Even though I won't actually go to Paris until October, I want to maximize my anticipation of the trip by working in my sketchbook NOW!

The image above is the cover page of the sketchbook I'll be taking to Paris in October. I created an image in Photoshop using the leaf I had previously painted, some French ephemera and some indicia stamps. I then used gel medium to transfer the image to my sketchbook page.

The sketchbook is one I'm making and the page is 5.75 inches square. It's made from 140 lb. CP Moulin du Roy watercolor paper. I'm loving this paper! It's easy to work on and it folds nicely for a bound sketchbook.

Transferred images are not hard to do if you A) practice first and B) have plenty of patience. There are directions all over the internet if you're interested in giving it a whirl. Just be sure to give the gel plenty of time to dry and be very gentle when you go to remove the paper fibers!

Expect and embrace some imperfections in the image. (I've never had one to come out spot-on perfect.) In this case, the little things that went wrong add to the aged look of the letters behind the leaf.  I did one other version which had a different stamp on it and my impatience cost me the page as I lifted the paper before the transfer was completely dry. It lifted the stamp and left a gaping whole in the image.

While this isn't something I'd likely try while traveling, it is fun to do to build up my enjoyment and anticipation of the trip. By creating NOW rather than waiting until time to go, I'm able to work past the "white page paralysis" of a new journal and I'm keeping my sketching skills sharp.

Examples of other pages I intend to create include what I'm learning about Paris, books I've read, movies and shows I've watched about Paris, what I'm packing, my art kit, frequently used French words and so on. I also want to get out and do some sketching at the local coffee shop as a way to acclimate myself to sketching around people more.

Interested in joining me in October? There are still a few spots left for this workshop but it is beginning to fill! If you're thinking this is the trip for you, please sign up soon. Click the Paris link at the top of this page or click here for more info!

Have a question? Leave me a comment or use the Contact form at the top of the page!

When I started this page, it was to deal with some broken traditions I didn't want broken and to deal with the unhappy feelings and very negative vibes. But as I started adding the art, I began to realize that not all "broken traditions" were negative.

**Due to the nature of the less-than-positive things that happened this holiday season, I've opted to show you the page before I add the journaling.** However, some of the artwork turned out better than I could have imagined!

First Broken Tradition: "Am I Beginning Punished?"
Early in our marriage, the first time I ever gifted clothes to Chris at Christmas he wanted to know if he'd done something wrong. His version of being punished was to get clothes because "they're not fun." He wanted toys or something he could play with...unless they're something he WANTED.

Chris saw the guitar fabric when he was with me when I stopped into a quilt shop. I found the Real Tree® camo fabric a few days later and made the two scrub tops on the sly so he'd be surprised. Seems if it's something you choose, getting clothes for Christmas isn't such a bad deal!

Second Broken Tradition: "Please Tell Me You DID NOT Get Me A Vacuum For Christmas..."
No, I've never been gifted a vacuum for any reason...after all, Chris is still alive, isn't he? However, I did get a toaster, but there's a reason. I've often kvetched about our old toaster as it's not meant for bagels. You can just barely squeeze them in, but on occasion, the toaster decides to eat the bagels. It won't turn them loose and it turns them to charcoal briquets in short order. The problem with this is you NEVER know when it's going to have a snit-fit and burn the bagel.
It just so happened Chris was home when this occurred right before the holiday and he saw what the problem was. So we know have a bagel-friendly toaster that has a "High Lift Toast Boost"...so you don't have to burn your little fingers fishing your toast out of the slots.

On my page, you can lift the bagels out of the toaster via the small tab at the top and then push them back in. If I had been thinking, I would have made the handle go up and down at the same time, but I didn't think of it until it was complete. So, yeah, I guess getting appliances for the holidays are okay...when they're something you want!

Saving The Goofy Fun For Last
Last, but certainly the most fun (for me), was this fuzzy guy!
This guy showed up from California and I it just so happened that I'd already been working on a long, vertical format for another project. This guy was the perfect subject for a thank you card for the fun package that was chocked full of goodies.
You can't look at this guy and not giggle and it's nearly impossible not to play with him. I scanned the card before I sent it off and then printed it for the purposes of putting it in my journal. It's not quite as interactive as the toaster. I almost made an envelope for the card to rest in, but I was concerned it might not find its way back inside, so I compromised with a painted envelope.

