Weekly Snaps

 

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I hope your Friday flies by!

Illustration Friday - Swamp

Here's what I came up with for this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Swamp." I actually ended up watching the show Swamp People, which I had never seen before, to get some inspiration. It was a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be! 

Swamp People is on the History channel and is a reality show that follows gator hunters through the swamp. It's fascinating, I promise!

So after all that alligator hunting I watched, I had to paint an alligator. Watch out, he's coming to get you :0)

Owl Be Creative

I drew this cute lil owl for a Monsieur Notebook design. Monsieur Notebook is a company that makes nice leather journals that you can have engraved with your design.

Photo from Monsieur Notebook

On their website they say that the first 33 illustrators/artists to submit "suitable" entries will get their design on the website and a free notebook (you have to pay for shipping to the US).  I don't know how legit their offer is, but I'd really like a journal so I did this design hoping to make it on to the website (I'll let you know if I do). 

Sometimes when I get nice notebooks or sketchbooks I have a hard time drawing in them because the clean white paper intimidates me and I don't want to "make a mistake" on one of the pages.  Which is why I wrote "create" on the journal as a reminder that it doesn't matter if you make mistakes as long as you are creating and moving forward. That's what practice is for right? 

*Just so you know, I wasn't payed by Monsieur Notebook to write this entry, I'm just really excited about the prospect of a lovely new leather sketchbook :0)

Inspiration - Watercolor Walls

How amazing are these watercolor walls? I would love to live in a room with walls like this! 


The room was designed by interior designer Eileen Kathryn Boyd, the photos are from her site here. 

Merry Monday

I think we all need a reminder of this every now and again. I hope that your week is off to a good start! 

*As far as I know the quote is attributed to Lori Osterman. 

Insta Love

Instagram template from here

Illustration Friday - Shades

I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to paint for this weeks Illustration Friday* topic, "shades." 


So here's what I came up with, shades of nail polish! 


On a side note, I love nail polish color names. OPI usually has the best "and this little piggy" or "over the taupe" are some of the clever names they've come up with lately. 


Do you have a favorite nail polish color name? 


* For readers who don't know, Illustration Friday is a website that gives a topic every week that artists illustrate, and then link on the website so we can see each others work. The illustration must be posted before Friday, hence the name. 

Congrats!

My best friend Katie just told me last night that she's engaged to her wonderful guy, Geary. Congratulations to the most awesome couple I know, I can't wait to dance at your wedding! 

Worth The Dough - Mint

shirt, iPhone case, scarf, necklace, nail polish, shoes, jeans

I know that mint is all over blogs right now, but I couldn't help but put together a wish list of the best mint products. I've been looking for that nail polish everywhere! 

Now I'm going to try to mix up some mint green in my paint palette and see where it takes me. 

I hope your week is going well! 

Merry Monday

Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson

I did this painting before I really knew how to use watercolors, so used pen to do the actual drawing and then filled in with watercolor. It's fun to look back at stuff like this and see how far you've come. I drew the quote on this morning in case you were wondering. 

I love this quote by Emerson because to me "live in the sunshine" is a reminder to stay positive and choose to be happy. 

I hope you're living in the sunshine today! 

Happy St. Patty's!

I wanted to practice using my new travel paint brush (water is in the tube!) so I painted you a lil four leaf clover for St. Patrick's Day.


So far I like the brush, and I really like being able to paint watercolors without worrying about the water cup part.


I'll be at a wedding today, but hope that I will still get to enjoy a pint of Guinness at some point! After all,  I do have some Irish in me :0)


I hope you're having a great St. Patty's also! 

TGIF

Here are some of my instagrams this week. It's been pretty rainy for the most part here in SF.  My boyfriend and I are off to another wedding this weekend, I am hoping that the fog clears so our flight isn't delayed! 


Wishing you a sunny weekend! 

Illustration Friday - Yield

Who do you think will yield? I think the ant will let the ladybug go ahead, because he looks like a gentleman haha. 

I spent way too much time on the bugs without leaving much time to do the leaf, so I might go back and add smaller veins later. If I do I'll post an update. 

Succulents

I painted these succulents in my sketchbook awhile back and thought I'd make a cute little wreath with them. Succulents are by far my favorite plant, and so far the only kind I can keep alive. 

What's your favorite kind of plant?

Inspiration - Color Palette

Tulip photo, Photoshop paint brushes

It's rainy and gloomy here in SF, and supposed to stay that way for almost a week. So here are some in-your-face, cheerful spring colors for you! 

I think that coral color is beautiful, what do you think?

Merry Monday

I decided to play around with "wet on wet" style this week. I like the soft quality it gives. 

I hope your day is going well!

Instantly Spring

Here are some of the Instagrams I took this week. It felt very spring like in San Francisco this week, not one cloudy day!

What do you have planned for this weekend? I hope you are getting sunshine wherever you are too!

Thankful

I've been working on a couple of personal thank you cards lately and thought I'd show you a tiny peek.

Some are hand painted, and a couple will be stamped with the stamp I carved below. Can you tell what it is?

Sometimes I think the  wipe-off rag is the prettiest thing of all.

What are you thankful for today? I'm thankful for the huge amount of kindness someone has shown me, and the love and support of my family. 

Weekly Planner Free Printable

Hey there, happy hump day!

I made myself a colorful, fun weekly planner and thought I'd share the love. I left a little room on the left side in case you want to bind it somehow.

I love lists and planning, but love them that much more when I have something pretty to write them on.

Do you write your plans/lists on paper, or do you keep track of that type of thing digitally?

Edited 3/8 - My lovely mother pointed out I spelled Saturday wrong (lol) so I corrected it. 

Illustration Friday - Intention

Rachel had good intentions when she made a traditional English trifle for Thanksgiving, but the dish didn't turn out as planned. 

Here's my entry for this week's Illustration Friday, I actually finished early this week!

The idea came from the tv show Friends, and If you haven't seen that episode you really should! Here's a clip on Youtube.

Merry Monday

Here's this week's Merry Monday post. I used the computer to make the buildings because I didn't end up liking the background I painted in. 

It's frustrating when the vision you have for something doesn't work out on paper, but I'm glad I was able to make it better/different with the help of the computer!

I hope your week is going well!

*Quote “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” by Neale Donald Walsch.

Weekly Instagrams

Here are some instagrams from this week. I'm finally back from AZ, and glad to be home! Some of the pictures are from the fatmumslim photo a day challenge.

I'm excited to have a brand new list for March!

List from fatmumslim

Illustration Friday - Capable

I didn't give myself much time to do this week's Illustration Friday, so this one is more of a messy sketch and less of a "painting."

I had trouble coming up with something said said "capable" to me, but one of the things that came to me is how a caterpillar is capable of growing into a beautiful butterfly. Which I think is kind of an inspiring message.

What would you have chosen to (or did you) illustrate for capable?