do this stuff at home too.

I am absolutely in love with Day of the Dead stuff. I love this holiday, the bright colors, goofy skeletons, celebratory sentiment…I love the whole idea of it and often wish I grew up celebrating this day, even if just for the food!

I did these cards a couple months back but I had to post them today, my own white-person way of celebrating this holiday I suppose…

I am starting to get a nice collection of Mexican and Central American folk art, including stuff I’ve bought over the years, some of my own art, and artist trading cards I’ve gotten in swaps. In fact I decided to go ahead and gather it all together to decorate a wall in my house recently, so I’ve been looking to do lots of art projects and swaps like this to fill the space and get a huge collage of the stuff on my wall. It’s starting to look like a cantina in here!

I have so much fun every year with Jack-o-lanterns, though the past few years have been hard on them in this hot climate.

Here are some I have carved the past few years, based on templates I have bought with kits or found online.

This is a lot easier than I thought, once you get a good saw! I hope to make up some original templates next year and do my own design now that I’ve had some fun learning how to carve with the tips I’ve read. What fun! And it keep my hands messy enough to stay away from the Halloween candy, so that’s a bonus! Sort of, if slimy fingers work as a trade-off…

I have been making lots of artist trading cards lately…finally I spent a little time with a good cup of coffee and my scanner so I could post them.

I find the small 2.5″ x 3.5″ size a perfect project to do if I just have a little time and want to finish something or if I want to experiment with a new subject, technique, or art supply. Trading them on sites like ATCsforall gives me a great push to keep making them and keep trying new things, because I know I will have some fun & gratification posting and trading them.

Provided I get in and scan them on a regular basis!

I’ve been working some more in my teeny tiny sketchbook and I am really enjoying it.

I have a lot of tiny treasures in my house so it should be a lot of fun to fill it.

Been drawing a fair bit lately and I am trying to start drawing a bit larger. The owl here is about 7×9, and the soldier and flowers are about 5×7…hey that is BIG for me, considering I usually max out at artist trading card size (2.5″x3.5″) these days. I’ve decided it is time to start using some of this lovely, larger paper I have, try to summon some courage and fill the page!

Owl for baby Sidney’s room, PITT brush markers & watercolor

Soldier, Prismacolor markers

Teapot and Flowers, Prismacolor markers and watercolor

And now that I can fill an 8×10 frame…maybe I will really get wild and try to get an 11×17 done next time!! I do have some new artist trading cards and miniature pendant paintings to scan soon too though, so I won’t be abandoning my little tiny artworks either.

Here are some insect themed artist trading cards for a swap I signed up for.

Bugs are so much fun to draw and paint, I love their tiny complicated bodies and I’m especially fond of colorful insects. It just amazes me how pretty they are when you look close!