Drawing #72 - Could Have Been Swiss

"Could Have Been Swiss" was done on my 9 x 12" sketchbook with acrylic paints, watercolors, colored pencil, collage and inks. The collage elements are old book fragments and a number of old Swiss stamps. My husband's paternal heritage is Swiss. Back in the day, before he and his brother turned 21, they could have applied for dual Swiss citizenship through their paternal line. That's if they had known of it and known the lineage back to Switzerland. Today the laws have changed and it is no longer possible and it was only for minors I believe. The stamps come from a mystery box my brother-in-law and I purchased on a lark at a stamp auction long ago. I feel the drawing is rather joyful, but does address things that might have been.

Drawing #71 - Don't You See

Don't You See is drawn on my small 8" x 10" sketchbook that I took to my July class at GRIP (Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh). Mostly done there, it has collage of bits from my mother's primary reader and a colored envelope, inks, colored pencils and when I was back home, the addition of watercolors. As always, I appreciate your feedback (and don't forget to click on the image for a larger view.)

Scrapping a random palette

Instructions were to generate five random six-digit numbers and then use a palette generators on one of them and finally to scrap a page using that palette. My numbers strings were:
285403
853435
549236
200972
129368
The colors included some greens a purplish blue and a reddish color. I went with the middle green one and found a nice palette generator creating this:

It reminded me of some photos from last year of Japanese iris in my sister's garden. I'm pleased with this result.

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Designer Credits:
-background, leaves, butterfly, charm, bow, word art: Spring is in my garden by MoosScraps Designs
-black paper, other elements: Granny's Garden by NBK Design
-photo mask: PhotoMasks No I by NBK Design

fonts: Jellyka, End_less Voyage, Memorandum, DK Garden Bed

Drawing #70 - Night Picked

I found drawings of a garden in my mother's elementary reader for this piece. When I assembled bits of them, the words "night, picked" appeared and gave me ideas of a hot summer night with lush, colorful flowers, sultry scents in the air. Summer surely seems to have arrived, so this seems just right. "Night Picked" was done on my 9 x 12" sketchbook with acrylic paints, watercolors, colored pencil, collage and inks. Enjoy this heady bouquet!

Drawing #69 - Come Back Safe

This month and the last of April have been exciting. This is the fourth drawing completed and a new one is taking shape. #69 has been in the works for a long time progressing only in fits and starts. I began a new, even larger, drawing and when I began to apply a little watercolor to it, I looked at the other and suddenly saw how it was begging for more color. That was easy with watercolor and collage followed quickly. That provided the title (although it actually reads "comes back safe") that seemed to be what one would need from exploring the drawing. More work on this drawing seemed to bring it all out. So, follow into it, but please, heed the title! The collage is from an old, deteriorating book of Tennyson's "The Princess." The drawing is on 12 x 16" watercolor paper. This is the largest size, except for one, I've done these drawings.

Drawing # 68 - brown leaf papa

Back to the 8 x 10" sketchbook, this drawing's color comes from acrylic paint and collage. I used various pens for the ink. When the color was established I found the bit of word list in my mother's elementary reader and immediately knew it was meant for this image and its title. Strangely, though it is much smaller, it reminds me a bit of an earlier drawing, "Somebody's Mother." This should really be a lot of fun for you! See where it takes you.

Drawing #67 - The Power of Spring

Long in the works, "The Power of Spring" came to a conclusion at the perfect time to celebrate burgeoning spring, even hearing Yellow Warbler and Baltimore Oriole in the yard this afternoon. The drawing is on a 9 x 12 inch sketch pad done with watercolor paint, colored pencil, inks, and collage. Some of the collage is from my mother's shorthand textbook and includes "spring" in a word list.

Drawing #66 - So Proud

Last week I took my 8x10 sketchbook to a genealogy conference with a page started to work on. It includes a bit from a children's reader where I saw the words "so proud." They seemed to fit the design very well. I like working this size while waiting for talks to start and the drawing was nearly done by the time I came home. It's done with inks, colored pencils and collage. I have larger ones in the works, but this is the first finished in 2016. "So Proud" is sure to spark your imagination!