Cattle Skull

The skull is done with pens and the background is watercolor.  Liked it with and without color, so I uploaded both pictures.

Cardinal in Watercolor

Bales of Hay

A photograph I took a few years ago at my grandparents.  I really love it because it looks a little like a fairy tail. 

Fine Art America

I now have prints for sale on Fine Art America.  I've never really sold prints before so this will be a new experience for me.  People have always asked if I sell my work or if I give it away.  So I though it was time to try to sell some.  I believe Fine Art America could be a great way to do this.  The site allows me to just post my work and they do the rest.  The prints, shipping, and payment is all handed by them.

Here is the link to my store. 

Please check it out and share if you like what you see.

Garden 2016

Garden

This is my first garden in Germany.  In the US I would have a large garden every year so I'm really excited to have one here this year.

The two pictures below are potatoes.  I have over 400 potato plants in my garden this year.  Which is not normal for me but they are part of a project I'm working on.  This project is for my master thesis looking at Maria Thun biodynamic calendar.

Below I have a few rows of spinach.

Then a few rows of fava beans or broad beans.

Below rhubarb can be seen.  Fun fact:  My family always uses horse manure on rhubarb with the belief that it will grow better.  But my family is not the only ones, many farmers also believe this.

A patch of mint that came up on its own.

We also have a field of fava beans, below.

At the beginning of the gardening season my boyfriend and I completely took up the old garden.  Digging up all the old plants so we could have a whole new arrangement.  I did not plant asparagus this year but as you can see below it is coming up on its own.  Which is fine because I have been picking it to eat.

Below is a piece of asparagus I picked today.  I was impressed with have long it is.  It must be a good 3 foot.

All the asparagus I picked today.

My helper Clara.

Flower Garden

I don't do much with the flower garden.  My boyfriends mother is the one who takes care of them.  But I do like to take pitchers of all the flowers.

There was a bunch of bumblebees in these pink and purple flowers today.

Homemade Watercolor Palette

How to make a Homemade Watercolor Palette that is Great for Traveling

I wanted a really small watercolor palette that I could take anywhere.  Many of the traveling watercolor palette can be costly and bulky.  Plus, I also had some extra half pans so I seen no need to buy a whole new palette.  I looked on YouTube to see what other watercolor artist were using to make travel palette.  Most of them used some kind of tin so I thought I would try the same.  I started off with a small mint tin I liked, seen below.

I did not want to glue the half pans of watercolor to the tin.  So I decided to use a magnetic strip.  This works great because it allows the pans to be changed out for other colors.  Plus, if I decide I don't like the tin I could change it out of a different one without having to use new watercolor pans.

Above you can see the magnetic strip.  To apply it to the half pans I just cut it into smaller pieces.  The white back then peels off to reveal a sticky side.  Which I stuck to the bottom of the half pans, seen below.

Below you can see the half pans of watercolor placed in the tin.  This tin will only hold 6 half pans.

The tin seen below is a little bigger and would maybe hold 12 half pan.  I really liked the shape and color of this tin.  But both tins easily fit into a purse or pocket.  Making these a great homemade watercolor palette for travel or to have on the go.  I like to take mine outside to sit an paint.

Snake

Two photographs I took of a snake a few years ago.

Pastel Storage Box

I was looking for a way to store my pens and pencils that made them easy to access.  I've seen that a few YouTubers used pastel storage boxes, so I thought that I would try them.  I ordered one with three drawers from Gerstaecker, a German website.  And I love it.  My only regret is that I didn't buy two.  So if you are in need of pen or pencil storage, these work great.  And they are easy to fine as long as you search for pastel storage boxes.  They can be found on most art store websites or on amazon.com. 

Violin

This is an old sketch from an art class I took at university.

Sketches from Weekend Trip

My boyfriend and I took a trip to Aachen, Germany.  We were there from May 5-8.  I was able to find a little time to sketch and these are the sketches.

Unicorn in the Sky

Horse in the Sky

Tree