Cathleen's Online Art Journal 🎨
September, 2021
Shares of drawings, resource links, ideas and more.
Subscribe to Doily Designs keep up with the latest doodles and doodle thoughts. New posts will be added to top of this page.
Thank you for stopping by.
Best wishes and happy doodling!
Wine Glass practice drawing is based on this Pin, done 2021
September 7, 2024
Practice, practice, practice....
September 5, 2024
I've been wanting to paint a fish for years, and Michelle's fantastic tutorial was just what I needed. Thank you, Michelle.
Mine isn't as beautiful as Michelle's, but I like how my
Bass Fish turned out.
September 4, 2024
Recently I did a blog about
AI Crochet, this got me to thinking about how the same applies to art as well, we can be duped by digital designs.
The above pencil drawing is inspired by a bee lovers photo of real bees. It looked too perfect to be real, but I was inspired to draw it. Upon taking a closer look, I realized that it was digitally produced.
Just like with the crochet, sometimes the digital art is hard to spot, but it is not bad, and
I like digital art, and the inspiration that can be found in it, and the possibilities that can be produced with it.
September 2, 2024
Needed a break from crochet and writing patterns, so I tried mixing a painting, mixed with crochet, mixed with photography...... 😅
and got the worst photo of the day, but I am hooked anyway. 😝
And then the doodle bug bit....
This doggo was done in an afternoon, while spending some nice, quality time with my hubby, doodling, while talking about life. 💜 (CWG September 3, 2024)
You can purchase the Golden Retriever, Puppy Love pencil drawing, and help support CWG's art journey, in
Peach Creek Printing Etsy shop, and Thank you for your support!
The dog image itself was inspired by a real dog photo,
Another Golden Retriever from February 27, 2022
The Cat 😅
How wrong my painting attempts keep going! Take my cornucopia.
Attempted a paint along with Michelle the Painter, her painting is beautiful, and well, mine is not. 🤔 Maybe more layers? I'll get back to you....
I absolutely adore Michelles' paint alongs.
Did you know?
Michelle has a new series of paint alongs for kids!
Maybe Google saw this picture, and offered suggestions... lol😅 (palm trees, she asks)
August 27, 2024
Happy Birthday to Elijah's 15th year! 💝
So Proud of Elijah!
Elijah hates when I post his photo, so instead, I share some family art Elijah did with his Grandma. :)
August 24, 2024
My art is just a lot of crochet lately 😅😆
Along with Back to School always being a busy time of year.
August 11, 2024
Too busy working on crochet patterns to paint lately, but ....
I am really enjoy my M.I.L paintings.
💜 I love all her paintings, and have chosen a few to share here with y'all.
I am also very, very proud of her, and grateful for her. I've been lucky enough to have her gift me several beautiful oil paintings. 💜
Some of Olena's art can be purchased at
Olena Paintings Etsy shop, such as a few of these paintings seen here.
I feel very blessed to have some of Olena's beautiful art adorn out home.
The bread pops, and really comes to life in person, in this beautiful oil painting still life.
Mediterranean Seascape (not for sell)
This beautiful Mediterranean Seascape was a house warming gift from my Mother-in-Law. 💜
August 1, 2024
I had forgotten about this, it was a poster that I painted for my youngest daughters room. She out grew Ariel, and it got thrown aside in storage. I snapped a shot before tossing it in the trash.
Hand drawn and painted with acrylic, on poster paper, 2008.
August 1, 2024
I miss my tablet, it broke right when I was just getting into digital drawings.
July 20, 2024
Finally, I got around to painting, yay! Even though it was not a very serious painting, it was still fun. It is a backdrop for a crochet project.
There was only a small amount in a small tube of black to paint the entire galaxy on a large poster board, so I improvised and used some other colors (brown, lots of purple) and painted my galaxy for what turned into many hours of galaxy painting fun.
July 10, 2024
I have been longing to paint for months, but I have been pretty busy crocheting, and well I guess the two wires got crossed, and I signed my crochet. Funny part is that I am the worlds worst about signing my paintings. 😅
'CWG'
May 11, 2024
These latest creations have me thinking that I should maybe stick with crochet 😅. I made these 2 in the same day. Rose scrub, and washcloth vs Seaside Hydragneas paint along with Michelle the Painter on 3 x 3 inch canvas.
Even funnier, the hydrangeas were painted for a painter whom paints beautiful hydrangeas herself... what can I say, she inspires me 💖
Happy Mother's Day!
Crochet Flowers vs Painted Flowers
A very inspirational person in my life is Yelana. Below a painting, by
OlenaPaintingsThank you Yelena! Happy Mothers Day! 😍
To see more of Yelena's art visit OlenaPaintings, Etsy.
April 1, 2024
No doodling or painting for me lately, just lots of crochet, so I am sharing some crochet art here instead. :) Happy SPRING, Crochet Flower Garden.
Reminiscing....
