Sharing is caring is love.

I'm not sure if you can tell what has changed in my drawing studio. 

Can you see it? 

I will give you a clue. Ready? 

I drew a big heart around it because it is my new favorite thing in the room (besides Teddy and my cat, Midnight).

That's right! It's my handsome husband. :)

I have a large room and it gets lonely hanging out in here all by myself, so I asked Mark if he would move in and he said Yes!

This is going to be great fun! 

Working side by side, talking with each other, and thinking about one another. I'm a very lucky girl. 

Our 7 year old son took this picture of us. I think he did a pretty good job.

Working on...

I'm still working on this guy...but I'm thinking of switching gears to sort of reboot my creative flow, cuz' I haven't had one. :)

So, I started sketching out this...

I realize these sketches are very rough, my frog needs much improvement. They're more about getting a vibe to see if it is something I want to pursue. I'm thinking a steampunk style to the drawing. The top sketch is the one that I'm leaning toward.

What do you think?

Weathering the Storm

Wow! Where has the time gone? I am sorry that I have been absent for so long, I have been dealing with personal issues...nothing that I can't handle though. ;-)

Let's see, back on July 29th I wrote a post about following your inspiration, but I never followed up with the finished painting to that post. 

This painting is dedicated to my husband, Mark. 
Together, we can weather any storm.

It's a moment defined by a feeling. That moment of happiness, sadness, hurt, joy, pain, surprise, anger. It is that minute of uncertainty, that hour of doubt, that year of struggle. It can be fleeting, and other times it decides to settle in and stay for a while. Some moments we can see approaching on the horizon, other moments strike quickly and wildly on a random Thursday. However the moment arrives or why, slow down, take solace in each other, and be still. Storms will come and go, there will always be bright days and dark days, the one constant will be love. Embrace the love and hold on. 

Share your most memorable moment in the comments. I would love to hear about it. 


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Following your inspiration

So often I wake up in the morning and I have this great desire to draw or paint, and so often I put it off feeling obligated to get the chores done first.  The problem is that when I do my "other" work first, by the time I have the opportunity to be creative, the inspiration has vanished.

It has been this way for as long as I can remember. I blame the fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. That story terrified me when I was a child. I don't want to starve to death!  

Don't get me wrong, there isn't anything wrong with "work before play". It is a good lesson to teach and to live by, but once in a while you need to break the rules and chase after that inspiration. It is good for the soul. :) Sort of like having pancakes or cereal for dinner.

Starting today, I'm going to change the way I prioritize my time. I am going to "give in" more often to my whims and follow my inspiration.

Inspiration

I haven't done a watercolor in almost four years. I woke up this morning and all I could think about was coffee painting with watercolor. The dishes aren't done, the cats and my son are hungry <-I'm kidding, what kind of monster do you think I am? I fed the cats! :-P, the laundry isn't folded, and that's okay. ♥ I'm too busy giving in to my inspiration. ♥

Tada!

Last week, I posted the below images to the nikkiMdesign Facebook Page. I was hopeful that this past weekend would bring me lots of time to work on turning this heaping mess of a bedroom into my art studio.

Stuff, stuff, stuff, and more stuff, and toys, and...

Is that dirty underwear on the floor?! Haha! Made you look!

I had old furniture to dismantle and move out, shelves to hang, things to organize, and a very large, heavy table that had to be hauled from the basement to the upstairs (sorry honey!) to create a space that was all mine.

After several hours of hard work and a lot of assistance from a very patient husband, there was progress.

One of these days I will paint the walls, add some better lighting, and put up some more shelves, but for now, this ♥ will do perfectly ♥ 

Struggling

I am struggling with the facial hair. I've added quite a bit more but I feel as though it is losing its definition. I'm worried that if I keep going it will become one big black blob. At the same time, I don't feel as though it has enough depth. Grrr. Any of my illustrator/artist friends want to give me some advice? 

Making progress WIP The Hitchhiker

I added his pipe and I have started to fill in his beard! 

Sorry about the photo quality, I am a horrible photographer!

According to the tutorials that I have read, the first step to drawing facial hair is creating the skin tone beneath the beard by making circles at varying sizes and shades and then using a stump to blend them. Then using a kneaded eraser, you lift some of the graphite to create lighter areas. 

Next you begin to layer in dark areas and light areas with different leads to begin creating the fullness. Do not press too hard because later you want to add highlights with your eraser by removing some of the graphite. I am rewording what I have read, the tutorials available via an online search will go into much greater detail than what I have listed.