Danielle Calabro

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