January 8, 2024
December brought a crazy unexpected move, and I made sure to make my art supplies accessible, but sadly found little time. The month came and went so quickly. The move made Christmas decorating fun, and much easier though, and that inspired painting these porcelain, Precious Moments Nativity figurines. Though it is a precious work in progress.... 😉
Other than that, just a doodle, inspired by a great photograph on Instagram, I can't even 😆
Happy New Year and Happy doodling!
October 11, 2023
🌴🐪
October 1, 2023
Can't sleep, what do you do? DOODLE :)
October 2, 2023
Still doodling...
This is so funny.... (not my idea) Paper plane with a plane shadow ... lol
doodles
September 30, 2023
Feeling grateful and blessed.
September 29, 2023
Inspired today by WATERCOLOR 🖌🎨🐠
You may recognize this first composition, it is a copy of the cover of 'Master Touch' brand watercolor paper. The other 2 paintings are from photographs.
Trying different mediums to find one that works and feels best for me.
I forget how much fun watercolor can be, until I start actually using it, though I still find it very intimidating.
September 27, 2023
Ventured off to try a painting on my own 😅.
Inspired by a video I happened upon of a local birder, HuthAvi, capturing a video of a cute Painted Bunting perched on the end of a stick. Painted Buntings being amongst my favorite little birds, I gave painting this little bird a try. It isn't great, but I am happy to have a painted bunting to gaze at, since I have yet to see one around here myself.
September 27, 2023
The Citroen has been among my favorite cars since I was 15. Due to the oil crisis of 1973, the French car was not manufactured in America, and most Americans never heard of this car. Thanks to Google, lots of Citroens can be viewed online. After finding a photo of a 1972 Citroen Ds, I was inspired to do a colored pencil drawing.
Though, red would not be my Citroen color, but it sure looks sporty in red.
(Below, photo found on Google of a Citroen)
September 26, 2023
Wanted to take a break from acrylic for a minute, and picked up pastels. The 'Beach Crab' was stuck in my head and I doodled out another little crab from memory with the pastels.
Seeing the 2 mediums together, and now having used the 2 in the same week, I am definitely seeing and feeling why I like the acrylics more. The pastel felt, and looks a lot like coloring with crayons. 😅 Pastel vs Acrylic
September 25, 2023
After sharing my paintings from 7 days of painting, I wanted to share the first painting done 2 days before the 7 began. The painting is a 'paint along' with Michelle the Painter, and her adorable 'Tropical Turtle' painting. This turtle was my first painting and left me very discouraged how badly it had turned out.
As I am always reminding others, I reminded myself, 'practice, practice, practice'... and I am so glad that I kept going. After a few days of contemplating what to paint, I began my 7 day journey of 7 paintings, inspired by all of Michelle's many gorgeous paintings, I ended up pretty pleased with most of mine. It was nice to not give up, spend some time painting, and to complete a few that bring me some joy, like the little crab below.
Keep doodling, practicing and enjoying art.
September 23, 2023
Fun week of painting.
7 paintings in 7 days, a painting a day.
My latest 2;
&
7 paintings in 7 days, painting along with Michelle the Painter.
September 17, 2023
September 15, 2023
The September art bug has bitten once again, right on time.
Not having much luck with my own inspiration, I turned to Youtube, and my favorite paint along artist, Michelle the Painter. Michelle's videos are equivalently mesmerizing as Bob Ross was to me as a child, and with so many of Michelle's great paintings, it is hard to choose just one. Michelle's beautiful 'Daisy Guitar' is so beautiful, I thought that I would give it a try. This painting was not only fun, but I learned a few new things and was fairly pleased with the end result.
Painting and sipping along with Michelle was so much fun, I could not stop with one painting, so next was her Pumpkin Pickup.
Always fun painting and sipping with Michelle. Keep doodling and painting!
~~~~~~~
August 31, 2023
Searching on Google for a project, looking for a particular looking type of dog, (to be honest, i googled dog that looks like a rabbit :), and I came across this adorable, scruffy dog breed. This interesting pup type inspired this quick 7 minute drawing.
Can you guess the breed? I had never heard of them.
Look below the picture for the answer.
(Well, they are supposed to be Pumi's :)
August 27, 2023
by Cathleen Wake Gorbatenko
Being a fan of comic books, it was cool when my son was at the bookstore and picked himself a comic book this year. With 14 year old boys being difficult to shop for, the comic book idea quickly came to mind when choosing what I could make him for his birthday card. Gathering a few ideas from the internet and compiling them, here is the birthday 'comic book' card I put together.....
Fun last minute Comic Birthday Card for my special birthday boy.
The craft bug runs in the family, his oldest sister made him a card too ♡
Happy Birthday, birthday boy!
(1.10.24)
Thinking back to birthdays past, one year, Elijah was really into the Untitled Goose Game, and Gumball, so he got these cards for his birthday, along with some crocheted stuff for his new goose friend 😊
💖
5.25.23
Black and white draft for Doily Designs ~
5.25.23
First draft for Doily Designs ~
May 15, 2023
A few of my SPRAY PAINT art from 2001-2007 ~fun stuff~
May 13, 2023
Happy Mother's Day! I LOVE YOU, MOM💖
Celebrate Motherhood
There's no I in MOTHER, only a little me.
