New Nature-Inspired Fabric/Wallpaper/Gift Wrap Designs!

After relocating homes this summer, I am finally getting back to work on my other creative outlets, including my Spoonflower fabric!  Designs are also available as wallpaper and gift wrap.

I am working on a number of new designs based on my sketchbook exchange drawings. These would be fantastic for a number of projects including tea towels, pillows, bags, and more.

Here is a preview of a some of my favorites:

 Poppies

 African Daisies on Olive

 Small-Mouth Salamander

You can keep an eye on new designs by heading to my Spoonflower page, going to the left-hand side menu and choosing Designs not for sale to see the latest. I have to proof designs by ordering a swatch before they are released for sale, so please let me know if you see anything that you like!

Budding Botanist? And a few sketches...

It has been waaaaay too long since I have done any botanical drawing. But just this morning, I took some time to grab my pencil and some paper to do a little sketching.

I can thank my older daughter, who is 5, for this for two reasons, 1) she loves to have us pick up a bunch of flowers at the store every so often so we bought a bouquet of spray roses over the weekend, and 2) they are starting to shrivel, so she asked to take apart some petals this morning before school.

I trimmed off a few flowers and buds and my little scientist (or budding botanist?) started peeling away the petals into a pile. The resulting stem, sepals, stamen and pistils were brought into the light of day and were begging to be sketched.

I love the curve of the sepals and the sharp point they come to at the tips. Although I am out of practice (my shading ended up a bit heavier than I intended...) it felt terrific to finally get back to it.

View from underneath the stems and sepals.

View from the side of the sepals, with some beautiful curling as well as a great view of the cluster of stamens and pistils at the center of the blossom.

 

The holidays and winter colds can really put a dent in any available creative time. Have you had any projects you have been away from and returned to recently? 

A little slice of heaven...

So we are having what is probably the last warm-up in weather until spring here in Michigan. Temps are mid-70s, sun is shining and there is a beautiful breeze going through the house. With the threat of rain tomorrow and a high of 52, I wanted to take full advantage!

With my 3-year-old at home for a low-key day today, I was able to spend about 45 glorious minutes outside sketching some fall gourds while she played. Yay!! It has been f-o-r-e-v-e-r since I have had a chance to draw at all so I savored every minute of it.

I had my lawn chair, a huge pad of paper, my favorite mechanical pencil, kneaded eraser and two little gourds I bought from the grocery store a few weeks ago. They are both only about 3 inches long and wide in the body, with one having an extra long stem that stayed remarkably intact for a grocery-store gourd.

I sketched as fast as I could before I had to give up the one with the long stem for my daughter's "collection". :)

Long-stem is mostly green whereas the second one is a wonderful, bumpy-all-over bright orange with some dark green blotches. I didn't get a chance to add color, but I am sure you can imagine these since they are around pretty much everywhere at this time of year.

Even though these were fairly quick studies and not nearly complete, it felt wonderful to have a chance to actually put pencil to paper. It also felt terrific to be outside, squinting in the sun with a breeze swirling my hair as I drew!

Have you had a chance to do any autumn drawing lately? What is one of your favorite things to draw this time of year?

Trillium Print - Combined Composition

I recently ventured into creating my first, small, print run of my artwork to be used in a gifting event. This was for the Christmas in July gift bags, an event for the indiExhibit, which were gifted to a small group of twelve celebrities.


I have participated in events before, but never gifted a print of my artwork before. I had to keep it fairly small, as there were items from other artists in the bags also.


I knew which drawings I wanted to use - two drawings of a white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), from sketches and reference photos taken at an art retreat last year (see my first post here.) I love wildflowers and really enjoyed getting to know some of the local ones, including the beautiful white trillium. The triangular, pointed leaves and petals really appealed to me. 


I had completed one drawing in color (ink and colored pencil) of the plant in bud, and had an ink drawing of the plant flowering, so I thought it would be interesting to combine the two into a simple, botanical print. I scanned both drawings into my photo editing program and played with the composition until I felt it was right.  I really wanted to showcase the full color drawing, so I wanted that in the foreground. Personally, I found it more interesting that the drawing of the plant in bud, not full flower, was emphasized.  Rearranging it several times, and printing out drafts, I settled on the vertical presentation. 


I added some italicized text at the bottom to identify the plant and printed it out on acid-free, white cardstock. The final, matted print was only 5x7 inches, and I thought of it as similar to a note card (not intended as an archival, fine art print) that showcases my work, but isn't expected to last 500 years. I am hoping that maybe the celebrity recipients find it to be a little piece of botanical interest that they can put in their home or give to another friend or relative who likes this style of art.

The final print in it's white mat.

Back of the print with a small printout with my contact information and information about the trillium plant itself. Might as well educate a bit while I am at it! :)

Of course, I finished the gift package by putting the print/mat/backing into a clear bag, including my business card and wrapped a little green, waxed linen thread around it with a gift tag on the front (that included my holly painting, since it was for Christmas, after all!) 


It's unusual to get any direct feedback from the celebrity recipients (understandably), unless they are exceedingly gracious to each artist included in the gift bags or happen to really take to a particular artist's work. However, I love that this gave me an opportunity to "expand my horizons" (thank you, Mrs. Pletcher!) and think of how I could present my work and share a little of my artistic interests with a different audience.

Have you ever ventured out of your comfort zone or usual routine to do something different like this? I would love to hear about it!

Botanical Ornament - American Holly

This is one of the ceramic ornaments that I have recently put into my online Zazzle store. It features a small botanical painting that I did of an American Holly.

The ornament can be personalized on both sides, and I am actually going to add the date and order one for our tree :) They make great gifts for the holidays. 

Keep in mind that you don't have to just choose holiday themes. I have a number of ornaments available, including:

Traditional:

Poinsettia (pen and ink)

Rose (colored pencil)

Noel (calligraphy)

Botanical and Wildlife:

African Daisy (colored pencil)

Camel (graphite pencil)

American Red Raspberry (ink and colored pencil)

Lone Cypress (pen and ink) -- this one is metal, not ceramic.

Come on by and take a look!

Looking for a holiday card?

Are you looking for a unique holiday card? Consider a botanical art card that can be customized to include your holiday greetings. The American Holly above is available for ordering through my Zazzle page:
http://www.zazzle.com/ccreech21*

Cards are available in the traditional greeting card size or in a smaller note card size. Bulk order discounts (in as small a quantity as 2) are available, so the more cards you order the lower the cost per card. It's a great way to obtain distinctive cards this holiday season.

UPDATE 2010: I have also created matching return address labels that can be customized with your information as well as a beautiful ceramic ornament, stickers, and stamps - all featuring my American Holly painting. 

Tulip - colored pencil drawing

I had a chance to try a version of the tulip in colored pencil. It's a beautiful purple/pink color with white at the top of the petals. I had some difficulty rendering the white -- I added shadows in various shades of gray, but am not sure it turned out very well.

If anyone has any suggestions/comments on how you handle this sort of problem - especially when rendering on a white background - that would be appreciated!

Rose - graphite

I'm working on a sketch of a rose - once again from a photo. Best to work from life, I realize, but in terms of practicing shading/colored pencil work the photos are useful tools for me (especially with toddler interruptions!)

The graphite rendering below is rough, but I want to use it as a starting point to refine the shading and eventually render in possibly pen/ink and colored pencil. The color of the rose is a beautiful, bright pink, with darker red buds, so I am testing out my pencils on the side to see what will work.