Picture Story: cardinal song

...and Christmas is over, so now my free time is free again, well, sort of.

So, it's time to get back to work. This is my latest creation (which will be available at sarahkdesigns within the next week): cardinal song

It's one of those pieces that just kind of happened. I do, occasionally, actually plan compositions most of the time. But this one just came about. Mostly out of my need to produce a Christmas present for my grandmother. The woman has a living room full of cardinals (embroidery, figurines, paintings...). Well, that and she asked me to draw her something. A cardinal seemed like the most obvious thing.

So, I had the cardinal drawn, and I scanned it before I gave it to grandma as a gift. So, there it was sitting on my desktop (with a gazillion other files). So, through the magic of photoshop I cut the scan of my pencil drawing from it's background, and combined it with one of my many photos of the sky. Played around with the color a bit and added some filter layers (not unlike the filters in "warbling"). Put on a layer of sheet music, and added the musical notes... and voilà: finished composition!

Wow, it's already December...

Where did the month of November go?
It seems like just yesterday that I was finishing my 5X7 hummingbird pics... and then I had a store engagement... made some new chickadee pictures... and BAM! it's December.

I am a procrastinator, just like my mother. I'm sure it probably runs in the family.
So, I've been working on the calendar, because I need to get the graphics done this week. Out of 12 graphics, I have 9 complete, and 3 very close to being finished! This is probably the furthest along I've ever been on a calendar this close to Christmas.

So, I finally finished my August graphic: hummingbirds & hollyhocks

This year, the hollyhocks that were planted last year actually came up and bloomed... and, of course, we had the same contentious brood of ruby-throated hummingbirds hanging around the yard, fighting over the ample amount of sugar water in the feeders.

So, I drew out my hollyhocks, inked them, scanned them, colorized the scan, printed that... colored the print out, scanned that back in, added a photo of sky... and worked separately on the hummingbirds, which were created in 2 batches: flying and sitting.
So, last night, I finally finished coloring the sitting hummingbirds, scanned them, and edited them for use... and voila! the picture is finally finished!

Only 3 more to go.