Inspiration
Thursday I started Peggy Dean’s Summer Creative Retreat, a six day all day event of artists sharing their thing. I missed Saturday, but I have the “Permanent Vacation Pass” so I can rewatch the lessons. Check it out because here is just some of what I learned:
Cute Cottages
This is one of my favorites by Peggy Dean [@thepigeonletters] herself. Her style in art and lesson imbues confidence that the listener can do it. And I did, although I inked min in Procreate.
Flourishes
I also learned how to flourish in the class Glass Pen Lettering and Flourishing with Grace Frösén of Grace Calli Designs. She’s self-taught and she explains so well HOW she plans her flourishes. I took that to heart in my signature. It’s the first time it made sense. I also illustrated this on the iPad with the native calligraphy Brush Pen with stabilization on 60%. Be careful at that level to slow down at the end curves to carefully draw out the curve. This was so fun.
Watercolor Glass
I also really liked this one, Paint Glass and Metal with Soft and Hard Watercolor Edges with Jill Gustavis [website] Even though she taught with traditional watercolor, I was able to follow with Lisa Bardot’s Watercolor Wonders brush set for Procreate. I read the guide that accompanies the set to choose the ones that would work best for lettering. I duplicated those and put them into their own brushset I named “Bardot WC Lettering” so I’d have them ready whenever I want to do watercolor lettering on the iPad. I was able to replicate the process of adjusting water and blending or creating an edge with just a few of Lisa’s brushes from the set:
Bubbly Lettering
This was really fun. I used the calligraphy brush /script pen for the iPad, so I didn’t have the angles needed. That means mine is rounded rather than angular, but I still get the process. You might want to take it: Bubbly Blackletter with Tamer Ghoneim.
Mindfulness in Art: Abstract
Sometimes life is overwhelming. Art helps.
“In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me.”
Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way
Katie Goodling of the Center for Mindful Art and Writing provides a meditative, calming session where we created a an abstract floral piece [mine with the iPad using crayon, oil, and micron pens from Jennifer Nichols {affiliate link} during which we focused on the here and now in each stroke and decision. Very soothing. However, I think my mind was still too busy with such a full day of amazing coursed.
Come join the fun!
Head on over to Peggy Dean’s Summer Creative Retreat website to see all the classes that include Procreate and other mediums. What a great summer vacation! Six days of great artist interaction and sharing while creating together with participants from 65 different countries! It’s a small world and we can learn together! Click the link in Jennifer’s post and join in! See you there!
I wonder, if I draw a line... 