Be Sure to Eat All Your Vegetables

I started this little sketch yesterday morning while enjoying my favorite McDonald's coffee, thought about it all day while I was at work and finished it up while I was eating my dinner and watching NCIS series on Netflix.  Sometimes you create something that makes you excited and this piece is that for me.  I couldn't wait to share it with you this morning on my blog.

The overall size of the actual sketch is about 8 x 10" so that larger size made the fur a bit daunting.  I used a combination of hatching and stippling to give it that textured fur look.  The challenge for me came in when approaching the lighter areas because I had to have good control of the pressure on the pen so the ink tapered to a place that was barely visible and yet still  giving the impression of fluffy soft fur that you know this little guy has.  I also wanted the carrots to stand out from the bunny so at the end I took the plunge and used a darker bolder line.  Ink is not forgiving so once you make a decision there isn't much ability to turn it around.  With acrylic and oil painting you can create detours and exit plans all day long that are just not afforded to you with this medium.

My focus for the past few months has been creating art that reminds me of my childhood growing up in the Missouri Ozarks.  My brother and I raised rabbits for several years.  In the winter that was a particular challenge as the rabbit hutch was situated at the edge of the clearing that was our yard and the top of a particularly large hill.  I remember several times the ground covered in ice and I having to work my way to the hutch by grabbing on to tree after tree to keep from sliding down the hill.  Good memories.

I'm working on my 4th large 24 x 36" acrylic painting but I have also added a number of sketches that are waiting to make their public debut.  I have a solo show coming up in April in Boulder City Nevada that I am calling "Down Country Roads" and this piece will most likely be matted and framed for that show if it is not sold before that time.  I want to have a number of cards and prints available and this bunny will make a great addition to the lineup I think.  My hope is to make my cards and matted prints of my sketches available on JulieTownsendStudio.com in just a few days.  I just received my new Canon Pixma Pro 100 printer last week and I'm working hard to get up to speed and bond with this new studio addition.

4 designs that I have already developed in my series.  These are all hand tinted and packaged and will be sold individually or in a group.

A Studio That Fits in Your Pocket

I know that as of late I have had a number of posts about my recent little artworks painted on the side of cowbells.  And while the cowbells are my current focus due to the popularity of them among my Facebook friends and local galleries, I thought today I would share some of the sketching I have been doing recently.  

I was keeping a larger sized journal for the past year, but with the pressure of filling up the larger pages, I found I wasn't drawing it on a daily basis like I intended.  In January I purchased a pocket sized sketchbook journal at Michaels and I just love it.  I carry it in my purse along with my .005 Pigma Micron drawing pen.  It is small and easy so I can pull it out whenever I have a few minutes. 

I'm filling the pages with practice doodles, zentangle designs and intricate sketches.  Not only do I find this fun and relaxing, I completely believe that keeping your drawing skills sharp is one of the best things you can do to improve your painting skills.  

I hope you enjoy these pages I've selected and I would love to hear from you about what you are drawing.

For a look at my more SERIOUS artwork and fun COWBELLS, come visit my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com

Sunflower sketch that I did today.  I LOVE the torn paper border look

A page full of Zentangle designs.  Practice makes perfect!

Playing with contour lines.  I love how it gives the illusion of being sucked into the center

Playing with a rope design for a border

My beautiful niece Laura

A fun ZENTANGLE KITTY

Accounting and Art- Used to be Like Oil and Water

I  know you have probably heard the term "Creative Finance" but I have just given that term a whole new interpretation.  It is probably hard for many of you to imagine that it would be possible to pull off combining both accounting and art together in the same piece but I think I've accomplished just that here in my new series that I call "Confessions of a Recovering Accountant".  

