My Art Journey

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

I've always enjoyed drawing since I was a child but I haven't drawn as much as an adult now. Occasionally I would draw a doodle or two. 

Kiwi

I really enjoy drawing birds, this Kiwi was a request from Justin. 

Barn Owl

I did try to get back into drawing in 2017, but after a few drawings I lost interest. 

Brown Pelican

I unfortunately have strong perfectionist tendency.

 If my drawings weren't "perfect" I would give up.

Parakeet

In 2019 my mother-in-law randomly gave me some Crayola water color pallets to mess around with. I decided to try to paint a Budgie. I kinda liked how it turned out and so I kept drawing and painting. 

Wood Duck

I had recently discovered some art centered You Tube channels and was feeling inspired to keep trying to improve and paint for the fun of it. 

Toco Toucan

I unfortunately have a hand tremor so my lines are often shaky.

 I have learned to work around that problem now. I find a lot of inspiration from watching videos of birds. This Toco Toucan was based on the late Ripley of 2CAN.tv

World on Fire

This water color painting is very different from what I was used to drawing, it was inspired by the wildfires in California. One of my siblings lives in California and I was worried about them. He was nowhere near he fires thankfully. 

Green-headed Tanager

With this bird I tried using Sharpie markers instead of paint. 

Again you can see my very shaky lines

Pink Moth

I took a break for a bit and came back to drawing again by doodling a moth. 

White-tail fawn

This fawn was a turning point for me. I had made a very rough sketch in 2017, but I was frustrated and abandoned it. I finally finished it at the end of 2019. My initial sketch wasn't bad at all, frustration just got in the way.

White-bellied Caique

This drawing of two birds together was a challenge for me. I  had never drawn two birds together, or done "poses". I was very proud when I finished this drawing.

Faunus

I tried my hand at a profile. I wasn't basing my drawing on my husband but I cant deny it really looks like him in many ways! 

Bouquet

I tried out acrylic paints for a bit. I had fun painting these flowers.

Hoarfrost Dragon

This was supposed to be a betta fish, but somewhere a long the way it turned into a dragon. I used to draw dragons obsessively as a tween.

New Zealand Kea

This painting is my official "quarantine" piece. In my lowest moments during this pandemic I find comfort in watching nature documentaries. I stumbled upon one about a fascinating parrot known as the Kea. I enjoyed these guys so much I decided to paint them! 

Kitty plushie

A still life sketch of one of my favorite plushies from my husband. Its a very small plushie which makes it perfect to carry in my purse. My kitty has been with me during some scary dental procedures. Its dumb but having this tiny cat makes me feel braver 😅

Ostrich chick

Here's a baby ostrich! They are incredibly cute. 

Kookaburra

A very badly proportioned Kookaburra. Their heads are much larger than their bodies.

Mallard Duckling

Obligatory Duckling cuteness!

Rainbow Lorikeet

This drawing is inspired by Elvis the Rainbow Lorikeet, sadly he passed away the day after I had finished this painting. 

Pesquet's Parrot

This parrot is cool simply because the second name its known by is Dracula Parrot. 

I of course HAD to paint it 

Nothern Lights

A little Bob Ross inspired landscape.

Roseate Spoonbill

I had fun painting this bird. I liked doing a bird that isn't considered cute or pretty. 

Tufted Titmouse

I of course had to paint my childhood favorite, the Tufted Titmouse!

Helmeted Hornbill

Another "ugly" bird. Sadly these birds will likely go extinct due to poaching. The crest on the bird's beak is considered "red ivory". They have been hunted mercilessly to make random jewelry or carvings. Males are most often the victims and due to their nest habits, if a male is killed his mate and their chicks starve to death. 

Atoll Fruit Dove

One of my favorite Fruit Doves is the Atoll Fruit Dove. They are gorgeous birds!

Skip the Earless Bunny

My first "fan art". This bunny unfortunately lost his ears after his mom chewed them off. Apparently mother rabbits have been known to kill their kits due to stress. Skip was rescued, but his injuries left him deaf. Skip is very cute though! 

Here's a little drawing of my rabbit. I'm way more comfortable with birds but this was fun!

