The Secret Lives of Drawings & Their Voyages… (Plus, BlogHer Conference Snippet)

Oh, the lives of drawings…  Those little guys that get stacked and stacked in so many towering piles, they sometimes, get lost…  Until their faces are seen again (on a rare occassion) and they make it into the real world…

      

It seems, I might have to buy a tiny cottage in the wilderness, just to house all these stacks of inked papers… (joking, but a good excuse to buy a cottage, if you have a sack of doubloons, do you?  Where did you get it??  Can I get one too?)

      

I love drawing!  I try to do it almost every night.  You never know when a doodle, might become something more… 

      

I used to always work in ink.  Which is a bit of a nerve-racking thing if you are doing a job for someone else…  It just does not afford any wiggle room in case of a mistake…  So, you just go with what you get… 

And, since I am not a commercial artist, I don’t have the gift of being able to reproduce the same drawing out of my own fingertips, over and over…. So sad…

      

All of the drawings I am sharing, are ones that I have done in the past.  Ones that you might recognize from a year or more ago.. Ones that have become a part of A Fanciful Twist…  Some I have done for other people, and still others, that have fallen into little drawing oblivion….

      

I like to keep dates on my drawings so I know when I drew them…

      

I realized with the date above, that unbeknownst to me at the time…  I had been given a magical gift of these guys…  I drew them on Christmas day it seems…  Do they look familiar??

      

Yep, they ended up in my banner…  And who knew??  Our circus girl actually has a floofy dress 😉

I also came across the characters that were going to be a part of my banner and sidebars…  And, they will in the near future, have another place, so they won’t go lost in the pile…  These are also from 2006…

      

      

There are also the drawings that actually get to be made into stamps.  Which, if you have ordered anything from my shop, are what I use on my shipping mailers…

      

      

      

But, there are also some very very dear drawings…  Drawings that get to go live in places with other people near and far (some very very far).

Ever since I have started using pencil a bit more, it is like a huge "drawing for other people stress veil," has been lifted from me…  I still adore ink line drawings…  However, pencil allows for more versatility with shading (for me at least)…  And, you can erase!!  Phew, the ability to erase is lovely!! (drawing below, became this)

      

I thought I might share some of the drawings I have worked on in the last year or so, for other people.  One of the most important things I have learned is, research, research, research…  Don’t jump into the drawing right away, but soak in images and ideas regarding the drawing to come… Details about the person or the character…

Case in point…  The lovely Di Overton.  She sent me a bulleted list of what she is like, bits of her character and such.  That was great… From there, I began my study of her and her exquisite eco-chic Ghost Furniture…

      

She was very open to what my vision was…  And, was such a joy to work with…  She was so kind to me…  Thank you Miss Di!!

      

She is using her A Fanciful Twist version of herself as her banner…  You can see it here…

      

She is up to all kinds of goodness (I want some of her furniture!!!!)…  Take a moment to visit her.  You will love what she is up to!

I have loved working with some of these ladies, because, they tell me what they would like me to incorporate into their image, and then give me wings… 

Another case in point, my beloved friend Tara Bradford of Paris Parfait…  She is wonderful, and a total delight. 

She had this idea, and a list of images to incorporate… And voila…  My study began with her ideas…  I mean, I don’t know if you have, but I had never drawn the Louvre pyramid before 😉  That was exciting!!

      

Then the drawing came in one fell swoop…

      

      

Miss Tara has a few banners she loves and changes them out every so often… So, one day you will get a peek of this little Tara girl sitting on her blog…  But for now, here is what the finished banner looks like…

      

Tara is a writer, and not only shares incredible treasures from around the world, but writes about important things going on around the globe…  You will love her!! Check out her About page on her blog…

Another exciting drawing I worked on over a year ago, was for Maryam at My Marrakesh.  She and her husband, have been building an exquisite boutique hotel in Marrakesh.  You can see and read all the details at her lovely newly launched hotel website, Peacock Pavilions as well as on her blog (which chronicles the building adventure plus more)…

