Parrots and Palm Leaves (New Seamless Pattern)

In haste and a week of truly mixed fortunes, have not had as much time to create as I would have liked. (All cartoons this week were for specific recipients, so have to stay under wraps for now).

Nonetheless, these parrots were my last-minute entry to the Spoonflower.com/Bucketfeet competition on a rain-forest theme.

There's still one more week of their co-sponsored competitions to go (I believe next week's theme is "Aquatic" but don't quote me on that). And the real bonus for entering is that for every entry they receive in these Bucketfeet competitions, Spoonflower is donating a dollar to a Native American rights charity. So whatever the outcome, each entry is doing some good in these uncertain times.

In any event, enjoy the parrots. May they bring some tropical colour and rainforesty-goodness into your life.

Rebelle Software: An Initial Review

And it's the time of year again...To play, gleefully, with new software gifts! In this case, The Computer Man gave me a copy of Rebelle software, from EscapeMotions for Christmas.

The pros

So far, I've only explored the watercolour function of this program, but am *in love* with just how well it mimics the effect of "real" watercolours. So well in fact, that I've found myself learning in much more detail about traditional watercolour techniques (from the wonderful "Yasmina Creates" on Skillshare.com) in order to be able to use the watercolouring software better.

As you can see from my first attempts, on the left with this watermelon slice, and the doughnut, below...It's *really* like watercolour, right down to being unpredictable in how the colours will mix and run.

Mostly, this is positive and creates deeper and richer colours than any other digital painting software I've used. Which would make it absolutely ideal if you are already a traditional watercolourist and looking to transfer to digital painting for the first time.

The paint also moves across the virtual page reasonably fast, (on a 64-bit Windows PC, anyway) and allows real "wet-on-wet" mixing in a way I've envied from YouTube videos of traditional watercolourists, but never quite been able to replicate before.

In addition, the background"watercolour paper" effect is more convincing (to my eye at least) than in other comparable software I've tried.

If, like me, you started in digital art first, there is a learning curve. But it's fun, and the experience of producing art that feels so authentic is tremendous.

As it was a gift from my hubby, am not certain about the price. But he assures me it was somewhere around the $50 mark (and will vary according to sales tax etc, of course).

The cons

The biggest and only real issue I can find so far is that in order for the paint to move reasonably fast across the page, the document size can really be no more than A5 at 300 dpi (on my PC at least).

This should be large enough for most projects, especially as the export of files is easy. But ideally, I'd like to see it coping well with a standard-size A4 printer page at printable 300dpi resolution.

So...

So I'll be experimenting a lot more with Rebelle in the coming months. Whether it will ever replace ArtRage 4 for me is probably a topic for a separate review and post (as the "pen" function in ArtRage works so very, very well, and ArtRage has no problem with the A4 size).

But for sheer joy, fun, deep colours, and a real sense of "play", right now,  I'm certainly loving Rebelle.

New Digital Painting...(Plus, A Hedgehog Finds His Calling...)

This autumn birch tree is a new digital painting (based on a beautiful one in the ever-whimsical Holland Park).

It's also sat around on my hard-drive for a week . Was going to post it, but fell into the trap (as ever), of feeling that it needed a "purpose".

Then it occurred to me, that for now at least, it being beautiful was quite enough. So for now at least, you can pop it on your wall in a variety of ways, here.

And now, about that hedgehog...

Besides, it's the things I draw for "no reason", or which, "didn't go the way I planned", that have a funny habit of turning out best in the end.

 Taking the prize currently for "longest time between design and ideal purpose," is a certain hedgehog sketch from over ten months ago.


The other day, it being the first truly wet autumnal one we'd had this year, I suddenly had a *huge* urge to hibernate. Figuring that I might not be the only one, I then wondered how to put that onto a  mug. (it being certain that even those humans who *want* to hibernate will be more likely to drink from a mug than actually to curl up for six months).

But how to illustrate this? All at once, it came to me...And here's the hedgehog, resplendent on his mug, and absolutely *the* best animal with whom to illustrate the idea that, "Sometimes, you just need to hibernate..."

Hedgehog Mug: Sometimes You Just Need to Hibernate Coffee Mug
by BoundingSquirrel

So there you have it-the two sides of autumn. Glorious colours versus impending hibernation. That just about wraps it up for this post. I'll leave you with Hedgehog, proudly taking up his place with the other designs in the "Cosy Autumn Mugs" collection.

Til next time...

=

Every Flamingo Has His Day...

Some time in June, I drew this flamingo. And for reasons that were undoubtedly good at the time, I didn't post him on the blog. This was even though (apart from his legs and feet, which needed a surprising amount of thought) he was quick and easy to draw. Instead, I decided he wasn't "good enough", and needed "a purpose". (Am wondering now exactly why I thought that. He's a flamingo drawing...Which is probably purpose enough, in the circumstances...:-)). 

