I am very happy with how my “Sloth Totem” turned out! I stayed completely care-free the entire time I worked on this piece. I didn’t know how it would turn out in the end but I didn’t worry about it. I just let it happen and it happened well! I have shared this on social media and so far it is getting a lot of positive feedback.
I’m not entirely sure why people love sloths though! To be honest, I think they are a little creepy in real life. I can totally get on board with the calm and chill lifestyle though!
I will cover the symbolism of sloth after Inktober is completed. I shared a FSM Update to explain everything that is coming up in the next month! Make sure you give it a glance to see what’s in store!
Speaking of store, if you would like your own print of “Sloth Totem” it is available in my shop here.
You can also find home decor, apparel, accessories and more with my “Sloth Totem” piece. Click here.
Thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment below and let me know what you think about sloths. Cute or creepy?
Stay chill, free spirits!
“The main thing is to relax and let your talents do the work.” -Charles Barkley
I have a lot going on in the near future. I have several projects in the making. Things are gradually slowing down with my landscaping job so I will have more time for my art!
We have two more days until Inktober so I will focus a lot of my time to completing this. I finally decided what theme I will follow this year and surprisingly it will not be horror! If there are any gamers out there you may know of Elder Scrolls Online, ESO for short. They have created their own prompt list for Inktober and it is my husband’s favorite game. He streams it live on Twitch.tv at RabidClown_Gaming. If you love the game too, check out his channel! I thought it would be neat to combine our interests this year and follow the ESO prompt list. If your not familiar with the game it deals with dragons, monsters, sorcerers, warriors, kings and queens….a huge realm of fantasy to vaguely sum it up! I enjoy drawing fantasy but never give myself the opportunity. Now it’s time to give it a turn.
I will also be spending all of October preparing for an Arts & Crafts Show that I will be participating in! It is November 3rd and I will share a separate post about this as the day draws closer with more details. I am currently working on a group of mini canvases. It has been a couple years since I’ve worked with the minis and I am having so much fun with it! It has also been a couple years since I have done an art show so my nerves are a little frazzled. For the most part though, I’m very confident in how it will turn out and I’m not procrastinating this time! That is a huge help for keep stress levels down!! XD Here is a sneak peek at some of the minis I will have at the show.
After Inktober and the art show, I’ll be picking back up with my totem animal symbolism posts. I had to take a break over the Summer because I am too busy working long hours with my landscaping job. Now that the colder months are ahead of us, the work load starts to ease up and I have more time to concentrate on my totems again. Since “Sloth” was a popular piece I will study this one and share with you what I find. After that I was thinking about tackling the panda. Who doesn’t love pandas, seriously!?
Aside from all of this (yes there is more), I have started dabbling with digital art. You may have already learned about this from reading my previous post, It’s A Digital Age. I am making mandalas on my laptop and phone using the program AutoDesk Sketchbook. It is so much fun and is just another way for me to express myself no matter where I am! I still have a lot to learn as far as digital art goes but I have made the first step. I would eventually like to get Adobe Illustrator since I am more familiar with it.
That about sums up what artwork is ahead of me! Busy, busy, busy! I have never felt more motivated though! I’m confident I will be able to get everything done with ease and make strides with my talents!
Thanks for stopping by this week! Make sure to check back often to see my 2019 Inktober collection grow. I will share one sketch for everyday until the end of October! Share a comment below if you are participating and I’ll be sure to follow along with you!
Happy October, free spirits!
“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”– Stephen King
I’ve been throwing around the idea of trying my hand at some digital art. I’ve never really dabbled with it much more than when I was in high school. That was fifteen years ago so a lot has changed in the technological department.Hard as it is to believe, I had never drawn on a device with a stylus and I wanted to try it. I’ve also been wanting to start creating some mandalas so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to tackle both!
With each one, I do a little better and learn something new about the drawing app I am using. I settled for Autodesk Sketchbook until my art can pay for Adobe Illustrator, which would be my preferred program. I just finished the mandala picture below and have added it to my online shop! I call it “Bluedana” and I had a lot of fun creating it!
I’m learning so much, rapidly. I can’t wait to see where my work will be in even a few weeks! Digital art is so much fun I know I haven’t even scratched the surface yet. I use to swear against it for the longest time. That was before I knew what I could do with it! I use to think it was “cheating” but it really isn’t. It just streamlines the entire process. This makes everything so much faster so you can get even more art done. Plus, you aren’t using any materials so you don’t have to dish out money for supplies. As long as you have a good device and a decent stylus, you’re all set! By the way, I drew all of these from my phone. I found an app that works for my laptop and my phone so I can draw no matter where I am!
I hope you enjoyed my work. There is a lot more where that came from. What are your thoughts on digital art and illustration? Leave your story in the comments below! Thanks for stopping by this week.
Happy Autumn, free spirits!
“You never know what you can do until you try, and very few try unless they have to.” –C.S. Lewis
I am looking forward to Inktober this year. I had a lot of fun with it last year. I followed the Inktober prompts as well as my own theme. Each sketch was from a horror/monster movie. This year I am thinking about doing something similar. I enjoy sticking with a horror theme to get geared up for Halloween! I have started a list of legendary monsters that I think I will stick to this year. Although, I do have another idea that I might change to at the last minute.
The official prompt list has been released and a lot of the prompts tie in with my legendary monsters so that will make things easier. Although it is always fun to try and come up with a creative idea that relates to the prompt.
