Bluebirds on my canvas

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

A work in progress called Bluebirds, Baskets and Ribbon

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

New Portrait

A pencil and watercolor sketch portrait.

Ashley's Santa

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

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

Watercolor Sketches in a Journal

Faeries

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

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

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

A sketch for My Children's Stories
The Thankful Coat


My Children's Stories

Pens, Pencils & Sketchbooks

Look Ma No Hands

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

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

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