What does getting back to your roots mean to you? What something from years ago have you stopped doing, or put on hold, or shoved down because it felt frivolous or indulgent or less important?
Let’s drill down….
When I was a kid, I loved to draw more than anything else. A pencil, eraser, and stack of typing paper were prized possessions. I spent countless hours drawing cartoon characters.
Then, gradually, adulting happened.
I got a little older and started to notice the things other young artists were drawing: portraits and realistic drawings. Realistic was never my style, but it seemed way more serious and masterly than my little characters. Then an art teacher took me to task for holding the pencil “the wrong way.” So, feeling defeated and inept, I lost my passion for drawing.
Many years and stories later, the medium of colored pencil rekindled my desire to make art. My subjects all wanted to be dressed in bright colors and have outlines, just like cartoons, but I decided that was okay. I embraced this graphic style of making art with colored pencils and it works for me.
But now: a new turning. I recently took a daylong character development class with masterful illustrator, Jan Fagan. Spending a few hours creating characters with others cracked open a door, and magic happened: the cartooning mojo is coming back and I’m having more fun with art than I’ve had in a long time. I sense my art may be heading back to its roots. I’m open to the idea, and I’m excited to see where this adventure takes me.
Now let’s get back to you…
Without a doubt, there is some small or large thing you never do that makes your heart sing. Maybe it’s tucked so far back you have forgotten about it.
What do you feel like were you born to do?
What would you do if money and time were no option?
Could it be time to revisit it?
I invite you to relax and think about this. Try not to rush it. Take some time, and see what bubbles up for you.
You are the pilot of your life’s adventure. Remove the chocks from under your wheels, throttle up, and let yourself head for the runway. Once you do, amazing things are bound to happen. Your excitement will create energy, and energy makes things happen. Ideas will come, opportunities will appear, and before you know it, you’ll be flying.
I’ll see you up above the clouds!
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I get treated very well on my birthday and on Christmas. (And really, most of the rest of the year, too.) But this past birthday was extra special: I received such a glorious gift that I think the angels sang when I opened the box. Inside was a set of 72 Derwent Lightfast Colored Pencils. <swoon>
Now, few months later, and I’m in colored pencil heaven. I’ve used these babies to create several lovely pieces of art on drafting film. But recently, the longing set in. I knew that Derwent had added 28 additional colors, and I HAD to get the rest of the set.
As of this writing, the full boxed sets of Derwent Lightfast pencils are not available in the U.S. market. But thanks to the folks at Cult Pens in the UK, those of us who live across the pond can top-off our 72-pencil Lightfast sets with “The missing 28,” too. (And those 28 are even sold in a bundle.) My pencils arrived lightning-fast yesterday and I’ll be starting soon on a new project with 100 pencils to choose from.
But the very first thing I do with any new set of pencils is to create a color chart that I keep on file and use to help me select colors when working on a project. And with 28 new colors, I had to create a new chart.
I did that for myself yesterday, and thought, hey, maybe some other folks would like a copy, too.
So I’m happy to share. Download the Derwent Lightfast 100 Chart.
Whether you have 36, 72, or the full 100 pencils, this chart should work great for you.
Enjoy! Have fun, and let me know what YOU think of the Derwent Lightfast line!
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Right now, between keystrokes, I am sipping some perfect coffee and nibbling on a cinnamon roll. Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S.A. It’s a rare day off for me, a perfect day to reflect on all of life’s goodness (and to share a post.)
One of the cool things I have noticed is that the more gratitude you feel, the more life gives you to be grateful about.
Don’t believe me? Try it yourself.
Whenever it occurs to you throughout the day, take a second and silently give thanks for everything: not only the obvious things like food on the table or the good people in your life, but also the often overlooked stuff, like your five senses, or how your body knows how to breathe. You can say thanks to God, or to the universe, or to Mother Nature or to nobody in particular. Just let being grateful wash over you.
You’ll find that when you are in a state of gratitude, your heart softens and you feel more peaceful. Life warms up a little. And over time, you might be surprised how the universe rushes in to give you more of what you are grateful for.
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Speaking of time, it’s been a long time since I checked in, so I’d like to share a few big things I am grateful for in 2019:
• Being Editor-in-Chief of Ann Kullberg’s COLOR Magazine.
• Publication of Find Your Voice, a beautiful with advice and inspiration by and for creative people – August, 2019.
• Earning a CPSA designation with the Colored Pencil Society of America – August 2019
• Winning an Award for Exceptional Merit at the CPSA International Exhibition – August, 2019.
• Taking second place at the Edmonds Arts Festival – June 2019.
• Teaching workshops to some amazing students around the U.S.
• Serving my local CPSA chapter as newsletter editor and board member.
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Do you enjoy creating with colored pencils on drafting film? Me, too. And I recently found a wonderful new eraser that works beautifully on film.
My go-to erasers have been a Tombow Mono Eraser for really precise and small areas, and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for larger areas. But now there’s a new eraser in town. It’s the Faber-Castell PVC-Free eraser.
White erasers have generally been bad news when used on film, but this PVC-eraser is a game-changer. When used with a light touch, this eraser can be used at least two or three times in the same area while minimally affecting the delicate tooth of the film. (Meaning that you can erase, reapply colored pencil in the same spot and still get great coverage.)
Thanks for everything you do for art, for making art and/or supporting artists. Creativity is the wings for the soul.
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