Drawing about thinking and Getting into the Zone

From my art journal page today:

"Thoughts" - ink, watercolors, Copic markers

Drawing patterns and doodling are relaxing.  I can get lost in the Zone - and fill up a page.

This bit of word art is from the Misc section:

Ink and Copic marker

Get into the Zone  :-)

Little girl in graphite

The current assignment in Year of the Spark involves acrylic painting of pictures of oneself or one's drawings from childhood.  I have none of my drawings from way back when, but I found a picture of me from when I was about three years old.

Having nothing to do with the actual "Spark" assignment itself, here's my sketch:

"Within Reach" - graphite and pastel

What appeals to me about the original photo is the unabashed effort I am taking to stretch out to touch the leaf.  I like that aspect of young children... and dogs.  Undaunted, they go for it completely :-)

O, wonderful news, I spotted Bud the squirrel four days ago.  He was larking about in a nearby tree.  If you missed it, here's the link to my post about Bud.

Mixed media textured gesso...on wood :-)

More Year of the Spark class work - this lesson is from Carla.  And I recorded a couple of in-process steps this time.

Phase 1 - sketch on wood and gesso ("texturized"... is that a word?):

The beginning of many layers...

Phase 2 - color

Watercolor

Final - massaged the background with Carla's "rub and buff" technique and added details:

Details in graphite, ink, conte crayon and charcoal.

And Carla always begins each lesson with a warm-up exercise.  This time it was one-liner drawing of the same face:

Inked.

Fairy tales' end

Carla's online class, 2014: Year of the Fairy Tale drew to a close this month.  A great experience, I enjoyed the class structure where there is a research period followed by drawing, painting and mixed media work.

Final fairy tale art: adding some color to the title page.

Graphite, ink and colored pencil.

I benefited from this year-long class through exploration of techniques (new, old, experimental) so much so that I am eagerly awaiting "2015: Year of the...???"

Sharing a drink

I was working on some "Princess and the ...(fill in the blank with your idea)" illustrations for Carla's "Fairyland" 'zine.  Princess and the python just popped into my head.  No idea where that came from... perhaps just the alliterative appeal???

Here is an extra illustration just for fun:

"Have a sip."

Why not... :-)