Danielle Calabro

It's the 2nd day of December and the reality that Christmas is only a few weeks away is setting in. Since we live in Florida this is the closet I will ever come to building a snowman. I was 26 years old before I ever saw snow in person and I turned into a little girl for the short period it did snow, it was the week before Easter and we went up to Georgia but of course by the time we got up the next morning most of it had melted but I was in awe while it lasted. I'm not sure how I would fair up north but I would definitely like to take a vacation one year where it actually snows and it stays on the ground for at least a day or two. I don't want our children to have to wait until they are in their twenties before they see snow for the first time.  Here in Florida we have to make our own snow, we went to the tree lighting in our little town and they had an area where the kids could play in what looks like someone took big chunks of ice and put them through a giant...

It has been super busy lately, we got through Thanksgiving with flying colors and I was actually able to get most of this done before Family started to show up. My daughter entered a "Recycled Art Contest" at school so we have been working on that too. Along with getting ready for her Birthday and Christmas shopping, it has been an interesting couple of weeks. I would't mind finding a place like this to take a well needed vacation. I decided the other day I would go on "You Tube" and find some tutorials for using "Sketchbook Pro" and my new tablet. In the process I stumbled upon one that did a landscape like this. I changed it up some and used different tools in some spots but it was so beneficial to help me learn all the tools and how adjusting them just a little can change the image in a big way. I know I have a long way to go but I am happy with the way this turned out. I has been hard to find time, so I am looking forward to when things sl...

The reality is that a lot of things are going digital, and when it comes to art I have been putting it off. So last week I made the decision to purchase a Wacom Tablet, I am a beginner when it comes to digital drawing and it will take time to learn all the cool tools they have on the software. I choose a tablet that was the most cost effective for a beginner and I am happy with the results. I worked on this little tree for about 2 days, mostly because I was trying to find the right tool. I was a little worried about the size of the tablet but it matched the size of the work area on the computer. I originally purchased a cheap version of a graphics table years and years ago but I was never able to get the results I got with this one, honestly I never completely figured out how to use that one. since I am using a Mac I choose to use Sketchbook Pro, it is a hell of a lot cheaper then the Adobe Illustrator subscription, I am happy with the tools that Sketchbook Pro has to offer. So this...

We are in that time of the year when it is holiday after holiday. No time to breath or recover, just full steam ahead. This year we are doing Thanksgiving since we finally have a house and I can't wait. Then it will be our daughters and my mother-in-laws birthday, an anniversary, Christmas and we finish it off with New Years. So basically we will be going, going, going until January. In between all of this I will be doing my best to keep posting as much as I can. This is my transition from Halloween into Thanksgiving Here's to the hustle and bustle of the Holidays

Just a quick   HAPPY HALLOWEEN   to everyone before we head out to get some candy, be safe and have fun.

I have always been fascinated with Sugar Skulls and how colorful and decorative they are, I know it had something to do with the "Day of the Dead," which I never understood, so being the curious person I am, I did a little research. If I am going to draw something I have to know what it is I am drawing and if there is a deeper meaning. "Day of the Dead" is held on November 1st and 2nd and is a day that family and friends gather to pray and remember their loved ones that have passed on and to help them on their spiritual journey. So where did the "Sugar Skull" get its name? Well once again something I had to find out for myself. Sugar art was brought over by Italian missionaries in the 17th century and adopted by the people who quickly learned how to make sugar art. Personally I find them beautiful. "Day of the Dead" is also celebrated on the same days as the Catholic holy days of "All Saints' Day" on Nov. 1st which is dedicat...

One of my favorite things to bake is cupcakes, so for Day 21 of #inktober you got a cupcake. Of course I can never get my icing as perfect as this but they always taste good. They are so much easier to make then a regular cake, you don't have to worry about the bottom sticking to the pan or cutting the top of the layers to make it flat. Bake the cupcake and throw some icing on them unless of course you are going for a more creative look but even then it's still easier in my opinion. Hey Cupcake keep on inking!!

Like most people I start my day with coffee, usually a mug, I like it hot in the morning and a couple of times a week I will treat myself to a yummy frappuccino. My coffee has to be strong and if I make it at home (which is most of the time), I have to have flavored creamer.  This little cup of joe was created with ink and alcohol markers. Day 17 of Inktober So lets hear it, what type of coffee do you like? Strong or weak? Light, medium or dark roast? Hot or cold? Do you have any ideas for trying a different coffee or what to put in it? I would love to hear your ideas and as always Happy Inking

This this is day 14 of #inktober2016 and I finally received my new grey markers and I absolutely love them. I am finding that the grey's do not scan to their true colors, in person the color is much better.  When I originally started I was going to go for spooky, you know for Halloween, but as you can see that did not happen. This was a mix between pen and marker. The sketch book that came with the art snacks bundle is not usable with anything that is liquid, honestly its not even good for markers, you can see in some areas were the marker bleed through. I went for Winsor & Newton Alcohol markers this time. Don't get me wrong, I love my copic markers but the was about a $30.00 price  difference between the both of them and they both work great.  Happy Inking my Friends!!!

