What the numbers really mean…to me.

July 31, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

212 posts published!

100+ pieces completed in the last 6 months!

300+ followers!

797 comments – your comments, encouraging me and motivating me!

578 days keeping my creative resolution

unmeasurable – the joy I feel living a creative life

I’ve been blogging for a year and a half and during that time creating art has became an integral part of my life. It brings me so much joy. I especially love how one idea leads to another and another and another. I love that the projects I work on are entirely self motivated. Prior to my creative resolution I was in an art class/group for several years. Even though we were given total freedom, I was ready to break free and see what I would create on my own. I feel such a sense of accomplishment looking over my work and seeing how many projects I have finished and that my style has emerged.

I remember when I first started posting and I couldn’t get a single person to like a post or comment! Now I am so lucky to have a community of friends who cheer me on. It means so much to me! It keeps me motivated. Thank you! 🙂

Sketching & Doodling in Summer

July 29, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Where are the lazy days of Summer? It feels busy. I’m trying hard to squeeze in sketching time, even at the pool. And if I’m at the beach, I’m always taking pictures and thinking about the next painting.

mymornings
More and more, I realize how inspired I am by the seasons. My paintings of flowers have been replaced by beach paintings, pool sketches, and shell patterns. I see other artists online who are working on Christmas cards for the upcoming season. It makes sense – so their products are ready in time, but I don’t think I could do that! I love immersing myself in a season (or theme) and continuing to explore it with each project. I couldn’t put the shells away and start doodling Santas, at least not at this point.
poolsketch

A pattern for July – Seashells

July 24, 2015July 23, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I really enjoyed creating this pattern. It brought me back to collecting shells as a kid and marveling at the patterns and colors. Oh wait, I still do that!

This pattern started with doodles in my sketchbook. I drew a lot of shells! I have jarfuls on hand for reference.

Then on watercolor paper I painted shells using different colors. I took creative liberties with this step.

I scanned everything in, and layered the outlines and watercolors together in Photoshop. I also added a textured background. After I had my arrangement set, I repeated it to see how it worked. I had to shift things a bit when the shells overlapped.

I truly felt inspired creating this pattern. It felt very nostalgic for me. And I can’t wait to get back down to the beach to collect more shells.

Painting the ocean

July 22, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Living near the ocean, and loving it as I do, I’ve often tried to paint it. It’s not easy! There are so many shadows in the water even on the calmest days. I’ve created paintings where I’ve tried to paint each little shadow and they have looked stiff. Nothing like water. I’ve found that sometimes the quick paintings of the ocean, where I don’t over work them, end up being the most successful.
In this painting I added a little water below the blue and it pushed into the blue creating blooms that look like a wave. Happy accidents!

Shell doodles

July 20, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Today I was doodling some shells I found at the beach and one starfish that I bought :)! I was using my son’s gel pen which I love because it’s so smooth. (Unfortunately it’s not waterproof, which I previously found out the hard way.)
I really enjoyed studying the shells and drawing them. I promised a pattern every month, and I think it would be fitting to make a seashell pattern for July. Can’t wait to scan these in and play with color and layout. Stay tuned!

Rainy day doodles

July 18, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Last week the rainy weather inspired the black and white doodle below. Yesterday I colored it in Photoshop. Perfect timing for today’s downpour.
rainysketch

My solo painting party

July 17, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I wanted to really get into the creating mode so I set myself up for a solo painting party. I love doing this – starting several paintings at once because the watercolor layers need time to dry. I literally move around the table and work on different paintings and play around. Some of the paintings I finish that day, some hang around for awhile until I pull them out and finish them. I find these solo watercolor “parties” a great time to play around and explore.

Stop Motion Animation – See the tire “swing” :)

July 15, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Click here to see the swinging tire swing! I’ve been wanting to create an animation for a while now. I see a lot of them on Instagram. But everytime I come up with a concept – it’s way too complicated. Especially since I wasn’t sure how to go about it, how to animate my illustration – video? animated gif? an app? which app?

The other day on a whim, I painted a tree and thought it could use something else. A quote? A tire swing! I realized I could start simple. My stop motion animation would be of the tire swinging. The background doesn’t change. The tire swing would be the only moving component, so I drew it separately.

But how to make it work? I figured it out using the process of elimation – video too shaky, one app wouldn’t allow me to upload my own pics, animated gifs don’t play on Instagram (I don’t think ), another app left a huge watermark across my animation, etc.

I was ready to give up! I decided to try one more thing and try iMovie on my Mac – which I don’t know well. At first it didn’t seem like it would work. How do I upload my pics? But after some modifications, finally success! My tire swing was swinging! 🙂

A simple thing, but it feels like a milestone. I made my illustration move! Haven’t seen it yet? Click here! I’m already thinking of the next animation. Stay tuned!

Shark Painting

July 12, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I couldn’t help getting into the spirit of “Shark Week,” by painting this shark. The inspiration photo is an ad for a Discovery Channel show called “Ninja Sharks.”