#Inktober Showcase

Inktober was started in 2009 and is still going strong today.  Mr Jake Parker, the creator of the project, has assigned very few rules

Pick up a pen, draw, hashtag it #inktober, repeat.

Anyone can take part and it seems like artists from all over the world do. I posted a picture and within 2 min 100 more pictures had been posted!

The goal is to practice your drawing skills and develop the positive habit of doing it daily.

Below are a few examples of my own work and a few from others within my surface pattern design community. Click on the pictures below for direct links to their Instagram accounts.

Julie Hamilton

Playing with light and dark. Flower shapes, some seeds and pods and an owl for good measure. When in doubt stick a bird on it.

Julie Hamilton

Next we have Katy Halford.  I found it hard to choose between all of her lovely drawings. This one made me smile so here it is

Katy Halford

Mary Tanana made some beautiful drawings on black paper with touches of gold, courtesy of uniball gelpens.

Mary Tanana

Heather Dutton spent her time illustrating every letter of the alphabet with beautiful patterns. Check out her instagram account to see more.

Heather Dutton

Amanda McGee  pretty much described all of us with her illustration. I am a big fan of her beautiful hand lettering!

Amanda McGee

Below is Flora Chang of Happy Doodle Land. Her name says it all. She loves to draw. Check out her new colouring book!

Flora Chang

Inktober will be back again next year, but don’t let that stop you from picking up a pen and just busting loose. Until then, feel free to share it with the rest of us on hashtag #shareyoursketch – another fun community to share your creative process.

Ink on!

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Spring is in the air on #shareyoursketch

Sharing a bit of Spring with you from #shareyoursketch.

Come join our community on Instagram and meet some other like-minded creatives. Share a sketch, your creative process,a new technique or even your finished piece. Just share.

I will start with mine. I have been loving all things tropical theses days. I am feeling the need for a little colour in my life these days.

Lots of black and white spring sketches in my sketchbook too!

Colourbook Studio and her little gouache flowers

Amanda McGee and her colourful flowers, also in gouache. I think I may need to try this medium.

Heather Dutton from Hang Tight Studio and her black and white butterflies.Love these!

Up next, Miranda Mol  and her wet ink work.

Marissa Swinghammer  has a beautiful, colourful Instagram account  full of spring, watercolour florals.

Lots of colour here!  Artist Sonal Nathwani

Lesley Todd of Five Finch and her beautiful water-colour primroses

Hopefully the birds are singing and blooms are starting to pop up where you live.

Have a great week!

So sorry Blog, but Instagram is my true love these days..

I think I may be breaking up with my blog. I am having mixed feelings about it right now.I feel horrible.

It has served me so well and has always been here for me – I talk, it listens. A perfect place to show and tell.

I cannot lie though. I have discovered another.

One that inspires me, motivates me and is oh, so lovely to look at. One that it is so easy to be around and engage with. One that actually comments and shows lots of love. One that I can carry close to my heart and stays by my side..

My new love…Instagram

My goal ~ to post daily about my creative process and finished product. To make more time for my photography. To connect with others in my community.

 

 

 

In our busy world today, it is so easy to find a moment to pick up a phone and connect with Instagram. It is  very user-friendly.

There are thousands of beautifully inspiring pictures posted daily. Take some time to explore and discover. Find out what interests and inspires you. Follow others in your field and leave a comment to connect. You just never know, it might just be your next collaboration!

I thought I would share some of my favourite  Instagram feeds with you today to help you on your way! These are off the top of my head and they vary from pretty pictures, lovely food styling, great design or just real, interesting people living a life very different than my own.

Instagram feeds 

ArtisticallyAfflicted (That’s me!)

MaryJoHoffman

Inaluxe

TheyDrawAndCook

TheyDrawandTravel

Cannellevanille

Flow_magazine

TravelWriteDraw

ShiraMcD

Emily_Jeffords

Tracyporter_poeticwanderlust

 

If you are interested in showing your creative process, please feel free to use the hashtag #shareyoursketch. I started it many months ago and it has gained quite a bit of momentum with people sharing daily. I will be (re)starting a weekly #shareyoursketch column here featuring work from it.

While I am not saying goodbye  quite yet, I believe in fair chances for all, I think I am going to try things a bit differently around here. More frequent posts ~ Less words, more pictures. More about what really inspires me!

#Shareyoursketch with us on Instagram

Get your sketch on and come share with us at #shareyoursketch on Instagram. Meet others in our community, try something new, get inspired. Just hashtag your sketch #shareyoursketch and join in! It can be any medium, any style.anything goes. The creative process has to start somewhere.

Here are a few shots from #shareyoursketch this week.  Starting with me!

An actual photo of me doing what I love best – doodling. I think I was the only one with a smile on my face after 4 hours being stuck on the Sea to Sky highway. I have to admit it’s been about the only time I have had a bit of peace and quiet to actually sit down and just draw with no distractions.

 

I was a little stumped on what to draw, but here I was overlooking the Pacific Ocean so first thing that came to mind…fish! All shapes and sizes here.

Some Fish For You!

Tina of @Tinaliondes shares her work created during some stormy weather and time spent indoors.

