Karen's Sketchbook

From sketchbook to digital paintbox

2012-01-24T08:07:00.001-08:00

I love sketching, especially faces. I always have.

But even more fun, is when I upload artwork into my computer, and get lost in the world of my digital paintbox.

Art Deco Inspiration

2012-01-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

I love entering the weekly fabric contest on Spoonflower. I especially love it lately because I have been challenging myself by using my own artwork and working on my surface design skills.

I took an original portrait design and used it in the ART DECO theme contest.

The contest required us to only use four colors, so this is the design I submitted. I have always loved the Art Deco period and especially those magnificent Vogue magazines. the 1920's was an amazing Fashion design era. After all this was the era of Coco Chanel.

Coco Chanel said:

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."

I think that this is especially true of the Art Deco period. The art, music and fashion was so amazing. One of the reasons that I love the movie, Midnight in Paris is that I can so identify with the character played by Owen Wilson. Truly the people he met were among my favorite authors, writers and performers.

She is called ART DECO MAGAZINE 1923. I actually ended up creating so many different versions because it was so much fun. But this one and the full color version, which I called ART DECO FASION MAGAZINE.

This contest will run the first week of February. Now I have to design something for next week's contest. Hope you enjoy the music. I thought this post deserved a little bit of Cole Porter. You Do Something To Me.

Pumpkin Art

2011-09-30T04:26:00.000-07:00

This time of year I love painting pumpkins.

and while I'm at it, I love creating patterns for some fabric.

Have a Great Pumpkin day.

Inspiration Boards and Words of Inspiration

2011-07-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

I have been sketching, printing and designing all kinds of inspiration boards.

This fabric started as a photo,

Then I used photoshop elements and lots of layers to produce a fabric design, which I then printed by Spoonflower.

I covered a canvas bulletin board with the fabric and had it professionally framed.

I just a had to add some Inspiration Board Jewelry and decorative pushpins. I have been making rosettes from Vintage flower petals designed for millinery with a large upholstery pin for the center. Finding tassels to match the boards and all kinds of wonderful notions that might add just the right embellishment.

So, now my new shop I call A WORD OF INSPIRATION is open.

My plan is to add BAGS OF INSPIRATION by theme to help make inspiration boards sparkle.

Inspiration Boards and New Designs

2011-04-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have been working on lots of new fabric designs. Click on the image below to see it in fabric:

This is an inspiration board that I used to show my original photograph and then using layers to create this design I call Parisian Shadows. I am using Photoshop Elements 9

The Sketchbook Challenge

2011-02-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

My friend Karen from Creativity Cake told me about The Sketchbook Challenge.

The project began on January 1, 2011. Each month there is a theme.

This month the theme is OPPOSITES.

There is a wonderful group of women hosting the challenge and offering tips, tutorials, and techniques. There are also prizes awarded from some pretty amazing sponsors.

The Sketchbook challenge blog has a wonderful post about The Sketch-In.

When I saw the theme for February, I knew just what I would sketch, then using ink and watercolor...

My Underwood Vintage typewriter and my Apple iPad.

Little did I know when I used to type on my manual typewriter using correct-a-type...

that someday I would be working on an Apple iPad.

So, my entry for February OPPOSITES is...

An Apple iPad and a Vintage Underwood typewriter. If you would like to join in for sketching fun, just click HERE.

The song for this post always makes me happy, just like sketching with my paintbrush. Mindy Gledhill sings Anchor.

Photoshop Techniques

2011-02-17T21:19:00.000-08:00

I just joined Kim Klassen's skinny-mini Photoshop class. I am having so much fun, that I also joined her on-going workshop with backgrounds called The Test Kitchen.

I think I am in love with backgrounds. Kim is amazing. Here I have enhanced the photo even further.

In the illustration above, Kim teaches you how to use her lovely backgrounds and use words.

Paris Dreams

2011-02-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

I love sketching a portrait

and then using digital magic to refine the look.

I remember the Breck Girls, which were lovely renderings of girls with lovely hair for Breck Shampoo.

Back in the 1966 I went to the Guggenheim museum to see the famous Andy Warhole exhibit.

Andy Warhole would probably be lost in the world of Photoshop if he were alive today.

