Oil Painting Class Week #9

I missed posting for Class #8, being it was Thanksgiving and all. Plus I have been sick the past week.

So I give you a progress shot from this week, Class #9. I think it is coming along nicely. I need to rework the reflection on the table, but otherwise I like how it is going so far.

I only have one more class next week and then there is a break for the holidays. I am hoping to sign up for more classes come January. I might actually try to paint at home, we will see if I get ambitious enough.

Creatively Tara

Oil Painting Class Week #7

I finally finished the Koi Fish. Here is the final piece. Although I am going to wait and see how it dries and see if I want to do another glaze on it. I am really enjoying painting with Oil. I don't think I did too bad for my first Oil Painting.

I was able to start on painting #2. I know the picture is dark, I wanted to try and make sure you could see the pencil lines. I am excited to see how this one comes out.

Creatively Tara

Oil Painting Class Week #6

I see that I missed posting week #5 progress of the painting. I got busy with with it being Halloween and didn't take a picture. The classes are only 5 weeks long, so I signed up for another 5. I can't believe I am still not done with this painting. The teacher is going to show me a glazing technique to make it look like the fish are underwater. We decided to wait and do it next week so that the paint is not wet while doing it. Here it is before the glaze. I will show finished piece next week, and show what I plan to paint next.

Oil Painting Class Week #4

Here is the progress I made tonight on my painting! The class I signed up for is only 5 weeks, so today I signed up for an additional 5 weeks. I don't think I am going to finish it within a week and I feel like I have so much more to learn.

Oil Painting Class Week #3

Started on the fish! I am really liking the way this is coming out. The teacher had to help with some of the tones of color, but it is helping me see the colors differently.

Oil Painting Class Week #2

I didn't get very far with the painting this week. I talked with the teacher and we decided it was best to do the background first and then do the fish. I am enjoying this class, the time flies when I am just concentrating on painting.

First Day of Class!

 

 I really enjoyed myself in my first day of class. She taught us to draw from a grid. I have never drew this way before, I knew of the technique but never used it. It made things so much easier. I know this picture is hard to see, the sketching I did was really light. It is a picture of Koi Fish with a Water Lily. We will start painting on it next week. I will show my progress as I go.

Creatively Tara

Painting Class!

I signed up for an Oil Painting Class and it starts tonight! I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I have never painted with oil before. Also I have just not been feeling very creative lately, I am hoping this class will get me going again. So hopefully you will hear from me more often. Life has been quite hectic lately and I am hoping things will get easier with time. Looking forward to hopefully showing off what I learn in my class.

Creatively Tara

Feeling a bit Crafty

Hi All,

I know I have kind of disappeared for the past couple of months. There really hasn't been anything new going on. Work has been super busy. Mom is pretty much doing the same, she is hanging in there. I have been so tired lately and my emotions have been all over the place, that I haven't been feeling very creative. I am trying really hard to make myself do something. 

I have been feeling a little more crafty than artsy, so here are a couple of projects I have been working on. Last week I decided to finally try some wire wrapping. This is something I have always wanted to learn how to do. I don't think I did to bad for my first time.

This week with it being the beginning of the harvest season, I wanted to learn how to make a corn dolly. My friend Tracy came over and we made little Witch Corn Dollies together.

 

I hope everybody is doing well, and I am going to try to get back to the creative part of my life.

Until Next Time!

Creatively Tara

War Memorials Book Design

I wanted to show these off for the week of Memorial Day. I am very proud of the way these came out. I really focused on making them interesting for the kids to read, but enough respect that if a soldier picked it up they would enjoy them also. Some of the pictures that I found for the books actually made me tear up a bit.

My Sketchbook #13

I am still working through the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain book. Here are more of the exercises from the book. I really had to force myself to do these. I still feel a little off, but I figured if I made myself do them my interest will come back.

Exercise #5: This was about practicing different stroke techniques.

Exercise #6: This exercise was about practicing symmetry and working through the confusion of shifting from the left to the right. I always have a problem with symmetry so I should have practiced this one some more.

Exercise #7: This one was a little confusing for me. The idea was to draw the image upside down so that you couldn't understand the parts of the image. The book suggests that most people can't make out images upside down or reading handwriting upside down. My problem with this is I can make out the images and I can read upside down. So I really tried to not pay attention to what the parts of the image was and focus on the lines of the drawing themselves.

