2011 Highlights - New Year's Drawing

A bit of art journaling for the new year. I was inspired by Illustration Friday's word for the week, "highlight." With black Copic 0.3 multiliner, I drew some wavy lines, then wrote some words - events, moments, experiences, and choices that highlight 2011 for me as a good year.

I airbrushed with my Copic markers in rough sections between the wavy lines (not masking, not trying to be too even). Then I drew white lines, dots, and squiggles with colorless blender "0" and colored in a few small areas. It was a very good way for me to look back at 2011. Happy 2012 to all!

• Copic marker colors used: Y15, YR15, RV34, BV04, BG45, G14, C0, colorless blender "0" to make the white lines and dots on the airbrushed colors
  
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 4-1/4 x 5-1/2"
  
• Words: 2011 Highlights - work, quiet, exercise, music, prayer, laughter, hugs, prayer, home*, pots of tea, health, the moon, veggie box, dancing, joy, love, thank yous, singing, safety, art supplies, landscape, listening, *where the heart is, friends, family, birds, ferry, good books, geraniums
  

Blog News 13 - Updated Copic color chart

Updates to Mostly Markers, other than new drawings posted, since the last Blog News:

• Updated my Copic color chart, including spaces for the new 2012 colors.
  

Reminder - my blog includes over a dozen easy-to-draw "try this" posts. Not drawing lessons, but drawing activities based on my drawings. Simple directions with lots of encouragement, because I strongly believe that Anybody Can Draw. To see what I mean, I invite you to click here, or click on "try this" in the menu bar in my blog header, or in the labels list on the right.

Advent Calendar 2011

(Final drawing) My Advent calendar drawing for 2011. Each day's space is small, 1-3/8 x 1-1/2", so you may want to click on the drawing for a clearer view.

My friend Sybil has posted her 2011 Advent calendar here on her Praying in Color blog.

• Click here for a listing of my words, sources of words, and Copic marker colors (or other materials) used.
• Click here for my 2011 template - to print or save my blank Advent calendar template for your own use (PDF or JPG format).
• Click here for my 2010 Advent calendar drawing, or here for 2009 and here for 2008.
  
• For all related posts, click on my Advent-Christmas label, below or in the label list to the right.

Musical Round

A bright musical round. Inspired by Illustration Friday's word this week, "round," which made me think of the rounds I've been singing with my church choir.

Though I'm not dyslexic, somehow the treble-clef symbol has always been difficult for me. After I carefully studied its shape in my sheet music, I drew it four times, and one of them I twisted the wrong way. Oh well. This was fun to draw.

• Copic marker colors used: Custom color R290, B41,45, BG45, YG05, YR07, V04
  
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 5x7"
• Words: Round; Brightly
  

Advent Calendar Template 2011

Next Sunday is the beginning of Advent, so I'm planning for my 4th annual Advent calendar drawings. With Christmas falling on a Sunday, I decided to place it in the midst of the calendar, instead of a full row width on the bottom. Symbolic and practical.

I will post the calendar on my blog throughout Advent. Maybe not daily, but at least weekly. After my first year of drawing an Advent calendar like this, I wrote about what I learned from it. That post pretty well explains why I've continued with it.

For my previous Advent calendar drawings, click as follows:

• Here for 2010
• Here for 2009
• Here for 2008
• Here for all of my Advent and Christmas-related drawings and posts

My friend Sybil also has posted her Advent calendars in past years in her prayer-drawing blog, Praying in Color. Click here for the links to each year. I'll also link to her 2011 calendar as it appears.

You're warmly invited to print my 2011 template for your own use. Due to the more complicated layout, I've saved it as a JPEG file, as posted above. (Double click, then save, for better image quality.) You may need to paste it into Word or PowerPoint, then resize it. It's intended to fit on 8-1/2 x 11" paper with 1/2" left and right margins. Added November 24, 2011: Or you can click here to download the PDF file, which I've posted on Google Docs.

Flower Drawing with Color-Bleed Background

A very small drawing (2 x 3-1/4") with a bright, stained-glass background. I wanted simple, heavy lines to stand out against a busy background. So I used a Copic 1.0 multiliner, instead of my usual 0.2 or 0.3 weight.

Before I colored my drawing, I scanned it for future use on greeting cards. To see how I used it, click here for the post on my other blog, Mostly Markers- Cards. If the Copic marker color-bleed background appeals to you, you may also want to click here for a different card example that I did yesterday with the technique.

The background was very easy to make using Julia Stainton's color-bleed grid technique, posted on Ellen Hutson's educational CLASSroom blog. I separated my blue-green and red-orange sections with a stripe of yellow. My background colors are Copic Y15, YG05, YR04, R35, R24, and BG45.