The word Paris is from The Graphics Fairy.

My Vintage Runway

2011-02-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

For quite sometime I have been getting back to my first love, fashion illustration.

Every now and then I'll get out a fashion magazine like I did at Seventeen,

and sketch away.

Most recently I went to the Boston Museum of Fine Art and saw two gorgeous exhibits about Vintage fashion.

I wrote a post about my visit to the museum and links at my other blog, A Scrapbook of Inspiration.

I was reminded of all the wonderful dresses that I wore Once upon a time.

I really should be cleaning my art room...

2011-01-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I should. I started to organize my art room yesterday,

and I promised myself I would work on it all day today.

But then I started to doodle digitally,

and well, one thing led to another and...

I started to daydream about Spring!

P.S. if you would like to digitally paint and daydream, Rhonna Farrer's backgroungs are amazing.

And Karen from The Graphics Fairy has lovely images to play with for free..

Daisies

2011-01-02T05:45:00.000-08:00

It's funny how one paintbrush sketch of a daisy can lead to so many graphic designs.

Daisies always make me smile.

Finally back to my sketchbook

2010-09-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have been lost in French script and busy designing fabric on Spoonflower, adding things to my etsy shop and blogging on A Scrapbook of Inspiration and For The Love of Old books, and taking photographs.

It's never too early to begin creating Christmas designs. I have turned this mixed-media design into prints and fabric, but I am thinking maybe Christmas cards too.

and another,

I must remember to update my sketchbook

A more traditional Father Christmas

more often. Happy creating.

Chandeliers

2010-02-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

Creating new art using ephemera or restoring Antique artwork with my digital paintbox is fun. Here I created a chandelier book plate for the inside of books using my original design.

A bit of Jane Austen from a 1917 MANSFIELD PARK

And a bit of Alice in Wonderland

Frances Burnett's MY ROBIN

MY ROBIN

2010-02-08T07:49:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite authors, Frances Hodgson Burnett who wrote The Secret Garden also wrote a little book called MY ROBIN.

I have been lost in restoring these Antique prints found inside this wonderful old volume from 1915.

A new passion of mine is restoring Antique artwork from wonderful old books found on the dusty shelves of old book shops. Dusting them off and setting them free to be seen as new repurposed artwork is my new passion.

Dress forms, cards and girl's night out

2009-11-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

Lost in designing cards again. My favorite thing to do.

I love designing dress forms.

and then there is always girl's night out.

A night of fun in dress form land.

2009-10-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

I just love working with Antique and Vintage photographs.

After creating this digital painting, I added a touch of glitter and created greeting cards.

I have neglected my little shop on Lolllishops, so my new goal is to turn it into a shop for my greeting cards soon.

Digital Painting with Grandma

2009-09-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

I think that my grandmother was a gorgeous baby. She was born in 1901.

Grandma made wonderful apple pie a great cup of coffee and...

She had a birdie named Michael.

Oh, and she loved roses.

Paris Painting

2009-08-29T23:27:00.001-07:00

The Quilting Girl

2009-07-30T06:02:00.001-07:00

Now that I have found a design for a greeting card for Quilt Girl, I have been digitally enhancing my pencil drawing. Everyone loves quilts, and I have met so many quilters in The Land of Blog. Here is the original pencil sketch.

Alice in Wonderland

2009-06-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

I love creating artwork for Alice in Wonderland, so when Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist invited me to the Mad Hatter Tea, I couldn't resist.

For this design, I used a background from Pickleberrypop.

I also enjoy using my photograph as a little girl inside my watercolor, as Alice. This was designed for the Mad Hatter Party from 2008.

As a mixed-media artist, I just love to combine, my sketches, artwork, and photographs. For this piece I also used the background I purchased from Pickleberrypost.

Brides & Blue Ribbons

2009-06-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

pencil sketch and digital paints 2009

Creating designs with blue ribbons is always a favorite of mine. Especially when creating brides. Once upon a time, when I didn't know how to paint I fell in love with a bride painting in a museum.

oil painting on linen canvas 2003

The bride portrait was lovely with blue ribbons blowing in the breeze against a white veil. I still love sketching and painting bride portraits.