Day 10 of #inktober2016 Zentangle, I never heard of this until about 2 years ago, had no clue what it was but I loved it.  Of course I wanted to find out more so I looked it up and found that it was created as a form of therapy. You are not to use an eraser, at first I thought, that is absolutely crazy, I have to have my eraser, what if I mess up? but what this teaches you is, don't throw out something you are working on just because the line goes in the wrong spot, work with it and make it work for you.  Happy Inking my Friends

Well, we survived the storm. No damage to the houses, except to the guy who drilled wood into his house to cover some of his windows. He was crazy, these are new houses and they make clips for that, No way would I have done that. Anyway, as I said before I had plenty of time on my hands so I used my time wisely. So for Day 8 of #inktober I choose to do a pumpkin. It is a little darker then I would have liked but I am still learning how each pen works. I also grabbed the few grey Copic markers I have to do the shading. I think it came out fine but the grey's I have were not close enough together so you it is not a gradient shading that I was going for. Which is ok, I have some warm and cool grey markers coming in on Tuesday so I will just have to be patient. So, how many people have their pumpkins? We do, we got 2 already. I would like to get a couple bales of hey too, I am hoping that some of these local farms will sell some, time to start calling around. Just before the sto...

Well Hurricane Matthew is getting closer, we are expected to get the rough stuff around 2am so I don't think I will be sleeping very well tonight. We have decided to have the kids sleep in our room tonight since this is their first hurricane. Honestly, the last hurricane we were in wasn't nearly as bad as this one and it was 12 years ago, so I do have a little worry. In the mean time we still have power and I have decided to have a little fun while we wait for the inevitable. Say hello to Matthew So for day 6 of #inktober I took my hubby's advice and had a little cartoon fun with Matthew. I used my copic grey markers but I am limited on the ones I have so I will have to remedy that.  So for my Friends and Family that will have to endure this beast, please stay safe and those that are watching from afar, keep us all in your prayers especially those on the coast. Happy Inking

Day 5 of #inktober So what do you do when your not happy with a drawing? Study it and see what the problem is and work on it. I am not use to using just ink, and learning how to control it is somewhat challenging. I had started with the tree and felt it was a little lonely so I added the extras. Making this a spooky little drawing.  I decided to purchase a few more pens and a vial of Winsor & Newton ink that did not come with that over priced bundle I received and to be honest, I like the supplies I purchased separately much better. I also think I am going to break out the grey Copic markers also, I should have plenty of time to learn some control with this Hurricane heading our way, nothing but time, at least for one day. Happy Inking 

I will number this day 3 and 4 of #inktober, time is limited so I finished this one up tonight along with starting another. Day 3's prompt was "collection," and if there is one thing that I have the biggest collection of it is art supplies. In my journey to find my artistic self I have accumulated a wide verity of art supplies, why you ask, because I want to try everything, I want to see what speaks to me, the collection consist of: Acrylic paints and mediums, watercolors (of course), markers, pens, pencils, colored pencils, paint markers, and inks. Lets not forget about canvas and papers also. I have played with just about every medium I can afford and even a few I wish I had not purchased. I will use just about everything I bought unless I absolutely hate it. There are a few that get pushed to the back while I am learning a new medium but I will eventually go back to it. I guess I am still trying to find my niche along with always wanting to try something...

I am a day behind on posting for Day 2 of Inktober but that is ok.  I went with the prompt on this one "Noisy," as much as I would have loved to draw my children it would have taken too long.  Personally I love music almost any type, but the one thing I can't seem to understand, is when your in your car and a car beside you has the bass so high that it rattles your brain. I myself have never sat in a car with bass that high for fear that my ears or head would explode so I don't know if you can even hear anything other than bass. So here is my questions, they are to help others understand the reason behind the bass. What is the point of having the bass up that high? Can you hear anything other than bass? Is it a status thing, the higher the bass the cooler you are? Does it do damage to you vehicle? with all that vibration it has to rattle something loose, right? Well at least I know I will have a few more years with out hearing aids than the ...

