Illustration Friday - Catch-up... 'Rambunctious' and 'Voices'

I've been naughty in not keeping up with my Illustration Friday posts! So here are my quick little sketches for the last two weeks...far from perfect, just very rough sketches from my doodle book. "Voices" didn't come out nearly as nice as I'd have liked, and I just couldn't get the shooting star affect right in "Rambunctious", but here they are. From my Christmas-infused mind and straight to paper!

Angel hiding in the boughs...

"Late at night, while the gingerbread men slept peacefully in their sugary houses, and while the stockings drooped from their heavy loads with sleepy abandon over the empty hearth, a sweet little angel floated silently down from heaven to nestle amongst the twinkling lights and scented boughs of the Christmas tree."

Here's a little angel I made out of a clothespin, some feathers, and present filler many years ago. She wanted to say "hello" from her little bed in the Christmas tree, and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
I hope all of you are finding much joy in the season! We managed to make gingerbread houses on Sunday...what are you all doing to celebrate?

Sketchbook Finds - 12/16/08

My production of artwork has dropped drastically as Christmas winds it very quick and merry way toward us. I know I've been remiss in posting here, but thought I'd do something I haven't done in a while: I'll share a sketch from my ever-present doodlebook with you!
This is something I did back in May, and is my version of Rapunzel, with the rampion of the story about the base of the tree. I'm hoping one day to make it into a painting...eventually!

Hoyden Designs Giveaway!!!

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Thank you SO much to all who entered, and all the lovely comments left!***

SimplySentimental at Etsy has been kind enough to host for me a giveaway of one of my glass tile pendants! Yippee! This is the pendant you can win, with a print from one of my Dreaming of Darcy series of paintings called "Mary":

Isn't she lovely? A very elegant and romantic companion to just about any outfit! AND, she comes complete with an 18" handmade black pleather necklace cord!
To enter, simply go on over to the SimplySentimental blog and follow the instructions! The contest is open until December 22nd, and then a winner will be chosen to receive the above pendant!

Showered with Love!!!

I have been blessed beyond words with not one, not two, but THREE blog awards recently! I am so very touched! Here they are!:

The 'Spreader of Love' award from Mannie Vincent!

(Thank you Mannie!)

The 'One Lovely Bog' award from Sara Faghani!

Thank you Sara!)

The 'Marie Antoinette' award from Juie-Ann!

(Thank you Julie-Ann!)

Here are the rules for accepting these awards:
(1) Post a copy on your blog
(2) Mention who gave you the award.
(3) Pass the award on to 6 others.
(4) Leave a message on their blog letting them know the honor has been bestowed upon them.

Now time to pass these on, and to some incredible artits!...
1.) Alicia Padron!
2.) Vita!
3.) Stella!
4.) Diana Duda!
5.) Cat!
6.) Shelagh!

Please visit their blogs and show some love!

Work in Progress - 12-8-08

As busy as the days are leading up to Christmas (I hardly had time to breathe this whole weekend, we were so busy! I do love it, though.) I did manage to sketch this out while relaxing a bit in the evenings. I thought I'd try my hand at practicing illustration, and at the same time get into the spirit of this, my favorite season of the year. I'll hopefully add some color to it when I can catch up on my sleep! Any feedback, as always, welcome. :)

Letting Go - Completed Painting!

Well, I'm sure you'll agree that it took me long enough to finish this one! Haha! But finish her I did, and I'm really pleased with how she came out. :)
Here's my latest watercolor painting, called "Letting Go". On her lap is a tiny yellow bird, offering his leg for her to tie her broken heart to. He'll take it up and away for her, to free her from the pain she's suffering now. I usually don't add too much symbolism to my paintings, but I added some to this one. She's wearing grey, to show that she's emerging from mourning. The yellow shoe peeking out from the hem of her gown is a symbol of hope, and yellow signifies to me happiness. And the tree trunk she's sitting on signifies that she's been wounded and has felt felled like a tree, but the tiny leaf beginning to sprout on the branch shows that there's still life after great turmoil (thank you Alicia for noticing that! I wasn't sure anyone would!). I added some close-ups, since it's hard to show the detail I wanted to convey in a full pic. Thank you for all your kind words as I've worked through this one!

Treasury 12-3-08

Here's a lovely Etsy Treasury I've been included in. You can see my Chloe painting on the top right hand corner!

'Tis the Season for Giving!

A wonderful fellow artist blogger is doing a fantastic thing on her blog right now. She's collecting money for a terrific cause for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan...Please, if you have the time take a gander at her blog and see if you can spare a few dollars. After all, what better season is there for giving from the heart?!:

Here's the direct link to 'Alice in Paris' blog!

IF - Balloon

A little late, but better late than never! One of my first watercolors, and a pretty awful scan to boot. But I thought this would be perfect for last Illustration Friday's subject of "Balloon". I call this little guy "Sammy Tugs my Heartstrings". :)

I haven't been able to draw or paint much in the last week. Thanksgiving was a busy affair (thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my last post!). I'm very blessed to have most of my immediate family close by, so we all gathered at my 85 year old grandmother's house for an incredible Thanksgiving meal. Everyone pitched in to help out "Nani" (as she's called now that the great-grandchildren have started arriving). I brought my homemade cranberry sauce and roasted potatoes...yumm!
The rest of the long weekend was filled with things to start the Christmas season off right, like putting up the lights, trimming the tree, and our yearly tradition of watching "White Christmas" with my mom. I love love love Christmas, so there's lots to do in the coming month!
I'm hoping to finish up my painting this week sometime, and I finally got my family Christmas cards so I'm hoping to show you all how they turned out!
See you soon my friends!