hand drawn cute and/or creepy critters
Inspired by a picture I took of a mushroom while out in the woods.
Didn’t make it to the little office this week either, however I did get myself to make something!… even if it was at midnight day of post.
Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!
Not a quality image. Neither was the last one, as I took them with my phone. Because my computer and scanner are not at the little office, I didn’t think to bring them home, and I haven’t really had the ability to go get them since I made them, which was the 28th…
Which also means I haven’t really been able to make more, as most of my materials are down there now.
Thankfully I did find some index cards that were hiding, and there is no shortage of random pens and mechanical pencils here. So when life gets a little too busy for me to get to the office to make something, I will just have to return to the early days of black, white, and whatever colored materials I happen to find.
Hope you all have a wonderful week!
And it’s only been a year and a half. Yay for improvement!
It’s kind of been one thing after another. Figuring out medical things, a friend passing, pets passing, being down to one car in a house of five (all with places to be), and most recently not having a fridge for two months because the one that would fit where the last one died took that long to get (thankfully the weather had been cool enough to store some things outside). So by the time I was recovered from one thing, another had happened.
There’s still quite a bit on my plate, and I’m still recovering, however I’m getting better at making things work, and I hope to continue doing so (As my family likes to say “trend towards improvement!”)! I still want a nap and big cup of cocoa though.
ps: thanks to my mom for letting me use her little office while she’s doing other things, it helps a lot!!!
I know, no picture today, I’m sad too.
As it says on the tin, I will be taking a hiatus. There’s a lot on my plate at the moment, and it’s hard to find the mental time and energy to make art and take care of… myself, really. I hope that this will be short break (especially compared to the two year debacle), and that I will be able to share many good things with you all once I’m back!
Until then. I hope you all are well, and have many wonderful days ahead. Safe travels!
~Elina
Don’t worry! I’m not disappearing again! Last week was just REALLY busy. There were birthdays, a party, medical appointments, another thing, AND getting ready for General Conference! Combined with the other things I usually do in a week, and I’m surprised I made a coloring page! (it’s for the recovering perfectionist series as I’m going to try to alternate publications)
All that being said, this week was a bit more like I’m used to, and I was able to try an idea I had a few weeks ago. Said idea: press some plants and draw what I see in what they leave behind. If that doesn’t tell you how little I know flower pressing, this next bit might. Only the dandelions left anything, two of which also had brown with the yellow.
However! Not wanting to be deterred from my quest to make SOMETHING this week, I went over them with brush pens and then pressed them, individually, onto the paper… like very annoying stamps… and then proceeded with the rest of the idea!
My thoughts on it? It’s fun and whimsical, while also providing a kind of base to work from. However, it may be a few more steps then I have time or energy for, and I’m not sure how well a larger singular creature would work. Either way, I think it’s good creative exercise.
I hope you all have a wonderful month, and that I will see you here again in May!
P.S. I may need to rethink posting time, as the videos are currently posted at the same time as these, which I think means I can’t embed them till I get up, and I get up LATE compared to most people.
P.P.S. turns out it will embed it once available!
My scanner and I had some disagreements about colors again.
This piece was inspired by my backyard, the growing season coming up, a call to artists at my local art center, and my own wishes for a moment of peace.
In other news: I finally have some author copies on their way, should be here next week. My vinyl cutter is set up and I’ve been having some fun designing things, and now have some fun little sticker things to play with and figure out what to do with. I now have cards with my website and YouTube on them. And my garlic is sprouting!
Here’s the link if you want to watch me make it https://youtu.be/ku1i0_trsQE
Hope you all are well, and can find your own moments of peace!
Pardon the quality of picture. I have a new computer, and am still setting things up, so I’m using my phone for this one.
Playing around with water color again, however this time I have some water color paints from a travel kit I got. So far I’ve found them better for larger areas of one color and mixing the color you want, and I think pencils are better for detail and shifts from one color to another. However it has been a while since I’ve work with the pencils, so my memory could be off on that.
Another thing I’ve started doing for this, is having a little blank note pad to sketch and put the very basic composition and shapes in. Which may seem like a no-brainer to you, however it wasn’t something I was used to doing, and I think that had a huge part in my burn out. Once I drew something, it was done, finished, no need to come back to it. So my sketchbooks were filled with either things I considered finished, messy doodle pages, or unfinished. And when I started sharing my art on here, all of a sudden I felt like all of the things I made had to look good. And the weight of things needing to look good, combined with the one and done-ness of how I was making art, took a huge toll on my creativity and enjoyment of making these creatures. Jury’s still out on the frequency of posting.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and a lovely Valentine’s day this month! See you in the next!
Merry belated Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!!!
As of writing this post, the Cute or Creepy Coloring Book is in review at Amazon!!!! I’m so excited! And I hope you enjoy it when it’s ready!
And apologies for dropping off the planet again. There was a problem with WordPress, life got busy in the little ways, and extra time and energy was directed to getting the book ready.
In other news. There has been a change with how the hosting works, so there is now a data limit, which means posting will be limited to once a month for now. That being said, I will be working on posting more in other places. I have some ideas for YouTube, one of which may surprise you, and am figuring out Instagram as well.
Hope you are all well, and have a wonderful week!
Update! The book is now live!!!!!! https://a.co/d/fRrqj1F
This one was inspired by one of our dogs, who likes to rest his head at the window and watch the world go by.
This one kinda looks like a doll made out of an old button-down shirt, hence title.
BONUS! last month I said I would share something else I was working on, because I make other things as well, and here it is!
Hope you all have a wonderful week!