These pieces are both colorful and expressive and yet at the same time simplistic.  For me these 3 pieces represent the sum of my professional life after spending 30+ years in some capacity doing bookkeeping, accounting and business administration.  At times, I consider with some regret those years where art was for me but a distant memory of a youthful passion.  I feared that somehow that ability to be creative had totally disappeared and I would never get it back.  People that I had worked with side by side for years had no idea that I had once possessed a hidden talent to draw and paint and now they express shock as they come to visit my solo shows or the galleries where my art hangs.  

In less than two years, my life really has changed drastically.  Rather than stressing over the accounts receivable collections report, balancing the general ledger or working to prepare my monthly board presentation, I am now always working on a current painting, planning a new painting, sitting a gallery or sketching in my journal.  This series has been so freeing to me and I already have ideas to includes several more pieces. I have ideas to include my beloved Monroe 10 Key and another that I have already titled "Cooking the Books".  

To check out these and my other works, please visit my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com

Coloring My World

Right Brain vs Left Brain

Creative Finance

Confessions of a Recovering Accountant

These are a couple of small watercolors and ink pieces I have done this week.  Colorful and expressive, they both have a personal meaning to me and were just plan fun to create.  I have been sketching in volume with pen and ink for quite some time now but I am new to using watercolors to add color to my drawings.  I'm quickly falling in love with the look and freedom that this medium gives me.

This is a little watercolor I painted on Wednesday that I'm calling "Right Brain vs Left Brain". It symbolizes to me the struggle the exists inside of me as detail, analytic person that actually is an artist deep inside. I went years, 27 as a matter of fact, working for an organization as their accountant and business manager and it wasn't until the last 2 years that anyone even knew I could draw or paint. There just didn't seem to be enough time. I'm so blessed because my time requirements have reversed so that I am now free to create art whenever I want and do taxes and some bookkeeping in my spare time.

Right Brain vs Left Brain

This piece I am calling "Right Brain vs Left Brain" and it symbolizes the struggle that I felt for years as I was consumed by deadlines, financial reports and board meetings.  These demands sucked the creativity right out of me and I used it as an excuse to push aside my desire to let the creativity inside of me out.  

Coloring My World

This one I am calling "Coloring My World".  If you look closely at the black and white drips you will notice they are actually full of numbers and mathematical symbols. They have become so swollen that the bulging drips have ruptured and spilled numbers all over.  The colorful drips of paint and the paint brush symbolize my new focus.  You can never remove the accountant in me, but I can sure make my life more colorful by filling it with art! 

I am blessed that I am now able to dedicate my time to creating art and still do taxes and some bookkeeping in my SPARE time.  I already have an idea for a 3rd composition in this series that I am tongue and cheek calling "Confessions of a Recovering Accountant".  I think these might make an excellent greeting cards but I'm not sure of that. 

Sketch and Then Sketch Some More

I have always been a doodler...the margins of my note pads have often been filled with little nonsensical drawings, some of them recognizable and many simply shaded forms and scrolls.  I may be sitting still listening to the lecture, sermon or teaching but my pencil is always moving.  Drawing is the first step to improving your painting and really can't be emphasized enough.  I've been cleaning up in the studio today and took out my stack of unused sketchpads from out of the drawer where they are hidden from sight and moved them prominently on the shelf where I will remember to use them.

Tonight, I sat down and began to draw an iguana because I noticed a number of people walking through the gallery made comments about one of the artists work that contain iguanas, lions and horses.  Animals, and yes even reptiles are a favorite subject of many an art observer.  I decided that I'm going to start including some sketches on my gallery wall and see the response that I get.  Below I have added a couple of my pencil and ink creations.   

I had noticed recently a very interesting idea to prepare a small simple sketch of the eye of each member of your household and have it framed together.  I think that was a great idea and one that I want to do for each of my kids.  I could see doing a family nose, lip and ear study also.  This can be added to my long list of art endeavors.  So grab a pencil and piece of paper and draw something! 

Tonight's Iguana Sketch

The shallow edge of the pool at the Super 8 Motel, Santa Clarita California

Inspiring

Study of an Eye