Anyway, I then set about attempting to "improve" him. At one stage I even sent him to the carnival, metaphorically speaking...

And yet, still nothing seemed right for him.

Then, out of the blue, there was a weekly challenge at Spoonflower, the theme of which was to be "vintage flamingos". And suddenly, he had found his niche. As a vintage 1950's lawn flamingo, he didn't even need those rather troublesome legs (sorry, Mr Flamingo) but just a simple pole.

And voila, this design was borne, almost as quickly as most of the original drawing.

The Spoonflower challenge was just for fun. But it does make a nice, fun fabric, both at Spoonflower and Zazzle.

Every Flamingo Has His Day...

So I don't know about you, but what I took from this is that every flamingo has his day. There I'd been, trying to turn him into the "perfect" flamingo, when he was destined to be an intentionally-fun lawn flamingo all along.

 In other words, perhaps every idea that comes to any of us in a clear form, is worthy of shaping,  however bizarre it seems at first. More than that, is likely to have a purpose down the line, without excessive stressing out on the part of the artist/writer/musician/thinker/insert your preferred means of carrying out ideas here, on the part of any of us.

What do you think? Have you ever had an idea that seemed strange at the time, but later slotted in mysteriously perfectly into your life or work, in a way you couldn't have predicted at first? Do please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

Digital Art Journaling In ArtRage 4: "Memory Lane" Prompt Idea

And now for something *completely* different. Have discovered that ArtRage 4 can also be used for (digital) art journalling.

Now, I've never really explored art journalling before, and am just learning about this. But my understanding is that "anything goes" as a way of exploring whatever's on your mind, rather than with the stated primary aim of producing art.

The idea here was that if "Memory Lane" were a real place, I wondered what I, personally, would find there.

Yes, if I'd been drawing each of the 25+ symbols here as an art project, yes, they'd be tidier and more formal. But so much came up (all happy memories too) that drawing was definitely second to feeling...and feeling very good, too.

Steps to take if you want to do this "Memory Lane" journalling too.

1. Set aside a chunk of time and your favourite materials (they don't have to be digital. You could also do it with photos, if you prefer).

2. Draw a background that represents "Memory Lane" for you.

3. Add in/colour any and all symbols that represent happy memories for you. Let the memories be whatever they want to be (they don't need to be "important", just happy for you". Let your imagination and creativity fit the symbols together in as surreal (or not!) a pattern as you like.

4. Remember you can do this again anytime-with the same symbols and memories, or more likely, new ones.

5. Make as many changes to the above as you like-it's yours!


Finally

Finally, it's important to mention and thank CreativeEveryDay.Com for inspiration here too. I got to thinking about "Memory Lane", because the prompt there for July was "Memory". So many thanks to Leah for a prompt that's morphed into another prompt in its turn.

Have fun, and do post or comment if you'd like to share any ideas or images relating to this art journalling prompt.

Two New Digital Paintings-But Only One Makes Sense...

Am posting this around midsummer. So it makes perfect sense that the wildflowers we saw on a trip last weekend make it onto the blog.

This image (on the left) is still done with various watercolour brushes  in ArtRage 4, but just at a larger size and a different blend mode: hence the extra brightness. (Largely because I'm experimenting with T shirt designs, and they need the brightness. But that's another story).

What makes much less sense is the robin motif that emerged this morning, and (provisionally-still not sure about the background colour) made his way into the repeating pattern below...Complete with a slightly "snowy" effect,(as I used the softest setting on the "soft pastel" brush in ArtRage 4, which always leaves some background colour showing through).

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know I have form in this area, and that for some bizarre reason, Christmas designs come out to play in June, when I can't get excited about them in December.

Does anything like that happen to you to? If so, please let me know in the comments. And in any event, enjoy, whatever the weather or time of year for you as you read this.

New Digital "Line & Wash" Painting: Foxgloves

So the rain finally stopped the other day (and yes, I am posting this in *June*...) and the Computer Man and I decided on a day out in Richmond Park.

Also confess, it was also the Computer Man who correctly identified these flowers that we saw as foxgloves, rather than lupins, as I'd thought. (An important distinction, given how deadly poisonous these lovely-but-lethal plants actually are, by all accounts).

Anyway, the other point to note, if you're into such things is that this is still ArtRage 4, with pen and watercolour settings..but using splosher brushes that I finally discovered you can make yourself within the program. (I've only had ArtRage for the last two years, after all...:-)


Enjoy-and more soon.

Free Clip Art:"Work In Progress"

Made this "work in progress" for another project, but feel free to download and use it if you'd like a "work-in-progress" sign on any of your sites.

