How to DELIGHT in your art

by Sandy Allnock | Jan 3, 2023 | Doodling, Watercolor

Do you know how to delight in your art? That’s something I’m embarking on in 2023. I’ve got some ideas to get started, but will be focusing on DELIGHT throughout the year.

Sandy Allnock How to delight in your art 1

Tutorial: How to delight in your art

For the audio portion of this video, I wasn’t watching the screen – I just sat with the mic and told stories. Read on below for more info on the colors and supplies, as well as some ideas I have to learn how to delight in your art!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

How to delight in your art

While I’ll be exploring delighting in my art, my business, and my life through 2023, I’ve got a few ideas to start with! (And I’ll be looking back on this list periodically to keep myself in check!)

Stop comparing.
Don’t look at others’ work and compare your numbers of likes/views to theirs.
Celebrate your success with others.
Remember that those who ARE seeing your work are the ones who love what you do. Even if it’s five of them. Appreciate them and cheer them on too!
Note your favorite creative moments.
Is it the blank page? First color stroke? The sound of the pen on the paper? Figure out which parts bring you delight! Pay close attention to each step in your process if you don’t know the answer to this question.
Share anyway.
Even if you’re feeling unsure – maybe ESPECIALLY if you’re feeling unsure – share your work. You can find a safe place like Artventure if you feel uncomfortable on large public sites. But find someone to share work with who can be your cheerleader.
Become a cheerleader.
On your most “down” days, create a cheerleader post that speaks to where you are. If you’re feeling discouraged, write a post to lift up others who are downtrodden. Are you feeling like a failure? Find a quote or meme about success coming from failure and let that encourage others like you.
No dwelling.
If you’ve found yourself for weeks, months, or years complaining of a comment/action/illness/job problem/etc that holds you down, turn it around. The more it’s repeated, the more hold it has on you. Declare aloud that you’re not a victim – and seek friends who will remind you of that truth. This isn’t about ignoring your pain, it’s about not letting it rule you.

Need some DELIGHT in your home?

Purchase the original piece HERE, or order a full size or miniprint from Society6 – or maybe even a zipper pouch! (Be careful on the pouches, check the placement of “delight” in the preview images; I could only upload one option for all of them and it seems to get cut off on some sizes.)

Sandy Allnock How to delight in your art 2

The new Daniel Smith colors

These won’t tell you how to delight in your art – but they might help you MAKE delightful art! I’m curious if any of these will try to nudge into my palette…see my notes about what intrigues me about each.

Kings Royal Blue | Chrome Titanate Yellow | Iridescent Vibrant Raspberry | Janes Black Red/Green | Janes Black Blue/Orange

King’s Royal Blue

Pigment: PB 29, PB 15, PW 4 / Series: 2
Lightfastness: I – Excellent
Transparency: Semi-transparent
Staining: 2 – Low-staining
Granulation: Granulating

This blue is a perfect sky blue – though my skies tend to be moody ones rather than representational of actual color, so I’m not certain this belongs in my palette. But I’ll play with it and see.

Chrome Titanate Yellow

Pigment: PBR24 / Series: 2
Lightfastness: I – Excellent
Transparency: Semi-opaque
Staining: 2 – Low-staining
Granulation: Granulating

A very nice yellow for flower gardens, with a little opacity – great for yellow flowers on the shaded side. I’ve been staring at my Aureolin to decide if it stays or goes, so I’ll see.

Iridescent Vibrant Raspberry

Pigment: PW 20, PW 6, Iron Oxide / Series: 3
Lightfastness: I – Excellent
Transparency: Transparent
Staining: 1 – Non-Staining
Granulation: Granulating

Like Iridescent Electric Blue – the shimmer was evident when used thickly. Same with this one. But the granulation is a bit off the charts for me, I don’t picture using it necessarily.

Jane’s Black (Blue/Orange)

Pigment: PB 15:6, PR 188, PO 71 / Series: 2
Lightfastness: I – Excellent
Transparency: Semi-Transparent
Staining: 2 – Low-staining
Granulation: Non-granulating

I trust Jane Blundell with color ideas – and these two blacks are piquing my interest. They’re mixed with pigments I already use to make black – so I wouldn’t have to mix that anymore. (I’ve struggled with whether to have a black in the palette at all….I keep trying different ones and prefer my mixes to those ready made colors. The DS site says these can become deep blues by adding Phthalo Blue (Red Shade) tor by adding Transparent Pyrrol Orange to create rich orange-browns. Going to try these combos with colors in my palette currently.

