My Creative Resolution – a year in review.

November 29, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

As the first anniversary of My Creative Resolution approaches, I decided to look back and see what I worked on this year – what mediums I choose. It was surprising to me that during the first two months I painted with acrylics. I think it was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I even pulled out old unfinished canvases and finished them!

After two months, I was getting a little bored with my sketchbook and I pulled out my watercolors. Well, that changed everything! I started focusing more and more on watercolor. I had a history and some knowledge with watercolor. I added to that by watching videos and absorbing ideas and techniques from other artists online. I was having fun with it and was more and more liking my results. For too long I was working on crappy paper, but eventually I bought the right stuff!

Eight months in and I decided to paint cards for the swim coaches. To make the cards whimsical I added ink to the cards. When I draw in pencil, I tend to have a scratchy (lots of lines) style. In the past whenever I tried pen and ink I thought I had to draw one perfect deliberate line. (This stressed me out.) This time I scratched away (with the ink pen) and was happy with the results!

After that, I started adding ink to a lot of my watercolors. My favorite, surprising result, was when I took two outtakes and attacked them with a pen. I liked them better than the original painting!

For a long time I wanted to know what my style was – especially when I was trying to illustrate a children’s book. I scoured the internet for the answer – how do you develop/choose a style? Now I know that the answer is simple – time. Take the time to practice and try different things and your style will come out. The longer you work at it, the more it will evolve.

Even though I’ve almost reached the one year mark in My Creative Resolution, I have no intention of stopping! I am so happy with the results – the result of pushing myself to keep at it. I can’t wait to see where this journey will continue to take me, where I’ll be in six months or in another year. My original creative resolution was to draw, paint and create. I left open the possibility that I might be sanding and refinishing furniture, making signs, drawing or painting. BTW there are STILL a few pieces waiting in the garage to be refinished! Maybe in 2015?

Giving my artwork as a gift.

November 23, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I’ve been playing around with the idea of giving whimsical house (or door) paintings as hostess gifts (either framed or made into ornaments). I’ve come a long way this year, in terms of my confidence as an artist, but there is something scary about giving my artwork as a gift! Regardless of whether or not I’ll get up the nerve – I’ve started painting. The house is my brother and sister-in-law’s. I definitely want to try another version!

Here are my steps:

Starting the day with creativity and a sunflower

November 19, 2014November 24, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I love the days where I can start off being creative. When I say start off, I mean after the 2 hours of – waking up the kids, making lunches, and getting the 3 of them to 3 different schools! Now that I am working from home, on most days I start “work” as soon as I get back from the last drop off. Even if I try to be creative later in the day, it is not the same as starting the day that way. There is a different vibe to the day. When I start off painting or sketching I feel so much more inspired. And I love the light in the kitchen in the morning.

Below are my steps to creating my sunflower. You can see the final piece here on instagram – and by the way don’t you want to follow me on instagram too? I have a sad and lonely little account with only 11 followers!

Winter Wonderland (watercolor with salt)

November 5, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I’m not sure what made me start this Winter scene the day after Halloween. I guess I was thinking about the weather to come! I was inspired by my “ready to fall” painting, which started out as an ink drawing of a tree.

My steps:
I drew a few simple tree shapes. Then I painted the sky and ground around them. On a whim, I salted the sky section to give it that frosted look. (If you’ve never used salt before it is a cool technique. Salt your painting when it is still wet. The salt absorbs some of the paint. Wait until it is completely dry and then brush off the salt.) I was happy with the effect. It reminds me of frost on a window. I added white to the trees and a few splatters of white for snow.

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

One last spooky sketch and a hint as to what I dressed up as this year. Enjoy your trick or treating!

Freehand vs. Computer Lettering

October 29, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I’ve been playing around with this project – practicing the lettering in my sketchbook, playing with fonts on the computer. I even scanned my watercolor background and printed it with type I set up on the computer. I don’t usually do this. I create on the computer enough as a Graphic Designer and when I signed up for that first drawing class 7? 8? years ago, the point was to use anything but the computer. I like the lettering in my sketchbook the best. It’s ironic because that was my first try at it. Maybe I’ll scan it in and print that on the watercolor background. 🙂

Autumn Tree

October 11, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I told you I was into trees! Trees and leaves! For this piece I started painting, very wet, with watercolor. After the painting dried (a little) I went back and added more color and some leaf shapes. When that was completely dry, I started drawing, in ink, the shapes of the leaves and the lines of the bark. Then, I added more color.

I love the style of this. It is so fun to doodle in ink. You kind of go into a trance where you are half paying attention. Sometimes it takes a little bit, but eventually I find my groove. I find it helpful to add the ink while I’m watching TV!

There were a couple of parts of this piece that were bugging me, so I did a little retouching in Photoshop. I don’t normally do this. I’m a Graphic Designer and spend a lot of time using Photoshop. I prefer to keep my art “handmade,” but I loved this piece and had to fix those nagging issues.

My steps:
I need to start clamping down my paper to a board or taping it. My paper buckles and the paint puddles.

Here’s where I added more color and the hint of leaf shapes:

Before computer retouching. I’ve added details in ink and more color:

See more trees, trees and leaves!

Spooky Tree

October 10, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I am inspired by trees lately. It makes sense since it’s Fall. For this piece I started out painting with watercolor. It was just the idea of a tree. Then I added the ink. My tree looked a little too squat, so I made the branches longer. Then, I went back in and added more color and the splatters. I like working square. I think it adds something.