Honeysuckle Leaf Third Installment

If you will notice the red areas on these leaves are beginning to darken,  I've added Metallic Festive Red between each vein.  This is the last shading that I will do to this and will next add a highlight and then will reveal the finished card.

Honeysuckle Leaf #2

I've added Alizarin Crimson to the red areas to add definition and deepen the shaded area.  I'm using a #2 round to paint this entire leaf.  Wash your paint into each veined area and layer each of these paint colors using more of a glazing technique.  I hope that you can see the additonal paint colors that I've added. 

Prepping for Valentines Day

I started thinking about Valentines Day and of course spring especially when you consider that we haven't had a day without snow since Thanksgiving.  I thought that I'd start a new project that just might make a fun Valentines Card as well as put a dash of spice into our drab winter weather.  I've been busy painting leaves for a new pattern that should be out sometime soon and thought that a step by step leaf project might be a valuable resource for anyone interested in this new pattern as well as a sneak peak.  I chose to use the new hot color of the season according to Pantone which is called Honeysuckle except I used Electric Pink as the base and washed Peony Pink into the shaded areas of  the leaf. 

Do you like this project?   Paint along with me and we'll both have a finished card by the end of the process.  I'll post the next step soon. 

Creativity and House Elves

I'm posting a link to a talk by Elizabeth Gilbert that is fascinating.  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html  For those of you who aren't familiar with her she wrote the book Eat, Pray Love and talks about the worry that many of us face that we may have already peaked in our artistic lives and may not have another creative thought that is worth sharing with the world.  She also delves into the idea of "Where Creativity Comes From"?  I have certainly been asked on many an occasion where did my inspiration come from and rarely do I have an answer, sometimes in the shower.  LOL.  Sometimes in the middle of the night and can be fleeting and if I don't write the idea down immediately can be gone forever.  That is certainly frustrating.   Elizabeth thinks that we have little elves similar to the house elves in Harry Potter who are responsible for our creativity and if something fails then it it their fault.  That is a fairly simplified version of her conversation but a part that appealed to me.  So if a pattern or a project fails to sell well it may not be my fault and instead is my creativity elves fault.  That certainly takes the pressure off of me to be "creative" all the time.  LOL.  I thought that her talk was entertaining and wonderfully insightful and can see why she is on the best seller list as well as having Julia Roberts portray her.  It could certainly bring about an interesting discussion.  I don't see Julia Roberts jumping up to portray my creative life.  I wonder why not?  LOL.