While it wasn't strictly necessary to add the tab and the word, lift, I figured it would see more action if there was an invitation there. Below, you can see the full figure as well as the top portion of the card I made.
The figure is actually a pen and looks like a cross between Animal from the Muppets gang and Big Bird from Sesame Street...

And all of this serves as a reminder that if I look, a little bit, maybe even a lot, of good can be found in a bad situation. Please, make no mistake, my holidays were very fun and joyous, but there were some traditions that were broken and it's very sad to see them go. Journaling is simply my way of dealing with it.

When I'm out and about teaching classes and even in the online classes, it's not unusual to have an artist lament the fact that they only create when taking a class even though they want to create more, they don't feel like their work is any good, they never seem to have the time to create, or they're not satisfied with the work they are doing, it has drained their enthusiasm and they stop creating.

Sound familiar?

Then this series is for you.

We're going to start out with addressing one of the biggest underlying reasons we don't create unless we're taking a class, we don't make the time to create or we're not satisfied with our work and it usually comes down to one word:


And while this is a simple four-letter word, dealing with fear in its many forms is something else entirely.

For whatever reason (but it usually has roots in words spoken to us in our childhood), fear plays a huge role in our artistic pursuits...or maybe I should say our lack of creative efforts.  We're afraid of looking like we don't know what we're doing, of making a mistake, that our work will be found lacking, or the creativity police will revoke our "creative license."

It seems safer to create only when in a class environment because the teacher is there to help us work through any challenges and if we do get into trouble, they can help us get out of the fix we're in. Don't get me wrong—I think classes are a fantastic way to learn and a good place to start...but not as the only place to create.

Classes are also deadline driven (and thank goodness for deadlines!)—we must to create within the timeframe given or we lose out on an opportunity to learn from a particular teacher or a certain subject matter.

Rather than looking at the reasons why we don't create more, we often decide we just "don't have time." (Seriously? We'll be addressing this in more depth, but let me state here that I've yet to meet the person that didn't have time to put a few scribbles on the page!) 

Often, before I can even say anything to an artist asking for help, they're pointing out EVERY-SINGLE-THING that isn't right, did not turn out, could be better, or they don't like. I think most of us have the idea that if we point out these things and criticize our work FIRST, no one will/can say anything that will hurt our feelings. (And yes, there's more to say about this point too, but we'll come back to it later.)

Recognizing Fear
Fear, especially when it's dressed itself up with reason and a bit of truth, can be hard to recognize. We've learned not to touch a hot stove because we'll get hurt. And yet, most us use some form of heat to prepare food on a regular basis. If we had stopped at the lesson of "can't touch that," we'd all be eating nuts and fruit!

Instead of looking closely at our concerns to see if it's fear masquerading as reason, we accept these beliefs as the truth. After all, who among us wants to fail or look like we don't know what we're doing. By not dragging our reasons for not producing more creative efforts out into the light and giving them a thorough look, we allow them to stand as both the reason we can't possibly do more and the excuse why we don't have to try.

Chances are good that once those fears hit the light, you'll begin to see they are not as substantial as you once thought. In many cases, they're no longer accurate. We often continue to grow our skills, but our fears don't keep pace. You might still be harboring a concern that you can't draw worth a darn and yet you have a sketchbook at your elbow that says otherwise.

So let's examine some of those fears a little closer by taking serious look at those fears.

Making Mistakes
I don't know ANYONE who actually likes making mistakes. Mistakes can, on occasion, open doors we had not previously opted to see let alone open. They can lead to happy accidents. But most of the time, we allow them to frustrate us and steal our momentum.

Unfortunately, mistakes are as necessary to our growth as breathing.

How did you learn to walk as a child? How did you learn to write the alphabet when you started school? What about reading? Did you just decide to stand up and walk off one day? Did you never write a backwards "e" or "d" when you learned how to spell? Ever mispronounce a word?

While these are all "acceptable" mistakes, making a creative mistake is not. Why? Why is it okay to misspell a word but not okay to either not know how to draw something or draw an incorrect line?

And no, these are rhetorical questions.