Original design, by Cathleen Wake Gorbatenko
May 7, 2023
♠♥♠♥♠♥♠♥♠♥♠♥
Texas Wild Cat ~ 72
♠♥♠♥Poker inspired graffiti style watercolor ♠♥♠♥Original design
January 27, 2023
Enjoying and impressed with Michelle the Painter and all her beautiful new paintings. Michelle of Berkshire Paint and Sip effortlessly guides you through each painting to create these lovely pieces.
Fun to see them all together.
Paintings done on 5 x 9 in. watercolor paper.
January 23, 2023
Such a pleasure painting and sipping along with Michelle the painter. I feel very blessed to have her share her experience painting with us. You can join along with Michelle on her Youtube channel as well as on Patreon.
I really like the stages of this painting of the cat tangled in Christmas lights. The way the lights come to life at the end is so much fun. Michelle does colorful lights on her painting, which are so lovely. My next cat would definitely want colorful lights next time. ;)
December 2, 2022
12.2.22
⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄
Snowman, Acrylic, 5 x 7 inch paper
Acrylic painting, painted by Cathleen Wake Gorbatenko
🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨
December 1, 2022
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
Feeling the Christmas SPIRIT ⭐
Recently I discovered Michelle the Painter on Youtube and have been having great fun trying out some of her paintings.
Her instructions are very clear, easy, and fun, and following along yields beautiful results.
Michelle is an amazing artist, who inspiringly guides you though each painting, encouraging you to find your flow. Her sweet manner has a very Bob Ross feel that is such a pleasure to paint along with.
If you are feeling the spirit and have gotten some inspiration, go grab some acrylic paint and a beverage, and head over to 'Paint and Sip with Michelle'.
Michelle uses mostly basic and primary colors, making these paint projects accessible for most anyone to try with just a few paints.
In my painting, I mixed a couple of Michelle's beautiful designs, including the one seen inside my globe of the bird on the lantern, and then the globe in the snow, where she painted a Church inside of her globe.
This was my first painting with Michelle and I couldn't choose just one 😊 They are all so pretty! So, I incorporated two together.
Cardinal in a Snow Globe
painting ~
Acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inch.
Painted by Cathleen Wake Gorbatenko, 12.2.22
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
November 28, 2022
🎁 🎄 🎨 🎨 🎄 🎁
This cute watercolor painting of Christmas lights was the result of watching Nianiani 'Glistening Christmas Lights.
This was a really fun watercolor painting. It turned out better than I had hoped, and I learned a few things in the process.
Best wishes & happy doodling!
May you find joy and inspiration!!
🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳
Fun Autumn landscape with acrylic paint.
Finished December 5, 2022 by Cathleen
Colorful acrylic landscape painting was done painting along with Michelle the Painter of Berkshire Paint and Sip.
November 27, 2022
Another attempt at a watercolor landscape.
on 5 x 7 inch watercolor paper
A little better because at least you can tell what it is, but still needs improvement. If you had seen my previous watercolor landscapes, posted below, you can see the slight improvement. Practice, practice, practice.
Feeling nostalgic, I painted this while watching old Bob Ross clips, with "HAPPY CLOUDS" and "HAPPY TREES" from my imagination.
November 26, 2022
🍂🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🍂
2 days after Thanksgiving and still have TURKEY on the brain.
November 25, 2022
🍂🍂🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🍂🍂
🍂🦃 Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍂
Best wishes & Happy Turkey Day!
Watercolor and ink turkey, my latest obsession. 😅
🍂🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🍂
November 21, 2022
🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
😁 Still having fun with bricks!
🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
November 19, 2022
🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
After saying that I do not like watercolor, I have to admit that I am having fun experimenting with the 🎨 watercolors. It goes to show how a little instruction can go a long way!
Michele Webber is a great watercolor instructor on Youtube, with great tips. I have been watching some of her videos lately and it was very pleasing when I had bricks on the brain, and searched watercolor bricks, and found Michele has a tutorial just for that!
Here is my first practice brick painting.
Since it was my first brick watercolor, I decided to stop while I was ahead, especially after I tried one of Michele's suggested tips and used oil pastel (didn't have wax) for the grout. I did not like it at all for mine and covered it with the ivy. It is pretty bad ivy, but I just adore ivy growing on brick and it is close enough, so i stopped here.
Funny enough, Michele's next video was on leaves! Going to watch that now 😏
🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
November 18, 2022
🐟🐠🐟🐠🐟🐠🐟
Even though this one began with high hopes and ended with many mishaps, it is one of my favorites. 🐟 I was experimenting with different things, like how much and where I could make the Sharpie mix with water. Yes, I know, 'don't do that!'. It was experimental. Anyway, I found out a few things about what worked and what didn't and I kind of like it, runny fish fins and all 😅
This watercolor was inspired by this amazing fish painting found on Youtube. The artist uses a rather large canvas, while mine is painted in a 5 x 9 inch sketch book. So no comparing, please. 😅
🐟🐟🐟🐟🐠🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟
November 18, 2022
🖌🎨 🖌🎨 🖌🎨 🖌🎨
My latest mishaps in watercolors 🖌🎨 😅 Fun stuff! 🐟🐟🐟
🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟
November 17, 2022
😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😆😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
Waiting to pick up kids from school, (while parked, of course...) is a good time to practice drawing. Since I've mostly been still practicing with a lot of pencil and sketching in my art journal, and still working on faces this works great because there is a mirror right there. Using my own face as practice, it is a nice way to kill time. This also aids in speeding you along in your drawing, although, I had worked on each of these over a couple of days each, keeping my sketch book specifically for this in the car.
