Sugar Plum Fairies are Flying!

Time to share a little holiday cheer ~

click to see the 30-second movie:

I created a book cover

as part of the ongoing fun

inspired by Lilla Rogers Studios.

Since I painted a couple of fairies, 

and imagined them going to school to learn

their various adventurous fairy skills, 

I decided I had to animate them!

May your season be filled

with sweet things,

a sense of meaning

and ways to contribute

to the world,

and a whole lotta

peace

and 

love.

Free December Printable Calendar Page

It's my last free calendar page for 2016!

Click image to download your calendar!

Celebrating that jolly fellow

St. Nicholas,

who was known for his miracles,

his secret gift-giving,

and as the patron saint of children, among others.

May the spirit of

gratitude, generosity and care for 

one another abound in every heart!

Free Printable November Calendar Page

Happy November!

It was such a joy 

to hand paint in gouache these 

beautiful mums and squash!

I've also loved using my brush pen

to practice hand lettering 

the months of the year.

Now I want to share this joy with you 

in the form of a free, printable calendar page!

You can click HERE to download

your printable calendar page.

While you're at it, check out

these other November printables and crafts on my

popular Maker & Crafts blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

Ada Lovelace: First Computer Programmer

Ada Lovelace, 1st Computer Programmer, as a Child.

The first computer programmer

was a woman.

Her name was Ada Lovelace 

and she lived in England in the mid 1800's. 

Ada's brilliant mind easily connected

intuition, imagination, and science

to explore concepts in new ways.

She called it "poetical science."

She saw a century ahead of time the implications

of modern computing in the simple "analytical engine" first described in 1837 by Charles Babbage. She wrote the first algorithm for it.

Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated in mid-October

to raise the profile of women in

science, technology, engineering and math.

Now that's brilliant!

Hello October! Free printable calendar page

I love the month of October!

So I'm going to share it with you

in the form of a free

printable calendar page.

Just click the photo

to get your download!

Happy October!

By the way...

If you have some art you'd like to share

on my popular Crafter & Maker blog,

come join the party HERE.

Share Your Art Party on my Popular Maker's Blog!

It's a party for YOUR ART

and for artists!

Would you like the opportunity

for a little more visibility?

My popular Maker and Craft Blog

I Gotta Create!

has been visited more than 

2.6 million times!

And I'm hosting my very first

ART ONLY PARTY

on the blog.

You can go there NOW,

or share your art in the link party gadget below

and it will show up here AND there!

Using Live Paint in Adobe Illustrator

Today we're going to focus on 
using Live Paint in Adobe Illustrator.

Color is endlessly fascinating!
The same image can convey a different message and mood just based on color.

We'll keep this tutorial simple and
straight forward so you can begin
exploring the effects of color
using your own sketches.

If you're a beginner,
and you haven't yet turned one of your
sketches into a vector image,
check out my tutorial for that HERE.

The advantage of vector art 
is that it can be resized from tiny to huge

without losing quality.
This allows YOU as a Maker

to easily resize your art to 
create posters, greeting cards, 

fabric, or any number of 

fun projects.

So let's start coloring 
one of your vectorized sketches!

Happy September!

In this hemisphere,

September means Fall is on the way!

I'm celebrating by offering a

free printable September calendar page.

Head on over to my Maker & Craft Blog

I Gotta Create!

to download it right away!

Turn your Sketches into Vector Art

I realize many of you

may be using Adobe Illustrator

to turn your images into vector art.

But if you're a beginner,

this tutorial is for you! 

We're going to stick with the basics today.

I love to sketch! 

Whether realistically or in a stylized contour-drawing manner, its so much fun.

"Vectorizing" your drawings 
--which means they can be resized 
from tiny to huge without losing quality--
means you can use them for posters, 
greeting cards, fabric, or any number of 

projects that appeal to Makers.

Celebrate Every Good Thing

It is truly amazing what a difference

an attitude of 

celebration and gratitude

can make in your life.

I didn't realize just how throughly

I have cultivated that habit.

That is, until I saw reactions

to an event that made it clear

I've apparently "rewired" my own circuits,

which consequently brings

an deep measure of joy into my life.