Mini-Break

I have taken a mini-break. I had a bit of a hard time dealing with Mother's Day and then this past weekend was Mom's Birthday. Plus we have been super busy at work.

I try very hard to not let any kind of depression get me down for too long. The way I like to deal with it is usually either sleep (which I haven't been getting enough of) or I check out of reality and read a book. All I have been wanting to do is relax and read. I just haven't been wanting to draw much the past couple of weeks. I know in my heart my Mom wants me to continue on and I will.

I am going to try and get back next week, I just have to give myself a mental break every once in awhile.

Until Then!

Creatively Tara

My Sketchbook #12

This is Exercise #4 of the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Book. I had to draw a corner of the room.  This is the corner of my living room. The bear is really dark and it was hard to see all the lines in it. I did want to get a couple more of the exercises done, but got busy and didn't get to them.

Skywatch Book Design

These Skywatch books were published back in 2009! I really enjoyed working on them. I have a fascination with anything Space related.

Creatively Tara

My Sketchbook #11

I was feeling like I needed a little more structure in my sketches. I have been having a hard time coming up with new things to sketch and decided I could use some instruction. I started the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards back in November 2010. I stopped reading it and decided to do my Sun A Day Project instead. I am now coming back to it. My next sketches will be exercises from this book.

Exercise #1 was to draw a Self Portrait using a mirror:

Exercise #2 was to draw a person from memory. This proved a little more difficult because I am used to using references. I decided to try and draw my Mom, with her curly hair, before she ended up in the hospital:

Exercise #3 was to draw your hand:

It will be interesting to see if I improve that drastically by the end of the book.

Creatively Tara

Social Skills Program Logo

I was asked at work yesterday to come up with a quick design for a program we are working on. They already had the idea of a kid with his hands up and the School, Home, and Community. I ended up  drawing the little guy from scratch and really like the way the illustration came out.

Epcot Weekend!

We had a busy weekend and I didn't get any drawing in, so I thought I would share some photos from the weekend.

First we ended up in Old Town, Kissimmee. There was a classic car show going on and I came across this hood ornament on a Rat Rod. It was so awesome, it's made out of keys and silverware.

While down at Old Town we decided to go play Putt Putt Golf at Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf. The boyfriend and I tied the first game and then on the second game he beat me by 1 stroke.

The sky was beautiful after the rain stopped, and the sun was going down.

 

On Sunday we met up with his brother and his family and went to Breakfast with Minnie and Donald. Then we went to Epcot for the day. I enjoyed seeing all the countries in one place.

I really enjoy taking pictures of the sun setting. This was while we were waiting for the fireworks to start. The bright spot in the top of the photo is Venus and then you can barely see the sliver of the Moon and Jupiter below that.

Monday we went to the Orlando Science Center. Had a blast playing with all the science experiments.

We finally drove home that night and just chilled. I was so tired and sore from all the standing and walking around.

Hope everybody had a wonderful weekend also, and I will try and get back to the drawing by next week. Look for a Graphics post on Thursday.

Creatively Tara

New Logo Design for Work

The company I work for decided to change up the structure of the business and with that needed a new logo. We tried to have outside sources, because we have been so busy, design it but they didn't seem to like any of them. I was very excited when they decided on one that I had designed. I was also able to put together the stationary and business cards.

My Sketchbook #10

For my birthday the boyfriend got me a Wacom Bamboo Create Drawing Tablet. I have been so busy that this is the first time I have been able to play with it. This is my first drawing on it, using Adobe Illustrator. I need to do some more practicing and get more comfortable with the pen tool, but I do like drawing with it. Any suggestions would be very helpful. I used Illustrator because that is what I am comfortable using. I downloaded Autodesk Sketchbook and Corel Painter, but not familiar with them yet.

My Sketchbook #9

This was my idea for Easter. I have a thing about thinking Bunnies are Evil. I think it has to do with being bitten by one when I was younger.

I really had fun coloring these past 2 pieces in.

My Sketchbook #8

I have seen a couple people do the angry cupcake. For my birthday my girlfriends and I went out for frozen yogurt. So it popped in my head that I should make an angry Frozen Yogurt. I tried really hard to avoid my birthday so this was pretty fitting.

