More Greeting Cards

The cold season has begun!  And so I sit close to the fire, with reference photos nearby and blank greeting cards on my lap.  Oh, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing these!  Especially those Sun Parakeets.  Can't you just imagine their conversation??

More Greeting Cards

I just CANNOT bring myself to go buy a card at the grocery store.  I don't know, maybe there's something rebellious in me! 

 Each of these has the Bible reference on the back of the card (where the manufacturer's mark usually goes).  They're all verses that I love.  The first card I'm mildly troubled about because the colored specks look like sprinkles on a cupcake, which wasn't my intention!  And on the last one, that capital "Y" in "you" looks more like a capital "G".

Oh well.  Even with their foibles, they're still way better than having to go to the grocery store!

Speaking of Hope...

Another card.  This time a variegated tulip, with truth from God Himself.  The inside of the card says "Why are you in despair, o my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me? HOPE IN GOD, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence."  (psalm 42:5....and two other times in verses surrounding this one...I've blogged about this before).

Here's the problem.  There are broken people in this world.  Sometimes it's me.  Sometimes is a friend or acquaintance.  We all get to a sad place of momentarily feeling hopeless.  And this is the TRUTH that must always be stated.  But if you KNOW the truth...and yet, you don't FEEL the truth...the last thing you want to hear is some pious person saying, "hope in God."  So I haven't mailed this card to anyone.  It sits in my drawer.  And instead I pray, knowing that only God can restore hope in Himself.

Crocuses

There's a small tub in my garage full of photos.  They're all old.  From back when we had film cameras, and actually had to have our photos PRINTED, for crying out loud!  I had almost forgotten it was out there, and today I went digging.  And lo, and behold....what a treasure trove of reference pics!!  Happy birthday to me, even though it's not my birthday!

This is a greeting card that I'm sending to a friend, also cleaning out her storage.  Why do we end up with boxes, and tubs, and more boxes of STUFF?  And it just sits for years on years!  Here's hoping a note of encouragement will add some joy to my friend's storage-cleaning efforts. 

Brown Flower??

Is there something disturbing about a brown flower?  I'm not quite sure what I think about that.  I keep telling myself it's sepia....you know, like the old time photos.  But there's no escaping the fact that this is a brown flower.  In fact the more I look at it, the less I like it!  Ah well.

Inked Glads

Be ye glad

Be ye glad

Every debt that you ever had

Has been paid up in full

By the grace of the Lord

Be ye glad

Be ye glad

Be ye glad

Inked Poppies

Oof!  Busy week!  School, doctor bills, phone calls, art projects (not yet finished), and nowhere near enough sun.  "Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord!" (ps 4).  May you revel in His presence.

ChickChickChickChickChickChickChickChickChickChickChickChickChick!!

I seem to have a thing for chickens!  Maybe I need to build a chicken coop and become a chicken-herder?  (What is a chicken-herder called, anyways?)  I think they stink something fierce, but they make such fantastic noises, surely I could get over the smell??!

One-Liner

 

I have a friend who is sick.  I wanted to send her flowers, and her hubby told me that she loves roses.  Five days went by and I never managed to get my act together to actually SEND the roses!  Pathetic!  She was going to get better and I would have never sent the flowers (haha....the nerve of her....to get better before I could do something nice...hahahah!!)!

So, last night I dug through all my references and pulled out three or four pics of roses.  I used to believe that you had to have a reference photo that was exactly what you wanted to draw, but over the past several months I've been learning that it's POSSIBLE to combine several pics into one drawing.  I have an artist friend who does this all the time, but I believed it was a skill that was beyond me.  Isn't it fantastic that we can LEARN??

This card is drawn with all one line and then filled in with colored pencils.