The reactions jarred me into a compassionate desire to share what I've learned. Because they showed me in stark terms how we humans can push away positive things because they seem "too small."

Imagine a river of  potential joy going unnoticed because the raindrop that feeds it seems inconsequential. 

Might you be pushing away joy

along with a more fulfilling life that is already 

right under your nose, waiting for you to notice?

Here are some possible tip-off phrases:

Global Talent Search Recognition!

Good News!

I'm thrilled to be one of just 83 artists 
recognized
out of the nearly 1,000 artists
submitting work to the 
Global Talent Search
hosted by top art agency Lilla Rogers Studio!

my art is available for licensing

My work was among the 33 in the
Honorable Mention category,
and I am indeed honored!

50 artists made it to the
semi-finalist round, so I will
be keeping an eye on their amazing
submissions. 

In the meantime, I will remain
happily busy working on this
theme for licensing. 
I've got some sassy women
who will make your tea time a real hoot!

Good luck artists!
You can read the entire list of 
recognized artists HERE.

Thank You, Lilla Rogers Studio!

Lift Your Pinky Darling ... tea cup design

I had a BLAST developing concepts

and completing artwork

for teacup, saucer and napkin designs

for a theoretical pastry shop.

The assignment is part of the Global Talent Search

with Lilla Rogers Studio.

My process started with exploring

various types of tea cups.

I tend to like anything vintage...

I then played around with lettering.

I had painted

dessert elements in the days

leading up to the assignment.

I decided to go

with a classic shape

but then get a little saucy and quirky with it.

Playful, Sweet and Saucy all at the same time!

I've got a ton of ideas 

for a whole line, and am happily 

drawing and painting up my ideas.

Tea and Honey

I had fun pulling together

this little illustration.

I especially love the wonky lines

juxtaposed with my 

straightforward little honey bear.

You can get the honey bear as

clip art in my shop Here.

I was inspired by the preparation theme

for the Global Talent Search

with Lilla Rogers.

I do love tea!

I have plans underway for many more

teacups, teapots and related items

for art licensing.

What's your favorite beverage?

Children's Book Illustration: Vicuna

They're not llamas.

They're a much cuter cousin.

They're called Vicuna and they live in the Andean Mountains. I learned all

about them as part of my assignment

creating a concept for a 

children's book illustration.

What do you look for in children's books?

Cheeky little characters?

Finely detailed art?

Graphic shapes and colors?

I explored a variety of moods and approaches

with this assignment.

I painted Vicuna with watercolors...

and played around with different marks and textures, even getting a bit strange with some choices.

Then I just painted watercolor patterns,  manipulating and layering them digitally to merge with my Vicuna shapes...

which achieved a dreamy and ephemeral look.

Next, I used color pencils...

which created a nice, soft look. The watercolor flora and clouds bring in a bit of dreaminess again.

But in the end I fell in love with the gouache version. Here she is embellished with watercolor Peruvian lilies and rug.

I enjoyed making her sweet, but then wanted to have my characters do something a bit playful, maybe even a bit ornery. 

So I painted them giving raspberries.

You can see my assignment and other
artists' take on it at the 
Make Art That Sells Bootcamp Gallery
{HERE}

On a more serious note,

Vicuna have been hunted for their

exquisitely soft fur, which pushed them to

endangered status.

The people of the Andes

conduct a round-up every 3 years

to shear the Vicuna. It takes that long to

grow the fur. Vicuna have slowly made a comeback, but poaching still happens.

May the Vicuna with their

big dark eyes and lashes be free

to roam and play

in the Andes

forevermore!

Catching Fish With My Watercolor Brush - Without a Net

These days I'm painting without a net!

Yet I was still able to capture this 

little goldfish with my paintbrush.

I've been participating

as I'm able in the June painting challenge with

Jennifer Orkin Lewis, 

also known as August Wren.

I love Jennifer's work and watching her paint!

It really inspires me to jump in and paint.

I've been getting bold and not even sketching before painting these lovelies--I'm painting without a net. It's been very freeing! 

Thought I'd share a little something here.

You can see my other watercolors

on Instagram {here}.

Playing with Painting Shadows

Watercolor Fork Shadows by Christina Mann Designs

Just a quick share of some fun play

with shadows!

