Weekly WrapUp May 6

Welcome

On most Wednesdays, check this blog for a strategy, process, or reflection for illustration with the iPad app ProCreate or Affinity Designer. This week I finished my poetry challenge and the Jungle Nursery Challenge. I doodled some chalk art, played with watercolor, and a created a few other pieces. Take a look!

Blue-Lily Wildflower

Both my husband and I on separate walks with dog in different places took photos of this delicate wildflower, a Triteleia grandiflora, also called blue-lily. Since I’ve finished the poetry challenge, I decided to paint it [digitally, of course, in Procreate].

Remix / Reuse Pattern

My granddaughter’s wedding anniversary [today] offered an opportunity to reuse my hothouse tropical pattern for their card:

Chalk and Quadrant Symmetry

A doodle time, just listening to a cozy mystery, I applied quadrant symmetry to the chalkboard style I learned in Jennifer Nichol’s Creative Journey classes and community. Jen taught us how to create the “used chalkboard” background and she provided brushes whose texture imitated the look of chalk. I used that background technique and her brushes for my doodling adventure.

In layers above the background I created a chalked border, a teal outline with quadrant symmetry. In a layer below that border, I filled in the outline with the same chalk brush. That way I can change colors of both the outline and the fill.

The layers of border and background became a template I duplicated a few times. In the duplicate, above the layers already created, I drew in floral motifs within the border using the quadrant symmetry. As you can see, with each duplicated template, I could create several border looks.

In the blank area I wrote a gardening quote using the Apple font Chalkduster — it looks close enough to chalk for me. To learn about this technique and more you might want to join Jennifer’s community: affiliate link to Creative Journey membership.

Nesting Bird / Lisa Bardot

Since I’m back to art, I enjoyed the Nesting Bird tutorial from Lisa Bardot’s Art Maker’s Club— another chalk-like style. I love the leaves, which were easily created with a clipping mask and a “dry brush” brush on two layers, one light and one dark.

Blot and Bloom by Lisa Glanz

Of course, Lisa Glanz promoted her new Blot and Bloom watercolor brush set, complete with five brushes, canvases, palettes, tutorials, and a guide. I love her brushes. I watched both tutorials and completed them. I read through the guide, and then decided to practice the techniques with the brushes to illustrate a dark-eyed junco, to which I also applied a layer above with a folk art touch.

Once the sketch is drawn, the painting with these brushes is a snap– just the right amount of watercolor, texture, and details with just five brushes!

Jungle Nursery Design Challenge

In last week’s Weekly WrapUp, I explained the struggles I had with this design. Well, this symmetrical Craftsman style is finally finished: a jungle of monkeys, parrots, and hibiscus flowers in soft yellows and blues, perfect for a toddler nursery. I simplified the design and revised the repeating pattern. I learned the Craftsman style in Liz Kohler Brown’s Studio community classes. Liz taught the symmetry technique and we chose our own theme, mine being Spoonflower’s Jungle Nursery Design Challenge, with its expectations of motifs and palette for wallpaper.

The gallery below shows just what’s possible with this design. Click an image to find on Spoonflower.

Jungle Monkeys Playful Parrots Nursery Dreams

Inviting symmetrical motifs of hand drawn playful monkeys and parrots hiding among yellow hibiscus in a leafy canopy of lush tropical plants in a soft palette of yellow, blue, and warm greens. Craftsman design perfect for the nursery. 

Poetry

I finished the challenge to write a poem a day for National Poetry Month and National Poetry Writing Month. I’ve written 30 poems in 30 days, not that they are anything amazing, mostly nature studies of wildflowers, one of my favorite things to do: stop and smell the roses. Here’s the album on Flickr. Here’s the link to the NaPoWriMo26 Flickr Album and the NaPoWriMo 2026 tagged blog posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Make some art to spread some joy! It’s getting too hot to stay outside too long. Take out your sketchbook or iPas. See what you come up with and share.

You can find many helpful artists teachers, including the ones mentions in this post, on my Artist Resources  page. Take a look at their IG and YouTube. Find one that fits your learning and art preferences and stick with them a while to develop your skills. If you have any questions, just ask!

You’re welcome to follow this blog for art inspiration. We can share with #warmup4art to enjoy our work together! I look forward to your sharing and find me at @42Sheri, on Mastodon Sheri42, on Flickr teach.eagle Sheri 42. And, I’m so thankful you’ve been joining me with art this year! Take care!