A Return to Drawing and Blogging

1/1/2017

Happy New Year!

I can't believe how long it has been since I've been in here!  I have been in such a funk over the last few years.   I have hardly done anything creative during my time away from this blog.

Though I have given up on making resolutions, I am planning to engage in more creative activities this year.

Here's to a creative and prosperous New Year for myself and anyone who happens upon this blog.

A.Marie

Blue Monday: Bonny in Blue

I was skimming through the style section of Essence online when I noticed they had a lot of blue items featured. Royal blue seems to be the preferred shade of blue this year . This led me to go on a hunt for other things that look fabulous in blue. I found several items I love. I have decided to share some of my royal blue finds with you today for Blue Monday.

First up is Kerry Washington in a classic royal blue dress. She looks stunning.


Next up is the classic trench in royal blue. I would love to have one of these in my wardrobe. This ensemble was put together by Shanae Sylva for the business life.

This is followed by another trench from the Jessica Simpson collection.How about a pair of blue suede boots?
No. Well I dare you to take these for a stroll. If I could walk in those...

Keeping it tied to art I love the way Lauren used this painting as inspiration for this ensemble featuring a royal blue skirt that she pulled together. Okay I don't really know if the painting was the inspiration, but I think it would be cool if it was.

And finally my own inspired piece. I drew this sketch back in January, 2010. After seeing all the royal blue fashions over the weekend I decided to revisit it and color her outfit royal blue or as close to royal blue as I could get with the pencil I had.

I love all the blues I came across this weekend and I will share more later. Happy Blue Monday.





Best Wishes,


A.Marie

Watercolor Artist Creativity Exercise

Over the last few days I have been working on a creativity exercise from the September issue of Watercolor Artist Magazine. You use red, yellow, and blue transparent paint and basically let the paint be the guide after you place the colors on the paper. It was also billed as a different way to save your whites. When I started I was aiming for more of a blue background, but I am pleased with what I got.

I'm off to work now. Have a great day and happy painting.

Best Wishes,

A.Marie

Collage Art

This is my first attempt at creating collage art. I decided to go with the landscape composition and a monochromatic palette of blues as it seemed the easiest to me. I used mainly napkins that I painted and some scraps of blue I cut from catalogs to create the landscape. The painting I used acrylic and watercolor. I had fun creating this and I'm pleased with my first attempt. I'm ordering Collage Journeys and haunting Jane Davies blog of the same name for instruction and inspiration. If anyone else knows of any great collage instructors, books, and/or sites they recommend I would love to hear about them.

Today is the last day of my vacation. I'm both sad and excited. I return to work tomorrow, and I look forward to meeting my new class. But, I will miss having so much free time for art. For those celebrating, have a wonderful labor day. Happy drawing everyone. Happy Blue Monday to all the participants in Smiling Sallie's Blue Monday.

Best Wishes,

A.Marie

Pen and ink sketch #18

I've had this vase in my house for a long time, but I never really paid any attention to it. I'm not even sure where I got it from. I don't know if the previous owner of the house left it, or if we inherited it from Reggie's mom. It wasn't until I started cleaning out my basement and moving some of my art materials upstairs did I give it any attention. I decided to bring it upstairs as something I could use for a drawing project. I have fallen for this vase. It is a very heavy metal and I love the lines and details on it. I decided to use it for my pen and ink sketch of the day.

The shape gave me a lot of problems so I decided to color it in after I worked out most of the problems, and of course I had problems with the color brown. I am going to use this vase as a study project. The shape, details, and colors should give me a lot of art work over the next week or two.

Any suggestions on painting brown metals would be greatly appreciated. As always happy drawing.

Best Wishes,

A.Marie

EDM #209 Draw a Shadow

I have been holding Draw a Shadow in my mind as a sketch to do for a while. I have been looking at shadows trying to spy a really good on to draw. I was on facebook last night or rather early this morning browsing the photos my nephew has posted on his page, when I came across this photo of a baby crocodile. The thing I liked most about the photo was the shadow of a group of people standing on the bank looking at the crocodile. My nephew is the one on the end taking the photo. The shadow makes a nice frame at the bottom of the page and I like this. So I left him a note saying I was using the picture for a drawing exercise. I hope he is happy to inspire his aunt to create.

Happy Drawing,

A.Marie

EDM #5 Draw Your Bed in Pen and Ink

It has been 16 days since I officially started the pen and ink challenge. Today I am posting two drawings from that challenge. The first drawing is some pink orchids. I like the composition of this page. I originally was going to draw the pot as well as the flowers. I'm glad I ran out of space. I would also like to try painting some orchids. The second sketch is a sketch of my bed. There is a lot wrong in this sketch but I like the subject enough to do this drawing again so I can get the proportions right. I love the lines and the details of the headboard, yet I was avoiding it as a subject matter until Julie of In Pursuit of a Hidden Artist posted a sketch of her bed yesterday. Thanks for the inspiration Julie. Happy Drawing this Wednesday. I can't believe it's Wednesday already.

Best Wishes,

A.Marie