Jane’s Black (Red/Green)

Pigment: PG 7, PR 264 / Series: 2
Lightfastness: I – Excellent
Transparency: Semi-Transparent
Staining: 3 – Medium-staining
Granulation: Non-granulating

This is another neutral black – transparent and non-granulating. It dilutes to beautiful neutral grays, or according to the DS website, it can be turneed into a range of rich greens by adding Phthalo Green (Blue Shade), which I want to play with – or to a range of aubergine, plum and maroon with the addition of Pyrrol Crimson. Not sure I’ll be adding multiple colors to the palette but maybe this’ll work with other reds and greens that I have.

Thoughts on these colors

As noted in the text with each of these – I may consider some, but will paint with them a while before making decisions. The blacks have me intrigued so I might have to play with them in mixes and see how that goes before choosing! In good news for Jane’s colors – I’m not sold on any of the blacks I’ve been trying, so these stand a chance.

Supplies

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

Chrome Titanate Yellow
Kings Royal Blue
Iridescent Vibrant Raspberry
Janes Black Red/Green
Janes Black Blue/Orange
Arches Cold Press sheets
Artist tape 3/4″
Ampersand Hardbord
Spray bottle
Winsor Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 Round #8
Da Vinci Mottler Flat Wash

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Game-Changer Fountain Pen Tip: 1 nib, 2 line weights (ft Ellington Pens)

by Sandy Allnock | Nov 7, 2022 | Doodling, Fine Art & Sketching

I wish I could have made the title even longer to include And There’s A Cute Downloadable To Try For Your Christmas Cards and a Real Time Video Available Too! But I think the Googles would have my head. Ha! So even if you’re not a pen and ink person, there’s fun for you too.

Today I’ve got a great tip for you that I think I’ve talked about a little bit before – but I don’t know that I focused on it much. So let’s do that today! Note there are a couple projects here:

A large fox piece with watercolor + ink, kinda crazy background. Available for purchase here.
Smaller pen and ink only fox with mouse. Also a digistamp printable here.
Drawing #2 is a realtime video at Artventure. Find it in the Pen and Ink Students group.

First in the video is a deeper dive on the Ellington pens I showed last week. The only negative (minor) that I saw was that after using the pen for a couple days or carting it around to a sketch event, the nib section came ever so slightly loose and needed to be screwed back in a little. I mean a little. That’s no reason in my book to dislike a pen, it only happened after big usage.

Sandy Allnock Trick or treat- unboxing art supplies 3

Tutorial: Game-Changer Fountain Pen Tip

Testing your pens to see if they create two line weights is what I expect fountain pen peeps to go do after watching this. And that’s ok. Leave me a comment and tell me if you did! ha!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

A rather crazy idea

I wanted to try something new. A realistic image for part of a wash-and-ink piece, but leaving the background not realistic….with a mix of linear, graphical elements and loose and flowy ones. You’ll have to let me know if you think I succeeded!

Sandy Allnock game changing fountain pen tip 1

I’ve posted the original over on my fine art site…or you can get prints (with or without frames), or cards over at Society6!

Sweet fox

This pretty little fox was drawn in pen and ink and colored afterwards–the opposite of my preference! But I wanted it to be available for folks to cover if desired, so I was lucky that the pencil wasn’t opaque enough to cover it – so be careful if using pencils with it. Some will give the detail a really cloudy look. However – this one pictured was colored on the Hanehmule paper, which is smooth and nice for pen and ink, but quite terrible for colored pencil! It’ll be easier to work with on a paper with more tooth. 🙂

Sandy Allnock game changing fountain pen tip 2

Draw your own…

If you want to draw your own fox, head over to Artventure where the realtime video is inside the Pen and Ink Students group. It’s just got music in it – but the outline is there so you can try your hand at drawing fur.

Or color one up!

If you just want to color up this cute fox and mouse, head to Art-Classes to purchase the printable!

Which one might you do?

