Advent Calendar 2016

My 2016 Advent calendar is finished. Always a good experience for me as I draw and color my way through Christmas.

Each drawing space is small (about 1-5/8" high) and it may look a bit fuzzy or faded above.  For a better view, click on the image.

With my daily drawings, I set aside a bit of space and time to reflect on the Advent season, and its message of hope and love.   If you might like to try something similar, click here for more information, including 2016 template links.  Or click here for my seven calendars from past years.

For a listing of words, sources of words, Copic colors, and other materials used,  see below (or click on "read more" to see it.)

Red, White, and Blue with Tan Frame

Some red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July.  I'm thankful for my country and those who protect our freedoms.

After I airbrushed the tan frame with E33 and 44, I drew a tan line with the E33 marker. 

• Copic marker colors used: B24,26,39, R24,29,56, E33,44
• Pen: Copic multiliner 0.5 black
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 4-1/4 x 5-1/2"
• Words: Thankful - July 4, 2016

Curls of Ribbon

Curving lines that flow like curls of ribbon.  Just a few colors, with narrow white borders.

• Copic marker colors used: FV2, BG32, RV17
• Pen: Copic multiliner 0.2 and 0.1 black
• Paper: Neenah

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
  

Thanksgiving 2009

This fall, several of my family members have had serious medical issues, all now moving in a very good direction. So much to be thankful for as I drew this Thanksgiving prayer drawing.

In the center oval, the words "All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above; then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love" are the refrain of a 200-year-old harvest hymn. The first line is "We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land, but it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand." I didn't grow up on a farm, but in a rich farming area, and I love the hymn for its spirit of gratitude. Click here to hear the tune and read the rest of the words.

To see my Thanksgiving drawing for 2008, click here.

I've labeled a few of my drawings "multiples," including both Thanksgiving drawings. Sometimes I really enjoy creating a drawing made up of small related drawings. To see all of my "multiples" click here, or on the label below or to the right. I've also used today's layout before (five ovals from a PowerPoint slide that I printed onto my drawing paper) - you will see it in my "five oval Marys" if you click to see my other "multiples."

• Other words: top left - family, friends, love; top right - health, healing, spirit; bottom left - work, rest, abundance; bottom right - singing, drawing, joy.
• Copic colors used:
  center - BG000,45, YG23,63, YR14,15,24, Y26, E11,15;
  top left - R00,24,29,32, Y26, B24;
  top right - custom color B2000, B24, E15, YR15, R08;
  bottom left - YR20, BV31, YR07,15, YG23,63, R08, E15;
  bottom right - BG10,32,49, RV06,17;
  top ribbons - YG63, YR07; bottom ribbons - B24, YR15;
  left ribbons - R29, Y26; right ribbons - BG49, RV06.
• Paper: Neenah, 8.5x11"

Storybook Landscape in Three Frames

After several rosette drawings, I wanted to loosen up. Draw freely on a larger page, doodle, go wherever the drawing might lead me.

I started with the outer frames and then the sun. I was surprised to find myself drawing the storybook scenes inside the frames. It was fun using colors and patterns to tie the spaces together. I don't know what the story is, but I think the characters know.

• Copic marker colors used: E00,04,33,53; V12,15; RV32; W1,5; G12,14,17,24,28; BV20; BG72; YR20; Y11; B01. Drawn mostly with sepia and olive Copic multiliners; also orange, yellow, purple, cool gray, sky blue, and red Copic multiliners.
• Paper: Neenah classic cream, cut down to 8.25 x 11"

Flowing Lines with Turquoise, Cream, and Pink

I started this drawing with flowing lines. I used deep pink and turquoise colors to trace along a few of the lines, then added some softer colors.

• Copic marker colors used: RV17, blurred with RV000; BG49, blurred with BG10; RV000, 91, BG10; YR20 with streaks of BG10 and RV91.
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 5x7"

Ribbon Lattice

New printer/scanner set up yesterday, and it's not fully functional yet. When it is, I'll update "about my tools and materials." Meanwhile, here is yesterday's drawing, a lattice pattern with ribbons of color and a white ribbon woven through.

The main colors are bright, but softened and shaded with cool grays and other colors. For the background, I used my custom color B2000, and after it dried, I colored over it with colorless blender for a blurred, somewhat cloudy effect.

• For a brighter drawing with similar colors (Cathedral Shapes), click here.
• For a basket weave drawing and how to draw basket weave, click here.
• For more ribbon-theme drawings, click on the "ribbons" label, below or in the label list to the right.

• Copic colors used: Cool gray multiliner. Background B2000 (see above). Main ribbon colors B14, R24, YR 24, YG63. Shaded with C0, C1, B26, E71, BG96.
• Paper: Neenah, cut down to 5x7"

Cathedral Shapes in Five Colors

My drawing (above) was inspired by the design of my friend Sybil's drawing (below) of a carving in England's Durham Cathedral. I used Sybil's basic shapes with decorative triangles, dots, and curves, and colored with only five colors (though not the same five as hers).

• Copic colors used: YG23,63, R24, B24, YR24. The white dots were made with colorless blender.
• Paper: Neenah, 8.5x11"

See below for her drawing, a 5x7" page from her travel journal. (Used with her permission.) For more of Sybil's drawings posted in my blog, click on the label below, or in the label list to the right.

Orange Flower with Blue and Orange Ribbons

An orange flower, framed by ribbons of blue and orange.