Here is one of the sketches I did. This 3rd attempt during 'school pick up, drawing time practice' was the funnest because i started to see and think differently as I was drawing. With practice this seems will happen naturally.
It's not exactly my face, but I mean... its a face 😅
Don't forget, practice, practice, practice!
The one below is from a few weeks back, it is more finished, but I feel like the proportions have improved a little since then, especially in the eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~
November 16, 2022
🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌
NOW I REMEMBER!
Picking up my new watercolors, I am remembering why it was that I had not gotten along with watercolor over 20 years ago. This style of painting was something that I never understood. Maybe it is from having to use cake watercolors, usually not the best quality. Seeing so many lovely watercolor paintings lately, I decided to give them another try anyway.
These first attempts felt very awkward and turned out just awful.
But you have to start somewhere, right!? And again, maybe my mishaps will encourage others to just give it a try.
This landscape painting was supposed to be a winter scene, I guess the Texas in me just hasn't seen enough snow. 😅 The colors became very muddy when trying to 'fix' small mistakes, as well as my color palette was limited, not having the burnt sienna that was needed.
November 15, 2022
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
Though there have not been recent posts, I have been doing at least daily doodles. A lot has been learned through the constant practice. If you have not been practicing, maybe some of my latest mishaps will give you some encouragement to keep trying.
Gouache Peppers 🌶 😆
This still life is inspired by a photograph that I had taken years ago. It was such an awful picture, I wanted to see if I could make it better though painting. 😆
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
October 25, 2022
October 24, 2022
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Like being good at anything, to be good at art you must always be practicing.
This exercise, I don't recall if it is a lesson I read somewhere long ago, heard recently, or what, but it seemed like a good idea to look at something and draw it from memory.
Our daughter, Liz, had left in a hurry Friday for an overnight weekend, leaving her school supplies laying around while she was gone, and this cool 'Decompisition' notebook, with a nicely drawn landscape on the cover, kept catching my eye. Seeing it reminded me that she was gone and I was curious about the picture. Then, right before her return, I couldn't resist, and picked it up to try and sketch it out.
It didn't seem challenging enough to just draw what I saw, or even very interesting to do that, so I decided to stare at it for a minute, walk away, go for a walk and sit down and draw from memory.
Normally, that is how I draw, from memory. It does not work out very well, lol, because the proportions are always off. But I've been working on perspectives and proportions and I wanted to see if there was any improvement.
I've also been doing speed drawing, so time was important as well. Below took 10 minutes of the cover drawing, from memory.
More practice is still needed of course, but there is some slight improvement.
Our daughter returned and saw this, and pointed out there were not enough trees.
I know, right! 🌲🌲🌲
So, I let go of the idea of speed, went and looked at the picture for a few minutes and went to do something else.
When I had time, I sat down and added to the drawing from memory. At this point it was more about making it mine.
The last thing I added I cheated, I went back and looked at the cover to make the birds. Looking closer they were ducks and I really needed a reference. So I used the idea of using shapes, sharpened my pencil and managed these tiny little birds. I must say that I was quite pleased, and they are my favorite part of the drawing 🦆, (even if it voided the memory exercise 😅) Using the learned lessons from the past exercise of basic shapes made drawing the ducks so much easier.
Normally to do something like this, I would need the reference right in front of me, so for me, I am happy with the results.
Here is the cover. I peaked inside the decompisistion book, and to my delight, I found a single page, a doodle Liz had done. 😍
Thank you for stopping by.
Best wishes and happy doodling!
🌲🌲🌲🌲
October 23, 2022
🐦🐪✋
Drawing practice with Speed Drawing
It seems like a good idea to increase speed of drawing. Making art takes time, but the faster you get, the faster you can get your art done, and the faster you can get started on your next project. So speeding up the process seemed essential to me. Maybe I heard this long ago, or read it recently, I can't be sure, but it seemed like a good place to start by doing timed doodles.
I decided to challenged myself to draw exercise's from this book Draw Really Cool Stuff by Doug Dubosque, and do them in under 10 minutes.
This first one kind of stressed me out a tiny bit, mostly because it feels unfinished and rushed. I still feel compelled to go in and fix stuff, even now. But it was to be done in 10 minutes, and so I will leave it be and go make another one :)
The next one made me much happier, not because it is good or anything, but because it is a CAMEL and I just love Camels. This one was drawn in 5 minutes. Practicing by drawing things you really like, is a good motivation.
