The Color of the Day Is...Lime Green!

You put the lime in the coconut and shake it all around...ha ha got you humming that one now, didn't I? :)

Sorry I've been away so long. I've been organizing my volunteer list, drawing pretty flowers and fairies, searching for long lost Macaws (long story) and taking pictures. It's been a nasty Spring so far this April...we woke to find snow on the ground this week! Where's my 80 degrees and tornado warnings?! Even that is better than SNOW!!

For every volunteer in this blog, I have a list of every color I see in their listings. Some are short, being silver and black and white...some have every color imaginable. To decide what a color is, and which color to choose, I have a very complex and time consuming method that involves formulas and collates, theorems and algebraic equations...Basically, I reach into my box of colored pencils and pull one out. :) And I have a box of 120...

So, without further adieu, in this weeks Lime Light are the following 5, that's FIVE, Etsy shops. Let's go take a look!

Now, you have got to check out this terrific Shea Butter Soap and the many other wonderful items in TheVagrantPoodle's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10958449



And while your at it, check out this adorable kids knit hat from poisdoux's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10573776



Go and take a look at this sweet ABC Box from joydevivredesign's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7107008



Need a tote? Go and look at this adorable number in ChicBoutique's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7164133



Now, I know this next one says Apple...but hey, this is my blog...I can call it lime if I want to :) Go check out this great skirt/top from sweetcharlotte's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9808687



Now, I have been busy drawing an OSWOA size drawing for a work in progress demo to be part of my post. Keep reading and check it out. (OSWOA stands for Original Small Work Of Art, remember?)

In the first step, I did the obvious thing. I traced my drawing ;) Now, I don't think tracing is cheating in this case because I did actually draw the original myself. I just chose to draw it on tracing paper to save my good paper the stress of my mistakes. Keep in mind that it was really cloudy and snowing and raining when I took these pictures...they're a tad bit off.


Next, I decided on the colors. For this little lady, I received outside inspiration. I made a friendship bracelet for my extremely gifted niece. When she picked the colors, I thought she was nuts at first, until I started to braid and knot it together. The colors she picked absolutely matched and complimented eachother. Not bad for a 12 year old! So that's what I picked.
I like to leave a small margin around my drawings so I can check the colors before I start drawing 'for real', as you can see in this picture. Once I was sure that I had the right colors, I started on the fairies wings.


And you can read more about it in my next post...HA! Cliffhangered ya, didn't I?!

As always, go to Etsy.com and check out all of the great stuff there! And while your there...check out the sale I'm having for Mother's Day. Great deals on my drawings!!

The Color of the Day is...Green!

Green?! That's right, you heard me! Green. Green fits, with St. Patrick's Day yesterday, Easter coming on Sunday, the 23rd (less than a week!!). What better color than green for Spring, fast approaching me here in the Midwest, not to mention all of the Green Eyed Monsters out there playing their Green Tambourines??? ;)

Check out this really cool reversible cat purse from quiltlady50's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6056815



Today, I have some jewelry to spotlight, like this green jasper and garnet necklace from Prettybird20's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9625968



...or this beautiful green turquoise necklace from cherryscreations' shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9706579



Add some green to your life, and help out the cause for Autism research by checking out shortsupply's terrific little onesies:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7108747



And....I just couldn't resist a little bit of shameless self-promotion here for my secondary shop ClassicVintage:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10010458



Yeah, yeah...I know...but Etsy has some great vintage 'stuff' too! It's just a great site for everything! Go check it out, you'll see that I'm right.

If you read this blog regularly, you'll notice that I was gone for a few days. (I hope you noticed, anyway lol) After playing a very nasty round of 'Catch me if you can' with good old Mr. ColdandFlu, I'm back up and running...slowly, tho ;) Getting back into drawing and creating used to be so easy for me. Fatigue, depression, lethargy...all of these things seem to go hand in hand and make it very difficult to get back into the swing of things. So, to get back into your creative mood...pick up your green pencils...oh, four different but matching shades of green...and with the lightest one, start making figure eights. Do a doodle patch of around 3 inches or so, without filling in all of the white of your drawing paper.

Next, take the next darker shade, and again, make figure eights over the lighter green, filling in a bit more white as you do. As you pick up the 3rd, darker green, try to picture in your minds eye where the darker shades of a small bush might be, and start your figure eights there, only make them smaller than the previous. With the darkest green, further define and fill in the shaded areas. When you have used all four colors, go over your doodle again with the lightest green, going over any area you think would have highlights. Finally, take your secondary green and lightly blend all of your green together by drawing over the entire image.

If done the right way, you can see a treetop or small bush emerging from the paper, with the texture and color of leaves without drawing each individual leaf. If not, then you have an awesome doodle to practice off of, right? The creepy little spider at top right of my blog was set against a background done in this manner. It still looks like a green plant of some sort, but is not focused enough to detract from the beauty of an everyday garden critter. Keep practicing, you'll get your own style to it.