April is for Fakin’

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Yes, tomorrow’s April 1st!

If you’ve been paying attention the last four years then you know I’m not excited about April Fool’s Day as such. I’m excited that April 1st marks the start of International Fake Journal Month! Although I’ve only been participating since 2012, Roz Stendahl took this project public in 2009.

“Shift In Place” is the theme for 2016. This is my big chance to be someone else for a month… an alternate “me”… like me only different.

Interested in seeing where April takes me? I’ll be posting regularly (I always try for daily) on my Fake Journal Blog… skylarkkarma.wordpress.com

Channeling Nora Ephron

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Dana Burrell

I look at this and my eyes are immediately drawn to my neck.

sigh.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading Nora Ephron’s book, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, you know where I’m coming from.

This is another of my ink sketches on a pre-painted acrylic ink background… this one with a watercolor wash… and I see I need a haircut too!

Bird and Its Backdop

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Last October I participated in InkTober and found I really enjoyed working on pre-painted backgrounds. The added bit of color and pattern seems to really make pen and ink sketches pop.

For this spread I used a mixture of shimmering FW Acrylic Inks sprayed over one of the dried oak leaves from the garden. I love the blue splatter!

What goes with oak leaves? A bird of course!

Happy Spring!

The Year of the Monkey

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Each year I commemorate the Chinese New Year by drawing the year’s totem animal. This year February 8th, the first day of the celebration, came and went without a page in my journal. I was uninspired.

Until yesterday.

I spied this little guy nestled behind a silk flower blossom on my design wall. He called out… “Hey! What about me? I can do it!!!”

And so, for me, 2016 is the year of the Sock Monkey!!!

Elegant Bleeding

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Dana Burrell

I was cleaning out my sketch bag when I found a pen in one of the pockets… totally forgotten. I also forgot how much I enjoyed working with it for fast sketching. It’s Speedball’s felt-tipped calligraphy pen, the Elegant Writer.

I don’t know if you can purchase them separately but I bought a set of four at my local art supply store. There are two 2.0mm Fine pens, one 2.5mm Medium pen and one 3.0mm Bold pen.

This is the 3.0mm nib.

It has a lovely chiseled tip which gives great line variation.

And the bleeding! Did I mention the bleeding?!?

The black ink bleeds into gorgeous pink, blue and purple when hit with water.

I don’t think I’ll forget it any time soon!

EDM 112 – 115

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Oh my! I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve worked on my Every Day Matters challenges… I posted my last set of EDM pages on June 22nd. Yowza!

I see #112 was sketched on June 21st but then there was this huge gap of nearly 7 months. I hope I can post my next set in a more timely fashion.

So without further ado…

Text on the above page has been obscured for privacy. Wish I knew how to do this better but until I figure out a way, this will have to do.

I’m One Lucky Lady!

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Sometimes you’re lucky!

No… I did not win PowerBall!

Bur a few weeks ago, through an online giveaway, I won a copy of Richard Sheppard’s new book, Impressions of Wine Country.

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Just look at that glorious scene! Can’t you feel the warm sun on your back?

I first became acquainted with Richard Sheppard in 2013 when I saw his work in Danny Gregory’s book, An Illustrated Journey. Richard has a lovely, loose, atmospheric technique that nicely evokes a sense of place, particularly in this book about California, its wines, and their “terroir”. I’ve done a bit of wine tasting in New York’s Finger Lakes region and have always dreamed of doing the same out west.

Richard’s book reads as a monthly look into his wine experience as he visits vintners across the Sonoma and Napa valleys. Each page is illustrated with one of his fabulous watercolors. I particularly enjoyed seeing how Richard captured an iconic pear tree in each of the four seasons. Not only can I admire and learn from his artwork but I’m learning about wine and its production to boot!

Highly recommended! This would make a great gift whether the recipient is an artist, an oenophile, a Californian or just someone who dreams of getting away!

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