Maryam was looking for the perfect peacock whimsy to bring to her hotel…  She asked if I might come up with a drawing??  And so my peacock research began…

      

It was a very exciting time, and also a nervous time (if you do commissions, you so get this).  I started to quickly realize that, every peacock image I looked at (over 500) had such totally different peacock personalities.  And, truly, peacocks, have such character, that I knew this would be a challenge…  How to get the perfect little peacock love to come alive???  I had to put all the images away and just imagine… 

Now this was also a time when I only allowed myself ink.  It was like, a one shot deal 😉  So I began drawing..  But first, through my research, I memorized, what my minds eye’s vision of a peacock was…  Then I jumped in…

Through my life I have had these moments (since my art journey began at age 13), of learning about art processes & about drawing…  About capturing feelings in a simple line…  And also, about what my limitations are and are not, as an artist…  You know, your mind sees something, but it won’t necessarily jump off the pen…  Then sometimes, maybe, it does…

      

      

      

I have so many peacock drawings, and I have grown to really love them all…  I think anyone who creates, can attest to the fact, that, they become so beloved, they are like my very own little children… 

      

One day, after much drawing…  I took a break… 

After a couple of days, I sat down and doodled this guy below…   

      

Which, wouldn’t you know it, we all fell in love with.  Maryam named him Karim.  And there he was…  I was so delighted to be able to create a peacock that turned out to look like he always belonged with Maryam’s family, at Peacock Pavilions…  And dare I say, a magician even made him blink!!  Bravooo!!  This peacock Mammie is clapping!! Take a peek…

I love when people ask for animals or pets.  And, I will say, I have gotten a wee bit better at capturing them.  But, pets are like people.  They all have a distinct look…  Not always easy to capture…

When darling and funny Suzanne Broughton, (I think I have shared this before) asked for her and her lovely precious pooch in drawing form, I was soo delighted.  And, even though her pooch is only peeking from behind her skirt, I think we were able to include her essence 😉 

I drew several drawings for Miss Suzanne, based on what I knew about her, and had her choose… 

      

Her choice was sooo her!! 

      

She lives here….  her blog is filled with wonderfulness!!

So, those are some of The Secret Lives of Drawings, and what goes on behind the A Fanciful Twist scenes…  I have been sooo crazy busy lately.  I have some projects I am working on, and all the holiday stuff to finish up, which, even though you think, it is Only JULY!!  Is late in autumn retailing season time…  I have been working 16 hour days in the studio and on the computer.  And, I have to say it is all fun, so I can’t complain!  But, you know, if you want to come over and help me…  😉

Here is a little wall in my studio, where I keep some of the things I have worked on, or have ideas for…  It needs updating and sorting through…

      

I have a couple local commissions based on our gift tag last year…  I truly doodled it out and slapped it on our cookies & gifts, in an hour… I wish it was cuter…  But friends’ friends want to become couple cartoons too… So, I am making gift tags as we speak (or type, or read)…

      

So there are some wee snippets of my world…

Also, about the BlogHer conference.. I guess this might be a little late for me to be telling you…

Typepad and their Six Apart team are hosting a cocktail lounge today, from 4-6:30 p.m. at one of my favorite hotels, The Westin St. Francis.

I tell you this, because they are having a fun raffle.  I was asked to donate…  I sent in two nicely framed large canvas prints…  Some other lovely art friends, donated some wonderful art pieces for the raffle as well…  It should be good fun…  Details of mine and other donated items here, on the Everything Typepad blog…  I hope someone we know is there, and comes back to tell us about the raffle 😉 and more!!!

Well, I best Bid Adieu and be on my way… 

However, (I am sure you have seen him before) but I must leave you with Matt, from Where the Hell is Matt...  This video below (his 3rd video), made me cry.  You know why?  The fact that he can bring people together to jump around creating fun loving dancing madness, and happy giggling, is a huge dose of what we need in our world!! I find it quite touching…

This video has had over 7 million hits!!  See what happens 50 seconds into the video… And, read more about Matt here…

    

See you sooooon!!! xoxo, V