New Art: Remember That the Magic is Within You...

"Remember That The Magic Is Within You"
Image: Clare Walker

Hello there

And I hope life's treating you well, whether in autumn (as here in the UK) or the spring of the southern hemisphere.

It was the shortening of the days that had me feeling more mournful than I'd have liked...When a wise whisper inside encouraged me to, "Remember That The Magic is Within You,".

So, in honesty, I created this first of all as a cheering-up, "note to self". But seeing as it turned out better than I thought it would (with a ton of new ideas and options I've never even thought to use before...Like creating my own digital stencils in Rebelle...Soooo fun!).

Well, then it seemed only right to share, in case the message resonated with/could be useful to anyone else. Yes, it's shoppable (and commentable) if you'd like, here. But my main aim  in posting it was to spread some cheer as we go into October.

And yes, Southern Hemisphere peeps-I hear you. Enjoy your spring (and know that this should still be here in April, if you need it).

With that, I'll leave you to your week. Thanks so much for reading down this far, and for being here-I really appreciate it, and you.

More soon.

___________________________

Happy Harebells...And (Sort-Of) Christmas in July...

"Happy Harebells" sketch...

Hello there, and I hope you are thriving in your corner of the world.

This week's art and designs are such a mixed bag, that, like football (soccer!) they are a game of two halves.

First came this sketch of harebell flowers, that then made its way onto a really dear friend's birthday card. (I think she might actually be a newsletter reader too, so this comes with even more good wishes. And speaking directly to that person for just a second, no, I won't put this on anything for sale until you've had loads of time to enjoy it, and maybe not even then. Thank you for being you. ;-)).

Then there is/was... the "Christmas in July" situation...

And just like that, here we are again. The point in the year that astounds any sane person. Namely, that July is the traditional time in which artists and designers are supposed to prepare designs so that they are available/algorithm noted etc, in time for Christmas or pre-Christmas purchases.

And yes, I'm aware that it's the very last day of July, as am typing this.

In truth, I just couldn't face even trying to get festive in the midst of summer weather (and ooh, you know, the state of the world, etc).

But then some little robins and berries just made their way into some art the other week. And what do you know? That snowy robin led to an entire collection of designs.

I hasten to add, they are still very much a "work in progress".

But if you'd like a quick peek at the collection in its rough form, here's a photo.

Thanks to Jim for this pic, who came into our bedroom
when I was trying to get this into a photo, and took it for me.

So please watch this space, a little later in the year. (Update on September 10th 2025- the printable papers are for sale here, and the full collection on fabrics and wallpaper at Spoonflower here).

And with that, I'll leave you to your day (and huge thanks for reading down this far).

The next instalment might not be for a couple of weeks or so, as there is a huge amount still to do, not only for this collection, but also on items that'll be fun for you much sooner.

But there will be...

More soon.
___________________________

New Digital Painting: Christmas Cactus

"Christmas Cactus"
Digital watercolour painting
by Clare Walker.

Hello there, and thank you sooo much for letting me in to your inbox at what is (as I type) a busy time of year for most.

In the midst of it all, I thought you might enjoy the vibrancy of this week's new, "Christmas Cactus" painting. It's a digital watercolour created in both Krita and Rebelle, (and took me around four hours to complete, if that kind of thing interests you).

Why a Christmas Cactus?

This picture is also a homage to the most beautiful Christmas cactus (or "Schlumbergera", I believe it can be called, if you prefer fancier plant names) that we used to have at home when I was a child.

Though mid-winter in Britain was every bit as overcast then as now, every year, this riot of cerise/ pink/ purple flowers would erupt from an otherwise fairly unassuming plant in the corner. It's a shade that's still one of my favourite hues (I mean, come on, what'd not to love about bright pink? Especially in winter :-)).

Thinking about it the other day, I couldn't remember what became of the plant itself...but I *could* re-create it, and here we are.

Click here to browse and buy this design
on Redbubble

And, yes, if you'd like to see this art around your home (or someone else's, as it's that time of year...) it is available, as you can see above, at Redbubble.

But above and by one that, please just enjoy these colours, in what (in the Northern Hemisphere at least) is the grey of winter right now.

Thank you for being here, and have a wonderful weekend, whether you personally celebrate at this time or not.

More soon.

 
___________________________

Like this post? Tap or click here to subscribe to BoundingSquirrel

Peaceful Window Box Painting

How are you doing? Have you been trying new things, or finding familiarity with the known? 

I've found myself swinging between both of those poles, but did manage some experimentation, but did manage something new: adding in a (tiny) bit of architecture to this little window box scene. After all, have been staring at a *lot* of windows (and not much else, for several weeks :-).

If you're one of the people interested in the "how-it-was-done" details of this, it's actually a stroke by stroke digital pen and wash watercolour in the Rebelle 2 software app, with some final adjustments in Krita.

Be safe, be well, be happy as you can. There is definite light at the end of this lockdown tunnel thingy. 

More soon. 

New Digital Painting: Agapanthus

Hello again

Hope this post finds you well and thriving, despite the extreme weirdness in the world.
 I can only offer you a pretty distraction...But if that's what you need right now, read on.

This design is "Agapanthus." Which, believe it or not, took me *7* attempts to figure out as a digital acrylics painting in Rebelle (with the various extras added to make it into the card the client had requested put in in CraftArtist). But yes, it's also been a fabulous distraction for me, this week.

And if you fancy a bit more distraction in the form of  making this yourself, you can now also find it on a sheet here.

Hope this helps, and take good care of yourself. Thanks for stopping by.

More soon.

New Digital Painting: Whimsical Blue-Purple Delphiniums

It's 1st of January as I post this...so of course a good blast of summer flowers was an obvious choice...:-). They're also my first post in joining the CreativeEveryDay project again. And if you're in the mood and need gifts for upcoming birthdays, have also popped them in my Redbubble shop

Hope you like them whenever you're reading this though. More soon!

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.