Hope you're enjoying autumn - my favorite season!
We got a preview last month when we took a trip to Denver. We initially planned to go so I could take some art classes, but since we had never seen Rocky Mountain National Park, we seized that opportunity as well. Timing was perfect for the fall aspen color, and the park was definitely worth seeing! Here's a sketch of the view from one of the decks where we stayed in Grand Lake.
We were lucky enough to see an elk with antlers at least four feet high, a fox who nonchalantly trotted right past our car, a pika in a pile of granite up at the 12,000 foot high point of the road through the park, and a couple of pronghorn antelope grazing in the broad valleys outside of the park. Pretty spectacular! But the mountains themselves were the real stars. Can you see the snow flurries?
Back in Denver, what drew me to the ArtmakersDenver.com classes I took was a workshop title that read "Watercolor Techniques from the Golden Age of Book Illustration." As a huge fan of Arthur Rackham, and always wishing I could draw and paint like him, I was hooked! If you're not familiar with his work, here are some of his Alice in Wonderland illustrations.
The series of three workshops was taught by an amazing Denver-based artist/illustrator, Tom Sarmo (check out his instagram posts!). While I didn't come away from the experience able to execute like either Arthur or Tom (see my attempts, below), I sure had fun and learned many great techniques which I'll enjoy honing in years to come.
Illuminated letter N with Narwhal, dip pen and acrylic inks.
Illustration of Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow, dip pen and ink with watercolor
Back at home now, my two goals for October are to participate in the InkTober drawing challenge to do one ink drawing a day for a month,
and add more "inventory" to my Etsy shop - stay tuned!
It seems to me that when the weather turns cooler and leaves start turning, creative energy picks up. Do you feel like making stuff? Trying new recipes? Changing your decor? I'd love to hear and see how you express your creative side.