If you'd like to use this, just right-click and "Save As" to get it on your machine

Links back and attribution to BoundingSquirrel are always appreciated if you decide to use this elsewhere.

More soon....

New: Cute Whimsical Snails & Mushrooms Design

Nearly all the feedback I've had suggest that whimsical designs are where it's at for BoundingSquirrel.

So when we had nine snails (yup, nine...I watched them for far longer than a grown adult probably should...:-) in or on our window box yesterday, this seemed like the obvious next design.

If you'd like to make things with this design, please favourite it at Spoonflower, and I'll add it to the designs for sale.

If you'd like to buy it (or just see something cute) it's on a huge range of items here.
More soon!

New Digital Watercolour: Whimsical Pink Clematis

This is a new digital watercolour painting of a clematis flower. I actually took one of the reference photos for it nearly five years ago...and can only now even begin to feel I'm doing it justice.

Back then, the best I could do was some arty processing of the photo.

These days, this is a proper stroke-by-stroke digital watercolour (with the graphics pen and ArtRage 4, as you might guess.)

And if you weren't expecting a post after the end of the challenge on Friday...well...I *did* take a couple of days off. And I still won't necessarily post every day. But I missed this so much, just had to get back to it.

Enjoy!

Daily Illustration #99: Forget-Me-Nots (New Digital Painting)

Today's illustration is a new digital watercolour painting of Forget-me-nots in ArtRage 4.

By the wonders of digital art, it comes in two flavours, with and without a background.

Please do let me know in the comments if you have a preference between the two.

Either way-enjoy!

Update on June 5th 2022: There is now a new set of forget-me-not designs and info about them here.

Daily Illustration #94: Whale Patterns

It's day 94, so am coming into the last week of this 100-day challenge.

Rather than slowing up, decided to have a go at something new for me: three co-ordinating patterns.

They're based around the idea of the epic whale migrations that every mother blue whale makes with her calf up the Pacific coast of the US, which blew me away in a documentary, in its scale and audacity.

These patterns aren't that audacious-but hopefully give you cute whales!

Daily Illustration #90: Berry & Leaf Pattern

This started as an experiment in simpler and less focal pattern-making. (Sometimes I still need to learn that it's OK to whisper, sometimes ;-).

But once the leaf motifs started forming ogee-ish shapes, it morphed into an experiment in making a (geometic-ish) design with organic motifs.

Add in the red and the green, and suddenly, I'm up to my old tricks (ie making a seasonal design (in this case, something quite Christmassy, like napkins do you think?) at an entirely inapporopriate time of year.

But in any event, think I'll keep the pattern. What sort of items do you reckon it would suit? Please leave a comment and tell me. 

Daily Illustration #86: Brazilian Dancer (New Digital Painting)

Today there was blue sky, stuttering Spring...and a bank holiday. So we went into town, where amongst other things, there was a trio of Brazilian dancers. I think they were promoting a restaurant, but they drew a crowd.

Though people and faces are not normally something I tackle, the whole spectacle was so beautiful, so welcome and so fun, I had to try to capture something from it.

So, with the caveat that the real girls had so much more sparkle (in all senses) than is here, enjoy this Brazilian girl until I learn to do her (even) better justice.

Daily Illustration #85: Quick Sketch of Our Scabious Flowers

So we've just got some scabious (or "pincushion") flowers for the second year in a row-mostly because they are utterly "bee-friendly" and fit neatly into the window-boxes.

What I'd forgotten is how strange they look at the beginning. The weird "saucer" shape has such a straight bottom and a virtual right angle to such a thin stem.

Will probably draw them again later in the year, just to show you how they've changed.

But now all we need is some sun and warmth to keep them growing, and get those bees interested.

Daily Illustration #83: Girl's Face Doodle

Limited time today, so just a very quick head-and-neck doodle. More tomorrow.

Daily Illustration #82: Purple Pansy (New Digital Painting)

OK, so this took *much* longer than  I thought it would. But today's illustration/digital watercolour painting/sketch of a purple pansy turned out OK in the end, and is (sort of) a good sibling for yesterday's iris. Enjoy!

Daily Illustration #81: Iris (New Digital Painting)

A new digital painting for today's illustration. Digital watercolour of an Iris, in ArtRage4.

More tomorrow!

Daily Illustration #79: Red Hibiscus (New Digital Painting)

Our hibiscus is 35 years old this March. He originally belonged to my Mum and stands 10 feet high in our sitting-room (and yes, he *oes* get pruned). So this is his 15 minutes of fame...:-).

Daily Illustration #78: Cherry Tree & Blossom (New Digital Painting)

In reality, the cherry trees here aren't quite as advanced as this one. But they will be soon, as the blossom buds are just appearing. So I expedited them a bit in this new digital painting (in ArtRage 4). Enjoy!