Pickle

Here’s a Christmas pickle for ya!

And today’s carving…..ooooo look. Holly bats.

Carpenter

Today’s prompt is carpenter.

There was a carpenter, a long time ago, who had a big impact on the world. He preached love and forgiveness.

Those were simpler times.

Today’s stamp carving is also included below. Such fun!

NarwHal and friend

These two friends have been companions for a long time. They help each other and watch out for each other. Although they are different species, they have learned to live together in harmony. They share that beautiful mysterious place called the Ocean.

Below is also today’s carved stamp. I carved this one randomly. I like it because it almost looks like it fell off a fir.

confetti

What can I say about confetti? I had several ways to approach this prompt and I felt like playing with patterns, so I went a little bonkers on the iPad. I find myself playing on the iPad the same way I play on paper.

My whole life was in sketchbooks until I installed Procreate on my iPad several years ago. Now, I find Procreate can be a digital sketchbook, a place to clean up something that came out of my sketchbook or a place to create fine art. Once I got past the idea of going digital and still being true to myself, I found myself leaning toward tools on Procreate that fit my technique and style.

My biggest inspiration for creating art for art’s sake on the iPad? David Hockney. I saw his exhibit in Manhattan, saw how he used the iPad as a tool, and was finally able to embrace it as an authentic artistic tool. Another artist I would recommend checking out for creating art on the iPad is Rob Sketcherman. I love his urban sketches done on the with Procreate and they look like they were done in a sketchbook! Rob plays with the tools on the iPad to take his sketches to a whole other dimension. Rob inspired me to take just my iPad out to sketch, using it as a sketchbook.

The iPad with Procreate has been a life changer for me, but I still love the traditional media. Especially when the battery dies on my iPad. (Bummer)

Looking at “Confetti” again, I wonder about doing this pattern play in my sketchbook so I may try it again with other media.

As with my Confetti Design, here is a simple stamp that I carved with no direction or sketch. I love this Carve December challenge. Today’s design almost looks primitive and it was only a few lines.

Polar bears

Giants of the ice

Almost as white as the snow

Roaming wild and free

I hope we have polar bears for a long long time.

Today’s stamp is a Christmas tree…

Cardinal

Cardinals are such perky birds. The nice thing is when I moved from the Northeast, the cardinals were here, too. I get to observe them in a different environment. They sing a lot down here and they tattle on predators and raptors. I am always amazed at their bravery.

I did a sketch of a Cardinal on a cold day perched on a snowman. Not an unusual sight when I lived on Long Island.

Today, I also tried my hand at lettering and carved Noel.

Ski Lift

I almost didn’t do this prompt but I am not one to avoid a challenge, especially when I really got into doing the background. I pulled up a few of my photos from a Colorado trip as a reference and I found that the Apple pencil was well suited for doing the trees. I had to fuss with the wires but I didn’t want them looking “artificial” so I had to redo them several times. I did use the Procreate perspective guide which was really helpful. I look at this and I like that I captured the cold, weak light of winter.

Today seemed a day of multiple challenges. I was playing with the cutter to do a Linocut wreath. It came out pretty decent, after I filled up four pages in my sketchbook of test runs. LOL. It was done free style so I didn’t draw out a sketch for transfer to the linocut material, I winged it. It was a little daring but I am happy with it.

Puffin

This prompt was easy because I made a pamphlet book for my grandkids a few years ago that was about Arctic animals, puffins being one of them. I have not shown this book outside the family so this is the first time that I can remember actually posting one of the illustrations on my blog and social media. The book has a wintery Arctic feel to it and I really enjoyed doing this book. I should probably pull the entire book into Procreate and update it submit it to publishers. I did it to create awareness of the animals that would be negatively impacted by a warming planet.

Today’s stamp is also included below. It’s a stylized poinsettia. New blades came from Amazon which made a significant improvement in my cutting skills, LOL.