Warm weather is on it’s way! We made it folks. We survived another Winter! Although, I don’t know about everyone else but this was one of the most mild Winters we have had in a long time. We had maybe two good snowstorms but other than that just rain and wind. Now it’s already getting into the high 50’s and low 60’s; I live in upstate New York! That’s insane!
So it’s time to put away the hoodies and get some new spring tees out. Let your skin soak up the sunshine and sport one of my awesome tees that I have available on Teepublic. I never formally announced my arrival to Teepublic but I now have a store through going on a few months now. I just ordered one of my tees before starting this entry so I am very excited to get that in the mail! This is the one I ordered:
I love the color! It matches my mandala beautifully! There are so many colors to choose from and I have a bunch more designs in my shop so check it out and let me know what your favorite one is!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a great season! Sending warm wishes and happy Spring vibes your way! Check back soon for more artwork and awesome merch!
I am always on the look out for the newest biological discovery. I love cryptozoology and I find it fascinating when scientists discover things about animals and nature that seemed improbable or maybe even impossible. The weird, the strange, the oddities of nature. Long story short, I came across an article that inspired my latest piece.
The article was explaining the rare occurence of a hermaphrodite cardinal. Half of the bird is female and the other half is male. When this occurs it is called a bilateral gynandromorph. Gynandromorph comes from the greek words “gyne” (female), “andro” (male) and “morph” (form or shape). There are several species known to have hermaphrodites such as reptiles, crustaceans, and even butterflies! Scientists believe that all birds are capable of producing gynandromorph offspring but it has only been noticed in birds that vary in color between males and females, such as the cardinal.
Mostly cardinals have been spotted perfectly split down the middle with a vibrant red on one side and a calm yellow on the other. When I saw the image of one, taken by a Pennsylvania couple at their backyard feeder, I was amazed by the beauty of it’s plumage. I immediately added this animal oddity to my list and couldn’t wait to get started!
I have always wanted to create a piece based on duality. It was interesting to create two sides that are similar to each other but at the same time exact opposites. The female side is done with circles where as the male side I used a square pattern. The colors are also opposing yet the shadowing and vibrance is the same.
I’m very happy with how the cardinal turned out. I never intended to create as many bird drawings as I have, it just kind of happened. I just love feathers and their patterns and colors! I am naturally drawn to birds so therefore they are naturally drawn by me! See what I did there! 😉 I used Arteza water color pencils and Prismacolor art markers along with a micron pen to get the thin black lines. I can only hope that maybe one day I will see one of these beauty’s with my own two eyes!
Have you ever seen a hermaphrodite cardinal or maybe another species in the wild? The butterflies would be really cool to come across too! Share your story in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by this week! Check back soon as I will discuss the symbolism of having cardinal as a totem!
Stay vibrant, free spirits!
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I have “Cardinal Duality” prints and other cool stuff available in my shop!
It is devastating the harm that the recent fires in Australia have caused. The fires started in November of 2019 due to extreme drought and record breaking heat waves. Over 100 fires are still active today all around the country, causing more threat to everyone around. So far, over 7 million acres have gone up in flames and with it an estimated 500 million animals. Many organisations are working tirelessly to rescue and treat as many animals as they can.
Wildlife conservation and animal welfare are two topics I am very passionate about. It has been my dream to reach the point with my artwork that I could make a difference when help is needed. That’s why I am excited to reveal my latest piece I have been working on in honor of Australia’s wildlife.
I put a lot of heART into this piece and I am so pleased with how it turned out! It is now available in my shops at Redbubble, TeePublic and soon Society6.
((*Update* Edited – 4.1.2020*)) The first two months this piece was posted, I donated 100% of the profits to WIRED Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation. With the help of other wildlife lovers, we raised enough to make a great donation! To keep the drive going to protect Australia’s wildlife no matter what issues they face, I will continue to collect 25% of all profits from this piece and make another donation at the end of the year. ))
Help me raise money to further protect the Australian wildlife! Animal Activism through Art! I cannot wait to start making a difference by combining my greatest passions, art and animals! Thank you for stopping by today! Please share and get the word out!
