OniOniOniArt

  I finally broke out the lovely indigo blue-colored printmaking ink. I got it about three months ago and promptly forgot about it. It's a little more difficult to work with than the black ink for some reason - the consistency is a bit different (or at least seems like it to me), but I did manage to make it work! Blue lino prints are available in my shop HERE   (I will be adding more...) For more about how I make lino block prints, visit HERE For another look at my printing process, visit HERE (If you're wondering, yes, the ink is smelly before it dries)

It's been a while! I needn't tell anyone this has been a crazy year (I think everyone is going to remember 2020), but besides the craziness of the world beyond, it has personally been a crazy year for other reasons. Namely, the Maine farm mentioned HERE and HERE  is now finally ours. It's been nearly a year long process and gut-wrenching to say the least. We visited the property last week, and it is in need of much work - it is currently nearly gutted. So we'll be in Florida a while longer while we work on that. It's going to be a slow transition, but we consider ourselves very lucky! Actually, we're very lucky for many reasons looking back over the general tumult of the year.... The lizards above - green anole pencil drawings and their inked counterparts on watercolor paper - are all part of a little project I'm working on. I will update this post as I complete more of it.

Using the same methods as for the beetles in this post for Days 59 - 61 , I've made outlines of hoppers, (oak treehopper and candystripe leafhopper), with a brush pen, painted them with watercolors, and then masked them off for a splatter paint background. Day 64: Brushed Oak Treehopper The outlines are basically pen sketches. I don't do any pencil work first with the brush pen, so there is always a bit of a wonky look to them because I can't erase anything! This has the benefit of not needing to transfer a drawing onto the paper which can be time consuming (drawing with pencil directly on watercolor paper is not ideal because erasers can shred the surface). So the drawing is a bit more organic and less accurate! Day 65: Brushed Candystripe Leafhopper Day 66: Color & Splatter oak treehopper gets its minty fresh hue (I did add a light pencil line to help with the striping...) Before splatter:  After Splatter: Leaf...

Continuing down the miniature path...here is a wee stag beetle. It was made the same way as the tiny fiery searcher . sketch cut stamp color! The tiny stag beetle can be viewed in my shop  HERE [March 3, 2020]

Today I did a quick sketch of eight beetles...I have plans for them...mwahaha! I'm trying to do some multi-tasking with my shop. I've stated elsewhere in this blog that the only true way to multi-task is when you have one project that counts for two things (this counts as my daily bug and as something for my etsy store...we're trying to buy a house, we need some money!) Left to right, starting at the top row we have: Snout Beetle Checkered Beetle Pasimachus Beetle Longhorn Beetle Bottom row: Leaf Beetle Stag Beetle Fiery Searcher June Beetle [Febraury 23, 2020]

I really like the bees so I turned them into earrings today. They are listed in my shop  HERE Other projects using this design: Creative Sprint 2015 Day 24 Day 48 [February 22, 2020]

I finally attempted to make the Bee cards from my two-color stamps. This project originated in 2016 with a paper cut-out card, and I carved two stamps, one for each color, this year for Day 24 . To me, this experiment was a fail. It was too hard to get the stamps to line up correctly even with the register I made and the corresponding cross-hairs on the backs of the stamps. I showed them to my husband S, however, and he said he liked how they were a little off - that it gave them more personality (or maybe he was just trying to appease my grumbling?). So they're a little off! I need to come up with a better register system... Only a couple lined up good - I threw a few of them away. You can view these cards in my shop HERE [February 17, 2020]

Behavior-wise, I maintain that mantispids (mantid flies in the order Neuroptera) are more badass than mantids (arguments here and here and not so much here , but how cute!). However, mantids definitely win the "Best Costume" category with their myriad forms of spines, mimicry, color, and spectacle. The boxer mantis is a good example. Here is the under-drawing, or first layer sketch. Drawings, paintings, etc are made in layers - like constructing a building, you need a sturdy frame first. The first layer is where I attempt to line everything up and make it proportionate. I then do a more detailed second layer, and sometimes an even more detailed third layer. I always start with a light pencil (an HB here), I will sometimes then outline and shade with a softer, darker pencil (a 3B works nice, like this drawing , although I stopped with the HB here). Side Bar:  I made it to one month! Woo! Only two slip-ups which were redeemed with terrible (and terribly cartoonish...

