Happy New Year

I love that the calendar rolls around eventually and gives us another chance to renew all those good intentions. Looking forward to seeing all of your beautiful works and becoming inspired. - Tracy

Mandala painting in ink and watercolor by Tracy Horner

Pugs completed at last.

Finally. I'm satisfied. 

First Days of 2015

So far in January I've been doing a lot of writing, reading, journaling, note taking, sketching ideas and making lists. 

I've kinda been stuck in my head and spending a lot of time in the car. We just returned from an impromptu trip to Missoula, Montana to see 6 of our best friend's who all ended up moving there from Wyoming and South Dakota for various reasons. And the 10 days before Montanan, we were in South Dakota and Wyoming visiting family.

All this to say I'm just going to share one of my recently matted mini paintings, as I'm not quite ready to share my journals.

If you like my mini painting, be sure to check out ETSY as I will be posting several over the next few days.

Enjoy your Art-a-Day!!

Mini Flower Henna Design Painting

Ugly Fish?

Hello fellow artists and art enthusiasts!

My name is Felicia Follum and this is my first post for Art-a-Day, though I have been following the blog since March. I am an emerging artist and will be graduating from the University of Wyoming in May.  My artwork tends to focus on social issues.  My most recent body of work deals with African American religious culture and my next body will be dealing with human trafficking.

To see more about me and my artwork check out my blog, website, or Facebook page.  But for now I would like to share one of the watercolor studies I painted a couple days ago. This painting was supposed to be a study of cloth using my dad’s old fish tie. I ended up drawing the fish instead of the waded fabric at the other end.  I really enjoy the colors in this painting...

My mom hated the fish tie and gave it to me in high school.  I kept it and entered it in  an ugly tie contest at Alexander's, a jewelry shop.  It won enough for a free pearl necklace. 

Small landscape study

today's watercolor lesson, landscape study

This small landscape study was my student's focus lesson for today. The primary objective was to create strong and dynamic clouds. Onto a very wet page, the dark prussian blue color was laid down first, with a touch of cobalt in the upper right corner. The paper was held upright, allowing the paint to streak down into the white space. Then the tool of the day - a crumpled, dry paper towel - was applied with very firm pressure against the paper's surface, blotting up the paint. Suddenly the white of the paper emerged. The hills and trees were added last. It was a quick little lesson and we all had a great deal of fun "playing" with the landscape.  [I must put a disclaimer here that this was not an original design. I borrowed it from another online artist.]

Follow my personal blog: http://www.lauragable.blogspot.com
and my personal website: http://LauraGable.com

A spot of realism, and some D-R-A-W-ing wisdom

watercolor of fruit bowl from photo

While prepping last month for the watercolor class I teach at the Cancer Center, I did a still life from a photo then decided the project was a bit advanced for my beginners, many of whom have dexterity issues from some of their treatments. Today, having added a few finishing strokes of soft reflected light on the papayas, I thought it might be nice to share this bit of realism, which I'm thrilled to discover I still can do.
~
On another note, I'm reading a book called "Learn Watercolor the Edgar Whitney Way," a distinguished artist, who in his day trained many of our current masters. He discusses the value of drawing, which I thought was relevant, since we've got so many diligent sketchers here...

    "In his last class at the Pratt Institute where he had taught for so many years, high on the front wall of the classroom, as large as he possibly could, he wrote the word D R A W. Then he underlined the word and took the line down the wall across the floor to the opposite wall, and up as high as he could, he wrote "Good luck, goodbye."
     It was his way of ramming into his students' heads the importance of drawing. He felt passionately that drawing was the absolute foundation of visual art. "Without draftsmanship--the discipline endured and the mastery achieved--your work will have limited context. It will lack the essential quality of ease and the sense of power."
     He told his students, the way to learn to draw was to draw everything, everywhere in sketchbooks, the more frequent, the more fast thinking and skill one gains. Ten minutes ten times a day is better than six hours once a week. Great draftsmen were eliminators, putting down only essentials, and this skill can be learned with a sketchbook because the limited time teaches you what is important and what isn't. You have to discipline yourself until drawing everywhere and at all times becomes a habit.
     Remember when you're sketching, you're not after results. The drawing is not important--the experience is. Your emotion and your degree of understanding leak through the pencil or brush onto the paper as you make your stroke."

On the road

I've been in Tennessee since Sunday and just getting around to posting. However I have been making art most of those days.

These images are from the road trip on the way. Beautiful sunset and ice on the rocks along the way. The trip made me realize how much I miss seeing mountains. It's also been an interesting couple of days with cold weather, then warm weather, tornado warnings and thunderstorms, and now back to freezing temps. Of course those of you in Washington are dealing with your own weather extremes right now.

These two sketches are of the same tree outside the hotel window that I did on consecutive days. You'll have to trust me that it's the same tree. :)

And,finally, today's snack

Furry Pink Mustache

Whew! I almost forgot to do a post today *gasp* after an evening of fun playing Ultimate Frisbee.

..and only 8 days into my resolution to post and make art everyday of the year!

Good thing I painted this furry old grandpa early in the day.

I'm fond of his pink mustache.

Water color, paper & an ultra fine Sharpie were used to make this.

Oh.. and if any of you were waiting on more pictures of my Dragon sculpture or Astronaut painting, tomorrow I'm working on both. Friday-Sunday I like to do little things.. it was the weekend!!

Stay Artsy & DFTBA

Sarah Bosserman



Dragon Goggles

Well, here is my concept art for the Dragon's coloring.

I'm especially proud of the goggle-like patterning around his eyes, and the flag like appendages on his head make me smile. He literally can feel the wind in his flaggy-things.

More to come on this many colored beasty, and who knows this might not be the final design.

However, at the moment I'm quiet happy with it.

Stay Artsy & DFTBA

Sarah Bosserman

Hikes and a sketch

This last weekend saw very mild temps in my area so my husband and I took the opportunity to do some hiking and sight seeing. We visited the Raleigh Arboretum and I was amazed at the number of plants in bloom. Certainly different from Southern Oregon where I just moved from.



On New Year's Day we hiked at William B. Umstead State Park. It was an especially warm morning. This area is full of quartz which holds a great fascination for me. Must be its sparkly nature.


Yesterday I made a small sketch of some of my findings.