July Challenge- 30 trees in 30 days!
I’ve loved trees all my life. I’ve loved them so much, and I feel that I’ve hardly painted them, except as background pieces. What would it be like to study the trees around me? I’ll find out this month! My rule is one tree a day, any medium and any amount of time I can spend. I already have dreams of larger pieces I’d like to try, so I’ll have to set aside a day or two to complete those. What I’m most interested in is how I’ll feel by the end of this month. Will I still love trees? Or will I be over them? I hope to pace myself enough and keep things playful, so that I can really let go and explore in this project.
20 floral sketches in one month!
One piece of my letter bundle for June that I really adored were the hand-sketched flowers I included that members could paint or color themselves! Each one was entirely unique, and won’t be copied again for anything else. A true one-of-a-kind original! It was a bit of a sprint at the end, as I ended up getting 10 orders right at the end, so I had to do 10 in one jam-packed week! I was as sketching on trails, in coffee shops, at the library, at the kitchen table, near a bathtub with splashing kids! I definitely created art in more places than ever before to finish in time. It was a good sprint for me, and I can tell that my accuracy in botanical drawing is improving.
I would like to keep this hand-sketched element for the next letter club bundle in September. I wonder what wonderful things will feel captivating then?
Greeting cards in the works
I have been anticipating the completion of these cards for a while! I have a dream of selling them not only in my shop but also in stores in downtown Durango. The local art scene here is so vibrant, that I’m sure I can find a few spaces to take them. I hope to continue my line of floral watercolors and expand this set but for now, these three have captured my heart. (The bold poppy, the luscious lupine, the layered peony). Stay tuned for the drop in my shop! I can’t wait to send them to you.
Peony Progress… and completion!
I have been working on this peony for maybe 2 weeks now. I’ve done many late-night sessions when the babies are asleep, and a few daytime sessions while they played in the mud in the yard! Summer time sure is the time to be creating as much art as I can. Sticks and rocks and mud will keep my 3 year old and 1 year old entertained for hours! I digress.
This peony intimidated me right from the beginning. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to capture the lightness of the petals with all the detail I wanted to bog them down with. In the end, I do really like the details I’ve added to the petals, but I think I would like to workshop with making peonies that feel… fluffier, in the future. The real star of the show in this piece is the leaves! I so love how they turned out. Peony leaves are so succulent and waxy and vibrant with their red veins. They really make this piece complete for me.
As I was working on this piece today, I was letting myself sit in the awe of this flower. I cannot believe, sometimes, that we get to live on this planet where all these wild and wonderful things grow. When you take time to meditate on a flower, trying to picture every tiny cell hard at work to create the beauty you see… it’s just astounding. Peonies are a true favorite of mine. I can’t wait to paint them again.
