A Card from a Drawing

Elegant Writer and Tombows

This started as a hasty experiment with the Elegant Writer and Tombow markers.  I didn't really think that it was successful, but my sister liked it so I turned it into a card for her.

More Plant Families

Fabriano Sketchbook

8.5" x 11"

Pencil Crayon

Playing With Fun Foam Stamps

ATC

Fun Foam Stamp

The Vancouver Artist Trading Card met on Sunday to swap cards.  As is often the case, I came away inspired to try something new.  The organizer of the group is one of the most creative people I know.  Something she made reminded me of an article I had seen in an old Cloth, Paper, Scissors article called "Faux Silkscreen".  I came home, located the article and couldn't wait to start!

I drew this design on a piece of fun foam and then cut it apart.  I mounted each piece on a piece of acetate and then used each to stamp the scene on an ATC.

From Native Trees to Plant Families - Here I Begin

Fabriano Sketchbook

8.5" x 11"

While researching the native trees of Vancouver, I realized how little I know about botany.  (This is pretty sad, considering how much I enjoy being in nature.)  There are so many terms that I don't really understand, and at the top of the list is "families".   So, I decided that my next project would be to learn about Plant Families.

One of the great web sites I discovered was E-Flora BC, which is an electronic atlas of the plants of British Columbia.  They have a page on plant identification, and one of their recommendations is Thomas J. Elpel's Botany in a Day.  He explains that there are about 100 plant families across the "frost belt" of North America, and about another 30 families south of the frost line. He begins with seven of the largest and easiest to learn families which are found world-wide.

And so here I begin also.  Will I learn all 100?  I'm not sure I can manage that, but who knows.  I am pretty persistent, as evidenced by this blog. LOL

On this journal page I document my first three families.  I also connect the dots to the Tree Project by noting the eleven families to which the native trees of Vancouver belong.  So, I already have some familiarity with fourteen families!

Glacier National Park, Montana

Strathmore Watercolor Journal

8.5" x 5.5"

Elegant Writer and Watercolor

I often draw from Paint My Photo, but this time I went to my own photo album for a landscape.  I like the way that this one came out.

Nature Ages Gracefully

5.5" x 8.5" Strathmore Watercolor Journal

Elegant Writer and Watercolor

Chairs

 Fabriano Sketchbook

 8.5" x 11"

Pencil Crayons

I went "coffee shop sketching" on Monday with a very encouraging artist friend and discovered how much I need to practice chairs.  On Wednesday I did this. 

I intended to do a whole page of chairs, but of course I've moved on to something else in my typical scattered fashion. LOL  I kind of like the unfinished look of this page so it might stay this way.