Showing posts with label ink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ink. Show all posts

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Those Sunday Mornings



I don't know if it's because of the changing light of autumn or just because I got a full 8+ hours of sleep, but there's something magical in waking on a Sunday morning — coffee cup in hand — and being completely inspired to make art. 

Do I paint with watercolors, or maybe acrylics, or do I create some ink drawings? I go back and forth, deciding on my tools and my medium — my mode of transport to get whatever creative magic from inside my being, out — and into the world. 

It's my raw drive, my spiritual push into the universe. At least, that's what it feels like. 

Nothing else will do. I can go downtown on Sunday morning and walk around our charming little farmer's market and pick up an amazing pastry or maybe some apples or locally harvested honey—but my mind is like the transcendental silver string that connects me to—and never leaves—my place where I create art. 

I want to choose the brushes, the colors, I think about watercolor painting and I imagine the movement, the flow and spread of color in the water, the bloom, the transparency, the drying, the contemplation of the next layer.


Without any formal training, thoughts of rules—and fear of not following them—try to push into my mind. I push them away.

I want to create something new, to pull it out from inside myself - I know that it's there, I can feel it all the time. I think about how I can get it out of me and into the world. But even that's not really enough for me. I want to make something beautiful. I try. 

It doesn't have to be fantastic or amazing — it only has to be.



Have a great Sunday!
love,
 Laura




article, images, and designs copyright ©Laura Beth Love 2017 all rights reserved


Wednesday, July 12, 2017

A Peek At My New Designs & A Few Process Photos

Hi friends! I've been falling behind with my blogging so I figured I would do a few updates to share what I've been up to. I have a habit of getting interested in a project and then throwing myself into it, and when I do that, everything else sort of disappears. I know that it's great to have intense focus, but sometimes I have to make myself stop and make sure everything else is still up and running! 

I've been in full creative mode since spring and if you've seen my other recent posts you already know that I've been hard at work turning out new broken china jewelry for my Etsy shop. I used to sell my jewelry directly from my website (dishfunctionaldesigns.com) but stopped when I moved into my 2nd house just because it was easier to list things on Etsy, but lately I've been thinking about doing that again...but it's still just a thought. 

I've been splitting my time between jewelry and the gym and after a back injury last year that took me AGES to recover from, it feels SO great to be able to move and run and now I can't stop hehe. So between the jewelry and gym and creating designs for my Society6 shop there is never an idle moment here. 

Here's a peek at what I've been working on.



Celestial Swirling Sun... I really like they way this illustration turned out. It's simple. I could have kept going and added lots more detail and really filled up the page, but instead I added a border to the design and then stopped. Sometimes things are best left simple. Not everything has to be busy and complex. Simplicity can be very beautiful and I knew that just adding maybe two colors to the design would be enough. 




I decided to create this design in three color schemes: yellow on white, black, and blue... which do  you like best?

Celestial Swirling Sun Boho Mandala Hand-drawn Illustration Floor Pillow





Celestial Swirling Sun Boho Mandala Hand-drawn Illustration on White Pillow ShamCelestial Swirling Sun Boho Mandala Hand-drawn Illustration on White Wall Clock



I've really been in the mood for watercolor painting. I created my own take on the talisman for evil eye protection with the painting below, and then turned it into a pattern. It's now featured on Society6! 

Once I finished the design I created it on three different backgrounds: white, light blue, and black. I can't decide which I like the most!




This, turned into this:

Indigo Monstera Leaf Watercolor on Black Floor Pillow


Imagine the color possibilities! Like this one:



Sometimes a quick concept sketch turns out to be the entire design, as with this design below! I kind of knew I wanted a rising sun with the text "begin again" so I quickly pencil sketched out three possibilities as a starting point... 


I liked the way the center sun sketch turned out so much that I just went ahead and inked it directly on the sketch and then scanned it and added the color digitally. I LOVE the way it turned out! Here is the design on a wall tapestry...

Begin Again Sun Inspirational Sunrise Wall Tapestry

Begin Again Sun Inspirational Sunrise Tote BagBegin Again Sun Inspirational Sunrise Carry-All Pouch

What do you think?



I have many other designs to share but I just don't have the time to put them all here right now, so be sure to check them out in my Society6 shop!


I hope you like them! Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below.
 Which design is your favorite?


Have a great week!
 Laura


All items shown above are available for purchase at https://society6.com/laurabethlove


article, images, and designs copyright ©Laura Beth Love 2018 all rights reserved

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Crystal Cluster Watercolor Illustration: New Video On My YouTube Channel!






Hi friends! I just uploaded a brand new video to my YouTube channel so please check it out, give it a like and be sure to subscribe. 

For this project I used watercolor paper, pencil, Micron ink pen, and Windsor & Newton watercolor paints, but you can use whatever you have on hand. 

Who isn't crazy for crystals? They're fun to paint (and super easy too!) so I thought I would try my hand at painting my own (Yes, all of my videos are my first-time try, learn as I go!) 

I started with a pencil sketch to get the shapes on the paper, and then I used watercolor paints to color my drawing. I used very little paint - I wanted my crystals to be predominantly purple, so I used some different tones of violet, and then here and there added a bit of blue and then just a whisper of yellow and green to give my crystals that iridescent glow. 

Once my drawing was finished I added a quick sketchy outline in black micron ink. Check it out below!










I hope to do a few jewelry making videos in the near future so be sure to check back! 

If there is anything in particular that you'd like to see just leave me a comment!





I hope you have a great week! 
Love, Laura


My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns



©Laura Beth Love 2017 all rights reserved

Friday, February 17, 2017

Time Lapse Mandala Artwork - Ink Drawing With Watercolor Painting


I've been playing around with creating time lapse videos, tooling around with the time lapse feature on my iphone... but quickly found out that the built in time lapse feature is just too fast for capturing artwork! 

I thought I would try it out while creating this doodle - a quick pencil sketch to get my design started, and then some pen and paper drawing, topped off with a little bit of color added with water and watercolor paints.  

You can see it all below in about 26 blazing seconds haha! ...but I was unhappy with the video's rhythm of my drawing, which turned out to be just too fast for you to really see what I was doing. (watch it here on my YouTube Channel instead)





Regardless, I uploaded the video to my YouTube channel and then tried to toy with the video's settings, slowing it down 2x and then 4x but I soon found out that that didn't work because when a time lapse video is filmed, there are sections of time that are actually skipped. If you try to slow down a video that you filmed in time lapse mode on your iphone, the result is actually a trippy, smeared video! 



My resolution? I just downloaded an app that allows you to choose your video recording speed, so back to the drawing board - literally. When I get some free time I will give it another shot using the app and hopefully have some better results! 





Have you ever made a time lapse video for your artwork? 
Any tips to share? 







I hope you have a great week! 
Love, Laura


My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns



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