 

@artbreaking shows us her thoughts on spring.Her instagram feed is full of zentangles, doodles and just a lot of  art! Have a visit, it’s amazing to see all her marks in one spot.

Diane of @dianekappa spends her morning hours drawing. I love her paisley pattern here with its inky lines.

Patricia of @patricia_zapata has started a #365 project which I have been enjoying. Pop by for a daily dose of what she is up to. Actually here is a little write up on her blog about what she is up to!

 Michelle of @patternandco has been doodling dahlias. I love seeing where people find their inspiration and how they transform it into a drawing.

Next we have two pieces from Wendy Flynn of  @dorisandfred. Her sketches have been digitized, coloured and made into fabric at Spoonflower. She has entered this weeks competition, Wellies and Galoshes. You can see her finished piece and vote for her here

The finished piece looks like this one here!

Last, but not least, we have Heather of @heatherunderground. Heather always makes me laugh. I have only met her once at a Flora Bowley workshop, but we have remain connected through social media.She has a great imagination! I love her sketchy portrait that pretty much sums up how I feel right about now. It’s Christmas design time and everyday is starting to feel like Christmas around here. I am in need of a big dose of summer.I am officially done with christmas baubles and reindeer.

That’s all for this week – more to come later! Pop on by Instagram and search #shareyoursketch for more sketchiness.

Have a fun-filled weekend!

#Shareyoursketch with us on Instagram!

Share your sketch with us! #shareyoursketch on Instagram

I love to see how people create. What mediums they like to use~ pencil, pen, ink or paint.I love to see how characters and motifs are developed. I love to see how people come up with ideas and what sparks their imagination. I also love to see all the different variety of lines and textures used.  I think it’s a great way to get inspired and learn from others.

doodling my surroundings @artisticallyafflicted

I am in the business of making motifs. It takes a lot of time doodling and mark making. Time to practice and try new things. I need all the inspiration I can get so thought it would be fun to try and get others to share their work. Here is what is inspiring me lately on #shareyoursketch.

Heather Dutton (@hangtight) of Hang Tight Studio shares proof that inspiration can come from anywhere. This quirky character is the result of a blob of coffee spilt on the floor.  Heather is pretty active on Instagram. The next two are also some sketches that Heather shared.

Some more doodles waiting to get turned into pattern..

Mary Tanana (@groovity)  of Groovity Designs shares her tropical doodles, a result of her time in Make Art that Sells. I believe these were used for the tropical fusion bloghop which you can see here  – beautiful!

I love this giraffe all zentangled up shared by Angelica Venegas. (@portallerdepapel). This drawing was done by her daughter Rocio.  Her zentangle work looks fantastic here and has inspired me to try some of my own.

Here is another zentangle sketch courtesy of Aryanda Septian (@Ariyandaaa) from Indonesia. Her Instagram feed is full of beautiful sketching, shading and lots of portraits. A whole other world I have yet to explore.

This hipster, shared by Lori Leissner (@leissnerart) just makes me smile. I love his look and his poodle pooch companion. I could see this character developed in so many ways. Lori was in a very loong meeting when she shared this.

Sketches can be in color too! I love this one by Pam Keravuori (@pamkeravuori) created while  hanging at the waterpark with her young daughter. That made me laugh – I first started doodling while spending many an hour at the park with young children in tow. There is lots more color and wonderful type on her feed.

Feeling inspired? Come and share your sketch with us then!
I will be posting some here on my blog every week so that others can get inspired and make new friends on Instagram.

Enjoy your weekend!

Inspired by some sketchy sunday behaviour

I am always amazed at how my mind can wander when drawing. I should sit and write down all the crazy ideas that run through my head just for a laugh, but I cringe to think what I would sound like.

My latest idea to keep my creative juices flowing freely is to be computer free on Sundays. No web surfing, email, or.. gasp…no social media. I want to spend the day focused on the here and now.

My hope for this time-out day is to be creative. I don’t have a problem being creative,I know that starting is the key to my success,however, I do find that I am more creative and productive when my mind is free and open. I tend to be easily distracted by the computer and I find it can be very disruptive to my thought process. I am learning to love the feeling of being disconnected.

So, my latest idea is to spend Sundays sketching and sharing on Instagram and, of course, here on my blog.Please join me here on Instagram – I will follow you back.

My original plan to hashtag sketchy sundays(#sketchysundays) unfortunately will have to be changed. For a laugh you can check out my floral doodles amidst some other sketchy sunday behaviour. I swear those other photos were not there when I originally posted to it!I am having my own laugh about the extent of my ‘sketchy” behaviour – maybe if you are lucky I will pop out a nudie for you instead of my usual floral doodle.

After some more careful research I have decided to call it #shareyoursketch.

A creative space to share your sketches,inspiration,mindwork and even your finished product! It doesnt have to be on Sunday!. I love to see how other minds work and what they are inspired by. I also love to see what they can produce from all their inspiration. You have to admit we are all a very talented bunch so please…share away!

#shareyoursketch …now on Instagram and twitter too.

Have a great week. It’s beautiful and sunny here and hopes are high that it is going to stay this way.

p.s. Thank you for the great response to my shout out for “creative process” submissions. I am looking forward to featuring others in my community here. I am just in the process of figuring out the details and just the right questions to ask. I will keep you posted!