Happy Birthday, Tonnya!

Today is my sister's birthday, and here she is! Happy Birthday, Tonnya! She's somewhere a bit upward of 39, but who's counting?

The photo I worked from was taken by my niece, Tara. Last August she hosted a dinner party at my mom's house for me and my daughter Louisa, her mom, and her grandma. It was an absolutely lovely evening, thanking us for supporting her and the handbag she designed that had just been released. She is so incredibly talented. (Click here to see it and check out her website). She brought all the food and tableware, and took photos of all of us.

We felt so pampered!

The table setting!

The food! Delicious, and with the exception of the chicken breasts, 

most of it was vegan for Aunt Tracy.

We didn't get photos of the desserts. 

Trust me, we had dessert. Just forgot to get the photo.

We all share genes and the same humungous sweet-tooth).

The girls!

Here are some steps in the art process:

I did this piece in Procreate on my iPad. I began by working over the top of the actual photo, outlining the important areas. I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like and didn't want to spend all my time getting proportions right by freehanding. 

Then, the fun part of dropping in the color and doing the "painting".

And then . . . Tada! 

The wine is poured and we have the finished piece at the top of this page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chocolate Bunnies Aren't Just for Easter

digital

 What a cutie!!! And he's actually from Switzerland!

My niece brought me this treat, from a business trip, as a thank you for helping her with a writing project. He was delicious! But, before I could eat him, I had to get a photo to remember him by.

I started him with acrylics on illustration board:

Then, I dropped him into Procreate on my iPad and finished him up. 

I used only one brush - "old brush"- for both painting and blending.

My Little Buddha

6"x6" oil on gesso-board

Here's another of my treasured knickknacks. This is an incense burner that belonged to my parents. My mom would often light an incense cone after she had done some house cleaning, as a finishing touch. I would often do the same thing with candles. Like, my candles were too precious to burn in an un-vacuumed space, they deserved fresh air! Is this backward thinking? Should candles and incense be burned when the house needs a good cleaning? Haha!

I've always loved this little guy. 

Here are some steps in the process:

 

As always, thanks for stopping in.

40 Is Just a Number

 Digital piece done in Procreate

This is Ashley, and today is her birthday! One of those BIG birthdays. 

I'm not gonna lie, I leaned heavily on the reference photo for this. I traced her outline so that I wasn't spending so long on getting the proportions correct. But, I added a little more sparkle, and got rid of the background noise. Cheers to you, Sweetheart! 

Here's the original photo.

40 is the new 29.

Shelter

Digital piece, done in Procreate

I wanted to pick a nice, rainy, spring day to share this one, and that's what we have here in Greenville, Ohio.

Who do you identify with? The baby nestled under its mother's wing? Or the one doing the sheltering? 

I think I'm a little of both. I'd do anything to shelter my kids - to keep them safe. My son is 6'5" and we would look ridiculous in a pose like this, but I'm sure you understand the sentiment. I do like taking care of people.

I also like the idea of being taken care of by my mother, an adult who's been adulting longer than I have, but, though she loves me, my mom has made it quite clear to my husband that if he tries to return me, she doesn't want me back. That's my mama for ya! Gotta love her.

Maybe we all should be both. Look after each other when we can, seek help when we need. Weather life's storms together. Be kind.

I did this piece originally back in 2016. It was a prompt back in the good ol' Illustration Friday days.  Click here to have a peek. It's been a work in progress on my iPad for a few years now. I'm finally getting around to polishing off a few of those miscellaneous items and just callin' 'em done.

Wherever you are, whether it's raining or not. Have a wonderful day and know that, as a reward for stopping by my blog, I am cyber-sheltering you in my heart. 

Little Bunny-Girl Whatnot

I don't have a big backstory on this beautiful girl except to say that she sat on my dresser from the time I was a toddler, and she used to have a brother (I think?). I'm not sure what happened to him but I can tell you that they were both covered in a soft layer of white glitter which, over the years, became quite dingy. 

I came across her among my mom's things and asked if she could be returned to me. She is now polished to a smooth shine and stands (or sits) about three inches high, occupying a place on my shelf, as well as in my heart, doing her job, as all good whatnots do. 

This first watercolor was what I did when inspiration struck. I just felt like doing something. Anything. 

I was itchy to paint and didn't have a grand idea at the moment, so I set her up, did a quick sketch of her outline, and painted away.

 

I liked the way she turned out, but the proportions were off from the original knickknack. I started over with a bit more patience on a 5 x 7 piece of textured gesso board. Aqua-board may have been a better choice but I didn't have any. The image below is after the sketch, laying down masking fluid in highlight areas, and painting the background. 

Here's another step between. The background is lighter simply because it had dried.

Below is the finished watercolor. I applied a couple more layers of paint to the background to darken it back up. Also, I sprayed varnish on it, which made the colors bolder. 

Note: I don't think it is a common thing to spray varnish on a watercolor. They are usually framed under glass and no protection like that is even necessary. I thought if I gave the varnish a try, in order to protect her, I could just add a frame like I would to a small oil painting. It has worked so far, but if you choose to do that, I'll deny having recommended it! ;)

She was so cute! I was also, however, in the mood to play on my iPad in Procreate. I dropped the watercolor image in there and, with the "old brush" blending tool, I just worked over her surface,  carefully smoothing everything out. 

AH! Now I could play better with highlights and a few sparkles. (I love my sparkles). 

I end with the image at the top of the page.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by.