Free November Clip Art (Art Every Day Month, Day 3)

Tap, click or right-click to download and use this image...

          

Hello there. Day two of the Art Every Day challenge was more personal for me.

Day three though, is above. I realised that I hadn't put up the usual "month illustration," freebie for a while, so here it is. Just click, tap or right-click depending upon your device, and its yours to use pretty freely (see my angel policy for details). 

Note that this illustration is only about 6 by 4 inches at 300 dpi. But that makes it smaller, and therefore better for web projects.

This is an original watercolour pen and wash illustration, using Faber Castell pens, metallic gel pens, and Inktense paint pans. 

Hope all's  really well with you-I'll be back soon with more images.

(Update on November 5th: I have had to withdraw from the Art Every Day Month challenge, having twisted my neck, which is causing pain and exhaustion. As you might expect, the main cure for this is rest, but I'll be back as soon as I can).

Free Christmas Printable & Colouring Page (AEDM Day 27)

This free Christmas printable is 5000 pixels square and full size, making it fab for any projects you want to create using it when printed out.

If you'd prefer to colour it your own way, you're also welcome to print out the black-and-white version as a colouring page...

Either way, enjoy!

These are also my art for Art Every Day Month day 27, so there'll be...

More tomorrow...

New Digital Paintings: Hellebore (AEDM Day 25)

It's Day 25 of Art Every Day Month, and am trying to decide between the splattered and non-splattered versions of hellebore flower (also called the "Christmas Rose"). What do you think?

Version without "splatters"

And the version with:

In any event, more tomorrow.

New Digi Watercolour Sketch in Krita: Scissors (AEDM 24)

Yep, it's day 24 of Art Every Day month. And I'm at that stage in a challenge where I'm casting around the house for things to draw...:-) (Also grey London in November doesn't necessarily hold all the appeal it might...for me, at least).

However, this has led me to attempt a quick watercolour sketch in Krita, of scissors. And, as I hardly ever draw man-made objects, am reasonably happy with this as a quick first attempt.

More tomorrow.

Rainbow Layer-Cake in Digital Watercolour: AEDM 23

For Art Every Day Month Day 23, here's a digi-watercolour (in Krita) of some rainbow layer cake.

Now, if you know me, you might already know two things. Firstly, that I'm always wanting to draw more food, but hardly ever do.

Secondly. that I've deliberately (but by choice) along with hubby, not eaten sugary food since about July 2018.

But when a neighbour's kid really sweetly offered us a slice of her birthday cake, neither I nor my hubby had the heart to refuse.

The cake was delicious (and it turns out, it's what you eat *most* of the time that counts)

And more importantly for this blog, it turns out that drawing food is huge fun...and I'd love to do it more often.

Speaking of more, there will of course be ...more tomorrow...

Penguins & Mistletoe (AEDM 20)

Following on from yesterday, AEDM 20 shows what happened next: a possible penguin romance, complete with mistletoe. Am still not certain whether this will turn into a card or something else as yet. But this is where I'll leave the art for now. There's time before Christmas yet for something to get added or changed here.

More tomorrow.

Thinking of You Card & Repeat Pattern: AEDM 18

For today (AEDM 18) I've had a sudden unfortunate need to design and send a "Thinking of You" card with a co-ordinating pattern inside. (You may recognise this leaf motif (slightly modified) from day 14).

I'll probably put this on sale in due course, but right now, I just want to get this sent to the person who needs it.

More tomorrow.

New Digital Painting/Art Journal (AEDM Day 17)

Day 17 of the Art Every Day Month challenge, and this is as much a note to myself as anything else.
Joy comes naturally to me...but so does an accompanying smidgen of guilt if others aren't in the same place.

Then I pondered on this...When you think about it, it does no good at all to dim your own joy too far...It may in fact lead a person to be less effective in helping others than they might otherwise have been...and to have fewer reserves to draw upon in their own time of need.

Just on a personal level, felt like a point worth remembering-as well as a great chance to practice digi *watercolour* lettering (and backgrounds) in Krita 4.2.

More tomorrow.

Simple Mistletoe Watercolour (AEDM Day 16)

Day 16 of Art Every Day Month.

Just a little 2" by 1" watercolour miniature of some mistletoe for today-it's been unexpectedly busy today,.

More tomorrow.

An Autumn Leaf Watercolour Story...(AEDM 14)

Painting leaves in pen-and-wash is an autumn tradition for me now, as for lots of other people...Maybe even, almost a cliché, for some.

