Shakespeare and Sakura

Hi there, and happy Tuesday! I had off for MLK day and was grateful for the break, I was able to get somethings done around the house.... Above is an illustration I created yesterday and hash tagged #handwritingmatters when I posted it on Instagram. This is because  National Handwriting Day is Saturday, January 23 and to celebrate, the company Sakura is hosting a giveaway. All you have to do is write your favorite quote on a piece of paper (preferably using one of Sakura’s products ;) ) and post the image, using the hashtag #handwritingmatter. Sakura will choose 10 prize winners between 1/15, Fri., and 1/25, Mon. Give it a try!

Have a great day,

Fran xo

I Got Soul

I've been listening to Pandora endlessly these days. My typical mode of music listening is to download an album and just listen to it to death. I remember when I lived in NYC I spent an entire summer, three months, listening to U2's POP. I'm relentless. So now when I hear any of those POP songs out of the blue, I automatically think of the #2 train, LOL. Pandora is good because it mixes things up but there are repeats here and there, which most people grumble about but its fine by me.

The Killer's lyric, from my Instagram account

I like The Killers alot and I had some lyrics stuck in my head, and oddly enough, as soon as I illustrated it, *poof* it left me little brain! I've done some more micron drawings and the one below got me a commision to do a tattoo design! I've only done one before this..I hope it works out and she actually gets it done!

excuse the poor quality, used my phone:)



 

Last Sunday was my parent's 50th anniversary and we had a terrific dinner out.
My brothers, sister and I gifted them with a cruise this fall.
My mom loves to do origami so I made up some boat favors.
I had so much fun making these and I think they got a big kick out of them.

 



 

I love these two:)

 

Aren't they cute?



 

Have a great weekend! Keep warm! It's cold out there!

AEDM DAY 2

Busy day today, lots of worked backed up since we've gotten back online.

But good thing its Friday :) I like having a one-day work week frankly.



Linocut

 

Watching the news just makes me so thankful that we were spared

from so much that the hurricane brought to others.



It still didn't keep me from getting frustrated with quite of few things today but makes me realize I have to just relax, some things are just not worth the stress and worry.

So I think my art for today speaks for itself.

Typically, I run on the seat of my pants [due to my ADD] but I was thinking of this all day. It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned but I'm happy with how it looks.



 Well the utility company LIPA says that our power will be back up on November 7.



It looks like that will happen as everyones is coming back up slowly. We'll see...thank goodness for my generous parents!





See you tomorrow for another day of AEDM art. Have a great weekend!





ART EVERYDAY MONTH - Day 1

I cannot believe its already been a year since the last AEDM!!
 Its been a rough week for our family with Hurricane Sandy. All I can say is that I am thankful for just having lost power and heat.

There are so many out there with much bigger troubles than I have and my heart goes out to them all.

Quote by Carl Sagan

This is the challenge that really got me blogging more often.

I am so glad to be able to be here and do this.

If you want to participate ( and I recommend you do!) got to this link for instruction. And don't forget to check the other AEDMers:)

Thanks for stopping by

and

love thy neighbor,

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle

Plato

List It Tuesday

QUICK FIXES

( or are they?)

 

Aimee's got a great list prompt this week.

Now that I've got it written down, it seems so much more manageable,

I just might do these few:)

This list typically runs on Tuesdays but due to the hurricane

she started the contest early in case power is lost.

 

 

I'm doing the same, signing on early due to the hurricane Sandy.
Our lights keep flickering and the tall, tall trees out side are swaying ominously.
It's a waiting game.  And we have our flashlights at the ready:)

 Read all about here:

 

 Go to Aimee's page to check out other links!
Have a safe and happy day!

 

Sunday Sketches 10/28/12-Weapons to fight the dark.

Okay, so we have this raging, torrential storm on its way and expected to hit the NY/NJ area. It's supposed to spin in a counter-clockwise direction and come from our southeast.

 

So, of course, my husband switches

over to Survivor Mode.





Check out Sunday Sketches and catch up on the other artists that did some creating today too!

 Oh boy....now don't get me wrong, I don't take these things lightly
but he is crazy serious, dear boy.He's been up since the crack of dawn, scheming and working and battening down the hatches,
while my son and I dream away in our beds til mid-morning. 
C knows he is a complete target to our snickery and giggles,

while he lines up his flashlights and
counts his batteries. One part of me laughs and teases
about his behavior but there is the other part of
my brain that knows that I'm going to thank
 my lucky stars that many hurricanes ago
I said "I do" to this nut.

And when I hold a fully lit flashlight for five days
straight he'll be smiling wide :))
 

Don't forget to visit this link to view
some other Sunday Sketchers work:)
 

Take care and be careful this week,
whether or not you are in the path of a this storm.

 

Art, Baby







I started the first illustration and called it 'Melancholy Baby' but then when I did the next drawing I realized that I didn't want to use "baby" to refer to a girl or woman.
Its cute, but degrading, I think.

This one is my favorite, I made this the same night that I went to a Reiki workshop. I was feeling the love for sure.
(thank you Angie!)



So I put a comma in to make it more of a statement. Like "Yeah, baby!" I feel better about it now.



I liked drawing the hair on this one.

I originally spelled Melancholy wrong so I whited out with that White-Out tape, what a disaster!
I have to put this in Photoshop this weekend and clean it up.

 

When I was a kid I was infatuated with Vogue and Glamour magazine and would draw anything and everything from those pages. I wanted to be a fashion illustrator in the worst way.