Copic colors used: Flower - sepia multiliner, Y000,11, YR09,15,20, E95, R00,02,24,32,59, W1; Frame - cobalt multiliner, W0, R00+W0, Ro2,24,32, B2000*, B41,45.
* B2000 is my name for a very pale blue that I made from 1 part B24 and 24 parts colorless blender. Click here for more about this custom color, and for a link to Marianne Walker's I Like Markers post on how to mix custom colors.
Paper: Neenah, 8.5x11"

Abstract Quilt with Gray and Colors

Ribbons of colored multiliner. Squares of gray. Squares pieced with blue, purple, and white stripes and checkerboards. Squares appliqued with green, pink, and light gray patches. I thought the large gray squares might look too bland, but I like the way it came out.

I enjoyed making the patterns similar but different. I enjoyed working with the not-square squares, which were drawn with two sets of lines, each radiating from a point just off the top of the page. (I started with lightly drawn pencil lines, using a ruler, but then when I inked them with the colored multiliners, I intentionally made them a bit wavy, to look less mechanical.)

Copic colors used: Ribbons between squares: cool gray, wine, purple, sky blue, and turquoise Copic multiliner with BV000 and BG000. Gray squares: C1 with BV000 and BG000 along the edges. Colored squares: B01 and V12; BG32, RV91, and C0. (7/26 EDITED color list to include C0)
Paper: Neenah, 8.5x11"

Landscape in Ribbon Frame

This scan (11x14) includes most of the drawing, on 14x17 paper. I used the Copic airbrush to do the sky and the lower part of the fields.

Paper: Strathmore Bristol Board, 14x17, vellum finish (a lightly textured surface - not "vellum paper")

Ribbon Doodle 2

A bench? The inside of a hot air balloon? Maybe just a ribbon doodle. I enjoyed making the details of the coloring.

Copic colors used: BG000, C1, Y000, RV91,95, R29,59, V04,09, BV20,23, G07,21,28,40, E41,44
Paper: white Crane's card approx. 4x6"

Browns with Blue Green and Blue Violet

This may be a gourd bowl with water. But on the back, I wrote "music," so it may be an instrument, a horn of some kind. Whatever it is, I like the shapes and the colors, and especially the dark blue-violet ribbon tied in a bow.

Copic colors used: BV08, V09, BG72,75, E09,33,37, YR14

Mary 9 of 12 - Abstract - Mary with Elizabeth

My childhood and adult church life has not had much of a focus on Mary. As I worked on this series, of course, I reflected on her story and what her experience might have been like. Before the birth of Jesus, as told in Luke 1:39-56, she visited her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. I drew them together in one of yesterday's Five Oval Marys. For today's drawing, I used some of their words, and words about them.

I needed an abstract drawing as a change from drawing people. For the shapes, I did some tracing of my French Curve templates, and added some echoes of those lines. I drew and colored with greens and grays for Elizabeth, blues and browns for Mary.

Copic colors used: Mary BG45,72,75, E37, YR14, cobalt multiliner; Elizabeth W1,3, G28, YG63, BG93, olive multiliner; Dots of 0

Embroidered Ribbons

When I started with Copic markers, I knew I would want some colored multiliners, because I had enjoyed drawing with colored Pilot Razor Point pens. (Which do not work with the alcohol-based Copic markers.)

So, along with a set of black multiliners, I started out with four colors of Copic 0.3 Multiliners - wine, sepia, cobalt blue, and cool gray.

Then I decided to get the other eight Multiliner colors- yellow, orange, pink, purple, sky blue, olive green, turquoise, and red. When they arrived, I did this drawing. I was thinking of embroidered lace.

I did a similar pattern for the 12/16 drawing of my 2008 Advent calendar.

Copic colors used: Background C1; Colored multiliners- cobalt, yellow, red, purple, sky blue, and turquoise
Paper: white Crane's card approx. 4x6"

Basket Weave

After struggling with drawing some basket weave, I decided to teach myself how to draw it. I found an example to study on the internet. Then I drew a test card (below) until I had the idea.

It is rather hypnotic to draw, but you can't think about it, you just have to do it. The finished drawing (above) is what I learned.

Copic colors used: B06, BG45, R24, RV29, E33,37,41,44, Plus E21,25,29,49, B39 for splotches and shading
Paper: white Crane's card approx. 4x6"

Ribbon Doodle 1

Ribbons of color. Almost always, I make a line drawing to color. But this was done with just the markers.

Copic colors used: B06, YR24, RV29
Paper: white Crane's card, approx. 4x6

Ribbon Abstract 1985

Ribbons drawn with Pentel fine point markers.

Paper: unknown drawing paper, lightly textured

About my Labels (part 3 of 3)

Updated January 2010. I've tried to place consistent and helpful labels on all of my posts. One reason for 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. Most of my labels don't need explanation. "Flowers," for example. Others are explained below.

For A-H scroll up, or click here and scroll down.

• Illustration Friday: Drawings for the weekly I. F. topic, offering a different word each week to inspire a drawing. My I. F. drawings are posted on my blog, and they are also listed/linked on the Illustration Friday web site, along with many other drawings by other people. To quote the I. F. welcome page, it's " a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels."
• Landscape: Includes plants and flowers growing outdoors, including outdoor gardens and outdoor potted plants drawn close-up.
  
• Multiples: Several complete drawings on one piece of paper.
• Ribbons: By this I mean, narrow strips of color that resemble ribbons. Except for greeting cards, I haven't done any drawings with actual ribbon or embroidery, though I might try that someday.
  
• Size: When I see art on the internet, I often wonder what scale it is. That's why I included the size for each drawing in my labels.
• Still life: Includes indoor scenes, also cut flowers and indoor potted plants.
  
• Try this: Explained here (sorry for that, but it's a long explanation.)
  
• Words: A drawing that contains words.