Wednesday Favorites

This photo in neon colors by dbvisualarts would be fantastic in a retro decor!


This serene-looking kitty by Lucia_Salemi makes me smile.


A colorful selection of glass beautifully rendered in pastels by Marionsart!


Awesomely cool and fierce Keds shoes by AntiqueImages!



I can't help loving this adorable little birthday mouse by CSiravo!

A True Flapper

My grandmother was the archetypal 1920's flapper. Born in 1903, she was at just that age when the 20's came roaring in. Ardently sought after by men, she was a dark-haired, mysterious beauty with finger curls and loads of style. Maybe a little wild (or, at least, what might have been considered wild for the time.)



By the time I knew her she was a quiet, gentle lady who wore Endora-from-Bewitched-style caftans with huge, chunky costume jewelry. She and my uncle, Jim, would throw lavish parties that would pack the house and everybody who was anybody was in attendance. She enjoyed those parties but, more than anything, else she loved to read. Not surprisingly, F. Scott Fitzgerald was her favorite author. My oldest brother was even named for him and he was always her pet. I didn't get to know her for very long. She died when I was just five years old, but I've never forgotten her style or her understated brand of elegance or her gentility. To this day, she still influences me.

And people try to tell me I shouldn't take naps...

After not having slept well the night before (as usual), I was having an afternoon nap. At some point I woke up with a design in my head. I had to fight to stay asleep as this image kept popping into my head. When I did wake up finally, I couldn't immediately get to my tablet as I had a few things to do. I had to keep "repeating" this image in my head for fear it would be forgotten and lost forever.
After the various chores were finished, I sat down to create my "dream design". I made three simple leaves using the digital airbrush - one in lime green, one in Barbie pink and one in pumpkin orange. Then, with the thick and thin pencil, I added a curved line to represent the twig from which the leaves were growing and a few quick lines for veining on the leaves. When I woke up with that relentless image in my head there was something at the end of the twig, but I have no idea what it was and it seemed superfluous anyway. This was the resulting design:I added it to several items in my Zazzle store. For all but the cloth products, I turned it 90 degrees and added a tone-on-tone beige striped background.

Now I think it may be time for another nap. Ya never know. ;-)

Okay... so I cheated a little.

Still in my creative slump, I decided to just play around with different tools in the Painter program as I often do when I'm out of ideas. This time I chose the variable size hose using the nasturtiums setting. After trying a few things that I was not happy with, I ended up simply making a single row of the flowers. I then applied the pen and ink auto painting to them, followed by the detailed watercolor auto painting. So it isn't entirely of my creation, but close enough to call it my own. It looks particularly nice on the mug and t-shirt.

Final result

The finished product - one of them at least. I made several products with this same image, each with a different quote. (This just happens to be one of my favorites.)

Sometimes it ain't easy

Been struggling all night with an image and just can't make it happen. These are what I've come up with so far. Not thrilled with either. It may not be meant to be. Sigh.

Another Wacom creation. I painted this freehand with the pen and tablet then applied the match palette function in the Corel program using a Picasso I had in my pics files. I then auto painted it with a tapered camel brush (I think). Adding it to some Zazzle items is next.

So the husband went and surprised me with a Wacom tablet yesterday. I've been having a lot of fun with it. This is the result of my first real attempt at using it. It's a tracing of a photo I took several months ago of one of my favorite pieces of antique pottery.

This is a sketch I did today then messed with in Paint Shop. I'll most likely be adding it to some Zazzle items. It was inspired by a photo of the amazingly talented Mark Hollis formerly of the '80s band Talk Talk.

Had an unbelievable sale on Zazzle yesterday. I sold twelve of these shirts! It's from an original mixed media drawing I did a while back. I guess it's time I stopped complaining about not having any sales. :-)