Below isn't from the book, but I wanted to see if I could draw something random, quickly. I had my hand, and hands are HARD, so that is what I chose to draw. This is about a 20 minute drawing, but hey, something like this before would have taken me hours. (it's bad, i know- I don't even wear nail polish 🤣)
Grab your drawing journal and practice some speed drawings.
Leave us shares in the comments below.
Found this other hand that I did last year in pen, fun stuff!
Thank you for stopping by.
Best wishes and happy doodling!
👋🐪🐦
October 22, 2022
🐢🐟🐠 Back to Basics for Proportion ~
Sitting and drawing the other day, I noticing how wrong my proportions usually are. This got me thinking about getting back to the basics. Not 10 minutes later, my husband walks up on me drawing and says that there are some really good books on drawing, and that I should get one and take a look. Yes! Great idea! So, I pick up a fun drawing
book that we have and start back with shapes.
I had originally gotten this
book (Draw Really Cool Stuff), over 10 years ago for me and the kids, and of course I had given it a try, but mostly the book just sat on a shelf.
Personally, I had never really understood about starting with shapes, I didn't get it. It was a step that I missed all these years. Even when drawing a face, I would start with an egg, sure, and try to make the lines, but usually did not follow anywhere near any of these in what I saw and would draw. I just didn't get it. Now, after all these years of trying to learn how to draw, trying to figure out how to express what was in my head, I pick up this book and something has change....
Suddenly the idea of seeing the shapes, mapping them out, it just makes more sense!
Kind of like reading a dance book, you can read it, but until your body actually grasps the movements, you will not be able to put it together.
I'm not sure what clicked, but if you want my opinion and my advice, it was all the practice that I've been doing lately. In practicing everyday, I've learned more and more. I'm learning things like how to hold the pencil more efficiently, how to work more quickly, etc. All these things get better with practice.
Below are a few drawings that I have done from the book so far.
They are for proportion and using the shapes method, which, I think it really helped.
In the past, I had hated having to erase those shapes that you do in the beginning, but as Doug Dubosque, and other instructors point out, you should do these shapes with light pencil marks, to be erased, or simply drawn over, later. This lightness was something that I only recently am beginning to master, and it is very helpful.
Here are a few drawings I did from the book so far;
The turtle is my favorite 🐢 so far.
After making this little fish, he seemed so lonely, and I found another fish, and the crown of thorns starfish in the book, so they got added to the picture.
I can't wait to see what else comes from this doodling adventure! We would love to see your latest doodles, if you would like to share them in the comments below.
In life, the way we see things changes with time.
Be patient with yourself, keep at it, and practice, practice, practice :)
🐢🐟🐠
October 22, 2022
Back to basics today....
Fun little Fat Sand Rat was found in
Keep doodling!
October 19, 2022
🐪🐪🐪🐪🐪🐪🐪🐪
After sharing the wood camel, I was inspired to share another adorable camel that my Mom made and gifted me. My loving, beautiful, talented Mother made this stunning embroidered camel on a hand made cozy for Christmas one year. It is my favorite, and I absolutely adore it! She does amazing work.
My Mom recently commented that she can not see a camel without thinking of me 😻
How wonderful is this, I get to carry a camel with me, made with love from my Mom, where ever I want 😍
🌟🐪💝
October 17, 2022
Not my work, but wanted to share this adorable camel that was recently returned to my care. (Believe it or not, this is not the only camel that my Mom has made for me (LOVE THAT 💘) )
In 2004, for my birthday, my Mom made this wooden art piece. She used her table saw to first cut it out of a piece of wood, burned in the textures, and then painted it with stain and gold paint.
I was living with her at the time, and it had lived with her, hanging on the wall in her house for all these years, Until, for my birthday this year, she surprised me by bringing me this cute little camel. Now it can adorn my wall. Isn't it precious!
💖 Love you, Mom!
💖🐪🌟
🌴🐪🌴🌴🌴🦀🌴 Camila & Crabby 🌴🦀🌴🌴🌴🐪🌴
October 17, 2022
Lately, I am quite obsessed with drawing this image of Cami & Crabby, as I have affectionately named the camel and crab seen above on the beach. If you do not see me working on one of these drawings, I'm probably planning one out in my head 😅
This one took about 30 hours of actual drawing with colored pencil. Much more time wnet into doodling and sketching out camels just for fun and practice, in art journals as well. This drawing of Cami and Crabby has been a project very near and dear to my heart, and as I've mentioned in the past, I'm a little obsessed with camels in general.
If you would like to hear more about the origins of Cami and Crabby, go to this past Camila & Crabby post, (or the bottom of this page), to hear more about these two and their beginnings.
I don't know about you, but I'm still partial to the first one I did (on the right).
🌴🐪🌴🌴🌴🦀🌴
October 14, 2022
Oh, my goodness! I did not know the magic of gouache paint! What fun this was. I know, it is far from even being good, but it was fun to experiment with gouache for the first time, and to see the beautiful color results.
This new set of gouache paints had been sitting around intimidating me for months, when I finally decided to add some color to my life and give them a try in one of my old sketch books. I seem to have misplaced ALL my paint brushes, so I used some big paint brushes that I use for pencil drawing and a really soft tiny brush. I'm no expert on brushes, but I could tell that these were not the right brushes to use. I added water to thin the gouache for both of these. Next time I will try different things and see what happens.