Mermaid Art

2009-04-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

I love the sea and mermaids are such a lovely thing to create.

I painted a mermaid scene on clayboard and enhanced the texture using heavy embossing powder and embossing powders. Painted using watercolor and metallic paints.

Then a bit of photoshop enhancing...

2009-03-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Creating dancing elephants for a Carnival Soiree at Fairy Enchantment today. I took a sheet music page and used the photoshop pattern to create the shape. Then I added a background and digitally painted a bit. I just love playing with digital paints.

Digital Paints

2009-03-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

I love watercolor, oil and acrylic but when you take a creation painted in one of these mediums and then use your digital paints it seems textured perfectly.

I took a painting of Petunias, I photographed the painting and uploaded the work to my computer. Then using Photoshop I added just a bit of finishing touches.

2009-02-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

I found an old portrait that I sketched and then painted. Funny but I just noticed how similar it is to a sketch that led me to want to be an artist.

My grandfather found an old sketchbook in his basement that had belonged to the previous owner. He gave it to me, and I must have looked at that book hundreds of times. I was twelve years old and I believe that was what made me want to draw. Funny how it's the little things that lead us to our destiny in life.

So, then I took the drawing and digitally painted the next ladies.

Washlines

2009-02-24T14:33:00.001-08:00

I love painting Washlines and one of my paintings of white dogwood and linens on a washline is that crisp green that reminds me of summer.

I was thrilled when I found a frame in that same green for my prints on Etsy.

And most recently they have become note cards.

If you are wonderingl where I got this dreamy background for my blog, you must visit Fairy Backgrounds. She gives us this gorgeous background for FREE.

Silhouettes

2009-02-17T08:06:00.001-08:00

Thank goodness for digital paints, because I can get my ideas on paper quicker than sitting at the easel.

What is it about Silhouettes, that stops me every time? I have been creating these for several weeks in between other creative projects.

I created these queens for cards, tags and an image for a new blog I call

The Diaries of Blogland, where I keep lists of magical blogs to visit and experiment with digital designs.

2008-11-20T04:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Christmas Fair. I thought my sketchbook would be the perfect place to show you one of the things I made for the fair...

A Santa Hanger for Christmas. After designing Santa and printing him on soft canvas, I added a bit of Vintage glass glitter, ribbon, bells and a cute mini hanger. The scalloped edged hand-painted chipboard measures 4 x 5 1/2 inches.

Both styles of my Christmas creations have been added to my Etsy shop . You can use the Santa Hanger for a Christmas ornament, Merry Christmas decoration, the perfect hostess gift or add him to your favorite garland.

On the back I have put a small envelope with a gift card tucked inside. I thought this would make a lovely little card if you are giving it as a gift, or a cute bit of eye candy for the back.

The Santa hangers are designed with Santa wearing either a pink coat or a red one.

Photoshop doodles of the day

2008-10-30T07:34:00.001-07:00

I think the reason I love collage is because you can transform an old image into something new.

Photoshop doodles of the day

2008-10-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

Can't stop doodling on Photoshop.

Photoshop doodle

2008-10-28T16:55:00.001-07:00

Doodling with paintings and photography in Photoshop.

Painting the Roses

2008-10-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

I think even more than painting live roses, I love painting and illustrating dried roses.

Fall

2008-09-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

My new love in art is digital art enhancing my sketches and paintngs

This time of year is so inspiring, with pumpkins, fall leaves and Halloween on the horizon.

When my girls were little I adored taking them trick or treating, later on my husband would take them out, as I manned the fort handing out candy. Over the years I have tucked away all the memories to sketch and paint whenever the mood fancies.

Quilt Girl

2008-07-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

Isaiah 28:16

2008-01-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

The Precious Cornerstone
Isaiah 28:16

So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

Bible Verse of The Week group.

I posted a piece on The Living Stone, our chief Cornerstone on my devotional.

Bluebirds on my canvas

2007-12-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

Today, it seems that I love to layer and collage the many skills I have learned over the years, and to create a scrapbook of details. The bluebirds sketches were uploaded to my computer and used to create this canvas for my sister Lynne.