This will be my fourth year participating in Inktober. Here are a few of my favorite sketches from previous years.
It’s nice to compare my work and see how I have improved over the years and also areas where I could still improve. It’s all about getting better, right? Practice makes perfect!
Are you participating in Inktober this year? What are your plans or thoughts? Leave a comment below! Or share a photo of your own sketches! Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time, free spirits!
“Ink is the transcript of thought.” ~Alphonse De Lamartine
Here’s a few pictures I’ve taken with my phone since we have arrived. It’s been a chill visit so far. We went for a nice bike ride, visited my brother and his family and ate dinner at Chipotle’s. I have more pictures on my Nikon but I won’t be able to share those until after I get back.
I have this entire week off for vacation. I am pumped. I have needed a good break like this to rejuvenate myself in more ways than one. Besides working vigorously on my art and cleaning my house to the core, I am taking a much needed trip to Ohio to visit my family.
As always, expect a lot of pictures. I have a new lens that I haven’t been able to play with yet and it’s eating away at me! I need to try it out and this week will be the perfect opportunity.
I have a few pieces in the works. I have a realism piece of an otter, a zentangle of a sloth and a mini canvas painting. I will have to finish them when I get back but they are all coming along nicely.
Check back soon for more artwork and photography! Hope you’re enjoying the Summer! It’s been a busy one!
I’m starting my next piece and I’m giving in to this sloth obsession that has been going on. It seems like every year their is a strange animal that people go “ga-ga” over! This year is the sloth, I guess. Perhaps it’s one of those “you’re so ugly, you’re cute” kind of thing? Or is it their slow, calm and chill attitude? Whatever it may be, I’ve decided to try my hand at a sloth.
This is my rough sketch. I don’t think sloths really sleep like this but I wanted to play off of their lazy-like appearance. I’ve been really tired lately between work, family, summer activities and staying up later than I probably should. When I look at this, I can just imagine taking a nap in the trees with a nice, cool breeze. That would be the life, am I right? I think it’s safe to say we have all been there.
I have some of the ink done. This piece has a lot of patterns in it naturally so incorporating them will be fun! I also can’t wait to start the color. I don’t typically incorporate backgrounds for my totem pieces but this one definitely called for it. The leaves will be neat to create and green is one of my favorite colors to work with.
I hope you enjoyed the work in progress of my Sloth Totem. Check back soon to see the finished piece! What do you think about sloths? Cute and chill? Or Ugly and Freaky? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think?
This piece was a challenge. I do not know why though. It was not fluid. I never really found a flow to the drawing. Usually I know what I want to do just by looking at it. Not this time. I had no idea what I wanted to incorporate of how I wanted to execute it. Perhaps a small bit of it was that I am still learning how to use the watercolor pencils. It takes time and practice. I know this but it is still frustrating when something doesn’t look the way you want it to.
I feel like I could have added a lot more detail with my ink work also. I have noticed that I have slowly slipped away from adding pointillism to my pieces to incorporate shadows. In my earlier drawings, I used this technique frequently. I should have used it with the turtle to allow it to blend more and become more real.
Although, I encountered a problem with my pens. The ink from the pen activated the watercolor pencil on the paper, therefore, it gets gunk on the tip of my pen and stops working. I thought it would be easy to add the ink after the color but it doesn’t really work. Maybe I should try doing the ink first and then use the watercolor pencils. Or else I will have to try a different type of pen.
I also grew very bored and tired of the piece. I had so many other ideas that had popped in my head that I would have rather been doing. I should have just abandoned the piece and came back to it later. I think the end result would have been better. I was just in a rush to finish it by the end. I was ready to move on. This definitely did not help the outcome.
It is not my best work but it is far from my worst. I still like the whimsical feel of this turtle. I really enjoy the smile and added that feature for a good reason. The reason I wanted to draw the turtle in the first place was because of an incident that recently happened to me. I was driving down the road with my brother in law and we saw a snapping turtle trying to cross the road. It had almost been hit a handful of times so we pulled over to rescue it. It was challenging trying to move it without getting snapped at but we were successful and got the turtle to the other side with the help of another driver passing by. We felt like super heroes and referenced a funny quote from one of our favorite TV shows, Futurama. “I saved a turtle today. What have you done with your life?” I was thrilled to be able to save the turtle and wanted to create this design to go with the phrase.
Have you saved any turtles lately? Share your story in the comments below! I would love to hear more success stories about our turtle friends! If you like this piece, you can find this and others in my shop at Redbubble!
I’ve had some of these beauties hiding in a folder on my computer and decided it was time to share them with the world! I have literally gone horse crazy with my Horse Totem drawing (originally done in colored pencil). I’ve been wanting to get better with my photoshop skills and in the near future would like to get a digital drawing tablet. Yes, the digital age has finally grabbed me. So here are some designs I’ve created for horses of a different color! Which one is your favorite?
Find prints, apparel, home decor and more by clicking the links below!
The hotel we stayed in, the Marriot Marquis, was located in the center of Time Square. It was a busy area, by far! There was so much going on, so many lights, people, buildings, advertisements, honking taxis, pushy bus tour guides….the list goes on. It was a lot to take in. The hotel was very nice and very large with at least 20 elevators in the center. There were so many patterns throughout the hotel. If I had more time, I would have brought my sketchbook and doodled a little!