Here's all you do: take an object and let it cast a shadow on your sketchbook page. Then sketch or paint what falls on your page, not worrying about being exact. 

What a great way to warm up, stay loose and play with colors and composition! I think I'm going to be addicted to this technique for awhile.

Inspired by Lisa Solomon's

shadow-casting technique class

on Creative Bug.

Thanks, Lisa!

Lumberjack Ornaments

It feels either late or super early,

but it's been looking a lot like Christmas around here!

I've been creating lumberjacks and their woodland animal friends and developing them into lodge-inspired holiday ornaments.

The assignment came from MATS Bootcamp, and the gallery of artists' take on it can be viewed here.

You can see some of my animal friends

on instagram here!

ho-ho-ho!

Walrus Update

Just a little update on a previous post

about the Walrus

I'm painting in watercolor and gouache.

Can't get that Beatles song

outta my head!

Honey Bear Collection

I adore tea.

I drink it every day.

And it inspired me to create this

interactive clip art collection!

You can use the 

Honey Collection

to make cards or other printables or gifts

for anyone or anything you're sweet on.

Mother's Day is coming up.

But these would also be perfect for an

engagement, shower, anniversary,

birthday, thank you, spring or summer party,

or Valentines Day.

The collection contains:

two types of bears, a honey pourer,

3 sizes of bees, 2 types of spoons,

3 types of honey wands, the honeycomb,

the heart with the word 'honey'

and a few backgrounds.

This way, you can decorate your

bears or honey pourer as you please!

Grab 'em at my etsy

for about what you'd pay for a latte!

Walrus in Progress

This crusty guy is coming along swimmingly.

Going to go for a bit of a stylized cute factor.

Gouache and watercolor

Just sharing a little #WIP

Work In Progress...

Coloring Book cover featured on Make Art That Sells

A big shout out and thank you to Lilla Rogers and the Make Art That Sells team for featuring my coloring book cover art in your instagram feed!

You can follow that feed here.

I have a bunch more 

beautiful women and 1920's flappers drawn up. 

I'd would love to work with the right team to bring these beauties to life in a real book.

I'm open to lots of possibilities for a color book. One idea I had: wouldn't it be fun to make it a mixed media "color book?" 

I'd love for these rich images to be lush with watercolor, gouache, marker, various inks and jewels applied by all you creative types out there.

That would make them fun to frame for home

decor or give as gifts. 

And I'd love to license them for cards as well.

I can feel that this is going to happen...

Contact form is to the right on my sidebar!

Artists, check out MATS bootcamp here

for fun assignments like this one to inspire you.

Coloring Book Cover: 1920s Flapper theme

So my latest project has been so much fun!

We've been drawing flappers

and all things 1920s.

I whipped out a bunch of pencil sketches, played with various styles, completed some drawings, and played with markers. I really enjoyed the theme, and although they aren't easy, I do like sketching faces. 

Of course, you can see
my latest meanderings on

instagram here.

In previous projects I had sketched out some flowers. To that, I added sketches of pussywillow, one of my favorite spring plants.

I then brought these creations into adobe illustrator to complete

 our assignment: a coloring book cover.

The idea with the cover is to color some of it in, leaving other areas blank. I decided I wanted my color book lines printed in gold foil on my cover.

Here's a look at my cover:

Is this a coloring book YOU 
would be interested in? 
I'd love your feedback. 
I just realized I've had my comments off, 
so I fixed that in late August. :/

My hat is off to Lilla, our MATS Bootcamp leader extraordinaire, who came up with this fun assignment. You can learn more about that and see some of the other artists' work here.

Planting New Seeds

Hello!

I'm planting new seeds of creativity around here. 

You may know me from my popular craft blog
at I Gotta Create!

My lifelong passion for creative pursuits (writing, crafts, home decor, home design & building) has expanded as I've fallen in love again with drawing, sketching and painting.

This is the place where you'll find a sampling of my artwork available for licensing to create: 

fabric, home decor items, gift items, scrapbooking,
children's literature illustration, editorial illustration,
and so much more.

Thank you for your interest in my work!

Connect with me anytime through my contact form on the sidebar.