And now for something a little different - garden shoes anyone?

I have been having fun exploring Zazzle's products offerings. With spring on the brain lately (could it have anything to do with the foot of snow we are expecting tomorrow??), I have created some wonderful, new -- wait for the drum roll -- SHOES!

I am thinking these would make fantastic and fun gardening shoes - what do you think?

Check out my shoes page to see more designs.

Sending warm thoughts your way!

Red Eft Studio Promotion and Contest!

This is the first time I have done this, but the artwork is fantastic and features some of my favorite media to view (ink and watercolor), so I just had to spread the word!

Red Eft Studio, a blog I have been following, is having a promotion and contest in January and February. The artist will be posting a small pen & ink & watercolor painting each day, each available for purchase for $28.

On the last day of February, the names of everyone who comments on her blog during February will be put into a hat and a name drawn out. The winner will get to choose any one of the paintings she paints this month. 

 

Here is the first of the paintings - my favorite water bird! If you don't win it or buy it, I will! :)

 

So go - look, enjoy and comment. Maybe you will be a winner!

Cyclamen - finished! Ink and colored pencil.

Here is the finished cyclamen. I think it turned out pretty well, I always end up feeling like I used a heavier hand than intended when I see the final product, but if I let it rest for a few days and come back to it, I tend to like it more. I think this just is my style of colored pencil work at the moment and that's OK! :)

Hope you enjoy!

Find new products at Zazzle featuring this illustration!

Cyclamen in progress - adding color

I've started to add colored pencil to the cyclamen drawing. Still have a good bit to go and lots of shading to add, but it's coming along!

New Facebook Page for CCreech Studio - please stop by!

Hi everyone,

I have created a new Facebook page to showcase my work, especially my Zazzle store products. Please stop by CCreech Studio and take a look! And don't forget to click the "Like" button if you would like to have automatic updates.

Thanks for your support and have a creative week!

Cyclamen in progress - ink and colored pencil

I'm working on a drawing of a cyclamen that I pieced together from sketches I did from a live plant a few years ago. It's fun paging through the sketchbook and seeing what I might turn into a more finished drawing. I am going to do this one in ink and colored pencil (I really like that combination...) I've got a basic line drawing down and am starting to add some color to the stems. Need to research a bit to make sure I get the colors/shading correct on the petals. Stay tuned for updates and have a great weekend!

New Valentine's Day Cards

I've been working on some new designs for my Zazzle store. Please stop by and take a look at the two new Valentine's Day cards that are now available:

Garlic Scapes - ink and colored pencil

I finally had a chance to do a color version of my garlic scapes drawing from last year. This was done in pen and ink and colored pencil and the image is about 5 1/2 inches wide by 6 1/2 inches high. I did the pen work first, using my Rapidograph 3x0 (.25) size nib. I really like the fine line that I get with this size and think it works well when adding color with pencil later. I did do a thicker trace over the outer edge of the stems so it reflects a slightly larger pen size. In the original ink drawing, I had used a size 0 (.35) nib for the stem outline.

For the colored pencil, I used Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, layering permanent green olive (9201-167) first on the stems, then adding pine green (9201-267), darkening the edges for some form/shadow. I used a light wash of earth green yellowish (9201-168) on the bulbs and some on the stems as well in the lighter areas. Finally, I added some chrome green opaque (9201-174) to darken the stems (they are kind of darker/duller in real life) and then burnished with ivory (9201-103) over the whole thing to blend everything together and dull some of the brighter areas. I think it turned out pretty well and it's fun to finally see it in color!