October 1st, 2016, this is my first year of participating in #Inktober. I received my goodies from art snacks but I will be honest, I was a little disappointed in the products for spending $99.00, I think I could have purchased the same products on Amazon for less and still been able to get more. Either way the money has been spent and I am not going to waste it. So this is day 1, todays prompt is "fast," and whats faster then a spaceship? I assumed I  should follow the prompts but I have seen others that have not, so I will be bouncing back and forth between prompts and my own ideas. I have a lot to learn when it comes to shading with ink and using brush pens but I am excited and ready to learn. Happy #inktober

As a mother of two, a wife and a full time job, creating can end up being put off until the end of the day. Staying up until 12am in the morning just to get a little practice in then waking up at 6am to go to work is all apart of the sacrifices we as artist make to do what we love. Being in the baby stages of making a dream come true seems like a never-ending quest, sometime unreachable. Getting discouraged and ready to give up is always in the back of your mind, but there is always that little voice, that little spark of inspiration that tells you not to give up, never let go of your dreams. Try something new, go bak to the old, mix the both of them. A busy life can sometimes take over and you briefly forget what you are trying to accomplish, then it hits you, the reason you were working so hard to begin with.  Ask yourself, What are your dreams? What do you want to accomplish? How do you get there? Are you holding yourself back or is someone else? Are you afraid to step ou...

This is my second attempt of playing with the Dylusion™ line, inks and paint. I was trying out some stencils and the circles in the background is just me cleaning off my blending tool. Still getting the hang of it but having fun doing it. As with all inks you will need to put a sealing medium over the top if you are going to be using white or any other light colors over the top.

Flowers are like people, all are beautiful in their own way, and just like people some are dangerous. When flowers are given, most bouquets are a mixture of different types and colors of flowers. If we could all think of ourselves as flowers image how well we could coexist with one another, bringing out the beauty of each other instead of cutting each other down at the stem.  It is amazing that our children today can not grow up as innocent as we were able too. The world has changed so much, people have changed. I have noticed over the past 12 years that people choose to be victims rather then make their situation better, there are also those who add fuel to the flame. We are all human beings, when we are cut we all bleed red blood, ALL LIVES MATTER and it all starts with us parents, we have to teach our children how to treat others. If we teach them to hate, they will hate but if we teach them to love, they will love. Treat others the way you would want to be treated, no ma...

It's been awhile since my last post, lots of busy weekends. I have been playing around with a few new mediums and tools. I picked up some Dylusions Paint and inks along with some Distressed crayons, both are from the Ranger brand. I also got a Brayer tool and a Gellie Plate. I am having so much fun with these. I also picked up a new art journal, which I have a few pages started but not finished yet. Anyways, my sweet Mother-in-Law is doing a Chili Cook off this weekend and asked if I could make her a little poster to put on her table. Of course I said yes. I wanted to do something a little different then just a basic drawing and either painting or coloring it in, so once I had my sketch done I used some scrapbook paper to make the poster come together. First I started with the background, I used the Dylusions paint and the Gellie plate with the brayer for the brown background, in person it almost looks like leather, once I had everything cut out and glued down (using Distr...

I picked up a pack of Yupo synthetic paper a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to give it a try. Iy feels like painting on plastic. This paper has a lot of benefits you can use a lot of water on this with out it buckling, use pretty much any medium and if you make a mistake you can wipe it of and start over, however I did notice mediums that have more pigment will stain it. I am still experimenting with this paper and this is one of them, by the time I finished I had myself a little galaxy. This is also one of those unpredictable tools of an artist. 

"La Vita e Bella" This is Italian for "Life is Beautiful" and it is. To often we look at our struggles and ask "why me?" or "life sucks" but when you stop and think about the things you have, you can only be thankful, there are people that have it far worse. This was another experiment, I purchased a product called Brusho from Colourcraft, it is basically a powdered/crystalized ink. If you like how unpredictable watercolors are then you have to give these a try. I started of with the 12 pc set, I did not want to invest too much to try something out. You can still use these as watercolors but you have to be mindful not to accidentally get crystals from one color mixed with another. I think these are great for making some kick-ass backgrounds. This was one of a couple of attempts, I am still trying to figure this medium out. I used watercolor masking for the tree and lettering. 

This is my last Watercolor for #worldwatercolormonth. A Madala drawn out and partially painted in watercolors, I got some awesome metallic paints and had a chance to use them on this. I was not able to do a painting everyday but I can say I was able to be apart of it. During this time I have seen a lot of watercolor artist that do the same type of paintings, like landscapes and still life, I did not see too many watercolor illustrators but the ones I did see were great. Techniques were different, there were all levels of artist and it was nice seeing that no matter what level the artist was at there was no negative comments. I even saw people giving advice. I think it is great they will be keeping it going, if you are interested check out  worldwatercolorgroup.com . I will keep up on the watercolor challenges for the month of August and September but my next will be Inktoberfest. Really looking forward to getting my Inktober package from Artsnacks.

