A first time for everything!

So I participated in my first craft show last weekend! It was held at a local church here in Cloquet, and I had a great time. The hubs helped me create this awesome display to showcase my note cards and prints. And my mom stayed home with my noisy, albeit lovable toddler! Thanks guys.

Please to observe pictures below.

Overall I was pleased with how things went! This being my first time, I was just hoping to cover my costs to purchase my spot in the event, but I was pleasantly surprised by my profit. Yay! I'm hoping to do more shows in Duluth this next year. Up nort ya know.

I haven't shared a ton about my art or projects lately, but I wanted to give a little update of the new items in my Etsy shop! We've got a few Christmas cards, and a new hummingbird and robin that weren't in there before.

Check them all out here to shop for your Christmas cards or unique gifts for your pals and fam!!

Oh, and happy turkey week, folks.

Recent Work - Pastel Lion

Here's one of my most recent naptime pieces! A big, burly, hairy, growly lion. Mufasa, probably.

"AARRR" as Paisley would say.

When was the last time you watched the Lion King?

Is it worth setting up your old VHS player so that you can watch it?

Who's better, Timon or Pumbaa?

And whatever happened to Jonathan Taylor Thomas?

These are the questions you ask yourself when you are lion-drawing.

Ok I just googled JTT. Turns out he doesn't regret taking a break from the spotlight after Home Improvement, and spent lots of time at school and likes to watch movies at home and is interested in directing and writing.

Maybe he likes drawing lions?

A recipe for an excellent Valentines Day.

If you need suggestions for having a great Valentines Day next year, you've come to the right place. I have some EXCELLENT ideas for you.

First, enjoy a leisurely morning with your youngest Valentine. This should include books, yoga, Little People, and chatting about doggies and the letter "J" while your favorite playlist plays in the background. And I don't mean your cool, current Playlist with all the latest Indy hits. Not that that one isn't great. But today calls for your soul's favorite playlist, the songs that will never leave that special place in your heart. Some examples might be your favorite Queen, some Boston, Crash Test Dummies, or track 9 off your old Linkin Park CD.

Later, the two of you should have a pleasant, quiet lunch together. Don't let the part where she dumps her yogurt everywhere spoil the mood.



During naptime, treat yourself to your favorite leisure activity. Maybe that activity would be napping, or snacking, or knitting, or surfing the interwebs while listening to your soul's favorite playlist again. In my case it was pastel work with netflix going in the background.

Make some cheesy, creamy, corn and pepper chowder for dinner with all of your Valentines. Follow this recipe. Double the bacon. Extra cheese doesn't hurt either. Then make very large, thick and chewy heart shaped Valentine chocolate chip cookies together.



Have your oldest Valentine, the special love in your life, surprise you with a hand drawn card that features your favorite movie characters. In my case we have the very endearing and romantic duo, C-3PO and R2D2.



After you put any babies you may have to bed take a grainy, low res selfie on your phone with your special someone while watching the Olympics downstairs. So that you may always remember this moment.



And eat some crunchy cheetos. That should pretty much top things off in the most perfect of ways.

You're welcome.

Pastel Owl Friends

I sketched these two owls a couple weeks ago and was loving how they turned out...but then I gave them a pink background. Ehhhh, not really loving that look. I decided to share them here anyway because, well you know. I might try scraping off the pink and re - fixing the paper and using a different background color at some point, but the problem was and still is that I can't figure out what the background color should be.

So for now we have pink.

We are finally feeling better over here! Healthwise, I mean. Well, except the hubs is sick now. But the baby girl has been fever free for a few days and the amount of snot being produced from her nose is significantly less. Yay!! Less snot makes Liz a very happy lady.

Turtle Lovers Note Card Valentine

I put together a quick little note card for lovers - especially lovers that want to grow old together. Perfect for Valentines Day! Available in my shop!

