illustration

Mrs. Claus

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

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Day 21 in the Christmas countdown. She’s the woman behind the man in the red suit. I suspect she deserves a lot more credit than she gets. 😂

My childhood favorite Christmas movie is “The Year without a Santa Claus.” Mrs. Claus has a big role in this movie, as well as Mother Nature. Mother Nature’s sons Heat Miser and Mr. Snow were, in my opinion, the best part of the movie. What’s your favorite Christmas movie? My current favorite is “Elf.”

A visit with Santa

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

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Day 20 in the Christmas countdown. This was done from a photo of my youngest visiting the Santa at the local nursery. I wish the other 2 had been there because I still have to get this year’s photo. It’s getting a little awkward because the two high schoolers can’t all fit in the chair with Santa. But traditions are traditions. We’ve been taking the yearly photo since my daughter was 2 months old and was asleep in Santa’s arms.

Santa’s bag

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

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Day 19 Christmas countdown. It’s so close! I want to scream, “SANTA!” like Buddy the Elf. If you haven’t seen “Elf” stop reading this post and immediately download it and watch it. It is hysterical.

When I was little Christmas took forever to get here. As an adult it seems to come pretty quickly. My kids are asking me if I’m excited for Christmas. Um excited isn’t the word. I still have to finish shopping, food shop, make food, bake, wrap too many presents, make sure everyone has something to wear, (thank you to my husband who will iron the clothes), pack the car, make sure we leave for mass on Christmas Eve in time to get a seat, spend the entire mass trying not to cry that my dad passed away and isn’t taking up the collection, unpack the car at my sister’s, heat up the food, and then, then I’ll be excited.

With that list, you may be wondering, “why is she spending so much time painting?” 😂

Gingerbread

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

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Day 8. It’s a tradition in our house to decorate gingerbread houses. My kids love it – mostly for the candy. They give me a hard time for trying to out do their decorating. What they don’t know is that I aspire to make a gingerbread house that’s a replica of our house. But every year December is too crazy to even think of starting a project like that! Hmmm, maybe over the summer.

Here’s our setup this year.

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My house 😂

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Marion has been drawing along with me. See her gingerbread post here.
It’s not too late to join in the creative countdown. Tag your post “adventmcr”

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30 Days of Food In Watercolor

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

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Pomegranates – Day 30. Thank you to Charlie of World Watercolor Group for the food November prompts. I didn’t think about it when I started, but painting food everyday is out of my comfort zone. I would never have painted a turkey or a plate of mushrooms or leeks! But I was often happy with my results. It’s good to have a push in a different direction sometimes.

Here are my favorites from the month:

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I’m excited to really get into the spirit of Christmas and created my own prompt list to follow in December. Everyone and all mediums are welcome to join in. Use the hashtag #adventmcr when posting.

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Of course Charlie is inspiring everyone with a December list of prompts. Click here to see it. I’ll definitely be painting a Christmas sweater from his list!

BTW if you haven’t read it, I had the pleasure of interviewing Charlie, founder of the World Watercolor Group. You can read the interview here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

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I don’t think I’ve ever painting so much food, as this month. Following along with the World Watercolor Group’s prompts, I’ve painting a 3 course meal, plus dessert!

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Except for fruit and some sweets, food is not something I normally draw and paint. It wouldn’t occur to me to paint a turkey! I’m only painting one this year. I’m not the one responsible for cooking the turkey. I’m making the sweet potatoes and baking pumpkin bread and a dessert.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

InkTober recap

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Participating in InkTober was a great motivator. I got into the habit of working daily which was great. I didn’t follow the prompts but worked on what inspired me. I held off on adding Watercolor to my ink sketches, but towards the end I gave in. And purely by chance I got to meet the creator of InkTober Jake Parker!

I felt so good about doing all 31 days that this month I’m following the World Watercolor Group’s prompts. I’m glad to be back using Watercolor. Of course I’m still adding in some ink too!

Here are my favorites:

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