Friday, December 30, 2011
More new crayons
Last year at this time, I wrote a post about the childhood thrill that a new box of crayons would bring. (I'd just received my set of 132 Prismacolor pencils for Christmas!) Well, Prismacolor recently added 18 new colors, so guess what I got from my husband this year? Since I also got an annoying cold for Christmas—I'll take a lump of coal next year, Santa—today was the first day that I felt like playing. I just had to start by making swatches—the ones I made last year have been invaluable—but since these won't fit into my original pages, there may be another swatchapalooza happening really soon.
It's hard to believe that 132 colors didn't already cover all the bases, but a few of these are really nice additions, even if they don't have great names. The "Sap Green Light" is beautiful—when you do a lot of botanical drawings, lots of really good, natural greens are important. And the "Dioxazine Purple Hue" nicely fills a gap in the deep violet range. There are three "neon" colors, which are new for me. I didn't think I'd care for them, but as I did the swatches, I was kind of intrigued: the color really jumps off the paper, and they'll be fun to experiment with; I'm curious to see how they layer and get along with the other colors.
So, tomorrow, at long last, the drawing resumes. It's been a busy month, but I've just packed away the last of my Christmas decorations. Happily, my New Year's weekend consists solely of fresh Dungeness crab...and fresh new pencils.
Monday, December 12, 2011
A Mistletoe Moment
'Tis the season:
I'm scurrying around this week preparing for a holiday party, so I'm pausing for a little swig of eggnog
(no alcohol or I won't be scurrying much longer) and to re-post this little drawing from last December.
(You can read the original post here.)
I'm scurrying around this week preparing for a holiday party, so I'm pausing for a little swig of eggnog
(no alcohol or I won't be scurrying much longer) and to re-post this little drawing from last December.
(You can read the original post here.)
I love fresh mistletoe, but it dries out so quickly, and even worse, it can drop its poisonous berries on the floor. So, this year, I found this adorable kit at Paper Source, one of my favorite shops. I'm not usually a fan of artificial flowers and plants, I must admit. Perhaps it's because paper starts out its life as a plant, but paper flowers retain a certain natural charm for me. Isn't it cute? It won't dry out or poison anyone, and I can use it again next year!
Next week looks to be a bit calmer—
I'm hoping to steal a day to draw and catch up on blog visits before Christmas.
I'm hoping to steal a day to draw and catch up on blog visits before Christmas.
Cheers!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
One year!
When I published my first post, I commented about the serendipity of it being December 1, as I'm a bit obsessed with advent calendars. While I'm most fond of the traditional paper ones with little doors that open, I love the little set of Victorian-inspired numbers that I bought a couple of years ago—that's today's pictured above.
So, happy first day of December, happy birthday to my little blog, and most of all, thank you for visiting and being part of my blogging life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)