I had never heard of these birds until I searched online for 'the most beautiful bird'. These are truly striking birds that are native to China. This painting is the male which has the colorful feathers, where the female has more muted colors. While these birds aren't endangered, there is concern that deforestation will impact their numbers. Watercolor on canvas, alcohol splotches on wet paint for the background.
I am going to be an aunt again! My older brother is expecting his 2nd daughter this November, and I couldn't be more excited for him. Of course that means I made my niece a baby quilt already. This is one of my simple quilt patterns from years ago when I first taught myself to quilt. It's quite larger than a traditional baby quilt, but definitely one she can use for many years. It's a beautiful peachy pink palette using Moda fabrics.
There was a time that I had strong wanderlust, and I made the big bucket list of places I wanted to visit. The actual reality of traveling however gives me slight anxiety of being away from my home and especially my pets. I still have a bucket list, but it's much more refined to places that are worth that travel anxiety of leaving my fur babies behind.
My compromise in alleviating any wanderlust now is to paint the places I most likely won't put forth energy to ever visiting. The feeling of charm while being in an old foreign city, or the awe saturating my emotions when standing in the middle of nature's creations is what I seek to capture in these painted places. I keep them small, but detailed. Some are the size of a postcard, some are in a small journal, others are like bookmarks-all intended to be a window to another world that exists, but is replicated with watercolors and fine liner pens.
Below are some of the samples of small pieces I've done, perhaps someday I will open that online shop to sell for others to enjoy these views.
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| Sardinia, Italy |
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| Glacier NP-I did visit here in 2020 |
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| Provence region, France-possibly on the bucket list |
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| Bruges, Belgium |
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| Yamhill County OR-replicated photo taken by my husband |
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| Bungle Bungle Range in Australia |
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| Tuscany, Italy-on my bucket list |
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| Puglia, Italy |
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| Utrecht, Netherlands |
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| Cefalu, Sicily |
Llamas are amazing animals. They provide wool and llamas are often used as pack animals. Their wool is one of my favorites to knit with as it's light but warm. Generally, these are gentle easy going animals, but occasionally they will spit to assert dominance or if they are annoyed. Other than that, not much drama from them.
Here's my tribute to these sweet animals of South America. Sketched in fineliner pen and enhanced with watercolors.
On the Endangered Species Act list, a unique breed of these Bighorn Sheep roam the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. I made this one very detailed with the finalizer, and then added washes of watercolor. The background is a very wet wash of watercolors lightly dotted with alcohol.
I spent most of yesterday in my back yard planting, weeding and gearing up for spring flowers. It's rare to find a rainless Saturday to tidy up the yard as spring is arriving. Today I am resting from all of the work done yesterday-and it's raining.
Flowers are the most amazing plants. How incredible it is for a plant to display such vibrant colors in the most beautiful shapes. Not only that, but they produce nectar for our pollinators. To celebrate flowers, I made a 'book' of some of my favorites. This has been a work in progress for several years and today I finally finished it. Please enjoy the short video of my first completed 'book'.
Growing up, I drew a lot but never thought of myself as any good by other's standards. This internal mindset killed my motivation eventually, and my creative drive lay dormant for many many years. It was that Wine and Paint class April of 2015 that revived it, and I started indulging in visual arts for my own pleasure. After a few years, people encouraged me to sell some of my art, but it appeals to me more to give it away. I've 'sold' a few pieces on commission only charging for supplies and postage to mail it. My time and energy toward the piece is a gift to the recipient and also to myself.
I'm linking a video that I hope inspires you to pick up a pen and sketch, even if you think you can't draw. This isn't about becoming an artist, but more about indulging in the creative process which is extremely healing. It describes how we can change our perceptions to our world with our eyes and mind. I really like how Ralph Ammer states in this video how his sketching stores memories in his mind and not in his camera. What a powerful concept in today's world of smart phones and social media.
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| Starting a new sketch with Cece |
Lately I have been reading more fantasy novels and find my imagination inspired by the other worldly scenes described in these books. I fin...