Are you fancying a coloring session with the printable, or maybe being brave enough to draw a fox yourself? Or perhaps you’ve got some holiday shopping in mind – you can get the Winter Fox as prints or cards….or buy the original if you’re the lucky first one to shop!

Supplies

Papers:
1. Hahnemule Lettering Pads
2. Arches Cold Press sheets
Fountain pen:
1. Ellington Pen
Daniel Smith Watercolors:
Ink:
1. Platinum Carbon Fountain Pen Ink
Brushes:
1. Da Vinci Series 17 Maestro Long Needle, Size 9
2. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Brush – Round 4

Make custom wedding gift wrap and card (forest themed)

by Sandy Allnock | Oct 17, 2022 | Doodling, Watercolor

My niece just got married – and of course my gift for her and her sweetheart was handmade. But I went the extra mile for handmade wrapping and card too! Not entirely by choice…I wasted an awful lot of time looking around for the right gift wrapping and found nothing. A day before I left – I realized I had to get on it and make something!

Tutorial: Custom wedding gift wrap and card (forest themed)

The wedding was to be in a forest, and the couple loves the outdoors and tall trees….and the gift I wrapped up hopefully pressed all the buttons. (I’m still traveling so I’m writing this ahead!)

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

The card

I used a simple rendition of the tree branches that I used on the wrapping – and look how pretty the ink blooms! For some reason when ink does that I don’t mind like I sometimes do with watercolor. I added a layer of the grey paper on a layer of dark green, and the painted panel is popped up on dimensional adhesive.

The wrapping

Grey paper was what I had to work with, and while I’d have preferred it white – I’m pretty sure I’ll have had an easier time transporting it! White could get so messy on a long road trip, so I think this is likely all good.

Have you ever made custom giftwrapping – and did it match the card?

Sometimes I wonder if I’m just a complete, utter overachiever. Maybe I am! ha!

Supplies

Giftwrap:
1. Grey drawing paper (unknown brand) on a roll
2. Platinum Forest Black ink
3. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 12
Card:
- Arches Cold Press sheet
- Platinum Forest Black ink
- Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Brush – Round 8

Trusting your art intuition + class giveaway (with Dryden pen review)

by Sandy Allnock | Sep 26, 2022 | Alcohol Inks, Doodling

I’ve gotten pretty good over the years at trusting my gut. Especially in business and art. My spidey sense usually works pretty well! This time…not so much.

I got an email from a company offering a fountain pen for review. What harm could there be, right? I ignore and delete these offer emails 99% of the time, they’re usually companies promoting terrible knockoffs – but I ignored that.

However I did get a project ready and didn’t let the product stop me in my tracks.

Sandy Allnock Trust your art intuition 1

Tutorial: Trusting your art intuition

In the video you’ll see an unboxing of a Dryden Designs pen but don’t buy one! It had a myriad of issues, and when I emailed the company (givig them the chance to send a new working pen) they’ve never replied. So there’s that. I switched to my Peter Pen instead.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Before and after

Below are the color panels before and after inking:

Sandy Allnock Trust your art intuition before1

Sandy Allnock Trust your art intuition after1

Sandy Allnock Trust your art intuition before2

Sandy Allnock Trust your art intuition after2

Giveaway and new class at Teachable

Over on YouTube you can leave a comment as per instructions to enter for the free seat in the class! I’ll announce the winner in the Friday video.

*****UPDATE: The Gratitude Junk Journal class will be available for pre-reg on October 1; please do use my link; my compensation depends on use of my affiliate link.

Supplies

I’m not even bothering to link to the terrible Dryden pen. You don’t need it.
Peter Pen
Yasutomo Mineral paper

How to Mindlessly Doodle (Copics, a Peter Pen, and an iguana)

by Sandy Allnock | Sep 9, 2022 | Copic/Alcohol Marker Beginner, Doodling

I’m excited to have finished up the class I told you about earlier this week, Color and Line – because…..I GOT TO OPEN MY NEW PEN! Ok sorry about yelling, I’m just excited to have a new pen! And I wouldn’t let myself open the box til the work was done. 🙂 It’s a Peter Pen – made in partnership with Goldspot & Narwhal Pens and Peter Draws from YT…..I’ve wanted to support him by getting a pen. And finally did!

