Esmerelda is a shy daydreamer who would love to dance ballet with a large ballet troupe and hopes to someday be a prima ballerina.
The Pink Diva Bird dreams of singing opera at La Scala in Italy. She practices her scales every day and loves to dress up.
These creatures came from sketches done in my morning pages. They started out as a random shape, that I move around until I find something I can work with in that shape, and the pull a creature out of it.
Ok, so I am a wee bit late posting these. This hand bound, hand painted, 20 page sketchbook was a little labor intensive and most of the postcards my mom received from this sketchbook were critters without page embellishments. I just finished all of the embellishments today.
Some of these may get bumped out by St Patrick’s Day but love is a daily activity anyway, right?
One of these days I need to get a new updated printer because the color of these postcards is quite intense in person and my printer does a “WTF is this?!” when I printed them out. I had to use color pencils after I printed them. I had used some metallic paint which scanned well but the printer didn’t do it justice. Yeah, I could have done these digitally, but there are some things that are best left to chance.
EVERY SINGLE ONE of these creatures came from a sketch in my morning pages which started out as a random shape, that I move around until I find something to work with in that shape, and pull a creature out of it.
I prepainted the pages before assembling the sketchbook. The colors are very bright and intense.
The media used was whatever I had within reach of my desk. Nothing has been tweaked digitally, I will be posting the raw sketchbook pages
This happy fellow was actually just completed yesterday, #19, but because he’s the cover, he is first for the series. I will also be writing a short description of each….
Happy is a loyal friend who loves to run, chase squirrels and eat bacon. One day Happy chased a big raccoon out of his yard.
I have been working on a few Valentine’s Day projects. One of those projects was felt patterns I found by Alison Kaplan.
I used to love to cross stitch and I had made so many things with cross stitch when I was in my 20’s. I still hang my hand stitched ornaments on my Christmas tree but for some reason, a needle and thread were something I have tried to avoid for many, many years. I have tons of cross stitch books with patterns and I have three DMC floss containers that were stored away. I don’t remember why I put a project away and never went back to it.
Then I found instructions for making a felt mouse and fox. I was surprised that I had everything I needed to do these projects except for the felt. I definitely had the DMC floss! To make these projects my own, I made them Valentine themed.
I cut out the felt and started sewing. Before I knew it, these two guys were complete. I even tried some embroidery going as far as using You Tube to research stitches. I really surprised myself with this project.
But could I make my own pattern? Why not? So I made a kitty pattern and then made my mom a kitty and mailed it to her as a Valentine’s gift. (Update on mom, she’s had her Covid vaccinations.)
Then I thought, ooooooh, what if I made a kitty with different colored ears and a heart shaped patch around an eye? I finished this one and gave it to my daughter as a Valentine’s present and even made pockets on the dress to tuck things into, like chocolate.
I have many more ideas for these little guys that are also influencing my 2d work. I really enjoyed making my own patterns and have ideas for more creatures, including dogs. I found that doing these were very relaxing and Mindful.
We have a small collection of orchids on our bedroom windowsill that take a break from blooming in the fall. Every year, in December, we move them from the west facing bedroom to the south facing window in my husband’s office to make room for holiday decorating. That speeds up their rebloom so that by Valentine’s Day, most of them are either budding or in bloom.
One of Carla’s assignments this week was to take photos of flowers and then share them. So a rare treat, photos of our orchids, the roses my husband gave me for Valentine’s day and more!
Putting those skills to work to make homemade Valentine’s wrapping paper….
Lots of stuff to post! Stay tuned.
I participated in Sktchy’s Creative Cupid Valentine yesterday where we signed up to sketch someone for Valentine’s Day and someone else sketched a reference photo that we posted, and so on. I was assigned Yang Yi-Ting.
Here was yesterday’s Sktchy Valentine of Yang…..
I did a test drive and warmed up with a 5 line sketch before I did the portrait above….. A 5 line sketch is when you only use 5 lines to record your subject….so same photo as the reference above, here is the 5 line version;
Looks like a Picasso, lol!
In between making sketchbooks, making Valentine’s Day cards and a multitude of other projects, here is my map for Valentine’s Day, which is also up on They Draw and Travel’s website.
My favorite candy is Lore’s Chocolates in Philadelphia. But I love See’s and I like Kilwin’s ice cream (their candy isn’t bad either.) See’s candy has a special fondness in my heart because my grandmother used to buy us a box every year for Christmas. John and I found a See’s when we were in Seattle last year. We bought a pound and it never made it home. Castronovo is a new favorite, they make the chocolate right from the bean. OMG it is amazing.
However you like to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I hope yours is sweet!
Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day.
Here is the link to my map on their website.
http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/illustrations/10985-candy-sweet-shops-throughout-the-us
Gina Lento: Fine Art and Illustration 
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