We have a blogger down!

So, you may have noticed I have been a very absent Magpie. Sadly, my beloved lappy (or laptop to non-magpies) has finally passed into the great beyond.

Despite that setback, life has continued to roll along. I have been able to work on some fun, short projects in the meantime. A cute Mcall's apron in super fun fabrics, some more watercolor experiments and my first wedding anniversary trip with Mr. Magpie!

I will be back in business soon so I can write longer but I hope everyone is having a beautiful summer full of joy and adventures!

Online Watercolor Class

So I signed up for an online watercolor class at Strathmore Artist's Paper website.

Our first lesson was blending, washes and using different brushes for simple effects

My first "sketch" is here! I will post a picture later with it once it's dry and flattened. I don't yet have the watercolor journal, so the paper I had crinkled a bit.

But here it is!

And here it is dry!!!

Practice makes perfect

So I'm back into painting now that the holidays are over.

Here was a little experiment with wet-in-wet watercolor technique. For those unfamiliar, it means you start by wetting your canvass (or paper) before you begin painting. It creates this super watery effect as the pigments spread and create interesting shapes on the wet background.

This was just a quick little abstract piece I did for practice. Oddly, I kinda like it!

I also find that getting back into something creative after a bit of a hiatus can certainly be daunting. But I highly recommend just jumping back in with both feet, even if you don't have a particular subject in mind, like I didn't.

Sometimes randomness can be beautiful. Just set to and see what happens!!

And Happy New Year!

More strange hearts

In case any of you recall, I did a painting a while back called "My Metal Heart".

Well it now has a sister.


"My Frozen Heart"

Nudes

I have been trying to paint them. I've learned that I'm not extremely fantastic at them, so I went ahead and gave it another shot.

I have it linked instead of posted here, because it's not particularly safe for work.

I'm interested in hearing opinions though.

Tutorial: Handmade Envelopes

It has been a while since I've done a tutorial or craft project here, so I figured I'd try something relatively simple but really cute.

I wanted to make my own envelope to send as part of my ATC swap. So I looked at the USPS size charts to see what sizes are legal for mailing. The smallest size was 3 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches.

So, I got to work, painting a full sheet of watercolor paper.

To be fair, you can paint, draw, or use decorator paper, but I really wanted to paint yesterday!

Then I got to my pattern on a piece of cardstock. I started with a 3 1/2" by 5 1/2" rectangle. I made the bottom flap by drawing 2 3/4ths" lines and making a new rectangle. The top flap was 2" tall and then made another rectangle. The side flaps are 1" long.

Cut out your template.

Trace the template onto your fancy paper!

Then cut that out!

Fold the flaps. (fancy folk have bone folders, but I had a mail opener handy!)

I also angled the edges a bit to make it look "fancier".

And there you go!!! Your own handmade envelope!

Lady Gnome

Looks like my gnome found a friend.



(Sorry about the crappy cell phone picture.
Looks like I'm going to need to bring my camera to work!!)

Gnomish

Decided to do a quick little guy...and this is what popped out!!



I think he's rather suave!

Do what you love!

I have lately been besieged by a love of painting! I've been thinking about painting all day! Seeing ideas and inspiration everywhere I look. I've been practicing every chance I get and obsessing over tutorials, techniques and tools.

I'm not a savant, or perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but I can't explain how happy it makes me.

I've been walking around town looking at the world differently and I love it so much. Trees and flowers in my eyes lately are shapes and colors and shading and light. It is kinda of refreshing to see the world with a new light, a new excitement and perspective.

And I can't encourage people enough to get out there and do something that totally switches up your perspective. That makes you see new colors and life with a new set of eyes.

Be it painting, singing, skydiving...getting out in the world and LIVING is really good for the soul.

So get your camera, or try a new craft...get out there and make your soul sing!

(And if you do, I'd love to hear about it here!)

Birch

Do not adjust your monitors!



This was an experiment in painting with black and white.
I call it, "Bent, not Broken".

I really love Birch trees and wanted to paint them, but it wasn't until I was asked to sumit a piece in black & white for Oak Leaves that I decided to actually try and paint something with just black and white paints.

It's not my best work, but I do like it a lot!

