Danielle Calabro

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...

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

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...

Well after months of talking about moving it has finally happened. We have been in our new house for about 3 weeks now, we are mostly unpacked except for the stuff that isn't a necessity. I was finally able to set down and draw on paper for the first time in over a month and it was great. I can honestly say I missed it. With all the moving and getting settled I was having a little block so I just drew out the same things I had on my tablet. I was going to use watercolors or inks but had to stick with my Copic Markers, the area where I have my art desk was a complete mess. All-in-all, I like the way this came out, it was just a cute little doodle to get me back into the flow again. I also invested in a better scanner specifically for scanning my artwork, very satisfied with they way it scanned in. It may be slow going for a little while, while we settle in a little more. We have lots of boxes in the garage still and smaller ones lingering in the house and as much as I'd lov...

As moving day is coming closer I have had to pack up most of my art supplies, which has limited me to 2 small sketch books, the pens I use the most and my handy, dandy tablet. I have turned to my tablet lately and have been pleasantly surprised by what I have been able to do. I had a very difficult time at first drawing on the tablet so I did more tradition, pen and paper drawings. Since I basically have no supplies for another 30 or so days I have made it a mission to keep creating what ever way I can in between, packing, children, work and life in general. This is how I have started my last 2 tablet drawings: Just a scribble across the entire screen, in the righthand side I saw a penguin and that was were I was going to started, then I on the bottom lefthand side I saw a duck and thats were I started. This is the cute little duck that came from this scribbly mess: I am finding many benefits of sketching on a tablet Layers - I can start a new layer and not...

I have been experimenting with Ph Martin inks lately, I like them.  They are pretty much like watercolors but seem to have a bit more pigment in them. The background on this was done with the inks, the clouds and the foreground was done using black and white gouache.  I feel like I am the middle tree, my dreams are on one side of me growing larger and larger, while my regular 9 to 5 is on the other getting smaller. I am reaching for the dream but I still have the 9 to 5 pulling at me. One day it will only be the two trees and I intend on it being the larger one. Dream big and don't give up, through all the fog there is a bright future.

Some how I have been able to keep my creativity flowing, even with everything going on. I am calling this one, "Ladybug Landings." This is page 2 of the new sketchbook and try to my word, I tested out the watercolors. They worked great, didn't lead through at all. I also used water-based paint markers and of course my trusty Copic markers and pens. I did something a little different on this one. I wanted a little more depth so I added extra shading with multiliner pens.  I like the way it turned out, there are a few areas I would like to re-do but for the most part very happy with the way it came out. With a little more practice shading with pens and that won't be a problem anymore, of course we are our own worse critics.  Do you see the ladybugs? 

After spending a while on Tangles I have decided to focus on how to handle watercolors more besides just using them for the backgrounds. I have always been a little afraid of watercolors because the can be so unpredictable, however I am finding that to be the best thing about them.  I am not a patient person so practicing is pretty much out of the question, with me, it's do or die when it comes to art. So instead of taking a scrap of watercolor paper I dove right into my new watercolor journal and sketched out my little bugs world and went right to painting it today after my hubby went to work. Of course I had to take a few breaks but it is finished.  Still trying to get the blending down but I am happy with the way it turned out. It was painted in watercolors and outlined with Microns, the little bit of white you see was done with my Uni-ball broad white pen. Of course I still don't have the right lighting so the picture doesn't do it justice. 

Yes, I did another one, I love doing these trees. When something is not coming to mind they are my perfect fix. I went on a website last week and saw what one of them would look like on a pillow, phone case and iPad case, even a t-shirt and it looked good, I have also thought about turning some of these into journal covers, again I am not sure where to start. I would like to take this a little further but I am confused about the whole copyright and licensing part of all of this. I think it is time to sit down and do a little more research and reading. If there is anyone out there that can help point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. I feel I have finally found my niche, I love to tangle and I have fallen for watercolors and gouache, the are unpredictable, that is what I love the most about them. As I am typing out this post I am thinking of my next project. The thing with tangling is it is a process, it is time consuming. I can sit down and start work...

I really enjoyed creating the Zentangle™ inspired tree a couple of weeks ago so I decided to do another. This painting was created with watercolor, gouache, GellyRoll Pens and sharpie in a few areas. I am going to focus on the background for a little bit. I tried a couple of techniques I have read about and loved the way it came out. I stared with 140lb watercolor paper, I taped it down (which I believe they also call it stretching) so the paper would not buckle. I did things a little different this time, I did not draw outlines of what I was planing, I went straight to the backgound. I spread a layer of clean water across the paper, chose the colors I wanted to use and randomly painted the colors on the wet paper (wet-on-wet technique). Here is where it got interesting and fun, I took regular table salt and rubbing alcohol to the wet paint. The rubbing alcohol repealed the water and the salt absorbed the water, leaving what you see above, a pretty cool background. ...

In my attempt to find my niche I have used many, many different mediums. I have used acrylic paint, oil paint, water color, gouache, markers and pens. I know I am not finished finding my own way but I think I am getting a better idea of what I enjoy most. I love to paint and I love to draw so I have started to mix them. In this piece, my Zentangl™ Tree, I did the background in watercolors, the sketch in archival ink pens, the tree with black gouache and the tangle with a white gelly roll pen.  Here is a close up: This change in my creative focus has helped me in more ways then one. First, it is so easy to just grab my sketchbook and my pencils and start working on an idea. Second, it has simplified my life a little, I can take it anywhere with me, go to a cookout, take the kids to the park or outside to play, I just shove everything I need in my bag and I am all set. Can't do that with a canvas and paint, but like I said I still love to paint just on a s...

"Palm Trees at Sunset" 16" x 20" Acrylic on Gallery wrapped canvas painted be me One of my favorite places to go is the beach, it is so relaxing listening to the waves break and taking a nice night walk and letting the wind blow in your hair. We live in Central Florida so we have our pick from the East or West coast. I have put together my favorites. My Top Florida East Coast Beaches: These are the beaches  that we go to for a day trip nothing to far away Cocoa Beach Cocoa Beach - Very close only about 30 - 45min away, No parking on the beach. You have Ron Jon Surf Shop and they have a great little Pizza joint too, you can actually get a 26" pizza it was huge. Best parking in my opinion is across from the Air Force Base, there are no life guards so you need to be careful. Not as many people either, so you don't have to walk another half mile to find the perfect spot because if you are like us, we bring the lunches, towel, cano...

I am finally starting to get the blending down a little better. This was done in Sketchbook Pro. This is one of my favorite apps, I also like art rage too.  Like I said before they both have different things to offer, to bad you can't combine both in one.

So my job gets the huge reels that have plastic on it, once we are finished with a reel it gets broken down and thrown out.  I decided one day that I wanted to see what I could do with one and this is what I came up with, this is going to be a table top for my wonderful grill master husband, of course this is an unfinished project at the moment, I am trying to find a base for the table and I will be covering it with an Epoxy Resin.