Danielle Calabro

I am calling this my successful fail, this was my first attempt at using a couple of new tools. It was a fail because it did not turn out how I would have liked but successful because I learned some valuable lessons in the process. Lesson #1: The Pen holder for the Silhouette Cameo: I took a chance on this tool, I was not sure if it would work in the new machine, all the videos on you tube had shown the older machine. After using the Sketch pens made for the machine, which I am not a big fan of because my last card I made the ink skipped. I wanted to make sure the ink would not skip again so I figured I would test out a couple of pens in the holder. What I found was the shape of the pen makes a difference. I love my micron pens but I find they did not fit as well as the Copic multiliners, the Copic pens are fatter near the tip so it was a snug fit and did not slip. The Micron are thinner near the tip and it slipped from the holder. Here is the test sheet I did with a few different ...

I know as a woman that tough times are just that, tough times. You can either let them take over you or you can fight through them. Me, I would rather fight through them. We have a young lady at another branch (my 9-5 job), that has fallen on some tough times and I know that sometimes its nice to see that people do still care. I do not know her personally but I know the feeling, I am sure all of us do. I thought it would be nice to give her a card but not just any card, one that was just for her, apparently she loves high heels. This also pushed me to figure out how the hell do I get my artwork to cut out on cards. This is what I started with, sketched out and traced with pen: Easy enough, so here is the tough part, how do I get it to cut so it doesn't just leave an outline of a high heel in the middle of the card? I started first thing in the morning but with life I had to stop a couple of times, take the kids to the park, get lunch and do some grocery shopping. Once we g...

Just a little doodle I have been adding to over the past couple of weeks. Started with the mandala colored in with colored pencil. Of course I had a bunch of negative space and I can have that so I filled it in with bubbles that were filled in with watercolors and gold paint pen, left over negative space filled in with black paint pen.

I found this Quote and added it to my little painting. Art is my outlet, it relaxes me and helps me to forget about things that make me worry.  Life does beat you down but it's up to you on weather or not you are going to just stand there and take it or fight back. Life is like a road and just like every road there are detours, traffic, pot holes and hills, of course there are roads that are nice and smooth and flows, the ones we all want to be on.  The question is, are you willing to keep driving on those horrible roads to get the the one you want to be on, or stop and pull off because it gets too bumpy. When life beats you down, stand up, dust yourself off and get ready for a fight.

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

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.

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"

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.