Christmas Crafts 2009: Handmade Embellishments

{Candy Cane Embellishments, 2009}

{Star Embellishments, 2009}

{Holly Embellishments, 2009}

{Embellishments Drying, 2009}

{Hand Carved Lino Stamps, 2009}

Every year I send out handmade Christmas cards and every year it seems that the process becomes more streamlined. It always feels good to figure out something that will work better to create multiple items. Creating the embellishments for the first step of my Christmas cards went fairly quickly and I thought I would share them with you! Plus, I love the way they look all piled together. I used a Martha Steward Craft Punch to make the scalloped circles. The stamps were carved with Speedball products and stamped using StazOn ink. I added a little glitz with glitter glue, seed beads and Michael's craft candy canes. I hope you'll stop back soon to check up on the progress of my holiday cards and other fun projects!

Christmas Crafts 2009: Monogrammed Stockings

{Stockings, 2oo9}

{Stocking Detail, 2009}

{Stockings, 2009}

This is the first of several Christmas crafting posts that I will be sharing in the next few weeks. I really love handmade touches around the home and I will also be making several gifts for family and friends this year. Not only does a handmade gift feel more personal, with a tight budget, it really helps me keep my spending in check too! These stockings are for all of the members of our family (human and furry!) so I monogrammed them with each member's initial. The large ones are for my husband, Ken, and I. The medium ones are for our two cats; Amelia and Oliver. The smallest stockings are for our two sugar gliders; Conan and Pip. To make them look cohesive, I tried to limit the colors of felt that I used and added some beaded holly. All parts of these are hand stitched, which adds to their rustic and handmade appeal!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

{Oliver and Hand Stamped Pumpkin, 2oo9}

{Oliver and Hand Stamped Pumpkin, 2009}

{Oliver Playing in Leaves, 2oo9}

Oliver wanted to join me in wishing all of my fellow bloggers and blog readers a very pleasant and wonderful Thanksgiving! Our new kitty, Amelia, was living with us when these pictures were taken, but she was born semi-feral and for most of her short 5 month life, has lived outdoors. Needless to say, she wasn't ready for photos as she adjusted to our home! She is really coming along nicely though, so hopefully by the time I do a Christmas post, Amelia will be able to share the festivities with Oliver!

Scuba Kitty

{Oil on Canvas, 2009}

Remember waaaay back when I did the free painting giveaway on my blog for my 300th post? Well, the winner was Margaret, who heard about it via Twitter, and she requested a scuba kitty painting. (yeah, yeah, it's a little random, but it has personal meaning for her, and it was SO fun to create!) Anyways, she wanted an orange cat and that was the only detailed request other than the subject matter. (which is how most artists work best... little guidelines.) I hope she likes it! I think I will be doing something similar for my 400th blog post too, so look for that in the fairly near future. Also, speaking of twitter, I changed my name from @pinwheelart to @candacecamling if you want to follow me there!

Illustration Friday - Music

{Graphite on Illustration Board, 2009}

I thought a barber shop quartet would be an entertaining way to illustrate this week's theme of "music" over at Illustration Friday! As I was drawing this, I was trying to imagine what each guy might sound like. I'll be adding this drawing to my growing pile of oil paintings to work on and finish.

Recent Sketchings

{Colored Pencil in Sketchbook, 2009}

{Colored Pencil in Sketchbook, 2009}

{Graphite in Sketchbook, 2009}

I'm still in the middle of finishing up a few oil paintings, so I thought I would post a few little ideas out of my Moleskine. There really is nothing better than sketching random things without a care in the world. I think the whale is especially cute, and sort of want to make a plush toy out of him when I get some crafting time!

Why I'm Not Getting A Tattoo

{Squirrel Tattoo Concepts, 2009}

{Seashell and Floral Tattoo Concept, 2009}

It has been a long while that I have been contemplating getting a tattoo. So finally, I said to my husband one day, " I want a tattoo for my birthday". (Which happens to be today.) I have thought it over for months, to the point of waking up in the middle of the night to think of ideas. I had totally planned to have a smaller tattoo placed on my inner left wrist. The sketches above, are the concepts that I spent time working up. The squirrels would be significant because they were used as a motif for my wedding. I also included many different flowers on my designs that had special meaning to me. (Specifically Lily of the Valley which has a universal meaning of seeking happiness, and it reminds me of my Mom.) The seashell drawing would be significant to me as a reminder to keep working towards being able to live by the ocean and I can not think of one thing I love more than being near the sea and all the ecology that goes with it. ( I'm a total nerd, I know) So... after working out all these sketches and doing tons of research on local tattoo artists and tattoos in general, why am I not getting it done?