I love practicing and learning more about the art.

I will be submitting it to Oak Leaves soon!!! Wish me luck!

Sublime

Another watercolor and ink. I painted the bare background first and then when it all dried, I did a freehand drawing on it and then filled it out with ink.



I really need to work on perspective and proportion. It still needs work, but I kinda like it.

Watercolor

More fun with watercolor today...and I learned that pre-wetting your paper really DOES help with watercolor painting. That and waiting for each layer to dry completely before adding more color.

I won't post the other stuff I did...it mostly sucks. But I was rather fond of little birdie here.



Water color is challenging, but I really do love it!!!

Odin ATC

I was working on a replacement for an ATC I was making for the ADF Artisan's Guild ATC swaps.

My partner is a big fan of Odin, so I drew "Old One Eye" and added Geri and Freki on the right and his signature ravens on the left.




And on the outside is text from an old Norse book.


I hope he likes it!

"Horizon"

This was an experiment in blending colors. (I know the stripes on an actual horizon go horizontally. :-p )

More paintings

Just posting random things I've drawn/painted over the last couple of days.
Practice makes...well...better.

"Girl"

"Mistletoe"

"Turn hate to love"

"Empty"

Altoid Tin Art

I decided to try out a little art for a class I want to give on portable altoid tin altars.

This is what I made.

In theory (lol) it says, O gods, hear us and has a pillar for each of the 12 Olympians.

Back to basics

So I decided to keep going with the watercolor & ink. I did a commission for a great guy in ADF and it can be seen at his e-shrine here. He had a very specific design in mind and it felt good to have given him several options as well as a final product he really seemed to love.

I decided I'd keep at it, though it was really hard to force something spiritual.

The boy reminded me that it wasn't the subject that was important, but the act of creating that was the best service.

What can I say, he's a genius and so I just set to making something. And this came out. I call it "My Metal Heart"

Yay for inspiration!!

P.S. Almost as if I needed a reminder that I am a very new beginner, I also painted a piece of crap last night. So as to show the progress with the pain, here is what I did. I called it Lady of the Water...but I think I might change that to something involving poor Disney princess names.

Mildly NSFW as there are poorly painted/drawn breasts.

Busy 24

So I've been pretty busy the last 24 hours!

I started NaNoWriMo yesterday and hit it off by going to the first Columbus write-in. I really had a blast! I went way over the word count, but trashed a large portion of it this morning. (Bad internal editor, bad!)

And now, I've found that if I am writing anything, an e-mail, a work document, I feel like I'm cheating on NaNo. Right now would be one of those times.

But I wanted to take a second and post two pictures. One of the gi-normous wedding cake J and I made this weekend...and one of the drawing I did last week of Apollo. Also to mention that I did go out early this morning to vote and I highly encourage you to go do the same if you are American (I have a couple of Canadian followers). It is one of the best things about a democratic government and it is a privilege that not everyone in the world has. So get out there and vote!!


Yes, this is a coffin-shaped wedding cake. As was requested by the bride and groom, being married on Halloween. I have better pictures to be posted later when I have some more free time. It was close to 80 lbs of cake. Red Velvet cake with dark chocolate cream cheese icing and sculpted modeling chocolate roses.

The undertaking took two people 21+ hours of labor, 3 dozen eggs, many pounds of chocolate, flour and sugar and what was left of my sanity. But we were really proud of it and it seemed to go over well.

Here is my depiction of Apollo. He is often found depicted as a young man, long hair and carrying a wreath or a branch of laurel. As may be evident, I'm not particularly good with drawing human anatomy. But I enjoyed learning about his stories.

I had better get back to NaNo, before she becomes jealous!

Aphrodite

Here is my watercolor pencil and ink of Aphrodite.


I wanted her to be soft, but beautiful. I kinda goofed on her face a bit, when the pen I used smeared with the watercolor, which hasn't happened to me before. I might redo this one, but I was glad to have finished.

Next picture will be Apollo!

Hestia

This was an amazing week, I'm a little sad to see it go.

Here is the Hestia watercolor & ink.
(Carrying the lit hearth fire)


(A close up of her face, which I wanted to be soft)