Below, I was just playing around to see how the color went on the paper. I'm fascinated by how vibrant and beautiful the colors turned out.
Daily Doodle.....
It isn't hard to doodle everyday when you get bit by the drawing bug, but let's see if I can keep this up all year. 😅 Month one is so far so good.
Doodle inspired by
Pin.
Have you grabbed you an art journal and started sketching yet?
Best wishes & happy doodling!
October 11, 2022
Todays favorite doodle
Inspired drawing from this fishy Pin 🐟
October 11, 2022 🌴🐪
Journal vs Sketchbook
There seems to be a lot of people saying the same thing, about how they can not draw, and I whole heartedly believe that if you have a drawing bug, you should practice and not give up just because of your own judgement. Sadly, in the past I'd given up more times than I can count. But lately, I've started drawing more again and I have to give some credit to this great Youtube video, titled "How a sketchbook can change your life" by Sketchbook Skool. Its definitely improved mine.
Right after seeing this video. I grabbed an old pocket size writing journal, nothing fancy, and I started an 'art journal'. I have to say that it's been really hard to put down. I've had large size sketchbooks for years, all half full with what was supposed to be masterpiece pieces, ya, right.... But, for some reason, thinking of it more as a journal than a sketchbook, allowed me to let things flow more.
I would presume it's because there is less pressure, knowing that it is for me, you know, a 'journal', and not for others to be pleased or be judging me, this allows creativity to flow easier and mistakes to be made. We can not grow without learning from our mistakes. So, I've found that I doodle more, judge myself less, and experiment a lot more.
Do yourself a favor and invest in a small journal for whatever you'd like to keep in it and see what you come up with.
Personally, I find this Art Journaling is a great way to relax, practice and grow. Since starting my little journal, there is a sense of freedom to mess up, experiment and play. I wanted something fun in the front and to practice Cami and Crabby, and this is how the front page turned out. It definitely makes me smile.
(I was serious when I said I grabbed an old writing journal 🤣)
Sketched this out in less then an hour and felt so happy after. 🐪🦀🌴
You can put whatever the heck you want, relax and have fun with it.
Best wishes and happy doodling!
October 2022
Here is another pencil drawings of my cat, Ms Blackerbee, (aka Blackie).
The drawing below was when I thought the picture was done, but as usual, I kept seeing things that needed more work, and honestly still am, but there is only so much you can do on one picture once you have gone so far. So we will leave Ms Blackerbee as she is. Okay, maybe I will go back and add her eyebrow whiskers :)
Pictured below is the photo that the drawing is based on. Around this time last year, I had just finished the
oil pastel seen in the background, Ms Blackerbee would very persistently get in my face and right in the way of the camera. That is until I started trying to take her picture, of course, then she went and laid down. I managed a few photos, but since they were cute, but not perfect, I decided to mess them up a little more by trying to draw her 🤣
Yes, the proportions are WAY off, please keep in mind, this is drawing PRACTICE 😉
Ms Blackerbee shared in the process with me 😍
,
a great pencil art instructor with some great drawing tips. Go check her out if you too would like to get tips for pencil drawing, and empress your cat ㋛
September 2021
Fun with oil pastels....
It's not a great job, but it was a nice first try. I learned a few things and got excited to give oil pastels another try.
This was done following a 'draw along', that you can find on Youtube.
The cat thought that I should be petting her instead of taking pictures of drawings.😅
Thank you for stopping by.
Best wishes & happy drawing!
September 2021
🍂🍁Fallen Leaf on Water with Oil Pastels🍁🍂
A fallen leaf is summer saying goodbye~
"I wonder if leaves feel lonely when they see their neighbors falling." John Muir
With Autumn here and my continued mood to draw, this leaf tutorial on Youtube was just the thing to get me excited about drawing another oil pastel.
Such a lovely color combination.
It reminds me a little, of one of my photographs that, to me, is so peaceful.
"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the Autumn tree." Emily Bronte
This Wine Glass practice drawing is based on this
Pin that caught my eye last year around this same time.
This art
Pin was great inspiration. And while I adore Pinterest, and find so much inspiration there, I really miss the '
Tried Pin' feature. It seems that they did away with it early 2022.
It was a fun feature and it is always nice to share feedback. So, hey, Pinterest.... Please bring back 'Tried Pins' feature, we miss this! Who's with me?
.
If you are not familiar with this feature, click on this
Pin link and see my 'tried pin', see also other versions of the same drawing, and while you are there, you can follow my
Art board.
This fun practice drawing was done with graphite pencils.
Wine glass drawing done September 2021
♡ Heart Doodle ♡
I've always liked
water drop photos and water drop drawings, and when I came across this great
Pin video of a heart doodle on Pinterest, I was inspired to pick up a pencil. This is the cute heart that I ended up with.
Water and glass drawings are just so peaceful to me, and
Pinterest is a great place to find inspiration for drawing and doodling water drops and more.
