Something About Nothing

Dragon Blood tree (day 75) is named such because it has dark red resin! I really like attempting to draw twisted trunks on trees from my head. (Day76) For day 77 I decided to take the tree from top to root! Day 78 I would rather not talk about. It's not my favorite. Mostly because my cliff was so steep that it left nothing to draw on a third of the page! I suppose I could change that. But sometimes it's just better to move on.  Day 79 is a carved stamp of a Northern Pin Oak leaf. Day 80 is a carved stamp of a Blue Gum Eucalyptus. Day 81 is a leaning lemon tree. A repeating carved olive branch brings around day 82, and day 83, is just a simple tree from my imagination.  "Old Tjikko" is a Norwegian Spruce and thought to be the oldest living tree - or at least the roots are. Click on the link to learn more about this old tree.  Day 85 is a Shagbark Hickory. Such interesting bark. Day 86 is a crazy doodle. A Cedar of Lebanon  brings us up to d...

Because of my obsession with layered mandalas,  I decided to give a layered, painted process a try with a tree for Day 66. Not my favorite.  Not sure if I will be trying that again.  Next was a copse of trees, and then a stamp of a crooked evergreen.  Both were inspired by photos I took in a cemetery.  Day 69 is several stamps inspired by leaves from a Dwarf Chestnut tree. Day 70 is a stamp as well. Just a creepy, twisty old tree, which I really love. I broke out the Pentel pigment brush pen again for day 71's Baobab tree . A redwood for day 72. An American Chestnut for day 73. Most of these beautiful trees were virtually destroyed by a blight about a century ago. The trees are what is called functionally extinct because the blight does not wipe out the roots, allowing the tree to send up new trees which are eventually wiped out down to the roots again by the blight. Day 74 is a Mangrove tree. If you have any interest in trees ...

As I create my tree drawings for the 100 day project I have been using an app called Prisma which applies artistic styled filters to the photos of my drawings. It creates some very fun art. I uploaded the art to Shutterfly and had cards printed. I love how they turned out! My art printed as blank greeting cards.  I received a commission for some stamps. My friend needed a house and hospital her daughter could stamp on her calendar to let her know when her Dad would be at home, or working at the hospital. Since the weather was beautiful, AND it's almost time for the Quilter's Holladay Dye Party, I decided to organize my dye materials. This seven drawer rolling cart is perfect for all my dyes. I even have a drawer to keep Quilter's Holladay's dyes separate from my own. Looking at this cart and ALL my dyes together, reminded me I have a LOT of dyes, and I really should dye more fabric! It also kept me from going totally crazy and buying a bunch of Natural...

A Banyan tree stamp for day 48. Day 49 was based upon a tree I passed one day with a great tire swing. Wood grain or tree bark for day 50. And then I became obsessed with using a Pental brush ink pen from Jet Pens. Some trees seemed to have better success than others. But that is the point of a 100 day project. Keep trying and trying to perfect your skills! Not too excited by the twin palm trees on day 62, but the single palm was a little better. Day 64 was an attempt at carving a stamp with a lot of texture in the leaves. There was a line of sunlight I tried to incorporate. Not sure how successful that was. And finally Day 65 was an attempt at trying a new style of tree.

I decided using the white Uno Signo pen would be an excellent way to bring out the foreground in the white birches for day 39. I bought a bundle of the white Signo pens a year or so ago and I really need to use them more.  My almost 3 year old grandson decided to help me out on day 40.  This tree is a precious treasure now. When asked what it was, he of course said it was a beep beep (car). Day 41 was quick tree of some kind, while days 42 and 43 got more to the root of the matter.  I love to incorporated doodles and tangles in drawings. Days 39 to 47 Day 44 was inspired by an olive tree photo I found online. Day 45 is an evergreen carved into EcoKarve . I love the simplicity of it. I love a twisted tree. Do you? I've seen a lot of half alive trees this year and they are inspiring me with their beautiful branches, and leaves. Once upon a time, I remember being told that trees are so forgiving. You can chop at them, wrap stuff around them, infest the...

Sometimes things look like other things and it cannot be helped. I have a tendency of seeing things in things all the time. Car headlights and tail lights always look like eyes to me. I imagine the attitude of the car based on their "eyes", and other lines from the hood, grill and bumpers which complete the faces. Thus when I create drawings I often find unintentional things in them. Days 30 has little ghost faces in the branches. Days 31 to 34 were pretty straight forward leaves, all carved from Eco Karve and then stamped in a pattern. Although that Ginko leaf (Day 31) seems to be a mummy face on one side. Anytime I create a tree with multiple folds and holes I inevitably find creatures and faces. What do you see? Day 30 to 38 I was having a jolly good time drawing and perhaps even improving in my drawings, when my daughter pointed out that Day 36 looked a bit phallic in nature. Well, once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it. Both are natural, right? Oh boy. I did...

It wasn't until much later in the challenge that I realized I drew two trees for Day 27 oops. I guess I will have 101 trees.  Day 22 was inspired by a photo a friend posted on Instagram in New York City. Day 23 was my firtst attempt at a weeping willow tree. They are one of my favorite trees.  Another thing I love in trees is the bends and crooks they create, as you can see in Day 24, and 25.  Day 25 was inspired by my neighbor's tree which has this beautiful root that comes up out of the ground. It makes me think she is a lady lazily lounging in the grass.  Day 22 - 29 Day 26 was inspired by a photo I found on the internet. I love the way vines look wound around trees. Some are symbiotic, and some are deadly. I'd like to think these two are helping each other out.  My first Day 27 was inspired by a photo of tree growing in some sand. There were wonderful shadows coming through the foliage. I'm not sure I captured it all. The second Day 27 is ...

As I draw each tree some become my favorites while others - not so much, and always for different reasons. I love the gentle arch of day 13, and the lumpy bumpy of day 14. Day 14 looks like a Shar Pei pup, or a wrinkled old person who is dancing. Day 15 is a person sitting, just waiting to get up and stretch.  Day 16 was a tiny, quickly carved stamp of many trees with not much definition, and not my favorite, but good inspiration for a future stamp. Days 17 brought out a need to do a close up, while 18 through 21 took me out for a further look. Flowering pairs are blooming and inspired the white in Day 21. Days 13 - 21

I started my first 100 day project on April 2nd. The idea was to create 100 drawings of trees using ink. I wanted to improve my drawing skills with ink and I felt that trees, always a favorite of mine, would be a subject I could accomplish.  Two of the kraft paper notebooks I purchased from Paperchase  stationary store while in London. I picked up a couple of kraft paper notebooks from a beautiful stationary store in London called Paperchase. I wanted to use the smaller one for this project because it had 100 sheets of paper. However, I quickly learned a number of important things. Rectangular pages don't post well on Instagram, especially if all you want to post is the drawing.  Also, I started out posting the drawings without a logo or name on them. This opened up the images to being easily used without my permission, and didn't give people the ability to find me if the images were posted elsewhere.  I needed easy solutions....