Thursday, May 27, 2021
Inland Painters at Lake Wohlford, 2021
Friday, April 16, 2021
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Life Drawing with 2bornot2bcollective
I have been digging into materials I purchased years ago and hardly ever use anymore. Next in line were the conte pencils. I believe they were purchased for a life drawing class so I decided to use them for the virtual life session with 2bornot2bcollective on Zoom. These sketches were created in a small handmade sketchbook.
Monday, April 12, 2021
Crow Raven 3 inch Round Sticker
If you are interested in stickers you may want to check out Sticker Mule. I like to take advantage of their random sales. I usually order when I come across a 50 for $9. special. Subscribe to their email or follow them on Instagram to get notified.

This particular sticker is a 3 inch round vinyl sticker of a crow. It is was made from one of my hand-carved stamps. I have it listed on my Etsy store.
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Small Trinket Box with Paer Clay Heart Milagro Embellishment
I have been making boxes and books to use with my paper clay projects. I will be listing them this week. This is my first listing for a small Trinket box embellished with a paper clay heart. Available on Etsy.
This trinket box is a cardboard box painted with black paint.
The heart was handmade with paper clay by San Diego Artist, Lydia Velarde. It was painted with acrylic paint and sealed with matt medium.
The lines and circles on the box were drawn with acrylic markers.
The hinge on the back of the box is made of paper.
The box is 3.25 inches long and 2.25 inches wide
It is .5 inches deep and the bottom is lined with red felt.
Sunday, March 14, 2021
4 Needle Coptic Stitch
Last week I attended Ali Manning's @vintagepagedesigns #handmadebookclub class on #copticstitch using 4 #needles I was also introduced to #corkpaper #corkcloth which I used on this book. We produced a hardcover without using #bookboard. I chose not to trim my pages even though they were sticking out because I wanted all sides to have #deckled edges. I also left off the closure since I am a sketchbook artist and want to be able to open the book easily and quickly.
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Flat Style Australian Reverse Piano Hinge Binding Book
A fun book taught by Kit Davey (https://www.found-object-art.com/). This book is 3 x 3 inches and requires no sewing.
Sunday, March 07, 2021
NE EBAY AUCTION ITEM - Benten - Goddess of Creativity - Paper Clay Sculpture - Handmade One of a Kind
https://www.ebay.com/itm/384005213323
Note: The box shown in the first photo IS NOT included.
Benten - Goddess of Creativity
Paper Clay Sculpture
Handmade One of a Kind
Width 2.5 to 3 inches at bottom
The very top of her hair is 1 inch wide
Monday, February 08, 2021
Wooden Book With Sun Embellishment
Ali Manning's Handmade Book Club Challenge is wood. I created this book using wood for the covers and a sun embellishment using Creative Paper Clay. I tried a Coptic Stitch for the binding but I didn't like how the end columns turned out so I added black thread to the binding. While adding the black thread the yellow thread broke so it came out very messy.
I will use the sketchbook as a test to see how the paper clay holds up on the cover. The sun has been gessoed and varnished several times and I used E6000 to glue it to the cover. My sketchbooks take a lot of abuse so it will probably be run through a 3-month test.
Thursday, February 04, 2021
Sketching a Live Musician With SFSketchers Meetup Group
On Tuesday I joined the San Francisco Sketchers on Zoom to sketch a jam session. I also tried an exercise using 3 colors: Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue and Cad Yellow Light.
Sunday, January 31, 2021
Painted Paper Clay
I finally painted my little #paperclay #embellishments and started a few more. I'm not going to stiop until I use up my package of @creativepaperclay. These will be used on top of a few books and boxes I am making. In photo no.2 I have already covered a metal black box that a fountain pen came in. There are still many steps until finished.
Friday, January 29, 2021
First Try at Paper Clay
This is our "text book" for using Creative Paper Clay.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
USK Challenge
The USK Talks Challenge this week is to draw a map of the places you have sketched at. This is my contribution. There were many sketches of San Diego so I decided to make a smaller map and draw Poway.
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Value Studies Time Lapse
This is a 1:50 minute time lapse Lydeo.
These sketches were created during a virtual meetup with SFSketchers. The focus was on Value Studies. We drew 1-minute thumbnails then went on to two 5 minute poses, two 8 minute poses, and one 10 minute pose. I used Gray Pitt Brush Markers, Stabilo Pencils in black, brown, and graphite color, and ended with a Sharpie Waterbased Marker.
Saturday, January 23, 2021
Map Crunch Time-Lapse Process Video
Map Crunch is a tool I use to practice watercolor sketches. This is a time-lapse video I created while chatting with artist friends on Zoom. The location is Cambodia.
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Notan Time Lapse
Thursday, January 07, 2021
Map Crunch
No more outings with Urban Sketchers or Plein Air Painters. With the Covid outbreak, we have turned to meeting virtually and drawing virtual scenes. This sketchbook page includes sketches using MapCrunch.com as a reference. One was created with a gray pen and watercolor, the other with pencil and watercolor. The sketchbook page is 8.5 x 11 inches.
Sunday, January 03, 2021
New Sketchbook Flip Uploaded
This is age restricted due to the life drawing and figure drawing drawings in the sketchbook.
https://youtu.be/m0d7q6VbfUE
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Painting at Double Peak Park in San Marcos
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Sketching with 2bornot2bcollective
I'm glad I found this virtual drawing group based out of the UK. They meet 3 times a week and always have great models. This week I sketched with Derwent Watercolor Pencils and watercolor. @2bornot2bcollective Model was: @helenroeten


















































