Week 18 | Recreate Wallpaper Pattern

Prompt: Recreate fabric or wallpaper.

Annetta | I had a hard time finding something cute to recreate, but did find something fun finally. I love the colors used in the wallpaper! recreating patterns, fabric or from other drawing is always a challenge for me. I noticed I like space between my drawings and can't seem to draw things close together. I do enjoy how my recreation turned out. My other creative this week was making my first knitted blanket out of very beautiful yarn from one of my favorite stores, Tolt Yarn & Wool. I love the warm fall colors that I picked even though it spring here. I'm very happy with how it turned out for my first blanket. I'll be working on a tank top this week... We'll see how that other creative works out.

Stephanie | I found a cute vintage wallpaper pattern online. I loved the funkiness of the flowers and the muted color pallet of pinks and purples. I, of course, cant draw to scale, so some things are out of place, but that's what makes it uniquely mine. My other creative this week was working in the garden, pulling weeds, laying fresh bark, and planting our veggie garden. I did not take any photos however, but it does look much better.

Week 17 | Your Bag

Prompt : Sketch your bag or what's inside your bag.

 

Stephanie | My bag and whats inside my bag is rather boring. I picked out a few of the items I thought were cutest and/or had some color to it. Everything I have is black, white, or brown, boring! Perhaps this prompt will be inspiring to others, but I found it dull, mostly because my bag and items are so dull and uninspiring, I suppose I should shop for more colorful purse items in the future :) I did like that it made me focus on details and shading, which I need practice on, I actually like how each item turned out, but think I ruined it with the color border, it just looked so empty to me. I was trying to do something different, hopefully in the future it will look better to me. My other creative this week was photography. My hubby surprised me for a night away at a Bed and Breakfast in Port Townsend WA for our anniversary. The B&B was located on a working farm, complete with chicken and sheep. It was a super cute, one of a kind farms that the owners built up themselves. We enjoyed a delicious crepe breakfast, a recipe they learned from their travels in Paris. We spent the day exploring the town, eating amazing food, and enjoying the warm sunshine. One stop was at Fort Warden State Park with perfect sandy beaches and a lighthouse.

Week 16 | Where You Create

Prompt: Sketch items from your desk or where you create.

Stephanie | My desk space is a long work bench from Ikea. I haven't used it much lately to create but it is still pretty, I love all my new paintings hanging right above. My sketch is a little wonky but simple and cute. I really like it. My other creative was a sloppy sunflower sketch which hanging out at the park with Annetta. We had another short visit, but we enjoyed the sunshine and let the kiddos play on the playground. 

Annetta | I don't really have a place where I create anymore since I've packed up my studio and sold most of my collected treasures from over the years. I planned on doing a nicer version of 'where I create' along with a quick sketch. I ended up only having the quick sketch so I'm sticking with it. I didn't spend much time sketching this week, but I did manage to sketch a few other things as well. For my quick sketch I sketched the table where I do my computer work for now. For my other creative I learned to use my mother's knitting machine and had knitted a few practice swatches, even a blanket. I'm kinda loving the knitting machine as I've never really picked up the art of knitting, but have always wanted to.

Week 15 | Fill The Page

Prompt: Fill the entire page, leaving no white space.

Stephanie | This past week Annetta come over for a quick hang out and sketching session. It was very much needed, and she brought me some amazing tulips and checkered lilies. I had never seen these lilies before but they are so cute and charming with gorgeous coloring. My other creative this week was to do some reading. I have been feeling so out of balance and unhappy lately so I though cleaning my mind with a good book would be beneficial for me. I also had a quick photo session with these tulips, they are just so pretty. I NEED to get some bulbs for my garden. I've nicknamed the color star-burst. They are just so unique and inspiring.

Annetta | This week I've been sketching almost everyday. I want to get into the habit of sketching quickly, freely and without much expectations on myself. It's hard sometimes to just sketch so freely, but when I get past those thoughts I really like the results. I've also learned that I'm a little afraid to layer my watercolors or just don't have the patience for it, something I want to get comfortable with by the end of this year. I worked on a few sketched that filled the pages and find that it's easy to fill a page as long as I don't have to make up what I'm sketching. Like I mentioned for my other creative I did many sketches and would like to continue doing more practice sketched and doodles this coming week.

Week 14 | Pattern

Prompt: Sketch a pattern.

Annetta | I have decided that patterns are not my thing. I dread drawing them and do not enjoy what I have drawn afterwards. This time was no exception. I guess in the end, it is my fault. I did not give myself any practice this week or give myself time to actually of the prompt this week. I used a little fabric pattern that I had admired. It looked a lot easier then it actually was to doodle! For my other creative my son and I ventured into my favorite neighborhood, Snohomish and spent some time exploring and photographing the houses and flowers. I found some lilacs to forage and photograph at home. I've been reading novels lately so all else has fallen to the wayside as I dig deep into rest and all my thoughts are tied to the story I am reading.

Stephanie | I thought this was going to be an easy prompt. But it took me a lot of time to come up with an idea, and even then I was not interested in the idea I had. I was feeling very uncreative and unmotivated, plus being out of town for the Easter weekend really took my sketching/create desire. I ended up sketching in the car on my way home over the mountain pass. I finally just came up with the idea to make some cute whimsical doodles of trees, but with all the bumps along the trip they just didn't come out like I had envisioned. In the end I kinda just gave up on this sketch, nothing turned out like I had wanted, but at least I completed a sketch. I had come prepared on my trip to also read or do some cross-stitching, but I did not complete another creative this week.