This little doodle reminds me of a heart shaped water drop or a glass heart. Just so cool and soothing. And after all, tis' the season for Love! To see how to draw a heart like this, check out this great
Pin VIDEO on Pinterest, uploaded by battery-plus.gr!
Thank you for stopping by.
Hope that you find joy and inspiration!
Best wishes and happy doodling!!
<3
Water drop doodles....
There is something so beautiful and calming about water drops, I find them absolutely mesmerizing.
While doodling, I was inspired to try and capture a water drop on paper myself, so I turned to Pinterest for ideas. Finding these inspiring drawings, I tried a few.
This first drawing was inspired by this water drops Pin. This drawing was super fun and great practice!
Another great
Pin that I tried was this single water drop. I didn't quite get it, but again, fun and great practice.
May you find joy & inspiration!
Happy drawing!!
February 2022
Recently, my step Mom asked me, "Since when could you draw?"
Hmmm? I'm didn't know that I could 😂 But, I'd always wanted to learn!
(Inspired drawing, Picasso's The Guitarist 2001)
So I pulled out my old rescued sketch book and thought about how I had been saying that I can not draw for quite a long time. But this does not sound right, because you see, I believe that anyone can learn things. Take gardening for example, I thought that I had a 'black thumb', but it was a matter of figuring out what needs to be done and practice doing it. With this idea I tried, and low and behold, I managed to keep plants alive! It is only when I do not practice what I learned that the plants will die. And with drawing, I always said that I can not draw, but people seem to tell me that I can, and well, I guess just like with gardening, you just need to practice.
All of my life I've been too intimidated by great artists to try making very much art myself. But sometimes I just can not resist the urge to doodle and draw. I always see things that i think would be so wonderful to paint, but don't because I doubt that i could do anything so beautiful. I would think that you would need to be able to draw to do anything like that. And, yes, it is hard, but anything worth doing and learning usually is. With practice, I learn more with every drawing.
Back in 2000, way before Youtube, I set out to try and figure it out more, and the public library is a great resource for all sorts of things including art and anything art related. At the library is where I started trying to figure out the whole process and what I must be missing. I read about art supplies and how to apply them, about great artists and studied my favorite artist, Reimbrandt. It was then that I decided that this was just a matter of practice.
Inspired drawing, Reimbrandt's A Women Bathing in a Stream 2001
It seems that the art bug only bites me with the change of the seasons or on certain holidays, and that I'm not always feeling it. At times like these I sometimes feel like I fail and it ruins my desire to try more. But it is only with practice that we can get better at things and for them to feel more natural, so I say, keep picking up that pencil and keep drawing, it is a matter of practice!
Pictured above is a self portrait from 2001, I was having a lot of trouble with faces and trying to learn by drawing more faces. I usually draw myself, so as not to offend anyone by messing up a drawing of their face, you know, mess up my own face. 😂
In February 2022, I got bit by that drawing bug again and wanted to try another self portrait, surprisingly it actually looks a lot like me, to the point that Google actually recognized it as me! With practice, I can feel and see how my drawing has improved.
This got me to thinking about all the people that I know that CAN draw and who, like me, say that they can not and need to just pick up the pencil! If for no other reason but for themself.
My youngest daughter, who also says that she can't draw, but she doodles all of the time, she drew this mushroom below, that I'd rescued from the trash, and it shows her potential. I love to see her doodling and knowing that she is practicing something she loves. Even the eye can be trained, with practice.
Spheres and crystal balls are among some of my favorite things and are a great way to practice drawing. I'd attempted several crystal ball drawings with mediocre results, but with this
tutorial on Youtube, practice, and the right paper, the results were very different!
So pick up those art tools and practice, practice, practice!
Thank you for stopping by.
Hope that you find joy and inspiration!
Best wishes and happy drawing!!
Ha!
If you have read this far, I would love to share;
I am not sure if it is just great algorithms or fate, but tonight, right after writing this today, I happened over to Youtube to watch some drawing videos. I'd watched a Silvie Mahdal tutorial before and she does beautiful art and art tutorials, so I clicked on this video of her drawing an eye and she happens to be talking about the same sort of thing that this post was about, except she puts it so eloquently and with so much heart and style. Just to watch her draw is mesmerizing! I highly recommend this video for any aspiring artist.
September 2021
This past weeks doodles......
Every year around my oldest sons birthday, I seem to get an urge to draw. Maybe it is this special time of year when Autumn begins, or that since Harley was born, he has inspired me to draw. Whatever it is, this year, after being inspired by other peoples art, I find myself wanting to share my doodles, if for no other reason then to inspire my own family to pick up those pencils, and whom ever else might feel it as well.
This past week, I was feeling in the mood to use pencil and colored pencils, and attempt some animal portraits. Usually after the eyes it seems to go down hill. But practice makes perfect. So I am practicing, and these were my results.
September 2021
Cali Cat~
"It'll be alright..." Happy Turtle, Angry Rabbit, doodles.
Rabbit inspired by this adorable paint by numbers
Pin.
Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy & inspiration!
Happy drawing!!