 And yet, I like how this turned out. (Particularly as I genuinely did paint it in the 20 minutes I had whilst hubby was in the shower...I'll be trying speed painting again! :-).

With this leaf though, there's also a story.

Now, don't get me wrong, I *love* autumn colours, and have always understood we're lucky to get them.

But this year, that's taken on a whole new dimension.

For, like many people, once the leaves had got into the, "blowing into the house, leaf piles in the street, "Will the pavement turn leaf-sludgy?,"" stage, I was getting tempted to moan along with everyone else, and to bemoan the onset of winter that fallen leaves herald.

Then, a chance remark by a Facebook friend changed everything.

She lives in a very different part of the world. So different in fact, that she had to go on a day-long hunt for any autumn colour at all, and (rightly!) celebrated that she found two gorgeous leaves in the process.

After reading that, I didn't even notice that it was freezing cold, drizzle-drenched and blowing a gale the next time I went outdoors. Instead, all I could see (and actually *see*, this time) were trees and streets cloaked and carpeted  in russet, burnt orange and gold...And all I could do was to marvel, as if for the first time, at how amazing that really was (and *is*).

And so, I painted one of the next leaves to blow through our door, out of 100% gratitude...

More tomorrow.

Update and PS: I've wonderful person and artist whose original comments inspired this piece supported it enthusiastically, so I'm more than delighted to be able to link to her own wonderful work as a thank you.

Art Every Day Month 11: Gingerbread Birdhouses

These gingerbread birdhouses (complete with gingerbread birds) in repeat are actually a re-working of something I did at the very end of last month). As the reworking of colour and general neatness took ages, am hoping this counts as "art" for today!

AEDM Day 10-What I'm Learning About Art Challenges (and Life!)

It's Day 10 of Art Every Day Month, and as you can see, it's what yesterday's half-finished frame is becoming, though not necessarily what it will end up being in the end.

And yes, a busy time for me i happening to coincide with the stage of these month-long art challenges that naturally feels like a lull.

But what's more important right now is what I'm leaning from this challenge. That taking time to finish something is OK. That acknowledging that I can't do everything all at once is OK too.

And most importantly of all, that things take time to grow and emerge, and that the process of *becoming* simple cannot be rushed, whether you're a person, a plant, or a painting.

More tomorrow.

AEDM Day Nine: An Authentically Half-Finished Frame!

I thought long and hard before posting today's effort for the Art Every Day Month Challenge. Our Instagram-perfect culture has  made it feel bizarre to post anything that looks less than "perfect," or that looks "unfinished" (try posting a work in progress over there that is truly "in progress",  rather than "closer-to-finished-than-you-can believe," and you'll see what I mean).

But the fact of the matter is, sometimes the little thing called "life" *does* get in the way. Phones ring. Other things intrude.  And sometimes, that leaves less than no time for creating picture-perfect items.

With that said, here's my effort for Art Every Day Month Nine: half a doodled floral ink frame in Krita. I'd had high hopes for finishing this today. Adding lots of colour, even. But the fact is, I'm off out now, and definitely won't have time to complete any more of this today.

But the truth is, not everything can be finished in a day. And on some days, almost nothing can be started. For any of us...because we're all human. And that's OK.

                                                                                                                                                                      

AEDM Day 8: What I learnt today about photographing art

This Art Every Day Month entry is very much a "quickie," again using mixed media paper, a pen, gel glitter pens, watercolour and a Posca pen for the highlights.

It's actually about 2" by 1" (a similar size to the one a few days ago). But this time,I've learnt something which you probably know already of you photograph your own art a lot.

But to me, as a 95% + digital artist and designer, just this one idea was a revelation.

Basically, a macro setting on the camera is not enough. I couldn't believe the difference when I (accidentally!)  got really, really close to the paper before taking a shot.

Obviously, I still have tons to learn about physical art generally, never mind the photoing of it.

But for this attempt, I'm happy. You can see the glitter waaay better than last time, and I've learnt something important. And that's enough for one day.

New Digital Painting: Happiness Quote (AEDM 5)

Day 5 of Art Every Day Month...More digi-Art journaling in Krita, with hand-lettering...and the necessary partner to the Day 4 drawing.

Funny Cartoon : Neanderthal Christmas (AEDM Day 3)

A fun cartoon for Art Every Day Month, day three...