I used my tortoise sketch from way back in the days of daily animal doodling and digitally colored it, and gave the lady hot red lips. Because if Valentines Day isn't the perfect occasion for hot red lips, then I don't know what is! Even turtles know that.

Custom Pet Drawings

I recently did a graphite drawing for a friend who asked me to make a portrait of her sweet pups. I was all like, YES! I love doing custom work and I had a great time working on this project. And I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

Here's a couple of progress shots:

Paisley also loved this project because it featured dogs, which are definitely her MOST. FAVORITE. THINGS. This girl watches more youtube videos of dogs barking than you could imagine (but what is even more unimaginable is the huge amount of videos on youtube that are actually just that - dogs barking).

Thank you random, proud dog owners of the internet who entertain my child while I'm trying desperately to get the last bits of dinner off the stove without burning the house down.

If you or someone you know would like any custom work done you can contact me at liz(at)theskylarkstudio(dot)com!

Pastel Giraffe - Recent Work

I haven't posted any of my recent projects lately - here's one of them! If you'd like to stare into this guy's sweet droopy eyes forever, he's available as a print or a note card in my shop.

Hope the holiday plans and to-do lists aren't putting you over the edge! I'm determined to survive! I even finished all my Christmas shopping yesterday, which is a milestone event for me because usually I'm a save everything until the last minute - panic - not get things there on time - panic some more - shop on Christmas Eve while panicking kinda gal.

Recent Pastel Work

So the other day I drew this classy old man with my pastels. I like how his eyes turned out crinkled and kind but he still seems like a mysterious dude. At one point I had a bit of an emergency when I thought I would add some bright red accents but with his pale skin it made him end up looking a bit flesh eating-ish zombie-ish. I wasn't sure he could be recovered but I think I managed to salvage it with golden accents instead.

One of the reasons I like my profession is that I can watch shows or listen to music while I do my work. Using two different parts of the brain, is maybe what it is. Anyway, we recently looked into lowering our internet bill and were told that if we got basic cable it would actually be cheaper than only having wireless. I don't understand why and I'm not going to try to. So now during Paisley's naps I can draw while watching old Office episodes or the last half of Jurassic Park 3 instead of going through all of our Everybody Loves Raymond discs on our x-box.

It's the little things.

Autumn Colored Owl and Squirrel Prints

Hi! So I shared a few updates from my shop the other day, and wanted to share a couple more. This fidgety squirrel and goofy owl were made to be pals. The rich colors on these prints are perfect for the fall season before it dwindles away into the dreaded snowy time!

Both of these prints are reproductions of my original pastel illustrations. They are available in two sizes or as notecards, snatch them up in my shop!

Housekeeping

Hi.

The past couple weeks have been somewhat of a blur of activity, a scramble against time, an endless to do list. Hence, I am feeling the need to catch you up on all of the things.

First, I re-did my blog! Did you notice? You probably did, since it looks very different from before:

(The ghost of Pointsies past.)

I was feeling a little change and I also updated my shop to match. I'm not sure I'm completely finished with it all yet, but so far I am enjoying the new look.

Speaking of my shop, I've been working hard at getting some new winter products all up in there! I've been pastel-ing/printing/photo-ing/changing out of my sweatpants and into jeans two minutes before the hubs gets home (you know I got the hots for you Brian) like a mad frazzled woman these past few weeks and I'm excited to share my new pieces! Here's Papa and Mama Cardinal hanging out during a snow fall. Available in two print sizes, or as notecards.

Check out more over in my shop! 

So I'm hoping now that I have everything all updated for the holidays I'll be able to devote a little more time to writing in this space. Then I can keep you in the loop on important things like that time that I wanted to make chips and cheese in the microwave but then I realized we didn't have any chips so then I made them with water crackers instead but then I realized we didn't have any salsa so instead of chips and cheese with salsa I ended up with crackers and cheese with barbecue sauce and it just tasted really bad but I ate it all anyway.

It's important that you know about these things.