Not Good Enough vs. Not Very Good
I have one of my first watercolor paintings from when I was in art school. The painting was a storm moving in on a beach scene of a house and palm tree. We were to use blue and black paint as well as the white of the paper.

When I was done, I was horrified...it looked like my painting had been left outside in the storm!

It really wasn't very good and there was no way to hide that fact. Never mind that it was my third or fourth effort to paint with watercolors, I was extremely disappointed and disheartened. I remember my teacher saying something along the lines of "you have a choice. Practice, try again and again until your efforts get better. Or quit. Find another medium."

And that was it—I had a choice: I could learn to do better by practicing or I could quit.

We all have that same choice with every. single. thing. we. attempt. You know the choice I made and while I'd like to tell you that several paintings later I had it mastered, I don't want to lie to you. What I can tell you is that when I finally got out of my own way, I could recognize a little bit of growth with each attempt.

But "Not Very Good" is an entirely different kettle of brew from "Not Good Enough."

It is all too easily tangle up the our own self worth with our artistic efforts...and somehow come up lacking.

Just like it helps to drag our fears into the light, it also helps to look closely to see if it's our efforts or ourselves that we're condemning as "not good enough." Learn to listen to the voice* you hear that's doing the accusing or belittling. Is it your own, a critical parent or teacher from childhood or possibly a spouse that is judging you rather than your efforts on the page?

The voice may be more than one person's past judgments that still have the power to hurt you. Just by recognizing where the voice and judgements are coming from can be helpful. Learning to move past the critic's harsh words is often a reoccurring struggle. Remember, you have a choice. Do it anyway and ignore the critic...or quit.

*This is known as an inner critic. Everyone has one, but some voices can be more critical than others.  This is another subject worth delving into at length. The best way I've found to deal with mine is to say something like, "I'm going to do ______________ (fill in the blank with appropriate activity) ANYWAY. If you do not have anything useful or helpful to add, please be quiet," and to do what I told the critic I was going to do.

Making The Choice
I have found that just recognizing the fear and the decision to "do it anyway" can be liberating. The problem comes up in that I often have to fight the fear, the inner critic, or the feelings of not being very good again and again and again. It helps to remember that I have a choice.

The other thing I've found that helps me greatly to overcome my fears is to make my efforts fun. Rather than being so serious about my efforts, I strive for fun, to play as a child would play. You don't see toddlers agonizing over smearing some paint around on a piece of paper and rest assured, every piece is a masterpiece in their own eyes even if you can't recognize the green blob as the family dog!

I have more paper, I have more paint and I will make time to begin again, so why stress? Why not have fun and play and explore? What is there to lose?

My Inner Medusa I created her back in 2010!

Your Assignment For This Week
Drag your fears out into the light and look closely at them. What do you see? What's true and what's an outdated belief? Which ones have become easy excuses to fall back on rather than making art?

Can you sketch your fears? If so, what would it be—a face, a monster, a fire-breathing dragon, a spider with a human face? Sketch it if you can. It doesn't have to be realistic or "good enough" as it's your fear that only you can see.

My inner Medusa came to be on a Sunday afternoon when I felt like I'd been going around and around with the same self-doubts and fears forever. I decided to see if putting them on paper would silence them. While they weren't completely silent, they were much quieter!

Can you make it fun? Can you step into a childlike mindset and just splash color on the page? Give it a whirl and see how you feel. Take note of those feelings as it will be important info to have later.

Share Your Thoughts, Your Efforts, Your Questions
We often feel isolated with our fears and concerns. I'd love to hear from you and what you think as well as what you've learned about yourself or your fears as you step through the exercises. If you've created some artwork, leave a link in a comment so we can cheer you on. Have a question? Feel free to ask in a comment or send me an email via the contact form at the top of the page.

Trust me when I tell you I've been there. I still visit that place of paralyzing fear...but I've found some tools that help me leave sooner and overcome that fear. That's the point of this series. To give you the tools to begin moving away from being unhappy with your efforts to being satisfied enough so that you want to do more.

Part Two of this series is here.
Part Three is here.

Already sick of the cold? Me too. Let's head to the beach!

Click here the class title the details for "An Imaginary Visit To The Beach!"

Class starts on February 15th—hope to see you there!