This was the second background I was playing with, I wanted to change it up a little. Since the background was so dark I used white gouache to paint a tree. When I started I figured it would pull some of the watercolor into the white paint, which it did. I figured I would just give it another coat or two to get it pure white...... Well about 4 coats later and still have blue paint bleeding into the gouache. I even tried to paint it as dry as I could but it still came through. Not a big deal just a lesson learned, I am pretty sure it would have done this with the white ink also, I still like the way the background came out.

This started off as practice, since I went back to work my creativity has been lacking a lot. It is amazing how stress can wear you out.  I have been going back and forth with ideas and finally settled with playing around with backgrounds. I ended up with this nice night blue background and figured it would make a great background for a moon. So this is my full moon done in white ink and the background in watercolors.

It's been a funny month, since I have went back to work it has been harder to stay creative, especially since the kids are out for the summer. We are also trying to finish getting things unpacked, shelves on walls, patio fan going up. I am ready for a nice lazy weekend where I can paint and spend time with my hubby.  This little piece was done with watercolors, gouache, white ink and gold jelly roll pen.

I had a friend ask me to do a painting for her and I happily said..sure. She said she wanted something with the Om symbol, I had to quickly look it it up, I had no idea what it was. Come to find out it is a symbol of something I did when I took Yoga (long before I had children). It is a beautiful symbol with a lot of meaning. Something worth looking up, here is what I have been able to research:  Watercolor, Gouache and gold paint pen The Meaning: Om is the all encompassing Cosmic vibration of the universe. There are 5 states of Om: The Unconscious State - Deep sleep The Waking State  The Dream state The Absolute State Illusion/Maya I have also noticed there other variations of this symbol.  I am not knowledgable enough on this subject to go into detail but when someone asks me to do a piece of art and I am not sure what it is or what its meaning is, I do the research. 

This was done with watercolors I was practicing with the lettering, which I am very happy with the way they came out and on shading.  This was for Day 6 of #worldwatercolormonth.

Watercolor Painting #2 for my wonderful crazy customer (my mother) and Day #5 of #worldwatercolormonth. I am really liking the way the background came out on this. I think I will be done with painting coffee for a while, I really want to use the month to try new things with my watercolors. I made a promise and I finished the two painting that were requested. Now it is time to spread my wings  paints. I returned to work today with only a few hours of sleep, so I am beat. I had this horrible kink in my neck that woke me up every time I moved, thank goodness its almost gone because I look forward to coming home and not actually needing coffee to keep me awake. Happy #worldwatercolormonth

In Honor of our wonderful Independence day and day 4 of #worldwatercolormonth: Watercolor and black and white ink

As I am preparing to go back to work tomorrow (boo!), I am getting caught up with my posts. This watercolor painting is for day 3 of #worldwatercolormonth: This was done in watercolor and pen

With #worldwatercolormonth underway I have found I have stuck with the same style. Always afraid to try something new, one of my biggest challenges is shading in watercolors. With this being a holiday weekend, a birthday party today, putting a fan up on the patio, fixing the grill and more people showing up to our 4th of July celebration than originally expected (the more the merrier), and lets not forget about Church on Sunday, I have very limited time. So last night I decided to work on some shading. I can honestly say, I am not too disappointed in the way this came out. I like the 2 on the left side the most. Still have work to do, but I have a whole month and some new found friends that may be able to give me pointers. # worldwatercolormonth

Well I have finished 1 of 2 commissioned paintings This is the second commission I have done. I have sent to proof to the client and she is happy with it. This will be for a coffee themed kitchen. The client wanted something with bright colors and like one of the previous pieces I created, this took a little over 5 hours to complete from sketch to final. I am excited to get started on the 2nd one, a rough draft has been sketched so its time to get to work, again.  If you are interested in contacting please email me at: daniellecalabroart@gmail.com or use my contact me form. Have a Great Day!