Recent Work

I realized I hadn't shared any of my recent pastel work for awhile. But don't worry, there is plenty of it. I'm creating new pieces almost every day during baby girl's nap time and I'm starting to develop a problem.

I don't know where to put them all.

Currently in my art studio (which just a few short months ago looked like this...just look! So clean! So shiny!) the floor is covered with random pastels and illustrations. All over the floor, the desks, and any other surface that is flat. There's a small space in the middle of the floor, which is where I sit down to work.

And although I generally work well in chaos, I need to come up with some type of solution.

Soonish.

But here are a few that I have been pleased with:ALSO! Some house keeping. I re-did my about page. It's been long overdue - the picture of Paisley was from when she was like a week old, and the pictures of Brian and I were from like 2011 or something ridiculous and ancient like that. I updated with some pictures that the lovely Erin from Erin Bell Photography did for us, which I am in love with. I would have put them all up, but then my blog would be so slow to load that you would stop wanting to be my friend. But seriously, if you are looking for some quality photos for your family (or wedding! she does those too!) check out her work!

Recent work

As of late, I've been giving myself permission to have a little "me time" during Paisley's naps instead of using it as a time to keep up with housework. And let me tell you, it has been simply glorious. Once I put her down in her crib with her beloved Pinker bear and seahorse and I know she's asleep, I grab the monitor and laptop and head down to my art studio. I put a show on Netflix to play in the background and then dive into my pastels for a good couple of hours before she wakes up.

For awhile I would tell myself, "Well today you'd better do this cleaning or this chore and then TOMORROW you can do pastels." But then the next day there was a different chore to do, and then the next new messes that needed cleaning. And I realized. Hmmm. I think that having a toddler and a husband and two cats (and a myself) means that there will always be messes to clean and chores to be done.

So. If I want to do pastels I have to make the time! And guess what. The housework still somehow gets done, dinner still (usually) gets cooked, and everyone still survives. It's great.

Here are a couple of pieces that I've been particularly pleased with. I'm still experimenting and learning about how I like to work with color and it's not always successful, but super fun when it feels like it is.

For these portraits I didn't want to take the time to make them look exactly like the picture I was working from, but rather tried to keep it loose and quick, and the colors vibrant.

I'm seriously having so much fun with my beloved pastels!! Each color is a special little friend. I am planning on eventually listing some prints in my shop, but first have to figure out what kind of pieces I would like to create and the direction I would like to go from here.

Something new.

For the longest time I've been intimidated by color when it comes to the fine arts. My safe zone is my gray graphite pencils and in my sketchbooks you will find pages and pages of grayscale drawings.

But I've been starting to feel bored. And held back by my grays. I'm tired of shading and shading and shading and trying to get all the dimensions the image requires with a single color.

There's only so much grayscale shading one can do before one starts feeling annoyed.

Also, I'm trying this new thing where I'm not letting myself be held back by the fear of failure? Trying to not be held back by the fear of failure has been good to me this summer. Very good indeed.

So I asked my mom for some pastels for my birthday. I've worked with pastels a bit before but have never had any of my own. Yesterday during baby girl's nap I gave them a try, and people. I have a new boyfriend and his name is called drawing with pastels. Don't tell the hubs.

I didn't want to waste a ton of time pondering what to create (I often have problems wasting time because of my incredible indecisiveness) so I used a foxy sketch from a couple months ago as my inspiration. Here is the original sketch:

Here are some progress shots. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough knowledge of color to know what to put where, but I pushed that aside and just did what I thought might look awesome.And here is the final outcome! I was surprised with how quickly it came together and how pleased I was with the result. I think pastels and I are going to be spending a lot of time together.   

And don't worry your pretty little head about the hubs, he already knows about us.

Meow

Some sketch time during the babe's nap time.

Pisica is being used to prop up my sketchbook because well, why not? This cat will put up with anything as long as she can sit in your lap. 

And now that there's a baby that takes up everyone's time, she takes any lap opportunities that come her way VERY seriously.

