Behind the scenes- Studio workflow

   It has been a crazy couple of weeks in the studio. Upon finishing the Natural history illustration online course a friend, who also took it last time it was offered, asked what I had done with my botanical and natural history illustrations from various courses. The answer was, um, nothing. She hadn't really done much with hers either and as a result, we spontaneously decided to combine what we had, create a few new pieces, add a few things from other collections, and create an exhibition. That was at the beginning of November.

 Since December brings with it not only advent but all of the Christmas parties and events, we wanted to have ours before the glitter and swirl began. Thus the 30 of November is the date we chose. Just before the first advent weekend.

   Four weeks is not a long time, and we each have additional responsibilities, so it has been quite a busy time for us. Things are starting to slowly fall into place, and with the purchase of the frames, yesterday, it is beginning to look like this will actually happen. In this post, I will be sharing a few photos of the projects I have going on at the moment, just to give you a look at my daily routine in my studio, and offer a few sneak previews of what I am working on.

 Owl Illustration:

   Many of the students from the natural history illustration course are still meeting on Facebook and have decided to have a monthly challenge. This months subject is an owl. I am participating with the goal of adding an owl to my repertoire. I did several preliminary gesture sketches as well as looking carefully at the skeleton. I feel like I am now ready to draw my final subject onto a fresh sheet of paper.  Here are some of the sketches:

  Stamps:

   We thought it might be fun to have stamps for the children to be able to stamp pictures of animals or plants. Jana has several animals, I am making a larger owl and cicada stamp. I will photograph the process and describe it in a future post.

 Christmas Cards:

   Speaking of Christmas: I bought a few ornaments yesterday and will be making Christmas cards.

Illustration:

I have a few illustrations that are in progress at the moment; one of which I actually finished this morning. It is called, 'Stepping into the Kitchen'.

See the finished illustration here.

Office work:

  And of course, I have been doing a lot of basic office work, for example ordering new business cards, postcards, and a sample portfolio. My updated business cards arrived this morning. They now include this blog and Instagram in addition to the current information. The portfolio and postcard are still in transit.

  I ordered and received a scanner, which I will be opening and trying out in the next few days. The hope is to scan all of the work I will be showing before framing it on Thursday.

  Upcoming art-related events this week include a vernissage at the local museum (second vernissage this week), Art and Dining, and the biannual Botanical Illustration workshop I always attend. When it rains, it pours.

   What have you been up to lately- Do you have things to prepare before the Christmas season really gets going? Let me know in the comments.


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