Inspiration from Birthday Flowers

I've been on a roll with drawing after the flowers the guys sent me for my birthday.  Although I've worked on a few other things besides flowers (not shown in this post), it was those arrangements that inspired and motivated me.

The last drawing in this post is a banana plant that has come back up in our back yard.

 

Roses for my Birthday

This year, I received two beautiful bouquets of flowers for my birthday.  A great incentive for me to draw.  To start out, I decided to focus on the roses in one of the flower arrangements.

Although I'm calling this basically finished, there are various things I could improve on.  One being the lighting.  Unfortunately, I work with what I have with the normal lighting in my house without "staging" for lighting effects.  Not showing here, I am still playing with backgrounds of different methods and colors.  

As I was working on this, I considered adding other flowers as fillers around the roses (like what are in the arrangements) but chose not to.  

Last count on number of layers is 55 but that also includes screenshots of the stages for sharing the steps like this as well as multiple layers for each component with base colors, lights, and darks, etc.  Anymore, I also add layers for notes so I can remember just what I did throughout.  Before I would keep notes on paper and then misplace them.  When I was blogging on a regular basis, I would use my blog describing everything to remind me but then this year I haven't been real on top of things.

OK, Where Did the Time Go?

This year has flown by and I can't believe how little I've done this year with regards to drawing (or painting as some might call it).  Basically, I have been extremely lax (or lazy) not only in producing anything art related but keeping up with my blog.  Maybe, I just needed a long "recharge" period.  The jury is still out on that one.

My only blog post so far for 2025 was made in July and that was catching up sharing results to date without much in the way of information to go along with what I had done.  And here I am again doing the same thing trying to catch up.

I'm finally getting back out and involved with my art so hopefully I will do better in the coming months.

This is from a plant poke gifted to me completed towards the end of July.

In August, I decided to step outside my comfort zone and play with various brushes I have that I wouldn't normally think about using.  I found I enjoyed the challenge and liked some of the results I achieved.

The method used to work these brushes is as follows.  The one thing I failed to mention on the sheet was the fact the color applied was using the Color blend mode over the value sketch layers.

Another example using the Selection tool and then filling in color with a brush.

A Switch game the family has been playing for weeks is Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Time.   We've been playing multiplayer and my son's character he customized is one of my favorites.  It fits him......haha.  And since this drawing, two more family members have started playing, so now there are six of us.  

My latest has been playing with two new brushes that came out in the Procreate 5.4 update.

A little demo I put together for my granddaughter showing how I'm using the Selection tool for adding color.  No presketch.

Outside of the little bit of drawing done this year, I have worked on creating two printed digital journals.  One for last year's accomplishments and then I created one with my favorite subjects which consist of my miniature bear collection and other plush toys (to include dog toys).

Once I finish printing, I plan to spiral bind these together.

And this brings me up to date.

2025 Sketches/Drawings to Date

Bringing things up to date since my last post.  

The following includes some digital journaling along with a few portraits.  

The bird drawing is of a Painted Bunting seen outside our living room window.  

Portraits include my nephew's daughter, self portrait, sister-in-law, and a 6 month old Maine Coon kitten my youngest son and daughter-in-law have.

All worked using iPad and Procreate.

Madison's Build-a-Bear

Well, my plan for August didn't quite work out as life kind of got in the way of my daily challenge.  Here is my latest using the same technique as I was using last month working values first and then adding color.  With this one I played a bit with blending modes to visually see the difference in how they portray color (to include stacking two together).  I had a hard time choosing as I like all three variations.  I ended up choosing the color blend mode by itself simply because it's move lively.  My second favorite is the two blend mode layers stacked.

 

Yesterday and Today's Sketching

My goal for August is to attempt something each day.  I'm on a kick sketching in black and white and then adding color either by using a layer using Multiply or a layer using the Color Blend Mode.  Both are transparent layers and merge with those layers beneath.

From what I experience and understand, the difference is the Color Blend mode only shows color over the underlying grays and black within the layers below it.  The Color Blend mode is also more saturated in color than the Multiply.  Resulting color shows up much brighter/stronger than if I used the Multiply mode and with that I often have to go in and change saturation, brightness, or even opacity for the results I want.

Multiply mode makes the color layer "blend" with the layers below but you have to take care where you lay the color down.  It will show even in areas surrounding the underlying layers regardless of color (black or color).

There is so much yet to learn and that is what is fascinating to me.  I have only touched the surface of what I can do even after all these years I've been using Procreate on my iPad.  A whole different set of techniques to play around with and continue to change with new upgrades.  And of course the biggest plus for me is one can play to their hearts content and just undo as many times as it takes to get the results without having to start over or ruin a paper or canvas piece of artwork.

So here is yesterday's and this morning's sketching.  It's not much but it's something.  The garlic is using Color Blend mode but the broccoli and cauliflower are using the Multiply layer mode.

Texture Paper Settings with Digital Sketching

I don't always feel like adding a paper backing.  When printing notecards or even ATCs , by leaving that off, it takes less ink.  Plus I can choose textured paper to print on anyways.  For web viewing, I prefer a nice white background.  Texture hardly shows with the size resolution files I save for the web so it's actually useless to even bother.

When I do use a paper background, I try to go as light as I can but still see some texture.

Here is a comparison and visual reminder to myself what setting I might prefer to use if I include a paper background.

 

Memory Keepsakes

This first takes me back in time when Mom was in the hospital over 10 years ago.  My Sis and I went to the hospital gift shop and I ended up with this, thanks to my Sis.  It reminds me of that time when mom fought and won the battle she was in the hospital for at that time. 

This little keepsake is a plastic vase filled with something that looks like water (probably a clear epoxy or glue) that holds these artificial pansies in place.

And this toy I sketched as a memory of the video I just watched with my great-niece's reaction to her new toy.  Not just her reaction but my nephew's dog, Lilly.

Flower Drawings

After a bit of a break or what I refer to as a recharge period, I  worked these flower sketches.  I've been in the mood to work my drawings in black and white and then go back adding color.

This first one was originally sketched in my Alpha sketchbook using a mechanical pencil.  From there I uploaded to my iPad and ended up with the following by using the pencil sketch and blending out using the Gouache brush tool.

Using the same flower arrangement, I then worked this next drawing adding a little artificial bird I have perched on one of the branches.  

We've been seeing more bees IN the house here lately.  Both mud daubers and these little wasps.  In fact in the kitchen you can hear buzzing from the back wall.  Terry believes they must have a nest just under the edge of the roof (I believe what's called a soffit but not sure on that).

I decided to work some sketches I could use to add to other drawings.

And most recent is another of our Hibiscus that is in the back yard.  

Playing with backgrounds.  Not sure which I like better....the green or the blue.