After the paper was dry from my "0" colorless blender drips, I added some Copic markers on top of my background pattern. I used some strong reds on the flowers (YR09, RV29, R08, and R59), and muted greens and blue on the leaves and ground area (G24 on the leaves, BG93 on the lower ground stripe, and BG53 for the upper ground stripe). For the leaves and ground, I colored gently in long soft strokes, so as not to disturb the "drips" pattern underneath. I really like how the pattern still shows through.

Paper: Neenah solar white

Orange and Yellow Patches

I was nearly finished with my "gesture" drawing for Illustration Friday's word for the week. Then I ruined it with spilled ink. At such times I remind myself, "it's only paper." So I drew something completely different. Patches of orange and yellow marker, and a wandering line doodled with brown Micron pen.

• Copic marker colors used: Y11,15,21, E25 (dots), 95, YR00,04,15,20,21
• Paper: Neenah
  

Landscape with Scribbly Lines on Watercolor Paper

For this imaginary landscape, I scribbled lines in many colors of ink, then colored with my Copic markers. The markers look like watercolors on the soft, thick Arturo paper. Love the fuzzy torn edges.

• Copic 0.3 colored multiliners used: Sky blue, sepia, cool gray, cobalt, olive, wine, pink
• Other pens used: Micron 0.5 brown, Faber-Castell Pitt sepia F
  
• Copic marker colors used: Custom color B2000, B21,41,63, BG70,72, C0, W0, E21,41,81,87, YG61,63,91, BG93, BV20
  
• Paper: Arturo bright white watercolor card from Ellen Hutson (size 3-3/8 x 5-1/8")
  

Pattern of Vines and Flowers

An overall pattern of vines and flowers, drawn with Copic 0.3 black multiliner and colored with Copic markers. My inspiration was a very different painting, a wall border around the top of a large dining room (photo below).

Due to my underlying grid of 2" squares and 1-1/2" circles, my drawing has a formal, static appearance. Drawn for Illustration Friday's word for the week, "stay," which is a lot like "static" (remaining in place.)

• Copic marker colors used: YG21, G14, Y19, B01,24,26,41, BG49,53, R02,59, Custom colors YG6000 and R290
  
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 11x7"
  

Blue and Brown Doodle

Just a doodle. Rounded shapes and arched lines, colored in blues and browns.

It's been a very long time since I posted a drawing. My artistic efforts have gone more into card making, as posted on my other blog, Mostly Markers - Cards.

• Copic marker colors used:B01,05, BG32,45,49,53, E21,23,25,37
  
• Copic 0.2 multiliner
  
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 4.25 x 5.5"
  

Three Purple Flowers in Vase

Three flowers in a vase. Drawn with pencil, colored with Copic markers and a bit of colored pencil.

Added April 26, 2011: Click here to see my greeting card with another version of the flowers.

• Copic marker colors used: Y11,19, W0,1, RV000,91, V000,12,20, BG10,70,93, custom colors YYR2000, YG6000
  
• Colored pencils: Venus Spectracolor cream and lavender
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 4.25 x 5.5"

Blog Update

Lately I've been making greeting cards, not drawing so much. It's curious to me that either I draw or make cards, not both interchangeably. I don't know what that says exactly.

Maybe just they are different art modes for me, and I'm not (or not yet) good at switching back and forth. Or maybe I love them both, and when I'm doing one, it's hard to tear myself away for the other.

Anyway, for more current posts, you're invited to visit my other blog, Mostly Markers - Cards. Click here, or use the link in my blog heading, just below the green leaves.

Sweater Love

I love sweaters. The colors, the textures, the cozy feeling. I love knitting sweaters. I love wearing sweaters. So I couldn't pass up Illustration Friday's word for the week, "sweater." And with Valentine's Day tomorrow, a few hearts seemed to fit right in.

My drawing posts on this blog are fewer lately, because I've been making greeting cards, posted on my other blog "Mostly Markers - Cards." Today's drawing also became a card - a Valentine for my husband.

• Copic marker colors used: Custom color B2000, B45, BV00, V12,15,17, RV06, R00,02,35,59
  
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 4.25 x 5.5"
  

New Year's Resolutions for 2011

My New Year's resolutions for 2011, doodled and decorated. After the tiny drawings for my 2010 Advent Calendar (click here to see it), I enjoyed working on something larger and looser.

The words are: "2011 resolutions: More prayer, exercise, joy, gratitude, art, fruits and veggies, singing, rest." I placed "resolutions" vertically on the page, with most of the other words crossing it. Inspired by Illustration Friday's word for the week, "resolutions."

For my 2010 New Year's Blessings drawing, click here.

• Copic marker colors used: mostly RV17, BG45, B24, B26, R35, YR07, G14, YG05, V04, V15
  
• Paper: Neenah, 8.5 x 11"