Feeling sluggish getting the new year started? Come and join in the fun at one of these classes to help you get back to the joy of creating in your sketchbooks!

Keeton's Office and Art Supply, Bradenton, FL
Saturday, January 13th, 9 am - 12:30 pm

These little, orange balls of sunshine evoke memories in the best of ways! I think in part due to the strong olfactory element and because they're just so darn cute.

Having lived in Florida my entire life and having a host of different citrus at fingertips' reach, I've always taken these fruits for granted. When I first posted the class, I heard some very delightful stories about coming in from the cold and snow to smell these treats sitting in the kitchen as well as the small wooden crates they were shipped in.

Capturing these beauties in our sketchbooks comes down to utilizing not one, but two, white gel pens as well as really working our analogous and complementary palettes. It's gonna be fun, so I hope you'll come and join us this Saturday! For more info, please click here.



Postcards In The Garden, Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, FL
Saturday, January 20th, 9 am - 1 pm

Copyright is serious business.

Many people have their own idea of what's okay and what's not, but every once in a while, someone comes along that has "learned the hard way" just what copyright and Fair Use Law means.

I am sharing this LINK as a scary but cautionary tale.

I go out of my way to avoid using photos or artwork that belong to someone else UNLESS I have written PERMISSION. (I say and bold the word, written, because memories are forgotten or can alter with time. If someone has given me verbal permission but is no longer around to corroborate my story, I may be facing a battle with an heir.)

After reading the sad situation this woman went through, I will be even more diligent. She addresses some concerns I have with regard to sites like Pinterest too. All I can say, is pinner beware!

UPDATE: Here is a link full of info about posting on Instagram and reposting other folks images. It long, but it's worth the look-see.

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous (and legal-nightmare-free) New Year!

While drawing round ornaments is very fun and satisfying, especially when we add in all the gorgeous details with a little bit of gold and glitter, after a while it can be great fun to explore other shapes and sizes. Using a little creativity and imagination, we can expand on the basic circle to make more exotic shapes!

To do this tutorial, you'll need:

• a circle template OR assorted bottle caps and jar lids in a variety of sizes
• pencil
• tracing paper
• permanent black pen
• watercolors
• eraser

Optional:

• gold gel pen
• white gel pen
• Other metallic or pearlescent pens and markers

Steps:
Draw a straight line on your tracing paper. This is your base line.
Choose a circle on the template or bottle cap. Resting the bottom of the circle on the straight line, draw a circle.
Then move either to the left or right and draw a second circle the same size. See example.
The further apart the circles, the more of an "oval shape" you'll get. Experiment with the width of the combined circles to see what you like best. Add a small rectangle and a circle for the top and you have your first ornament.

In the next example, choose a large circle or lid and again, using a straight line as your base, draw one half of the circle. The circle will be divided in half vertically.
Now move the template or cap and draw the other half so that it overlaps the first half as seen in the image below. Another way to do this is to draw one large circle on the tracing paper and then cut it in half. Overlay the edges until you are pleased with the shape. Tape the edges of the paper to hold the shape.


Make sure to use the straight line as your base to keep the sides even in length.  Add a rectangle, circle and string at the top and you have your second ornament!

One variation on this is to deliberately offset the second half so the "circle" is wider at the top than on the bottom. Play around by moving the template or cap around to get different shapes and lengths.







Moving to a more complex image, let's try stacking the circles to make a longer ornament:
After starting with the double circles like we did in the first example, I added a second row of three circles (second image). I then added a long spike. The second row of circles and spike are the same height as the large circle. This helps to keep things in balance, but it would be easy enough to go much longer with the spiked shape if you wanted to play.

In the last example, I used a row of three circles to get an extra wide ornament. I then added a second row of circles and the long spike shape. Last, I added another circle as a "dome" over the first row of large circles.

There are any number of combinations of shapes you can come up with with a little experimentation!

Let's Add A Little Paint

Since the ornaments are all drawn on tracing paper, turn the paper over and trace the outline of your ornaments onto the watercolor paper. Experiment with different arrangements by drawing thumbnails to quickly see what you like. Avoid drawing all the ornaments the same size and at the same level on the paper. I opted to split my ornaments into two groups to balance my page. Overlap the ornaments for more interest:
Next, paint around the ornaments with clear water and drop in some green watercolor paint. Keep an eye on the edges to keep them soft, as if they're fading away. While the paper is still wet, drop in other colors if you like.

