Advent Calendar 2013 - Taking a Break This Year

I've been drawing annual Advent Calendars for the past five years.  Loved doing it.  This year though, I'm taking a break.   

• For Advent inspiration and two 2013 Advent calendar templates, please visit my friend Sybil's blog, Praying in Color.  
• To see my past Advent and Christmas drawings, click here.  
• My current card-making, mostly for Operation Write Home, is posted on my other blog, Mostly Markers - Cards.

Wishing everyone an Advent season filled with hope and joy!

2012 Advent Calendar Update - Final Posting

For my subscribers - I've posted the final version of my 2012 Advent Calendar drawing, including Christmas Day. It's an update to the original post, which you may not see in your reader or feed.   You can find it here.  Wishing you all the blessings of the Christmas season!

2012 Advent Calendar Update - December 16

Just a note if you're a subscriber wondering about new posts for my 2012 Advent Calendar work in progress.

I've been posting it every few days, but as updates to the original post, which you may not see in your reader or feed.   You can find my current drawing here. 

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.

Blog News 12 - Greeting Cards, New Blog, and Sources

My blog "Mostly Markers" is one year old this month, and I've really enjoyed doing it. A big thank you to all my viewers and especially everyone who's left a comment or question for me.

My biggest news is that, while this is still my primary blog, I've just begun a new "companion blog" called Mostly Markers - Cards. All of my posts labeled as "cards (greeting cards)" have moved over there. I placed links on the headers of both blogs, so it will be easy to go back and forth.

Why a new blog? Lots of reasons. I think it will simplify my blogging. Some of my labels for drawings don't make sense for cards, and vice versa. Cards have their own aesthetic and charm, and I think it's interesting to keep them together. Etc.

I've really enjoyed creating cards again. As I wrote in the header for my new blog, they are small collages - mailable art. Along with the lines, shapes, and colors that I love about drawings, cards also feature textures and dimension, not to mention layout and construction challenges. They are just plain fun to do. So while I'm adding more drawings to this blog, I'll be adding more cards to the new blog. I still plan to keep my "reference posts" here, such as "try this" and "about my tools and materials." They have been linked to this blog from the new blog"s menu bar (below the header).

Finally, I added a new post to "about my tools and materials." It's about my sources, titled "Where I Buy My Tools and Materials." Hope it will be helpful to others.

Blog News 11

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

• Added a label for cards (greeting cards) on several posts, including today's birthday card post (above).
  

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.

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right, or in the menu bar on my blog header.)

Blog News 10

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

• Updated my post "about Sybil and her drawings" to include my friend Sybil's new blog location.
• Added a post on my watercolors, with color charts for my Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors and my Lyra Aquacolor crayon watercolors, and my notes on the two different products.
  
• Not an update ... but while I'm discussing my blog features: In my blog, I've included more than a dozen easy-to-draw "try this" posts. Not drawing lessons, but drawing activities based on my drawings. Simple directions, sprinkled with 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.
  

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right, or in the menu bar on my blog header.)

Blog News 9 and How to Draw Outlined Words

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

• Added a "Try This" post, showing how to draw outlined words (similar to today's New Year's Blessings drawing.)
  

  • For my New Year's Blessing drawing, scroll up (or, if you don't see it there, click here.)
    

  • For my "Try This" directions on how to draw outlined words, click here. If you can write or print legibly, and if you can draw a line around a shape, you have all the drawing skills you need.
    

• Not an update, but while I'm on the "Try This" topic: In my blog, I've included more than a dozen easy-to-draw "try this" posts. Not drawing lessons, but drawing activities based on my drawings. Simple directions, sprinkled with 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.
  

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right, or in the menu bar on my blog header.)

Blog News 8

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

• To make my blog easier to explore, I added a menu bar, just below my blog heading.
• I posted an update of my Copic color chart. Recently I added a few more colors to my Copic marker collection, and my chart is now current with all of the colors I have. To view it, click here, or click on "color chart" in the labels list on the right.
  
• Also in that post, I now have a link to my blank color chart in PDF format, which you're welcome to print or save for your own use.
  

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right.)