I just love the new mainstream artwork filled with sheet music, vintage artwork and sometimes mixed together to create cards, ATC cards and treasures of all kinds. I especially love to work with canvas, so combining my love of painting, scrapbooking, collage, and Vintage design is a natural. I have always loved sheet music and to add this to the creation seems a perfect enhancement.

Bluebirds, Baskets & Ribbon

2007-10-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

A work in progress called Bluebirds, Baskets and Ribbon

2007-10-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Garden Watercolor doodling is always enjoyable. This is a Japanese watercolor board. The back has nice gold leaf, and the front has a few flowers scattered on the board. Painting in between the three dimentional enhancement is fun. When I was finished I took a nail and hammered two hole to allow me to thread a lovely french ribbon for hanging.

Bluebird Oil Sketch

2007-10-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

I found these nice small linen canvas to work on. I thought I might try sketching in oil like I sometimes sketch in Watercolor.

Stages of a pencil portrait

2007-09-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

Drawing faces and hair has to be my favorite subject. My portraits usually capture the spirit of a person, instead of being realistic. When I first took classes for figure drawing my professor told me I did not see truth. As I got older and worked at my faces, I realized that I saw the truth of a person because I could draw their spirit. If that professor wanted his truth perhaps he should have taken up photography instead. At the time of his critique I was young and vulnerable. He devastasted me and shook my confidence. It wasn't until I started to work on my own and develop my own style that I became confident in my own interpretation. I want to inspire artists rather than teach them. I believe that talent is a gift from God and is as unique as our DNA.

2007-09-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

We love to go to the Cape, especially Falmouth. There is a sweet little cove adjacent to one of the Falmouth beaches that the girls love. My girls grew up catching frogs, strolling through woods, picking up treasures along the beach and bringing home all kinds of critters. To this day, they love to grab a bucket and see what they can find at the beach. This is a little watercolor from my sketchbook.

The Skateboarder

2007-09-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

As I visited the lobby of the hosital, I passed two young boys carryng skateboards. They were leaving, as I was going into the lobby, but I could still see them as I sat in a chair to wait in the lobby. They were outfited in baggy pants, wearing special skateboard sneakers and wearing their baseball caps on backwards. Their shirts were open, waving in the breeze, exposing the "coolest" tee shirts, as they got outside. They eyed the slanted brick wall that bordered the large plate glass windows of the waiting room. I knew just what they were thinking..."that would have made an awesome ramp to skateboard." I am so grateful for this knowledge bestowed by my daughter, Ashley. Ashley has been skateboarding since she was five and has incredible agility and balance. I love that my girls keep me up to date with all the current music, clothing and language. I believe that when we have a link to the youth, as artists we can see and memorize the moments with more insight.

Apple Picking Season

2007-09-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

Watercolor sketch of apples and a bucket of strawberries on Arches paper

I love the fall with pumpkins and apples and all the Autumn leaves. Apples make me think about picking apples and bringing them home to bake a pie like my grandmother used to make.

The Treasures of Fall

2007-09-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

Painting and sketching pumpkin has always been a favorite over the years. Autumn is my favorite time of year.

New Portrait

2007-09-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

A pencil and watercolor sketch portrait.

Ashley's Santa

2007-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Watercolor and craft glitter. My daughter gave me the Santa I am using as the model for this Santa, when she returned from a week away in Lake George. I love it so much, that I decided to make it this year's Santa for my Christmas cards.

Think About Christmas

2007-09-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

Watercolor and craft glitter

When I was a little girl and I had a bad dream or if I was worried about something in the middle of the night...my mother would always comfort me by saying "Karen, just think about Christmas." At about seven years old I had some difficulty with my ears. Every time I would lie down the wax in my ears would clog the canal and I couldn't hear. It was terrifying and I would call for my mohter in the middle of the night. She would come into my bedroom, prop up my pillows and show me how to lie down so that the canals of my ears would not clog. She told me everything would be all right and to think about Christmas. My mother didn't know it then but she taught me from such an early age how to change my mind. How to stare into the face of adversity, trusting that everything will be all right and while you were waiting to think about Christmas. Every year I remember we would have some poor family to help, a hayride to a Senior Center or more recently a Christmas Fair for the elderly. My sisters and I always made gifts for each other by hand. We have been raised to cherish the real meaning behind Christmas in action and deed thanks to my mother.