You would think she would give some artistic input and helpful critique, but all she does is breathe heavily and allow her body to be extremely floppy as a whole.

And that's all I have to say about that.

kthanksbye

Sketching

I got out my sketchbook the other day. Well. I should say I looked high and low for my sketchbook the other day before finally finding it tucked safely away in my computer bag. And since I seriously do not remember the last time I drew something, I also had to go hunting around for my pencils, sharpener and eraser.

It was quite the ordeal. I almost gave up! But then I didn't. And I drew a fox who is feminine and girly.

It felt nice to get something down on paper but not feel like I had to spend a ton of time on it. As I mentioned last week, my usual perfectionist tendencies are falling to the wayside a little bit. Which is generally a good thing.

Ok see ya!

More recent work

Another project.

Experimenting with design ideas for bridal showers and bachelorette parties. I am loving simple, square invitations lately.

What do you think?

Wedding Invites

I've been meaning for a while to post these wedding invites that I designed for my brother and sister in law. They wanted something fun and colorful, with little cartoon depictions of themselves. I really enjoyed putting these together.

There were more pieces in this set than usual, which was just more fun for me!



These were sent out last summer and the happy couple has now been married for a few months, so I'm a little late getting these up. BUT. Anyways. Here they are!

Minted V-Day Challenge

There's currently voting going on over on Minted for the best Valentines cards - I submitted a couple designs. Minted is a super fabulous website where you can order custom greeting cards and other awesome paper goods. The coolest part is that it's all contests between super talented designers - and the consumers are the ones who get to decide the winners! Have any time to go vote for me? :)

If the answer is yes, all you have to do is find the Minted window on my side bar (under my shop photos) that says "vote for me." It will bring to you one of my designs, and in order to get to the other one to give that one some voting love too, just click on my profile info and you should be able to see it!

Here are the two designs I have submitted. One for a boy to hand out in the classroom, and one for that special someone who has already been your valentine for awhile now (and still is.) 

The voting ends at 11am tomorrow, so there's not much time! I would of course super appreciate your votes! :)

Something about not being pregnant makes me productive again.

I'm so excited to show you my latest note cards for the shop! Now that my preggo belly is gone my creative juices seem to be flowing back to me, which feels great. I'm getting pretty good at snuggling baby girl into her Moby Wrap so that I can wear her around the house while she naps and I can get stuff done. Here are my latest projects!

These are a couple of my animal doodles from last year, digitally colored.

A narwhal thank you note for a pal.

A friendly bunny greeting card for when you just want to say hey. You're cute.

Check them out here!

Summer Doodles

As I've mentioned before, I haven't been spending much time in my sketchbook lately. Part of it is just that there's other things taking precedence right now, but also because every time I sit down to sketch I end up making big elaborate drawings. That take a lot of time. So it's daunting because I don't always want it to be such a huge time commitment.

As I was lamenting my very serious and horrible sketchbook troubles to the ever so wise and understanding hubs, he was all like, "just doodle around, yo." Maybe he didn't say yo, that's not actually how he talks. BUT ANYWAY I took his advice and as we watched an episode of The Office together I doodled some little summer doodles.

Even though there was no purpose to them it was nice to be creating something.

My memory flings me back to freshman year in college when we had to complete a certain amount of "items" in our sketchbook per week. It was tough for me as I am QUITE the perfectionist (you can ask the poor hubs if you don't believe me) and as I mentioned before, my drawings usually take FOREVER. Add that to me being one of theeee most ridiculous procrastinators on the planet and you can guess that I was often up into the very wee hours of the morning the nights before my drawing classes. Working on what were simply supposed to be quick sketches in my sketchbook.

But in other news. College is over and so is drawing class. I'm not sure where I was going with that.

And so I'm off to a fun weekend with the hubs - it's the most special of weekends because it's our 5 year anniversary! I'm supposing that we can call this some type of a milestone. I'm comfortable with that. Fer sher.