Well I managed to take some photos this week and am happy to be able to share some of them here. I am really loving all of the rainbow colors that are popping up all over the desert landscape. It has definitely been inspiring my fountain pen sketches. It has been so hot and sunny … More Texture Inspiration in the Desert
Everywhere I look lately, I seem to see fountain pens. Surprisingly I have never used one before. I bought a cheap one at the dollar store to use for calligraphy about a year ago but I didn’t even know that it was called a fountain pen. And I never got around to trying it out … More The Beautifully Simple Fountain Pen
This week has been absolutely so busy so far and I have hardly had any art time. I was able to finally get myself out of bed early this morning and did a bit of sketching and painting before the kids were up, and got in a bit of exercise too. Hopefully I can get … More Branches and Beetles
I have been jumping back and forth between projects lately, as I am only able to create in small bursts, so it can be hard to get really sunk into something. So I just wanted to share a little of this and a little of that. First off, this stack is what’s on my reading … More In the Works
This is the first spread I created in the little traveler’s notebook I made for Sketchbook Revival. I love that you can take the signatures out to work on them and then pop them back in when they are all filled up. This first lesson was by Jeanne Oliver (love her work!) and she taught … More Update on Sketchbook Revival
This will be my second year participating in Sketchbook Revival hosted by Karen Abend. I wasn’t going to participate this year because I wasn’t sure how much time I would have to dedicate to it, but it was so enjoyable last time, I couldn’t resist. One of the opening sessions was to create your own … More Sketchbook Revival
I spent a bunch of time when I was having a bit of a creative block just making papers. I thought I would share the types of papers I made for the backgrounds in this art journal so you could try your own. I made some pattern pages with my stamps and some black ink … More Blues and Greens
I wasn’t planning to post today, but the mess on my desk was so inspiring to me that I thought I’d snap a photo and share it. I’m not someone who needs a perfectly tidy desk to work, which you probably know by looking at most of my art journaling photos. This was just such … More Beautiful Mess
I had the idea this past weekend to make a bit of an art reference book for myself. I started out by printing out some images of art that I like. My printer doesn’t always do the most accurate job with colors, but it’s enough to get the idea. If I wanted something more accurate, … More Creating an Art Reference Book
Does anyone else struggle with the fact that art is so nonlinear? I doubt there is any path that any artist has taken that is exactly the same as anyone else. I guess that is true of all of life, but sometimes it feels too abstract for me. There are so many choices, so many … More How to be an Artist
emstudiocreative.com 