September 2021
A break from crochet for a minute....🍁🍂🍂
🍁It seems Autumn is an especially inspiring time to draw~🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂
With the change of season, the drawing bug hit me, so I got out a ball point pen and some ink pens to give these mediums a try. Normally ink is not something that I'd feel comfortable using, not being able to erase is intimidating. But to my surprise, it was super fun, relaxing and satisfying. Honestly, kind of hard to put down.
The first picture was found on
Youtube, where you can watch XonArt "Draw a simple landscape in pen and ink".
Two inspired ink drawings....
Inspired pen drawings....
Inspired pencil drawings....
Camel inspired by a cute camel picture on
Pinterest.
~~~~Doodles~~~~
Inspired and original colored pencil drawings.
Sloth is inspired by this adorable sloth painting,
Pin.
My ugly pumpkin, I just couldn't stoppp....
black & white~
With age, as with other things in life besides drawing... my straight lines get straighter, circles rounder and things are seen in a whole new way.
Grab yourself a pen or pencil and kick back and draw something! It is so meditative and relaxing! Or go Zentangle! Go do your thing and enjoy your thing, whatever you do.
Thank you for stopping by.
Happy drawing!
Drawings are from the second week in September, during Fall inspired drawing faze, September 2021.
Peach Creek Printing
Now
~ Peach Creek Photos & Printing ~
Now selling digital photos on Etsy! Choose from photos, request a photo, or use your own photo, have photos and logos printed on shirts, mugs and more!
You can also visit Shutterstock to view my portfolio and purchase photographs there.
Thank you for stopping by.
May you find Joy and Inspiration!
Best wishes!!
February 2022
НейроГрафика ∾ Neurography
Neurography is an interesting drawing technique invented by Pavel Piskarev to help bring together science and art. He came up with this idea around 2016, but it is new to me and couldn't have come at a better time on these long winter days.
I am sure some of you are feeling the stress' of the past couple of years, and most of us could use a way to unwind. If you like to doodle, then maybe Neurographs could be a great outlet for you as well.
The basic idea here is that you meditate and put pen to paper. In one motion you draw lines. When you are done, you go back and soften all the corners of these lines everywhere there is a sharp point. Once there are no sharp edges, you can fill it in with colors, using whatever color application you are comfortable with. A lot of people use watercolors.
Of course, there is way more to this than I am explaining here, and if you would like to learn more, you can visit Neurographica.us website for articles on this inventive art technique.
I would also recommend Neurographic Art website, as another place to start and find out more. Go to Neurography Art on that site, to hear Pavel Piskarev himself (in Russian), speak of this interesting style of art and its benefits, (with a rough written translation).
Alison Hazel Art does a nice job explaining and demonstrating this neurograph art idea and the basics on Youtube.
On this page are my first 2 Neurographic drawings. I hear that this type of Neurographic drawings are great for children. It seems that a lot of art teachers are introducing this technique in the classroom. Being a big believer of the importance of art education for youth, I could see the benefits of this strange new art introduced at a young age and being a great outlet for children.
I used sharpie and oil pastels for both of mine, mostly because it was what I had on hand, but also I love the colors that the oil pastels produce.
You can also watch Art with Mrs Hibbs on Youtube about this neat idea, along with countless others sitting down and creating Neurographs.
Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy and inspiration!
Best wishes and happy doodling!!
September 2021
🌺❤️🌿🌺
Camila & Crabby
Camels are just so AWESOME!
I've been adoring camels, collecting camels and trying to draw camels since the 90's. Camels are so adorable and amazing that I am just nuts about them!
These two have been such an inspiration, and hearing their tales of camels and the beach had inspired me to draw more camels.
As usual, I turned to Pinterest for camel picture inspiration and found this awesome photograph of a camel laying in the sand looking at a dung beetle, photographed by Sam Rowely.
Since seeing this photograph, this cute camel was stuck in my head and yearning to come to life in a drawing.
It floated around for months in my head, and I practiced on this and that, until finally my drawing started to come together and come to life.
Crab drawing practice below. Feeling Crabby?
Camel, affectionately named Camila and her friend Crabby, drawing is very far from perfect, but it is what was trapped inside my head all these months, and I am happy to finally be able to share it with my Uncle. So for now, I will let this sleepy camel lie, and be content with how it is.
This cute camel drawing is available for download in Peach Creek Printing's Etsy shop, for those who would like to hang out with her a little longer.
Below is my attempt in oil pastels, with the dung beetle.
Sam Rowely is the talented young photographer that captured this adorable camel photo while in the desert. Sam's wonderful picture was published in StoryTrender where you can read about his photograph and adventure.
Dung beetle 🐞 in Texas.
Inspired by nature!
Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy and inspiration!
Best wishes and happy drawing, and photographing!!
If you would like to purchase any art work, please contact me here, through Doily Designs, or visit Peach Creek Printing so see latest available. If you do not see something you are interested in, please feel free to reach out. Custom orders are always welcome.
(Inspired drawing, Picasso's The Guitarist 2001)
Inspired drawing, Reimbrandt's A Women Bathing in a Stream 2001
No comments:
Post a Comment