Some of my favorite treats. Watercolor, pen and white ink Trying to find my style has been a long and expensive process but I am pretty positive I know what I would like to do with my art and what medium is my go to medium. I know I am still in my baby years of getting started but I know I can make this happen. Honestly this surgery was a blessing, I was able to teach myself to create pretty much everyday and post at least every couple of days. I have also decided that I am going to challenge myself. First, it is time to get all my social media up to date, I know I could be missing out on valuable opportunities and I have 1 full week to get this done before I have to go back to the regular 9-5. Second, I will be participating in  World Watercolor month  that starts in July and was created by our fellow artist and blogger  Charlie O'Shields  ( World Watercolor Month July 2016 Trailer ). Third, I will be  participating in  Inktober  t...

Another addition to the "coffee art" This was done with Ph Martin Radiant Concentrated Watercolors, Pen and White Ink. I was told by one person that the bottom portion of the background should be darker, let me know what you think, I am truly interested in other opinions. Have a great day and "Drink More Coffee"

We all know about the tragic event that happened June 12th in Orlando, I was not able to go down and donate blood because I had just had surgery. I may not be able to do a lot but I will show my support, Orlando is my hometown. We are a strong city and we will not let ignorance make us weak. God Bless all of those killed and injured in this tragic event. 

With so much time on my hands I am making sure I am keeping busy. Of course the only think coming to mind is coffee. My Mother has asked if I can do 2 pieces of artwork for her with a coffee theme for her kitchen. She wants bright colors so wish me luck, this could get ugly. A yummy little treat  "Coffee and a Donut" Watercolor, pen and white ink

Watercolor Butterflies was created with watercolor, pen and white Copic Ink on 7" x 7" Watercolor paper. This is a sweet little piece of art that would complete any little girls room.  If you would like to contact me please email me @ dcalabro0318@gmail.com or fill out the "Contact Me" form on the side bar.

Painting done with watercolors, Ph Martin colored India Inks, Ph Martin white India ink and Copic opaque white ink. 

During my recovery time after surgery I am going a little stir crazy, so to keep me from truly going crazy I have invested my time into my art. I have been playing around with different things. On this one, I brought out the gouache paint and I must say the gouache scans very well. I can see why artist would use this medium. So this little guy was done with what one instructor would call the cloud technique (apparently there are a few types of "cloud" techniques), I will call it the scribble technique. When your have imagination issues, make "scribbles" all over the paper and see what you have. I have done this before on my tablet. Which, it is much easier to get rid of the unwanted scribbles. These both were done the same way I am not a huge fan of doing this on paper, only because you have to go back and erase the scribbles you don't need and depending on what medium you are using you may not be able to cover up the erased pencil. With my li...

A week before my surgery our nephew said he wanted me to draw up a fairly simple mock up tattoo that he could take to the tattoo artist. I was a little excited, a piece of my art work on someones body and someone I know, lets do this! So I asked him what he wanted, a heart with a banner going through it and roses at the top, like I said fairly simple. I drew it up a couple of time before I was happy and he was happy with the outcome. Original sketch I scanned the artwork and kept the original, I had other plans for this little creation. Anyway, I told him I wanted to see the tattoo once it was done, he was going to have the tattoo artist add wings. I get a text the next day with the picture, looked nothing like this, he said it would have cost him around $300 to get this one full color. I was a little disappointed but I still had this cute piece of art, so I went to work on it. added ink and designs I played around with it and liked it more then the original, so I went a st...

With so much going on I have been a little slow in posting, We moved in March and also found out that I had a large mass in my belly. The mass was a Ovarian cyst, thankfully I was able to get this removed last week and everything was fine. So this has freed up some time for me to focus on me and my art. Of course I have to take things a little slow for now so I am not pushing myself to hard but I am getting a little stir crazy (I can't even drive).  So this leads me to what I have been thinking about for the past 4 days, What do I want to do with my art? Well, I would like to learn new techniques and try new things. I have been subscribed to " Skillshare " for a few years now and I find that there are a lot of helpful classes, more then just art. Definitely worth checking out. I recently enrolled in a class by Ana Victoria Calderón , in this class she was teaching about negative space with three different techniques, I did two of them with planes to finish the th...

Last weekend we rode our bikes with the kids to the park in the front of our neighborhood and I brought along my new little sketchbook and pens. I wanted to try my hand at drawing what was in front of me. Usually I draw or paint what comes to mind or on a photograph, so this was pretty new to me. I wish I would have taken a picture of it before I painted it, I like the color but I liked it in pen alone better.  We have been in our new house for 3 weeks and I of course thought we would be completely settled by now, boy was I wrong. We still have some boxes down the hallway and in the garage. I have my little one complaining that we can't have fun today. I wish I could make her understand we would rather be doing other stuff too. We received our new file cabinet and guess what I got to do last night: I did not want one of those metal ones so I splurged a little and purchased this one, of course the only down side, it has to be put together. I read the reviews on th...