Work in progress....

This is a different project than my pen and ink and something I love to do.

I thought I'd share it with you!

It's not done yet, but it's getting there!

Getting started, I want this one to have a very tropical theme and my work area really set the mood too!

I'm messy... you can see the paint splattered everywhere already (including on the plant in the background!

A little bit of detail work.

Some shading and highlights

Flowers now... I'd have done more, but it started to drizzle and that's not good for painting!

This is going to go up on my etsy shop, Whimsy by Kelly when I'm done. (If you haven't taken a peek I'd love to have you look!)

Anyway, I  love to paint and play with color, which might not always be obvious in my other projects, but paint is up there as one of my favorite things ever. 

So this is what I'm currently working on along with my mandalas and the plan for my next challenge template!!!

Last week we grew gardens, this week let's build houses!

I had fun with the template I put out there for you last week and it looks like a few other people did too! YAY! That's the whole point right?
Anyway, I have a new one for you.... this time, let's BUILD A HOUSE!

It almost looks like a face.. lol. You can turn the page any way you'd like and I can't wait to see your creations!

Download the template from here.. TEMPLATE

And then come back next week and share your link in the Mr Linkey thingey.

And here's mine!

I look forward to hearing what you think about these challenges! 

Shameless Self Promotion Tuesday!

I don't know if I've shared this, because the original purpose of my blog was to keep myself creating, not to self-promote. Today I'm going to break that rule, because, well..I'm trying to get my Etsy shop really going somewhere. I don't know if any of you knew that, so I'm trying to spread the word about my shop but I don't want to be all spammy on here so I'm going to try and limit how often I talk about selling stuff. I'm always going to share my artwork, because it's what I do, and this blog is ABOUT my creative process, but I don't want to constantly be asking you to come buy things from me.

Today though, I am going to ask if you don't already, if you'd consider liking my facebook page, and if you are an etsy shopper if you would consider clicking "Favorite" on my shop. Also, if you wouldn't mind passing my link along to anyone you think would enjoy my artwork I'd really appreciate it.

I have added a few things and I hope you like them.

• Shops with more "favorites" are much more likely to get hits, hits equal sales and sales mean that I have more money to buy more art supplies which keeps me happy. 
• These kids of mine... sheesh, they are all about the eating. Did you know that a 13 year old boy can eat ENTIRE pizzas in one sitting? That makes them hard to keep in pizza so pizza money is helpful!
• I like seeing my artwork on people, or in their homes or anywhere really. It makes me happy. 

Ok, so that's that. 

Here are my links, gonna make this super easy! 

Etsy

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

I don't know how to use Tumblr, but my daughter is going to teach me, she said that especially my nerdy stuff needs to be on there. So, that'll be another project for another day. 

Now, I'm going to open my blog up to all of you today. Post in the comments. PLEASE!

Go ahead. Promote yourself. Tell us why you rock. Share your blog, pinterest, your instagram, your etsy, your facebook page, your twitter, your EVERYTHING! And then go look at what else has been shared, there are some amazingly creative people that visit my blog. Maybe they have something you want, maybe they will turn into a friend, maybe it's raining and your house too and you could use a fun day of looking at creations!

Spammy isn't always bad. 

Diva challenges 175& 176

I was a couple weeks behind on these, but I'm caught up now. 

175 was to use Cruz.

The UMT's usually (Use my tangles) are always a true challenge for me, but I always learn something new.

For this one I decided to go with all grid style patterns and then use a thicker than usual line to kind of unify it. I like how it turned out, but it doesn't feel like anything special. 

The next one is 176, and was a challenge by her guest blogger, Amy. It was to "BYOB" and stain your paper with your beverage.
YAY! TEA!
So I dripped tea on it, it made some cool splashes and I liked that part all by itself! Then I tangled on it using my sepia pens and then to continue with the "something different" theme I added a quote.
One of my all time FAVORITE quotes actually.

I am in love with this one. I know it's messy and not even and I could do a much better version, but I love it. (Is it ok to be in love with your own work?)

