Danielle Calabro

Doodle done with Copic markers, multiliners and pencil Last Friday I did a little shopping, got paid and needed to (wanted to) pick up a few things.  One thing was a smaller sketchbook, something that could fit in my purse. I always have to get the first page done right away so above is page one of my new compact sketchbook. I was hoping it would stand up to my Copic markers but unfortunately they bleed through a bit. I will be trying out  watercolors next to see how it stands up to the water. You should be able to check that out in a few days, that is if the kids don't come home with loads of homework every night.

There is a place in Orlando, FL called Leu Gardens , it has been well over 10 years since I have been there but I remember it like it was last year. It is magnificent, I remember walking around there for hours. When I was younger I would go there to photograph the flowers. Sadly I have lost touch with it, talking about it makes me want to go again, take my kids to one of the movie nights they have there. Go during the day and photograph some of the flowers all while listening to my children tell me how hot and bored they are, it's great to torture your kids with a little fresh air. Honestly I'm not sure how they will act bit hopefully they would enjoy it. I sat down last weekend and started this sketch and I finished it up last night, it reminded me of the times I use to go to the garden. I sketched this out in pencil then went over the sketch with my Micron pens and color was added with Copic markers. I am sure you have heard me say this before and I am going to say ...

My art has changed over that year since I have started. I started with acrylics and have moved to smaller more detailed art. I still like playing around with the acrylics but I am still trying to find myself as an artist. I love doodling, I love watercolors and I love mixing them. I also love working with my Copic markers. I purchased a new compass last week and I wanted to put it to the test. I am not sure if any of you remember from an earlier post I had started a page with just the rectangle and had a bunch of white left. I decided to add to the page and this is what I came up with. I used Copic and Micron multiliner pens and filled the tangles in with Copic Sketch markers. I am not sure if this type of doodling will get me anywhere but it is defiantly a way to keep my creative mind flowing.  What do you do to keep your creative mind flowing?

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...

I received my new gouache paint and paint brushes today and of course I couldn't wait to try them out. This was a small set as you can see to the right of the painting it is only 5 mixing colors. I have never been one for mixing colors unless it was a color I didn't have but this is a nice set to start with, the paint brushes I also ordered are great, a set of 6 Red Sable (Wesel Hair) mix filbert brushes by  magic touch , I got both of these off  Amazon.  However I have some  Turner Acryl Gouache  coming on Tuesday from one of my favorit places to shop,  Jerry's Artarama,  they had an awesome sale on their site. I love doing large paintings but it does get a little price to keep buying the canvases so I have desided to take a little break from the larger paintings and scale it down a bit. I am not one for creating realistic art, I plan on working on faces for awhile in my quest to creat more artwork and as you can tell it is not proportionate, I...

Every artist knows you have to keep your creative juices flowing, I can not always find the time to paint so I doodle or draw. I have been interested in Zentangle for a while, I think it is a very interest form of art. Now I can't say I dont use an earaser (you are not suppost to) I am too much of a perfectionest not too. Anyway, for me this is a great way to get your creative juices flowing. I would like to share some of my skeching tools with you. When I find a product that I love and I know works I want to share them. I will admit, some of my tools can be pricey but I have used trial and error and found that spending a little extra money on a great product makes a big difference. These are my go to sketching tools: Blackwing Pencils - they are so smooth to draw with Copic Multi liner pens - Great to use with my next tool, they do not smear when used with markers. Copic Sketch Markers - they are alcohol based so the blend beautifully Prismacolor colored pencils - these ...