P-A-I-N-T-I-N-G

 We are visiting my in-laws today.

The kids are playing with grandparents and their aunt.

My husband is busy cooking pies for Thanksgiving.

So I holed myself up in the spare bedroom, with my computer and Wacom tablet...

...for over 4 hours.

O_o

It was amazing.

I haven't painted for that many consecutive hours since...ah yeesh, probably since before I had my first baby. Which was 8 years ago. Wow.

Want to see what I was able to accomplish in a little over 4 hours?

I had 3 goals:

Glowing Object

Metal Texture

Experiment with the Water Color brush

I usually trace my lineart with the Real G-Pen, but this time I darkened my pencil sketch with the Darker Pencil, and left all my sketched rough-draft lines unerased, and painted over that in layers with  the Transparent Watercolor Brush.

I ended up making a custom Textured Transparent Watercolor Brush, which I liked a lot more. That and occasional Dense Watercolor Brush and Charcoal (for texture), I think that's all I used.

This was fun to make. It felt so good to paint for so long. Maybe the kids are old enough now to let me spend more time on these kinds of things?

Also, if you know anyone who wants to write a children's book about trees, or set in a forest, let me know. I would love to illustrate that book.

Commissioned Work and Other Projects

Someone reached out to me the other day to commission me for a drawing. I love getting commissions!

Anyway, it was for a boy as a birthday gift for his girlfriend. The scene: the first time he noticed her, 6th grade art class. This is how it turned out:

Looking at this makes me feel woefully out of practice, but he likes it. And if the customer is happy, then I guess I'm happy, too.

I've also been coloring some of my basic sketches, here's how they are going so far:

Fun times.

Whirlwind of Junicorn!

I kept myself really busy in June by doing a challenge called "Junicorn."

I think a couple of other people have done it, but I made it up as a summer activity to do with my daughter. She joined me in a couple of them, and colored a lot of the ones I drew, but it was mostly me.

Here are some of my favorites:

Unicorn meets Narwhal

Breaking out of the norm and dabbling in sculpture!

Mermacorn

Trying to think outside the box

Unicorn with a princess rider

Me, as a unicorn (unicorn-sona?)

Again, getting outside the box

Junicorn Finale: find the unicorn!

Lunar unicorn

There were many, many more (you can see all of them in my Junicorn2020 Album on my facebook page: Facebook.com/KennaArt)

I want to color some of these, especially my favorites, but coloring takes a lot more time than quick sketching (especially with young kids around...young, curious kids with sticky fingers, yikes!), but I'll work on it as I can.

There is so much turmoil in the world today, not just the pandemic but the economy and politics and social unrest. It can be overwhelming and I often find myself wondering what I should be doing, if there's anything I can do, about it all.

And here are the answers I've been led to:

• Care for my family, especially my kids
• Appreciate the good moments in the present
• Do something creative every day

Maybe these points will help you, too. Maybe not. They've provided a good compass for me, personally, and I intend to stick with them as long as they remain relevant.

Jumping Back In!

It has been awhile. A long while. But my youngest is more independent every day and so I find myself with extra time again, which means...

...being an artist again!

It's been challenging to jump back into creativity. There was a bit of stagnation that had to be waded through. A lot of stirring up the creative juices again to get ideas flowing. One thing that helped in that process was collage art. Check it out:

For Book Lovers

Dare to Dream

Wanderlust

A Few of My Favorite (Steampunk) Things

Take Me Away

All of these are available on all kinds of home decor products, btw, at any of the shops linked to in the side bar. So if you like any of these, consider visiting the online shops to bring this artwork home.
And thanks.