 

Once my mother got hold of a Simplicity pattern book, those huge ones that were in the sewing shops, and I had a ball copying the illustrations from that too.
My favorite illustrators were Antonio Lopez

 and Patrick Nagle

 

So every now and again I get the itch to do a fashion illustration. I can't remember the last time I bought a Vogue magazine but I looked up some Dior Fall couture images online and drew from the photos.  I liked the Givenchy Fall images too but they weren't catwalk photos... just the girls standing there like mannequines.

TGIF and take care!

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”  

-Socrates

 

Portrait #16 Who's That Girl

Yay! I've worked out another portrait! I'm behind in the count but I'm okay with that!

I have no idea where she came from, just emerged on paper:)

I love that kind because I can see wee bits of other people in my life.

Tomorrow i have planned to do some more portraits.

I want to go out this month with a BANG!

I got out my microns a few days back and played around with the finest little point 005

( i love that one!) 

 I am almost done with the wonderful little sketch book Pat sent to me. So when I went to
Blick the other day I remembered to get some sheets of paper . Now
I plan on making another at the very same size!

The pages work out to 4.5"x5.5", perfect size. I need another small book...

And this is the last micron sketch i did on the last page of my small Moleskine.

 I did these sketches about a week or so ago...the last times i had tea.

 LOL, I like tea and its sooo much fun to draw/paint tea cups and such. 

I also enjoy all the little paraphenalia that goes along with it.

The loose leaves, the tea ball, the cozy, the illustrated tea boxes, sugar cubes, etc. etc.. but in the end I am a coffee girl!

And my favorite is the red-eye at Starbucks.

I don't get that too often because THAT is craziness in a cup!... I treat myself every so often.

Do you like the java or enjoy a spot of tea?

Enjoy your Friday!

Portraits 11 and 12 - 29 Faces



I joined this postcard swap at the end of April. The 5 postcards have to be mailed out
by the end of May... so I thought I would
fulfill two commitments ;) by painting portraits on them,
as that will count toward the 29 Face Challenge too!
For Frida here, I recycled a Christmas card, then painted over with
white acrylic, then painted her with gouache on top of that.

Postcard 1 - Frida and her quote.

For Postcard 2, illustrating the Tolstoy quote, I cut the cardboard for this postcard

from a box of ziti, its the perfect thickness! Gouache over white acrylic again, before I painted

the acrylic I glued a page from a book I had bought that was in need of recycling.

I like the stamp at the bottom, its the perfect color. The flowers were

cut from a Vera Bradley card I got in the mail.

Postcard 2 -  Tolstoy Quote.

I have three more to go. The cards are already prepped with acrylic so half the work is done. Now the fun stuff can be done. Tomorrow is Friday and as always I'm sooo happy.

 I think Thursdays make me happier than Friday because of the anticipation..

Have a great day and THANK YOU so much for all the wonderful birthday wishes I received from my bloggie friends!! You're all terrific and I enjoy you my time here with you!

AEDM Day 30 - I did it!!

I can't believe I did it! I am so proud of myself :) I really didn't think I would be able to do AEDM for the entire month *wow*!
I create an illustration of  this quote as my last entry because its one of my favorites, because I love to illustrate quotes and it means alot to me. Most importantly because I find that I have been using my age more and more to avoid or make excuses to not do or try something, whether its new or scary or... whatever. It's all in my head - just words. This is a great reminder!

I am also so glad I did this challenge because I got to meet so many terrific people! I can't wait to see what everyone continues to do and I look forward to keeping up with all my new artist friends! I have already signed on with Lynn at Blue Skies to participate in her December Linky! You can go to the Blue Skies site and find out more. Here is a bit of info, but do visit Lynn!

When:

Every Friday in December.

(2, 9, 16, 23 and 30th)

Where:

Blueskies 

Every Friday for the month of December, (the 2, 9,16, 23 and 30th)

you can join in. Share your moment that you were able to "TAKE GOOD CARE OF."

Post it on your blog, link it to this Blue Skies and we can all encourage each other through the month.

Happy Holidays in December to everyone and I am looking forward to seeing all the art to come in December and in the new year! I hope people still keep visiting me and I love love love comments and conversing with you all! Bless your face ;))

Sketching and Art Journaling

I can't believe its almost the end of January! And I last post in November. I have to get back to posting! I always say I'll try and do stuff and then I don't do it. But I am not going to get discouraged and I am going to just do my best. I got a new Moleskine and it took me like three weeks to put a pen to it because it was so new and clean and perfect.

Oh, the precious-ness...haha! well I got to sketching in it last night, and now it's old news ;) I got a nice floral arrangement at church on Sunday and I had so much fun painting and drawing the flowers. I kept them so long they are starting to stink, like dying flowers do. It's probably the green foam actually. I enjoy using the micron pens. Black and white drawings appeal to me. I love them and then on the other hand I am wondering what they would look like in full color or even just a little hint of color.

Then I painted the arrangement with watercolor too.

I've also been busy journalling at class and I am embracing collage more and more. I enjoy it and am more relaxed with it. I am keeping busy with that class and selling cards at the local gift shop. We'll see what comes of that. I'll have to post those cards soon.

here is a sketch of our hall upstairs. We have a little bench and got comfy and started drawing that door, isn't it a great door? This house is so old...1861!

and of course some fashion drawings my first love. When I was about 13 or 14 my mother brought home a pattern catalog (like Butterick or Simplicity) and a copied all the illustrations in that book, I had so much fun. Then when I got a little older I loved looking at Vogue or Mademoiselle and drawing off the photos and advertisements from those magazines.

I love doing the small little fast renderings too at the bottom. I havent' done this in such a long time, what a great exercise!!