Sandy Allnock how to mindlessly doodle a

Tutorial: How to Mindlessly Doodle (Copics a new Peter Pen, and an iguana)

YouTube made “suggestions” to me about the kind of content to consider posting; they said according to data, one of the top searches by people who watch my videos is “How to Doodle.” So….I figured I’d try their advice and see if it’s worth anything! ha!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

First: my Peter Pen!

My assessment of the Peter Pen is so far so good – the paper is apparently at fault for what I discussed in the video…I tried it on the good paper and all is well. It’s a little pricier than my usual recommendation though, so an Eco by TWSBI is still my recommendation for a starter pen. *see supply list at the end of this post

How to mindlessly doodle

My mindless doodle has a fall feel to it….I picked Copic colors that I don’t reink often. Why let all that ink sit in bottles? Let’s use it! Splooge ink onto the paper (or use any other medium you can draw on top of), then “trace” the shapes seen in the pigment. Wherever there’s a hue or value change, make lines around that and add textures to sections!

Doodled Gecko

I doodled this fellow after drawing him in Copics – see the Mission Impossible reel to see it done!

Sandy Allnock how to mindlessly doodle gecko

Doodled Iguana

Or a Jagras? Hard to say when I know little about the Monster Hunter game! But I figure if a few IG users called it that, it must have looked like a Jagras! This one in color may or may not, who knows…..

Here he is just with the Copic color:

Sandy Allnock how to mindlessly doodle iguana a

And then with the pen and ink…a rather majestic fellow, no?

Sandy Allnock how to mindlessly doodle iguana b

Tiny Tutorial with before and afters

Click o the image to go see the series….

Color & Line Class is open!

The Color & Line class is out of preregistrations – I worked my little fanny off (yes my fanny is tired of sitting at the desk doing computer work!) and it’s all ready for you! I emailed preregistrants, so hopefully everyone got the word that they can go start drawing!

Are you a doodler?

You don’t need to be a fancy doodler or do it in color – but doodling is such a great hand exercise that will help you in all your art. Just making marks on paper starts to develop your style, and can help keep you in practice between projects.

Supplies

Peter Pen, Goldspot/Narwhal
Bee mixed media 8×8 sketchbook: AMZ • BLICK
Copic Reinkers: https://bit.ly/3aypKhm
Used for the iguana:
- TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen EF | F | M

Color & Line: Testing mediums & new sketchbook

by Sandy Allnock | Sep 5, 2022 | Copic/Alcohol Marker Beginner, Doodling

It’s the last day of the Labor Day sale at art-classes.com! I was trying to rush to get this class done in time, but….I kept adding more and more content. I couldn’t help myself! I have a ton of editing to do this week, but decided to open this class for preregistration so you can get the sale price. You’re welcome!

When I first started sketching out ideas for this class, I debated if it should be an alcohol marker or water-based marker class. How to decide, how to decide….then,……don’t decide, do both! ha! That meant I needed an easy transition from one to another as I worked through the lessons.

After much research I found this sketchbook that got good reviews both for alcohol markers and water based — and it’s not that slick marker paper that I don’t like working on. Due to the world we live in now, it took a while for my sketchbook to arrive, but I jammed on it right away when I got it. Class didn’t get finished but…..I’m well on the way!

Video: Color testing and comparison, new sketchbook

In this side by side test I show you how I made simple turtles in alcohol marker, water based marker, and watercolor – then added pen and ink on top. No colored pencil; the wax and oil in those tends to make ink bead up, so unless I work something out there won’t be wash & ink style pencil classes.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Color & Line Class

I wanted to find a way to connect this to the Wash & Ink class, and the Travel Sketches class which is technically wash and ink too….washes of color in a medium, with ink added! The drawing portions of this class are what makes it level 4; you don’t need to be an expert draftsman, there’s no perspective etc, but some of it could be challenging.

Sign up today, Labor Day, using code LABOR, and you’ll get 10% off. This is a pricey class due to the double instruction in multiple mediums, so the % makes it a nice chunk of savings for you! All adult classes are also in this sale – you can find them HERE in order of most recent class first.

Keepin’ it short and sweet

I’m gonna end this post here – because I have both a Zoom this morning with artists who’ve joined Artventure (click here to go sign up this morning and jump on the call with us!)…..and tons of editing to get underway. Enjoy the last bit of this holiday weekend!