Here it is. 

Stuff I worked on this week

I created a mandala that I love... finished it this morning.

and then I made a little celtic inspired heart.

I haven't forgotten about you! Template 1-Grow a Garden!

So I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do as my next challenge, I didn't want to give you an outline or a string, I didn't want to limit the type of artwork and I didn't want to be doing something that anyone else is.
 I welcome feedback on the idea and I know it seems really simplistic, future ones I'll make a little more detailed but your finished project doesn't NEED to be it can be whatever you want it to be. I hope you like this idea and concept and if you do I'll do more of these, if not, I'll come up with something else!
Please note... There are no prizes for this challenge, but I hope you'll play anyway!

So here is the template for this week.  I call it "Grow a Garden" and this is what it looks like. Please use the link, don't try and print from the pic.

Huh? Is that what you're thinking? Well... ok, a little more info for you. I don't like taking creativity away from people and everyone has their own methods, styles, etc so I wanted to give you something that would force you to incorporate something small into what you are doing while still being "you" in your artwork. So take the template, add to it, using pens, markers, paints, chalk, whatever you want and show me what you've got. Turn it any way you like, there is no right or wrong to this!
Please upload by next Friday.  I'll have mine up probably tomorrow.

OK, here's mine! It's a little chaotic, but I was kind of going for that. It's been that kind of week!

Have you heard of The Rainbow Elephant? You have now!

I ask because I had seen some stuff around, in fact I actually purchased her mandala templates but hadn't really played with them until recently. (There will be pictures. I promise) and then I saw a link and really dug into what was there.

Well, she's got some great stuff going on over there, so you should check it out.
She has 3 "Mandala Starter" templates for download on her site.
Anyway... this is one I started a few days ago and just didn't have the time to complete until this morning. I have to say I LOVED working on this one though. In fact, I did something I really don't do very often. I printed two copies so that I can do it again differently!
It's from The Rainbow Elephant it's a "starter template" so you add your own stuff to it.. which is great, because I'm just really learning the art of creating my own, so this was a wonderful in between and her lines are just beautiful. Anyway.. here is the link, my completed version and it's my first attempt with a watermark because sadly I've had some problems.
Please make sure that when you are inspired by an artist that you credit them, and please don't ever blatantly steal from them. Whether they are using it as a means of revenue or not, it's upsetting.
Anyhow... The Rainbow Elephant!

This template to download
Here is my work in progress on it.

And here is my completed.

Now to break out those directions to make my own.... 

(I receive no compensation for any of the stuff I talk about on my blog. If I ever do, I promise to share that info!)

Happy 4th of July!

Here in the USA it's Independence Day and usually a day of picnics, bbq's and fireworks for many people. If that is how you are spending your day I hope you have a wonderful day and celebrate safely!

For those that aren't in the US or might be doing something else... I hope you spend the day surrounded by those you love as well and hope you ALSO have a wonderful 4th of July.

Just a super quick pic for you today. :) I didn't even erase my pencil lines. LOL I told you I was taking a "break" from being creative, but the truth is after a day or so I missed it. :) So it might not be every day, but I'm going to keep creating as often as I can!

Winners!

I'm excited to announce that I have winners!


Lila- You came in as the person who submitted the most pieces! So you get first choice of the prizes.

or 

My second place winner, chosen at random (each entry earned you a new entry ticket!) is KC Henna!

Please send me an email at Whimsybykelly@Gmail.com with your shipping information.

In addition I have 2 Doodling Together Apps.

Those are going to 

Jody

Sal Spring

I have one more to gift today if you want to enter in the comments! 

Thank you so much everyone for playing along. I'm sorry I couldn't send prizes to EVERYONE! 

I'm going to take the rest of the week to just veg and create when I want, maybe work on my sunburn a little. LOL

Check back next week though. I will have something new for us to do! 

Winners Tomorrow

So I had more entries that I realized and I want to make sure that there aren't duplicates, or that I don't miss anyone. It's taken longer than expected and I want to do this right.

The winners will be posted tomorrow before noon.