Presents! And Free Digistamps!

Hope everyone had a super holiday time and is still having one! I'm off til next week and plan on getting caught up on art projects. Most of my free time lately has been spent making Christmas presents. And it's finally over!

At left is a Firefly clock (which I really wanted to keep and hang in my game room!), a Calavera girl box for treasures and a pencil holder box made of grumpy cats. So much fun making these presents which all went to family members. I made many more things but they'll take over my blog for the next couple of weeks if I show them all.

Some art friends of mine run a blog called Wonderstrange which features tons of super cool tutorials and hundreds of free digistamps. Every year, they compile a list of 100 Things to Draw When You're Bored and through the year, they draw the suggestions as line art and offer them as free digistamps on the blog. The themes are always a little odd but tons of fun. For 2013, they were running out of time and asked for some help so I made a few free digistamps for them. I created Zombie Head Games, You're not leaving the house like that, Runaway bride, Gladiator mascara, Drag inspired Disney princesses and Awkward Proposal.

If you want to download them, please visit the Wonderstrange blog. If you want to see all of the free digitstamps, here are the 2012 and 2013 lists with links. Tons of great digistamps there! And they're free! Be sure to check out the blog too. They just ran a super fun 12 days of Christmas Ornaments with some fantastic projects.


For 2014, I plan on taking part in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. Sounds like fun and a great way to get moving for the new year.

Lots of Decos!

I've received quite a few decos over the past few weeks and made a few more. These are some of the ones I've been working in - some are my books and some belong to other people. It's a big mix of themes and mediums. There is a fantastic post over at Go Make Something that gives a great run down on the basics, read here: Decos 101. If you're interested in sending your own little books out into the art ether, it's a great place to start. We'll be doing a feature on Decos soon in ArtTrader Magazine.

Crazy Christmas Aunts Piled with Presents

Every year I like to sketch a crazy aunt who might drop by on Christmas day with her arms full of presents. This year, it's my imaginary Aunt Helga with her striped leggings, multi-ringed fingers and bold opinions on online shopping and stuffing recipes. I wish I had lots of crazy aunts but I don't. Sadly, I only have one real one and don't get to see her often enough. So here is to crazy aunts everywhere. Long may they lighten the holidays and entertain us.


Below are a couple of drawings from today's life drawing session. I really like the full body pose but I don't think I captured enough of our model's likeness in the portrait. Some days you're a life drawing winner and some days you're not. I think this was half a 'not' day. I'll take it. Coloured pencil on kraft paper, as usual. Maybe next time I'll try some pastels and live dangerously for a change.

Illustration Friday: Pattern

A set of pretty birch trees make a nice and colorful pattern. These are watercolor and ink ATCs and fit the Illustration Friday theme quite nicely.

I'm still working away on holiday gifts and various other projects for my stores. Hopefully have some new art to share later this week.

Zombie Wrapping Paper!

I spent most of my spare time this week making art and unfortunately, I can't share any of it yet. It's all for Secret Santa presents on IllustratedATCs.com and also for family presents. I seriously doubt any of them venture anywhere near my blog but you never know when a niece or a daughter might be poking around.

At left are a set of drawings from yesterday's life drawing session. They're all in the 10-25 minute range and colored pencil on kraft paper. I loved the model we had yesterday. He was superb. Great models make all the difference!

On the POD front, I quickly made up a Christmas image based on an illustration I had done earlier this year as Zazzle put out wrapping paper and I wanted to make some before the Christmas rush. I added Santa hats to my Party of Naughty Evil and stuck them on gift wrap and what do you know? It sells! My best selling item. Zombie wrapping paper, go figure.

ArtTrader Magazine will be back!

A happy announcement -- after a much needed break, we're bringing back ArtTrader Magazine! The new issue will be available on the ArtTrader website on January 1, 2014. We'll be back to quarterly issues again next year.  If you're new to ArtTrader Mag, it's an online magazine in PDF format that focuses on the mail art world with tutorials, galleries and how to guides on all sorts of art techniques and objects.

Issues are free for downloading and reading. Issues 1 through to 20 are all available here:  http://www.arttradermag.com/magazine/ Happy reading and arting!

We won't be hosting online workshops again but many of the people involved in writing for ArtTrader Mag will be creating their own workshops and we'll let you know all about them in the zine.

Expect the ArtTrader website to be updated over the next week with news about the upcoming issues. I'll be back writing as will Sarah Trumpp and Ann Pierson D'Angelo of Wonderstrange. And Andrea Melione (aka EraserQueen Studios) will be back too!