The Color of the Day Is...Teal!!

Ahhh....finally, Spring has sprung here in central Iowa. It's 7:51 a.m. and the sun is shining, the grass is finally green and the songbirds have finally come out of hiding! My thermometer reads a glorious 70 degrees and all is well with the world!!

Teal...not a lot can be said of this tweener color. It's right 'tween blue and green, yet not quite turquoise...but it goes splendidly with pinks, purples, browns....almost any color out there, really. That's why I've chosen it for today...well, that, and it happens to be the colored pencil I picked out of the jar ;)

Need an Etsy promotional package? Then you MUST stop by gleepsie's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9299310



Want to Congratulate some special? Go check out this lovely card from LadyGil's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10581975



marshatoh has used a beautiful combination of pink and teal in this gorgeous necklace:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10205669



This amazing painting is hanging in artkitten's shop just waiting for a home on your walls!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10329108



And while you're shopping, these earrings are a 'must have' for this spring from outofthepinksky's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8650944



As I looked at the fairy drawing that I'm working on, I realized that my fairy's just a little bit on the bright side. It makes her look out of place amongst the dark purple of the flowers. So I decided to add a bit of sunshine to certain things in the drawing. I did this by first scraping most of the color off of the left edge of the flowers and the stems with my exacto blade. After this, I used Mango and Yellow Orange to give the flowers that look of first sunlight touching them. I then did the same with the leave that the fairy is resting on as she pulls open one of the blooms. I think it worked well. Tell me what you think by adding a comment to this post. (you have to be polite, but by all means, be HONEST about it)



I will be adding more flowers of the same variety in the background, smaller and different colors, and green as well. I'm really hoping I can pull this off...

See you next post everyone!

And I've added another photographic print to my listings, so go check out my shop as well at http://AreYouAnArtist.etsy.com and check it out!

The Color of the Day Is...Money...

Money is...that green stuff that seems to make the world go 'round...the root of all evil...that thing we need if we want groceries...something that burns a hole in our pocket....that one item we never seem to have enough of. I know I don't :)

Over the weekend, I did some browsing through the forum threads. I found a forum for a new payment service called Revolution Money Exchange, or as my fellow Etsians call it, RME. They have a sign up special from now until May 15th. You get $25 bucks for signing up, and I get $10 for everyone who signs up using the link I have at the top of the right column over there>>>>>>>

RME is quite similar to PayPal, with a few exceptions. I would like to put on my sales person's hat and tell you the pros and cons of this new way of paying for things, and let you decide. (I never could get the pushy sales man act down pat) So read through this post, and if you want to check it out and sign up....make me a little spending money and get yourself some of it while it lasts (because once you sign up, you get referral bonuses too!!), use the link I mentioned in the above paragraph.

Pro #1:
You get $25 bonus when you sign up! This one is legitimate. I signed up and got $25 bucks...it was a snap.
Con #1:
I have read in the forum thread that you have to spend the $25 before you get any type of referral bonuses, or you lose the $25 sign up bonus. I haven't seen in any of the site's Terms and Conditions where it says this, but I haven't gotten a referral yet to see if it's true.

Pro #2:
You get $10 bonus for each new account holder that you refer to RME.
Con #2:
You can only earn up to $500 in any bonus program per year. Which means that if you refer 50 people to sign up, yes, you get $500 bucks, but you are ineligible for any future bonus programs, say, in July.

Pro #3:
Accounts are free. Transactions between other accountholders is free. Free to get money, free to send money, free to sign up, free to transfer to and from your bank account.
Con #3:
The transaction is only free if it is between you and another person with an RME account. It says that right on the site, but doesn't say if there can even BE transactions between an accountholder and non-accountholder, or what the fee is if you can have such a transaction, so it may be a moot point. There are fees, such as a stop payment fee, insufficient funds fee, and the usual bank fees that you have even with a free checking account. So make sure that the person you want to deal with signs up too...the transactions are free for both parties, and you could get bonuses, depending on the current special at the site.

Pro #4:
The site appears to be very secure. It is much like PayPal, only it is run by an actual bank in South Dakota and backed by FDIC. This is just like a non-interest earning account.
Con #4:
The site is extremely slow. Now, I have dial-up, and last nite the site moved so slowly that I just gave up. Today was slow, but much better. The home page has the word 'beta' on it, so you know it's going to be slow as they work the kinks out of it. Of course, I'm a patient person, so it doesn't bother me TOO much to have to wait on websites...it wasn't any slower today than my DirecTV website, which just CRAWLSSSS because of all the fancy buttons they just have to have.

Pro #5:
Several, and I mean SEVERAL, Etsy shops have started accepting RME as a payment method. You can spend your sign up bonus on Etsy and others can do the same at your shop!
Con #5:
Not everyone on Etsy takes RME, so you have to go to this forum thread
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5561326

and you want to go to the last page of the thread to find the most recently updated list of Etsy shops that accept RME.

So far, I've found more good things than bad about RME, so go ahead, sign up for it...the most you'll be out if you don't like it is time spent.

The Color of the Day Is...Yellow Orange

Sunshine go away today. I don't feel much like dancin...Obviously, someone was singing this and doing a little bit of ye good ole rain dance, cuz the only place to find sunshine here in Iowa is right here on this blog. That's right!...Direct from Etsy.com for your viewing pleasure...It's Yellow Orange!!!