Birthday Week and Update!

Hi Everybody,

I just wanted to write a quick note so you don't think I am stopping my Weekly Sketchbook Project. Tuesday March 27th was my birthday. I had a nice birthday, the boyfriend and my brother took me out to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner and made me wear this silly sombrero.

Well on other news my Mom ended up back in the hospital on Thursday. She is doing fine now but gave us a scare. I don't really talk a whole lot about her condition because to me its very personal. But for an update, She is still not completely responsive. We had her starting to talk with us but she kept getting infections and has been in and out of the hospital for the past month and a half. Just found out on top of everything else (aneurysm bursting, brain hemorrhage, and a stroke) she now has lung disease. We are just trying to stay positive. She is the strongest person I know.

I have just been exhausted lately. I plan to start back up next week April 10th. Hope everybody is doing well.

Creatively Tara

My Sketchbook #7

I decided to draw a Bald Eagle. The past few months I have seen quite a few of these flying around. They are such exquisite birds.

Fabulous Tabulous Board Book Design

I am actually really proud of the way these board books came out. I created photo montages for all the pages. It was a lot of Photoshop work, clipping and making the animals fit with different backgrounds.

My Sketchbook #6

The Egret is one of my favorite birds down here in Florida! I have always wanted to draw one but never got around to it. They are so beautiful and graceful.

Magazine Ad #2

This is an Ad I designed for Booklist Magazine September 2011.

My Sketchbook #5

Well here is the deer for the other family crest for my brother's tattoo that I have been working on. Now I just need to make them both look a little meaner and put them with the shields.

Little Birdie Board Book Brochure

This is a brochure that I designed for our Little Birdie Board Books. I thought I would show off only a few spreads. I really enjoyed designing this, because it's a bit different that what we normally do.

My Sketchbook #4

My brother has been bugging me to draw a tattoo for him. He wants our parents Family Shields. One of the shields has a boar on it and the other has a deer. I had drawn everything awhile ago and did not like the way the animals came out. I want to play with different looks for the animals. I think I still need to play with this one, but this is definitely a start.

My Sketchbook #3

 

My Raven Kitty! Looking at my sketches I really need to concentrate on my proportions!

Green Earth Book Series

This is a book series that I designed at work! I enjoyed learning about the different ways to be Green in your everyday life. It's amazing what you learn from children's books.

My Sketchbook #2

My Murphy Dog for Valentine's Day! I Love my little guy!

Magazine Ad #1

This is an Advertising Piece that I did, that went into the District Administration Magazine.

My Sketchbook #1

I drew these hummingbirds while visiting with my Mom at the Rehab facility she is in. I am actually thinking about getting a tattoo of a hummingbird for my Mom. These were some ideas of position I had.

I finally figured out how I am going to handle posting artwork. I decided I needed to make a schedule to keep myself on track. This is the plan, I am going to post something out of My Sketchbook every Tuesday of the week. On Thursday I am going to post some of my Graphic Arts. If I end up doing any other kind of art I will post as I finish them.

Hope you enjoy!

Creatively Tara

Board Book Design

One part of this blog is that I want to share some of my Graphics work from my 9 to 5 job. I work for a Children's Nonfiction Book Publisher and I design and layout books, catalogs, and advertising for the company. I have been working with them for 5 1/2 years now and really enjoy what I do. Here are some Covers and a couple interiors for a series of Board Books that I designed last year.

Creatively Tara

Welcome!

Hi There Everybody!

I am starting on a new adventure. Last year I did a project called Sun A Day, where I created a Sun everyday for the whole year of 2011. While it was fun and I learned so much from that project, doing something everyday was exhausting. I thought about it and I still want to continue sharing my art. I was going to continue to use the Sun A Day blog, but I didn't feel like it would represent what I want to do for the future. So I started a new blog, where I feel I can share more than just Suns, and more than just art. On this blog, I am going to share my adventures in getting back into art and creating. My goal for this is to at least post something once a week, if not more. It might not always be a finished project but I want to share what I am working on. I feel like it will help keep me going and not procrastinate. I hope you enjoy following me on my Artistic Adventures.

Creatively Tara!