Here are a few reasons:

1. I am a major control freak. Its hard for me to imagine another human drawing on my skin. If they altered my drawing in any way, I would be disappointed. Human error, which is inevitable, would happen and then drive me C-R-A-Z-Y.
2. This is another control thing. All tattoos fade over time and feather around the edges. Yes, you can take really good care of them, but IT WILL HAPPEN. I'm a perfectionist, and the odds are, the minute one little dot of ink feathered or blurred, I would be annoyed.
3. Change. My tastes change like the wind. Yes, I will always love squirrels, seashells and flowers, but its bigger than that. At some point, I may not want to profess that love so openly.
4. Getting it for the wrong reason. As most artists, I am interested in things that look "cool". I like to follow trends and I really love the look of inner wrist tattoos. The only thing is, I am a little afraid it will become the next lower back tattoo... or tickle me Elmo... or those weird sunglasses that look impossible to see out of. You know, waaaay too overdone!
5. I don't want to be asked questions or groped by strangers... or casual acquaintances for that matter. I've seen it happen, probably done it before, and simply do not want to deal with it.
6. I have have made enough impulsive decisions in my life, and I finally found something that I explored and was interested in, but ultimately decided was not right for me. I love the culture surrounding tattoos, and the art is AMAZING if its done by the right artist. I think Kat Von D is wickedly cool, and I love her tattoos... on her.

Regardless of my decision, I still liked the little pieces of art that came from exploring this option. I know this is a long and slightly off topic blog post for me, but I feel that I made the correct decision for me and I want to encourage others to think things through before they make big decisions, no matter what the end decision.

Marv Painting

{Oil on Paper, 2009}

I finished up this painting of Marv from Sin City for Scott. You see part of the process on THIS post. In my current paintings, I am trying to be less controlled on every single aspect of the piece. I think you can see some of that with the background and jacket.

Work in Progress: First Day with Oil

{First Layer of Oil, 2009}

{Detail, 2009}

I started putting a thin layer of oil paint on this illustration today. I wanted some of the values and a few parts of the drawing to show through (at least for now) while I am working out the major color palette. Tomorrow I spend a lot of my time at the Des Moines Art Center teaching, but I hope to get some painting done during my afternoon break and continue painting on Thursday and Friday! My aim is to try to be done with this by mid next week.

Work in Progress: Winter Scene

{Final Sketch on Illustration Board, 2009}

{Acrylic Layer to Seal Drawing, 2009}

I have a bunch of little things going on in my studio right now, but I have been working on this fairly large (18"x8.5") illustration for a week now. It took awhile to get the drawing right, plus it was a hectic week last week... and the "hectic" wasn't art related, just life. Nothing serious, but it prohibited me from spending much quality time in my studio. More than anything, I'm just glad to be back in my little space working away! I can't wait to get started on the oil portion of this piece and share the progress.

Marv and the Ultimate Question Answered

{Marv from Sin City Sketch, 2009}

{First Layer of Oil Paint, 2009}

{Mickey Rourke as Marv in Sin City}

My friend from college, Scott (aka Workhorse) has been on my case about fulfilling my promise to illustrate my interpretation of Marv from Sin City (easily my favorite character!) I'm not a die hard comic-bookie or anything, but I really loved the depth in the movie and Marv stands out as a complex character. In my drawing I made Marv's eyes a little sadder, 'cause this guy has been through some stuff! I'll probably make some adjustments as I continue working through the painting (which is relatively small at about 4"x4") I'll post the finished piece as soon as it gets done... and then I will promptly mail it to Mr. Workhorse.

Now, as I mentioned in the title of this post... The answer to the ultimate question.

Q: How do giraffes drink from a drinking glass?
A:

{Pen and Ink, 2009}

I know, I know... my sense of humor is hideous.

More Halloween Pictures!

{Pumpkins lit up, 2009}

{Costumes, 2009}

{Finished Makeup, 2009}

{Ken's Wonderful Costume, 2009}

I know this is generally an illustration blog, but I can't help but share more of our Halloween happenings! We spent so much creative energy on our pumpkins and Ken's costume that I think its totally legit to share it here! Ken came up with the idea of a Lego man costume. He did a scale drawing in AutoCAD and started to build the costume using cardboard and tons of other mundane materials. When he got to the final stages I helped sand parts of the costume and I painted the torso and areas of the face. The final product turned out fabulous and even won him $500 at a local radio/casino costume contest! I loved working on the project with him too. Its always such a wonderful bonding experience to work together on something creative... especially when the hard work pays off! (literally!) Hope everyone out there had a safe and happy Halloween!