Study a real bulb for ideas on where the shadows fall and where the highlights and lowlights are:

Notice how the lights are different on the frosted red ornament and harder on the shiny bobbles but they all have soft and hard lights in the shapes.

Playing around with color is half the reason I like painting ornaments so I dropped in red orange and pink. I used a granulating violet in the shadowed areas and left white skips for my highlights.

The way the image looks at the moment, it looks like the long ornament is in front of the smaller one. It takes a few tricks to move it to the front of the red ornament!

On the right side, I used cobalt teal blue and violet to paint in the ornament. I left the strip and smaller circles bare until the painted dried and then went back and added orange. I again used violet as my shadow color.

To make the two ornaments on the left look like they were overlapping, I painted the smaller ornament over the large one as if it were not there. After it dried, I added in the details in white pen on the larger ornament with a permanent ink. Once the ink dried, I washed over it with same watercolors we can see in the small ornament.


Technically speaking, there should be swirls on the backside of the smaller ornament, but I found out the hard way the ink in the metallic gel pen was not permanent and there was no way to add the swirls without lifting paint so I opted to leave them out.

If you've enjoyed this tutorial, I invite you to check out the free tutorial, "How To Sketch and Paint The Eiffel Tower," as well as "'Tis The Season Holiday Class" (just click the class title for more info!). We'll be creating awesome holiday art all year long and you can do as little or as much as you want based on the class option you choose.

And once again, I'd like to take this moment to send my wishes for the season's best to you. I hope your holidays are fun, happy, healthy and full of those you love!

January is right around the corner and what better way to start the year off right than in our sketchbooks with some sweet, orangey fun?!

Clementines seem to hold a special place in many folks' hearts as I've already had several memories and traditions shared with me since announcing this class. In part, I think it has to do with the smell of these sweet jewels that evoke strong memories and thoughts from childhood.

Capturing these on the page require not one, but two, different white gel pens! One is opaque and non-permenant and the there is semi-opaque and very permanent. The combination makes it easy to capture the look of the clementine sections on the paper.

I hope you'll come and join me at Keeton's in Bradenton, Florida, on Saturday, January 13th! Just scroll down to the appropriate date to view all of the details.

From Paint A Festive Poinsettia Online Class

I'm always amazed at how fast the last three months of the year go whizzing by. I start September with the highest of hopes, believing I'm going to get oh, so much done. The next thing I know, I'm staring at the middle of December in the blink of an eye (or so it seems).

Then the pressure starts getting intense...do I have enough time to create a greeting card? What about some hostess gifts? Maybe a few pieces for my Etsy shop?

And then reality intrudes and I realize that once again, I've waited too late in the year to get started. The holiday card becomes a New Year's greeting card, the majority of gifts are store bought and Etsy gets ignored.

Ah, but not this year...or next, I should say!

Paint A Festive Poinsettia Online Class is now open! This class is also part of 'Tis The Season - Year Long Holiday Class over at the Imaginary Realm where you get to choose whether you take one class, three classes, or all of them!! 

Concept art for 'Tis The Season Holiday Class

Poinsettias have been nearly synonymous with the holidays since the early 1900s and because they're such a highly recognized plant, the artist can play with colors, shapes, sizes and it still reads as a poinsettia.

One of my favorite things about this particular plant is the complementary colors of red and green or pink and light green. These colors add a distinctive zing to the artwork that's hard to create any other way! Using an analogous color scheme is another way to jazz up the brilliant jewel tone colors of the leaves.

The Festive Poinsettia class covers drawing your plant on the page, making decisions on what to include and leave out, painting the plant, using your handwriting as fancy lettering and last, how to share your art by making a fun greeting card with a specialty cut and fold to make the edges of the poinsettia really stand out!

So if you're feeling a bit frazzled as you try to come up with an idea for the holidays, come on over and join me at The Imaginary Realm. Just think, this time next year, we'll have created 13 separate pieces of art without the usual stress and strain!

As always, please let me know if I can answer any questions!