If you need a card to send to a friend, then simplyexpress has just the one you need:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10125803



Need to knit some sunshine into your life?...check out ThePaintedTiger's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10360523



Go and grab yourself this sunny NotYerAverageLobster from sojournquilt's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=313624



Already have sunshine in your neck of the woods? Then go check out pinkmarshmallow's shop for this way cool flip flop/t-shirt ensemble!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10567701



And how about a matching pair of earrings to wear with it from SOUNDandFURY's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10033997



You know, I was plugging away at this cute little flower fairy, proud as a peacock at not only my choice of colors (which wasn't even an original idea lol) but at how well I was layering them on the paper, when I had an idea that would just look so cool...so I thought. I decided to outline the inner most red/orange part of her wings with the blueberry pencil. Let me tell you about bright ideas...this one wouldn't have lit up the refridgerator.



So....now what?!! It's dark blue/purple over pink and red! I can't just erase it, but I can't just leave it there and hope no one sees it. Actually...quite by accident I learned this neat little trick to fixing fully saturated swatches of colored pencil...but you have to use a light touch for this one.

Take out your handy dandy exacto knife, and put any blade your are comfortable with. Of course, I've forgotten if mine has a #16 or #11 in it, but they both work smashingly! GENTLY scrape off the colored pencil from the paper until either you get rid of the error, or until you have exposed your drawing surface. Then go in with the color you needed, in this case, I colored back over the red/orange/pink of the wing and made it as good as new.





This is a better trick on Illustration Board than it is on drawing paper, but with the right touch, you can do it without tearing it. And, this trick comes in handy not just for mistakes, but for changes made mid-stream, as you will see a bit further on.

I decided to make the Fairies clothes a bright yellow...same color as my pick for today, actually. I did this because it went with the rainbow like theme of the wings. It also really brightened up the entire drawing. I actually use 3 shades of yellow-orange for this, plus light brown and brown for the shadows. I also used Pale Flesh and the same browns for her skin. I think she turned out quite lovely.



Flowers always look best in odd-numbered groups. I'm not sure why that is...but there it is. I drew a grouping of 3 Morning Glory blooms, and decided to make them lavender and dark purple, with yellow centers. ALWAYS use your lightest color first...purple will cover yellow, most of the time, but yellow only turns burnt sienna when placed over purple. The yellow went down first, starting at the center and in a sunburst fashion, out from there. Then the lavender next to the yellow. If you put enough layers of yellow down first, the first layer of lavender glides over it, leaving no mark unless you push hard to make it leave a mark. This characteristic is what makes it easy to see where your colors are at. Then, I blended the dark purple into the lavender around the very edges of the flowers. They turned out really lovely, but something was missing.

I took my exacto knife out again and scraped away a little circle spot in the middle of the flowers. With the dark purple, I filled it in, giving it little rays into the yellow. You see...nothing is really permanent, is it?



I'm almost done with this little drawing. The completed drawing will be offered in my shop, as soon as I decide how I'd like to do it. I still have a sale on the drawings in my shop, and will be adding more nature photographs as well. Go check it out!

The Color of the Day Is...Coral

Coral...the lovely pinkish-orangeish-reddish color that just conjures up pictures of underwater reefs and beautiful tropical fish...that's going to have to be next on my list of things to draw. Some day I may even get to see one in person, but until then, let's go see what we can see!

If you go to susansheehan's shop, you will find these and other exquisite lampwork beads:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10668435



And this really cool recycled notebook can be found in subu's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9803062



For those who love to knit...or just love looking at those as talented as iWunder is, you gotta check these out:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9800816



You can find a lot of journals and notebooks on Etsy, including this awesome notebook found in LadyGil's shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10608222



Tired of using the same old pincushion your Great Grandmother used? Then go to verybigjen's shop and get your own!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9906069



As for my newest creation...I haven't yet decided on a name for the drawing I'm using for this Work In Progress...or WIP from here on out. But after I picked the colors, I started adding color to the lifeless drawing on the obnoxiously blank paper.

I first laid down the Orange on the inner most parts of the wings...the little pointed ovals nearest her body. I then took Maroon and colored the outside of these little ovals, blending it with the orange. After that, to brighten it up and blend it more, I colored over that entire area with Red-Orange, making it stand out a bit more.
For the outer part of the wings, I used Pink nearest her body.





I did come across a problem with the second wing. Only part of it was visible, and just shy of outlining the whole drawing in black, I didn't want it to get lost back there, so I colored lightly in Magenta first, then Pink, so that it was darker than the closest wing. (you can see this in the above pictures)

I then took Magenta and colored in the next area of color, being careful not to cover the wing edges. I blended the Magenta into the Pink, and then went over both with Pink again to get a subtle fading of color from one to the next.




Then it was Blueberry I added to the outer edge of the wing, blending it into the Magenta much the same way that I blended the Magenta into the Pink. I then drew the wing section 'lines' with the Blueberry.




And that's when it happened...
The worst possible thing to happen to an artist as obsessive/compulsive (anal retentive) as I am...

I MADE A MISTAKE!!!
...and I'll tell you all about it next time

(gotcha again)

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!!