Illustration Friday - Old

the lepidopterist

Exiled Princess? Retired villainess? Once famous for her wild parties, she now prefers to spend her time with butterflies and a bit of Nabokov.

Dusting off an ancient scribble for Illustration Friday's latest prompt: "Old". This butterfly collector is the third painting in the Rogues Gallery series. It is a mix of drawing & watercolor painting on patterned paper and measures 12"square. 

Feeling inspired to share your golden oldies? Ready to check out creations based on the week's challenge? Pop by IllustrationFriday.com. The key word changes every Friday. Feel free to play along! Make something relevant and post it to your site or fave social media and then link up. If you do share, let me know. It is always fun to see where the latest prompt takes people.

IF - Undone

watercolors, watercolor pencil & marker on 36" sq. canvas

Sorry for the crummy image quality. 1 of these days I need to get a decent photo of this piece. The background is bright white canvas which pops the colors in real life. Unfortunately it is too rainy to shoot outside today & my lighting is a bit blech. Sorry about that.


"Undone" is the prompt for Illustration Friday. Click the link to see the variety of submissions . If you're feeling inspired, be sure to add a link to your own interpretation.

On a different note, yesterday I posted a new giveaway prize & artist feature. Both are from Jennifer Stano of CoatOfPaint.etsy.com. Click here for Jennifer's thoughts & art, as well a photo of the prize. 1 lucky winner takes home an 8" x 10" print of her painting It All Starts With An Acorn. To enter the drawing, just leave a comment on my blog before 1 a.m. (EST) on 12/24. Prize ships free to winner in USA or Canada.

And if you're in the virtual neighborhood tomorrow, pop back here for a photo tour of the Coat Of Paint studio.

New Giveaway Art, Alice with Tulips - ends 8/13

Welcome back! If you are looking for the winner of today's noontime drawing (for the craft supplies tote bag) click HERE. If you'd like to enter the new random drawing, you've come to the right place. If you want to go directly to the prize & rules, scroll to end of this post.

Had a some time to play this morning with a few stamps I bought at the The Queen’s Ink booth last Friday.

I’d popped into the booth to ask a question about Judikins Diamond glaze and found myself in stampers heaven! (By the way, click HERE to order a sample of Diamond Glaze.)

The selection & quality of designs were truly amazing!

some The Queen's Ink project samples

So was the booth staff. I enjoyed a great demo on embossing. And got answers to all kinds of questions on stamps, glazes & adhesives. But since you are probably here to find out about next week’s prize, I’ll save most of that info for another day.

Next Thursday's Prize was made using a print of my original tulip painting and an Alice in Wonderland stamp from The Queen’s Ink.


The tulips were printed on textured paper & then enhanced with watercolor pencil for some extra pop. I then added Alice, colored her in a bit & sprayed the whole thing with a UV resistant finish. This piece is signed, dated and matted. It fits in a standard 5 x 7 frame.

TO ENTER: Simply comment on this blog before noon (EST) 8/13. It is that easy! 1 lucky winner will be randomly chosen. Drawing is open worldwide with free shipping.

By the way, for those of you into the online Art Challenges this week’s Mix it up with Melange prompt is Archetype. I’m having fun with this one!

Bella & Wenchie

Trust Me

Playing with a drawing of Etsy SteamTeam member Wenchie today. Hopefully she won't mind the liberties I tend to take when putting my spin on a portrait. Not sure if it is done yet. I am at that walk-away-for-a-couple-of-days-so-I-can-get-a-fresh-perspective point.

If you get a chance pop by her Etsy shop Wenchie's Sacred Relics . She's got some fabulous pieces like this necklace:

Chastity in Chains

Yay! The artwork for the Twilight book club on ZNE is up. Looks like only a few of us played for chapter 1. I'm hoping more members will jump aboard as we get further in. I think you can see the other entries if you click HERE & just scroll down the page. Here's my final piece.

Bella

Supposed to be cleaning the studio today. Spent too much time puttering with everything I found. As usual. So, the place still looks like a cyclone passed through. Sadly, this is the neatest corner in the room. Sorry the lighting is so lousy

I did take a bunch of scary before shots but I think I'll wait until there are afters so I don't thoroughly embarrass myself.

By the way, no Thursday Giveaway this week. Great prize for next week though (if I do say so myself ). The lucky winner gets a customized art box. Click HERE for details & pics. Then just leave a comment before noon (EST) July 9th to enter the random drawing

My sis & her husband are visiting for the weekend so I may be scarce. Chomping at the pencil, um, bit to find out what tomorrow's IF prompt is though. Like I don't have enough projects to finish, eh? Silly me. In case I don't make it back in time, I want to wish everyone a great weekend! Have fun!

monday's muse- summer light

The sun illuminates only the eye of the man,

but shines into the eye and heart of a child

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tiny mixed media pieces inspired by my 5 yr old's photos

What inspires you today?

Afternoon On A Hill

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show
Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down!

- Edna St Vincent Millay

Illustrated Friday - Breezy

Red's Escape

This 12x12 mixed media on canvas is available in my etsy shop. Just click photo to go straight to details.
Thanks for popping by! Red's Escape was inspired by Illustration Friday. If you get a chance please go check out the other entries for Breezy

Missing You

Thinking about love & loss
my heart goes out to so many of you at this time
this is for you my friends
you know who you are
You are in my thoughts and prayers

Red's True Love

Took a break from the Holiday Madness to push some pencils around. As with all my WIPs, who knows when I'll pick this piece up again, but here's phase 1.

R.I.P. Dark Angel

although she has left this world, her glamour will always remain

click here for more about the glorious, notorious Bettie Page

The Rogues' Gallery

Just re-listed a few pieces in my etsy shop . I've got a gang of shady characters lurking in the dark alleys of my mind ...but....been busy with life stuff so I haven't been putting my pencils to paper as much as I'd like. Itching to get started again. It's getting a little crowded in here ;D