Lots of sketches today for a comission. I love to do these quick on the spot sketches to make sure my customers are 100% happy with what they get. These will be pen drawings with a touch of color. 

My First Sale!

Maple Leaves Sketch 3 1/2 x 5 Watercolor

I'm still shocked I sold this. This is a sketch I did to try out my new sketchbook. i'll be doing a bigger painting of this and was just playing around. Posted the picture on my facebook page and surprisingly someone wanted to buy it! I sold my first ever piece of art and it was a sketch. It blows my mind but it really is a pretty sketch.

original post of sketch

Fall Leaves 4x6 Watercolor

I've been practicing my watercoloring abilities. Really aiming to get better at the medium. When I learned to first paint I used oiled. After oils I went to acrylics and have stayed with acrylics only because it's what I had. Every time I saw another artist piece made in watercolor I would be instantly captivated. I wanted to paint that lose and have my artwork look all whimsical and dreamy. It's hard for me to let go of being detailed. I know I see detailed watercolor paintings and they are stunning. It takes great skill to be in so much control of the watercolor to make your painting look hyperrealistic.  For me I just adore the flowy in and out of blurriness of some watercolor paintings. I haven't gotten there yet, the acrylic painting in me has a hard time not defining every crack, crevice, hole, or crease. 

7 Simple Secrets to Success by Kathy Davis

I love this video! Ever since I found it I've watched it any day I feel badly about where I am.  There are days that I feel invincible and can accomplish anything. After a few high days I get these low days. The low days are filled with doubt, frustration, sadness, and failure. It can be hard to push towards my dream of being an artist when I've just started seriously. Half of the time I don't think I'm doing enough or pushign as hard as I could be. At the end of some days I think back to what I did and most of the times there was no painting only researching.

These 7 simple secrets are a wonderful daily reminder on my journey as an artist.

Series Inspiration Board

Colonial Farm Series

After practicing around painting for a bit I have a whole list of series I want to do. Today for our fun family saturday adventures we went to a colonial farm. It was amazing to see how they set up their fences, what they had in their homes, and just how the place was set up. My husband and I were in love with it. We were swooning how we wish we could live this simply. After going through all my photos i selected the main photos i wanted as references, each painting idea has a black border while the extra references are smaller with no border. I love making these collages. Pretty much all artists are very visual to begin with. Putting all the photos next to each other helps to see if it would be a good series. Think I'm happy with my selections with a good mix of indoors/outdoors still life/landscapes.

Sometimes a not perfect photo can be pretty too.

Bubbles

Finally I'm feeling better that I can get back to making art again. Here is my sketch for today. I'm feeling kind of lost on what I want to focus on creating. Fooled around with the idea of maybe doing a kids series of all the things my daughter loves. I like animals, nature, cute girls, and just whatever. Thinking it's going to be a few month or more of painting continuously until I find my thing. Boy do I wish there were more hours in a day. My daughter goes to bed later and later. This week it's been 11:30 or 12! That give me no time but nap time to do any steady painting or a few hours on the weekdays.