Week 13 | Monochrome

Prompt: Sketch a scene using only 1 color.

Stephanie | My monochrome idea was to do an elephant for my sister, she is obsessed with them. Its funny to me that the sketch looks better in person. My other creative was to sketch some tulip bulbs I recently bought and placed in a cute watering can planter that Ive had for a while. I posted a picture of it on Instagram a few days earlier, and Annetta said it must be sketched, so I did. 

Annetta | I wasn't too sure about this whole monochrome sketch idea, but it turned out to be a great practice for layers and shadows. I sketched some books that I had for our estate sale, they needed to be sketched before I said goodbye to them forever. I creative the vignette for the sketch, but in my sketch the vase and tulip are beautifully misaligned. I do love the sketch and the practice is gave me. The more I don't care about how I sketch or how it turns out the better things go. I also took my own advise I gave Stephanie and sketched her watering can planter. She had a gorgeous image of it on her Instagram account and I too just had to sketch the beauty she created. For my other creative this week I did a few different things this week. First off, I finished Stephanie's gift for her baby. I made a fort outside and while my son colored I finished the embroidery. I also did a shoot for a magazine's blog and a fashion shoot for my friends clothing line. My creativity was rocking it this week!

Week 12 | Cups

Prompt: Sketch some of your favorite cups. Stack then up, line them up or draw your whole collection!

 

Stephanie | I have a collection of mason jars in my hutch, but they are not very pretty to sketch, so my collection is of my tea cups and saucers I have stacked on my little white shelf. Once I started to paint I realized there wasn't much color to my collection, at least not from the angle I sketched at, but I tried to do something different than my other pages, add some shadowing, and add color to the background. My other creative, if it counts, was to re-pot many of my plant. I have had them for quite a while, but haven't had larger pots to plant them in. I found some larger terracotta clay pots for some but I found an old cookie jar at the goodwill, drilled a drain hole in the bottom and re-purposed it as a flower pot.

Annetta | I have SO many collections of cups, mugs and teacups. It took me the whole week to figure out what I'm going to sketch. The prompt was my idea, but when it came time to sketching it I wish I would have never thought of it. The whole thing was a disaster from the first mark. I even texted Stephanie to tell her what a disaster my mugs turned into. She told me what I would have told her, just keep going. So I did and it got worse, but eh, it's just a sketchbook of practice. In the end I made it work and actually like my mess of a sketch. Lesson learned: just keep going! Now that this prompt is over I am thankful that I have a list of some of my favorite cups as most of them will be sold next sunday. For my other creative I went out shooting with my film camera this week. I went to the tulip fields and had a impromptu photo session on a beach with a model. I also finished my hot air balloon and started another one for Stephanie's new baby.

Week 11 | Magazine

Prompt: Sketch picture from a magazine.

Annetta | I had great difficulty finding something I thought I could sketch. With all the stress of renovating an airstream, selling a house and moving I feel like I've lost my ability to sketch. Of course its all in my mind as when I actually sit down and do it all those thoughts fade away. I ended up sketching a dresser I saw in a past issue of County Living. I love how it turned out, but it did end up having an extra set of draws and the proportions are off. I'm also seeing a style emerge in my sketching that all my own. My other creative this week was doing a new embroidery piece for my sons bunk-bed in the airstream. He'll have a little corner to himself and I think this hot air balloon will be perfect and stands for adventure. Looking at the piece I wish I did it in a bolder color, but I'm sure it will turn out good either way.

Stephanie | I was out of town over the weekend, and even though I planned for it, I had technical difficulties and was unable to post on time. My apologies. I, in a hurry, grabbed a magazine for this prompt to take with me, not realizing I have already pulled out all the inspiring pictures for last years A Year To Inspire 2014 project. So I was rather discouraged, but decided to make the best of it and sketch the cover, its pretty right?! My other creative this week was to find a way to announce some exciting news to my family. I was lucky to have my papa, grandma, sister, and mom all in 1 place together. I have never seen both my papa and grandma together, so this was a fun treat. We were all together to celebrate my girls' birthdays, so this was the perfect time to share our news. I had them line up, hands out, each holding a card face down. In order they were to flip over their card and read it aloud, revealing the surprise. My mom got the riddle right away, almost jumping out of turn, while everyone else needed a few minutes to absorb the news. It was a fun way to reveal we are expecting baby # 3.

 

 

Week 10 | Dwelling

Prompt: Sketch a house or building.

Annetta | This week has been full!! We started homeschooling this week and even had a trip to the hospital on top of starting the process of selling our house and renovating our new home, the airstream. With all that said, I've done little creating last week. Since this week most of my outdoor venturing was to the airstream I decided to sketch the house that sits on the property where Gracestream is parked. The house is quit ugly in my opinion because it's a simple box. I'm sure the inside is beautiful and full of character. The barn and property itself are beautiful to look at. My other creative this week was designing the interior of Grace. We've finally settled on plan and are in the process of designing everything in the program called SketchUp. It's a lot of work, but the people who will be actually putting the carpentry together will be ever so grateful!

Stephanie |  I looked online to find some inspiration for this prompt. I found this adorable brick house in Tacoma on Zillow to use. I didn't do any other creatives this week, this week was dedicated to family. Both of my girls have a birthday this month and to celebrate we took a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge for 2 nights of waterpark fun. It was a great, but exhausting trip. Once coming home we spent our time catching up on school work we missed during the week.