Anna's Hummingbird

My last completed painting so far is a beautiful little hummingbird. I feel like I have come a long way in my art journey and I plan to keep drawing and painting! 

What's your favorite bird?

Love Rebecca

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Thrift Store Repaint of a Ceramic Puppy

 I was recently inspired by a couple Youtubers ( Moriah Elisabeth and Anja)

 to try my hand at a thrift store repaint.

 I kept my eye out for some old discarded item to give new life to.

I found this ceramic puppy at a Goodwill for $3. 

It was very dirty, chipped and overall just outdated. It was perfect! 

 It took me about 3 days from start to finish. I started by giving the puppy a good wash and getting as many stains off as possible. I attempted to strip the old paint with nail polish remover. I didn't think this through though as it took quite a bit of work to get all the paint off. I ran ot of acetone and gave up.

 I let the puppy fully dry, applied a white base coat and with a pencil sketched out the fur pattern I had in mind. I have heard drawing on rounded objects is tricky and I can definitely agree with that. I had to redraw lines quite a few times. 

The dog I based the puppy on was more of a true black color. 

I decided to go with a dark grey instead. 

I looked up the photos I had of Shadow (my inspiration) and tried to match his markings. Shadow was a beagle/ husky/ and something else mix.

Justin said it looked like the puppy had played in paint. I let this little guy dry overnight again. I should mention I used acrylics for this project. 

In the morning I tackled clean up and details. Painting the eyes was tough as my hands shake slightly. It took a lot of patience. 

Final look. I used a sharpie to outline the eyes before sealing with a glossy mod podge. 

The gloss is ok but looking at it now I should've used a matte mod podge.

The left ear still has the massive chip but you can't really tell now with the paint.

This project was a lot of fun and I learned along the way. I'm really happy with how the puppy turned out especially considering the hand tremor I have. 

Before and after. 

I definitely want to try this again sometime. I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination but I found the project very relaxing. I will be keeping my eye out for another piece to do sometime!

Love Rebecca🐇

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Hey it's August!

Hello Everybody! I know I haven't posted since May, but I didn't forget about you!

Recently I was cleaning out my desk and found old art supplies and my childhood drawings. It put me in the mood to make some artwork. I'm not great at drawing but its still fun. I have developed a slight tremble in both of my hands as I've gotten older which makes drawing with a pencil or pen very difficult, so I decided to try other mediums.

 I don't know how to fold Origami but since I have beautiful Origami paper from Japan I wanted to make something. I made a fox out of Origami paper and Mulberry paper

 My childhood friend Lina suggested a landscape! 

Made from torn mulberry paper

 This one was more ambitious. I used a kid's water color to paint a background, then used different cut out pieces of card stock paper to make the fish shape.

Figuring out fin shapes and positions 

 Body base, fin cutouts glued to mulberry paper and my background drying. 

I glued torn mulberry paper to each card stock piece and gradually built this Koi fish.

 Fin details were drawn on with marker. 

I also added a coat of mod podge just to seal everything together.

 I got an acrylic set to mess around with but I think I like water colors more. I used a mix of water colors and acrylics for this parakeet

 I then way over estimated my abilities and painted a wood duck. Do you know how many colors and details are in a wood duck?! I was crazy and almost gave up 3 different times. 

Basic sketch and colors 

Failing at keeping the white stripes even on the head. I almost quit here. I later used white acrylics to sorta fix the stripes.

This nightmare is a mix of watercolors, acrylics, marker, charcoal pencil and my tears.  You can see how shaky the white stripes on the head are,

I decided to simplify and draw my rabbit. 

 Percy was lounging near me while I tried to draw him

 The body isn't correct proportions but at least it LOOKS like a rabbit? 

I went with a caramel color so I could practice shading.

Percy is more of an earthy brown and bright white though.

Last doodle just to show how difficult it is for me to draw steady.  I can draw somewhat steady if I use something to rest my hand on. I painted with water colors and went over with a marker

 I may or may not have a sticker problem....

 Scrap booking fun

I'm having fun playing with paints again. I wish the trembling wasn't an issue but what can ya do?

Love, Rebecca

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