I still have some gold & brown ink splatter paper leftover from Day 20 and decided to sketch another fossil insect. The wasp looks like an ancestor to today's spider hunting wasps with its curly antennae. I actually made this paper a few years ago and then decided it was too textured to use. The brush pen handles the texture pretty well, but there are a few spots where the metallic gold is too thick and the India ink (from the brush pen) doesn't quite adhere. [January 28, 2020]

For today I decided to reprise my old Creative Sprint project from October 2015 . I always wanted to turn it into a card for my shop, but never got around to it (huh, imagine that, Procrastinating...so unlike me!). So I decided to turn it into a two-color stamp. First I made a register, something to help me line up the stamps with (it's the brown paper under the green bee at top). Then I created transfers for the design utilizing the register so everything *in theory* lines up. One transfer is for the black color, the second is for yellow (which for testing purposes is green, because I have a green stamp pad. I use block printing ink for the actual cards). Above is the yellow stamp, in the process of being cut. After inking the completed stamp, I attempt to line it up with the register so I can mark the paper to assist in lining up the black stamp. Right now it looks like a green potato. Above is the transferred black stamp image before ...

I seem to be making a lot of stag beetles this year. In 2016 , it was preying mantids. Here I've taken my brush pen sketch from  Day 12 and turned it into a stamp. I mostly use these to make greeting cards in my etsy shop.  First I printed out a smaller version of my drawing and outlined it in pencil. Then I taped it face down to a piece of speedy carve, a rubber stamping material.  Rubbing the opposite side with the pencil transfers the lines to the speedy carve. I carve the outlines with my lino-cutting tool: ...and here is the finished stamp... UPDATE!: I made mini greeting cards with this stamp which can be viewed in my shop HERE [January 23, 2020]

And here is the finished dremel-beetle, painted with gold ink and black acrylic paint; sealed with varnish. This could have a pendant bail glued to the back of it to make a necklace, but I don't have any ;) Part I can be viewed Here . [January 21, 2020]

I didn't have time to finish this. Similar to Day 13's project, I've used the Dremel to engrave a stag beetle head onto this tiny wood disc. Same process, but I carved it a little deeper this time. Finished project is Here . [January 19, 2020]

I browsed through some of my old Bug-a-Day stuff from 2016 looking for ideas, when I realized that my friend C never did send me a photo of the watercolor I made at her house (and left there). So I decided to recreate it as best I remember, resulting in the sloppy watercolor above ( Two weeks in, and the creative challenge I've set for myself is already kicking my ass, meaning I'm having difficulty carving out the time to complete something because I feel like there are myriad other things I should be doing) . This is the original post: *** "Open to Interpretation" [Still waiting on C to send me the photo!] I went to my friend C's house to paint away some anxiety. The result was a tiger beetle decapitating many ants in soothing watercolor. C speculated the beetle represented the corporate machine and we are the ants being crushed in its mighty jaws, the flowers (rewards) always in sight but out of reach. This is why I love...

Here is a stag beetle rendered in a brush pen. I think I'm coming to terms with this brush pen... [January 12, 2020] Update: I transformed this drawing into a stamp for Day 23 ... ...and then used the stamp to make cards for my shop which can be seen HERE

In honor of my 3rd anniversary with S (he's the tiger beetle) I drew this romantic dinner scene (pre-dinner, because with the species involved here that could get pretty gruesome). I decided on a mantis and tiger beetle based on a previous Creative Sprint project from back in 2015 (and just realized that in this context, they are naked here...hmmm...). My hubs does not approve of my drawing bugs since he hates bugs and makes fake barfing noises every time I show them to him, but he conceded this drawing was alright. [Mwahahaha! Victory...baby steps to total bug domination....] On a side note, we're going to Longhorn for dinner tonight because we received gift cards for Christmas. Free anniversary dinner! We didn't plan that (though I'd like to think we did), but what a great perk for having your anniversary in early January. [January 7, 2020]

I've decided this is going to be a two-day project because I want to color it, but don't have the time to put into it today (Oh yes, I'm making my own rules!). The wasp from Day 0 took several hours to sketch and then color. So here is the frog-legged leaf beetle sketch, with minimal shading since I will be finishing that tomorrow with colored pencils. This is really a beautiful little beetle with metallic colors - hopefully I can pull that off (and if I ruin it, here at least I can still see it at that stage when it was so full of potential). Below I posted my basic outline before I started adding details to show how I usually go about sketching bugs. [January 4, 2020]

With a New Year comes the desire to improve oneself...in other words...Resolutions. For starters, I've decided to renew my Bug-A-Day project and see where that takes me. Maybe I can get past the three-month mark this time. Maybe I won't make it past one. ;) The goal is to complete a year. So this is Day 0, because it's December 31, 2019, not January. I was really motivated this morning and eager to get started. It took several hours to color this "metallic" wasp sketch (I think it's one of those solitary parasitic wasps, which are frequently metallic). I saw the photo and was dazzled by its pretty colors. Moving forward, not everyday will be so elaborate and time-consuming, but the most important thing is just to complete something . And it isn't perfect, but that's also the point. Perfectionism can be a killer - it can prevent you from completing things, or sometimes even from starting things. I will be posting them on here and my Tumblr pa...