I love Christmas, and every year I lose myself early fall into making cards, crafts, paintings and writing about Christmas. When Christmas arrives I always feel that I have thoughly enjoyed the Holiday and it's meaning. I have started painting my Santas. They will become miniature paintings, cards and keepsakes.

I have begun my journey to Think About Christmas.

Sketches for the Birthday Journal

2007-08-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

Watercolor Sketches in a Journal

2007-08-27T06:51:00.001-07:00

2007-08-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

Faeries

2007-08-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

I love faeries. I have illustrated them for stories that I have written for my children, and a poem that suggest Monet met many faeries. This faerie was designed for a children's story about a faerie festival.

While living in Canada, I met a wonderful woman named Marilyn Edmison-Driedger at the Toronto flower show called Canada Blooms. She gave a talk on herbs and faerie dust, I was totally charmed. When my friend Sharon and I went to visit her at her booth, she told us about her Faerie Festival held every July at her place called The Herbal Touch. I marked my calendar and took my daughter, Sarah and her friend Joanne who were both ten years old and my daughter Ashley who was eight years old at the time. When we arrived I was so enchanted at how beautiful everything was done. Her gardens were every little girl's dream and she even had a Maypole with lovely ribbons streaming down. We all danced around the Maypole with Marilyn and was so thrilled. I had sent Marilyn an illustrated journal of my story about Monet and his faeries. She had her storyteller read my story to the people seated underneath a tent of scarves. You can't imagine how thrilled I was to find the photographs of my girls and their friend Joann on-line at her lovely THE HERBAL TOUCH web site.

It was a lovely memory and later I wrote a story totally inspired by Marilyn. The name of the story is Marilyn and the Faerie Festival.

The Riding Hat

2007-08-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

I must have looked on at this view for a good portion of my girl's childhood. There were many horse riding lessons, many riding boots, crops, clothing and most of all riding hats. They were usually black velvet with a lovely black satin bow. Sarah and Ashley's pony tails draping from the back of the helmet always seemed to go so nicely with the shape of the horses tail. I was never very good at drawing horses, perhaps it was because I was too busy embracing the images of my lovely girls riding.

THE RIDING LESSON

2007-08-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sarah and Ashley both loved horses from an early age. When we moved to Oakville Ontario Canada from Hong Kong I couldn't wait to introduce them to nature. With lots of open land in a beautiful setting, we found wonderful farms, playgrounds, beaches and horses. I quickly enrolled them in their first summer camp at a nearby horse riding academy. They instantly fell in love. Most of the five years in Canada the girls spent time at the barn, learning all about horses, shows, riding lessons and taking care of the horses. It was a wonderful chapter, and I would bring my sketchbook and record the special moments.

I love photography, but there is something magical about a sketch in a sketchbook that brings to life the moment. I love to study other artists sketchbooks in blogland, and I love to review old sketches of mine to embrace a memory.

Watercolor and pencil sketch

A sketch for The Thankful Coat

2007-08-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

A sketch for My Children's Stories
The Thankful Coat

My Children's Stories

Pens, Pencils & Sketchbooks

2007-08-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Look Ma No Hands

2007-08-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

A sketch I did for my daily blog for August 2, 2007, about Bicycling.

I thought sketching again was just like riding a bicycle...you never forget how. What's more, sketching again brings back lovely memories of a more carefree time in my life...My Bicycle Blog.

A sketch I did at seventeen

2007-07-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

This is an old sketch that I did when I was just seventeen years old. I created this on mat board and used magic markers to create all the dots. When I dragged this piece from my old portfolio case it reminded me of how much I used to love to sketch. It was through the joy of sketching that I first began to take art seriously. Through the years I have painted, designed, photographed, and crafted. When I discovered kindred spirits on the Internet who have sketchbooks in blogland, I knew just what I wanted to do. So, I am beginning to sketch again, and enjoying the joy of sketching as my new hobby.

Some Favorite Fashion Design Illustration

2007-07-29T18:08:00.001-07:00

I have always loved Fashion Illustration. These are a few from my portfolio.