Blog News 7 - 2009 Advent Calendar Template in PDF format

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

• Added a document link to my November 6 "2009 Advent Calendar Template" post. The link takes you to a PDF format of my template, which I've just learned how to share via Google Docs. It's easy to print the calendar from there. Click here and scroll down a bit for the post, which now contains the new PDF link.

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right.)

Blog News 6 and How to Draw a Rosette

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

• Added a "Try This" post, showing how to draw a rosette (similar to my recent orange and yellow rosette drawing.) I think rosettes are interesting to color, and they really are very easy to draw with a few simple curves and V-shaped lines.

  • For my orange and yellow rosette drawing, scroll down (or, if you don't see it there, click here.)
    

  • For my "Try This" directions on how to draw a rosette, click here. If you can trace a circle shape from a jar lid and make "V" and "U" shaped lines, you have all the drawing skills you need. There's nothing tricky about it. You'll need some patience to draw all the little V's and U's, but you might find it relaxing, perhaps even meditative, as I do. If you'd prefer something less detailed, see the next paragraph.
    

• Not an update, but while I'm on the "Try This" topic: In my blog, I've included a dozen easy-to-draw "try this" posts. Simple directions, sprinkled with 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 labels list on the right, or in the menu bar in my blog header.

• Posted my new Copic color chart. Recently I added seven colors to my Copic marker collection, and my chart is now current with all of the colors I have. To view it, click here, or click on "color chart" in the labels list on the right.
  

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right.)

Blog News 5

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

• Removed labels "Copic" and "pre-Copic." Since 2008, my drawings have been almost entirely Copic. Before that, they were all pre-Copic, so the two labels were just clutter. To see drawings by date, go to the archives list, below the label list on the right.
  
• Divided "About My Labels" into three parts, due to blog software limits on the number of labels per post.
• Updated "Tools I Like" with my new scanner information.
  

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right.)

Blog News 4

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

• Added labels for brightness (vivid, mid, muted). To see the drawings in each category, click on "Brightness: Vivid," "Brightness: Mid," or "Brightness: Muted" in the label list on the right.
  

These labels give my personal, overall impression of the coloring. "Vivid" is strong coloring, often primary colors. "Muted" is softer, paler, perhaps monochrome - often still colorful, but with a quieter feeling. It includes my black and white drawings. "Mid" is mid-range, somewhere in between vivid and muted.

As a few minutes of browsing in my blog will show, I'm attracted to using vivid, intense colors. For me, one of the joys of Copic markers is the brilliant, transparent clarity of their brighter colors. But I also enjoy working with soft, muted colors, where my paler and grayer Copics help me to be colorful in a gentler way. And for either vivid or muted colors, I can use simple coloring with interesting contrasts, or I can layer and blend colors without them getting muddy. (For examples of each, click on "Coloring: Complex" or "Coloring: Simple" in the label list on the right.)

I've tried to place consistent and helpful labels on my posts. One reason for all my labels is to help my viewers find drawings they might enjoy. Another reason is to give me a way to sort and view my own drawings in various combinations. For a description of my labels that may not be self-explanatory, please click on About My Labels, in the label list on the right.

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right.)

Blog News 3

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

• Added a "Custom Colors" post to supplement my "Color Chart." To see both posts, click here, or click on "color chart" in the label list on the right.
  
• In response to a reader's comment, added info on UV sealer spray to the post on "How I Store and Protect My Drawings and Materials." For all of my posts on tools and materials, click on "about my tools and materials" in the label list on the right.
  

For more Blog News posts, click on the label (below, or in the label list on the right)

Blog News 2

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

• Labels (See list of labels on right side of page): Added two labels "coloring: complex" and "coloring: simple." If you have an interest in complex or simple styles of coloring, you can click on the label to see only those drawings. The post "About My Labels" describes the two types of coloring.
  

Blog News 1

Updates to Mostly Markers, other than new drawings posted, since the blog began:

• About My Paper: Added some info on Neenah classic cream and baronial ivory paper colors
  
• Blog Help: Added a link describing "image resizing" for Explorer browsers
• Labels (See list of labels on right side of page): Added a label "commented on" to help readers find the posts with comments Edited Jan. 2012 - I deleted this label; not so useful after all.
  

Welcome to My New Blog

Welcome! I created this blog, Mostly Markers, in July 2009. There are more than 100 drawings posted. I hope you will enjoy viewing it.