Here are some other organisations accepting donations:
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’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’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?
Happy Mother’s Day to all! I completed my Mother’s Day inspired drawing entitled, “Mother Bear”. I am so happy with how this turned out. Blue and orange hues together are some of my favorite colors! They really *POP* together. I have also been wanting to create a drawing of a mama bear and her cub for a very long time now. I finally got around to it and I’m happy I finally did it!
You can find it in my shop at Redbubble here. Available for prints, apparel, home décor and more! Check it out and get one for your Mother Bear!
You can also read about bear symbolism here on a post I created previously with my Bear Totem drawing.
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your have a great day with your mother and/or children. Plus, wish Mother Earth a happy Mother’s Day! Plant a tree, a flower or just enjoy a nice nature hike!
My Flamingo Totem is complete! It seemed like it took forever. Landscaping season started back up for me while I was half way finished with it. I can’t dedicate as much time in the day to drawing as I could over the winter. It really made the flamingo drag on but I forced myself to finish it and I’m glad I did. I am really happy with the outcome.
I actually have two versions of the flamingo. The first version, pictured above, was my initial idea of just doing the body so I had plenty of room to create the patterns and tangles within the feathers. Feathers are a lot of fun to create using Zentangle. While I was working on the body, I realized, aside from their color, one of the flamingos most distinctive features are their long legs. I thought it would be neat to incorporate the legs into the drawing making one big project. I used three sheets of my drawing paper to create one huge piece of the flamingo with it’s legs. I scanned the three images to my computer and pieced them together creating this long legged beauty!
I am really happy with how it looks as a full image. My only complaint is my scanner. Unfortunately, it couldn’t capture the really HOT pink color I was using so some of the areas are more dull compared to the original. Without comparing it though, the scanned image still looks pretty sweet!
I have both of these versions available in my shop at Redbubble. Click the links below to check out apparel, home décor, stationary and more!
You can also check out two patterns that I created from these pieces. The pretty blue background compliments the pink nicely. You can find these in my shop here and here.
Which design or drawing is your favorite? Leave a comment below! Thanks for stopping by today! I have quite a few ideas for my next couple projects so check back often for new work. I hope you are enjoying some nice weather!
Spring has finally arrived! The weather is trying to make the shift from cold and frigid to into warm and inviting. I can hear the birds throughout the day. It was silent during the winter then one day, it seemed all the birds came out at once to sing their songs! I love it! I always think of the scene from the movie Bambi when the owl explains that all the birds are twitterpated! Twitterpated? Yes.
“Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example, you’re walking along minding your own business, you’re looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of the sudden, you run smack into a pretty face. WHOO-WHOO! You begin to get weak in the knees, your head’s in a whirl! And then you feel light as feather, and before you know it you’re walking on air! And then you know what? You’re knocked for a loop! And you completely lose your head!” -Friend Owl
It makes me laugh every time I think about it. So in honor of springtime and a great movie here are is a collection of all the avian totems I have drawn so far.
There are still quite a few I need to cover but it’s a pretty great collection to start. I have the flamingo in the works right now. It’s going to be fun playing around with the different shades of pink. For now though, we have these beauties! You can read about each birds symbolism by clicking the links below.
You can also find prints and other cool products with these images @Redbubble and @Society6!
Which drawing is your favorite? Is there a bird not pictured here that you would like to see? Drop a suggestion in the comments below! Thanks for stopping by today!
I’ve been having some fun in photoshop lately. I like to make patterns and come up with cool designs using my traditional drawings. It opens a whole new world of creativity! Here are some of my patterns I’ve created so far.
It’s really cool watching them unfold and seeing what comes from the original drawing. They also look awesome on my products @Redbubble. I can’t wait to see what other designs I can come up with! I am currently working on horse for my next piece! I’m really excited to share it! Check back later this week to see my work in progress post.
Which pattern did you like best? Anything you hope to see in the future? Leave a comment below! I’d love to hear from you! Thanks for stopping by!
