Outside: ready for spring

Spring is beginning. I have spotted some harbingers out and about. I saw the first spring crocus just yesterday. I'm ready for spring. I'm ready for the weather to warm. I'm ready for the plants to bud. I'm ready for the birds to return...

And I anticipate the opportunity to go out and about and photograph the spring sights.

In the meantime, these are some shots from springs of yore.

Eventually, most of these will be available in my etsy shop: sarahknight
This friday (03-19-2010) you can check out my interview on Liz Ware's Blog : )

and thanks to INDIE Pretty, for featuring my "spring clean print" on her blog : )

Outside: photography

I have taken a lot of pictures. I couldn't ever explain why. It's not like I thought I was going to be a photographer when I was a child or something. I guess I just kind of came about doing it.

When I was a kid, my mother bought me and my sister cameras. She actually bought my sister a better camera than the one she bought for me. My sister is 3 years older than I... so, I guess maybe this somehow made sense. But well, no not really.

I was always the artistic one and she was always the one who did very well in academics. That's not to say I'm a slouch or something... just that my goal in life was never fixated on being a "straight A" type of student. So, really, it was completely absurd that my mother bought my sister who is so much less artistically inclined a better camera.

Sure, there's that whole argument to be made that the greatest artist can make the most magnificent things with the lowest quality materials... but really, I think my mom was just being cheap. And I also think my sister probably actually asked for a camera, where as I didn't. And my mother was the type who treated us the same regardless of the age difference.

Whatever, I haven't used that cheap camera in years. I took it on one outing with my high school art club to New York. And the only memorable shot I took was of the John Lennon "imagine" thing on the pavement in the park.

Taking slides for AP art in High School I somehow ended up snatching my mother's Pentax SLR. I still have that camera. To be blunt, my mother is not the greatest photographer. So, me taking that camera doesn't really cause much of a loss. I did, however, gain most of my experience with photography from that Pentax. I've taken hundreds of pictures with it. Believe me, I have them in envelopes which reside in boxes in my office.

The Pentax did end up being usurped by the digital camera I bought about 2 years ago. It's a Kodak, and it didn't come with much of a manual, and I'm not the sort of person who has the patience to try and find one on a website. So, I pretty much figured things out by trial and error.

I'm pretty happy with that camera... and while I suppose in this digital age it may seem like it's taken me forever, I decided to format my photos and offer them for sale on my etsy shop "sarahknight".

It's been entertaining going through my vast collection on my iphoto and picking and choosing... but at some point, those labeled envelopes in those boxes on the shelf starting looking pretty interesting. So, I've been spending quite a bit of time in front of the computer, going through the envelopes and scanning and formatting the photos lately.

Since they're printed photos being scanned in at a high resolution, the blips and dots and fibers create an interesting effect. Not being too fixated on any one theme or idea, I kind of like the look.

So, in the near future these will be available in my etsy shop:

tiger swallowtail on tigerlily


midnight enchantment


bee on blue globe thistle

Picture Story: the House

Yes, it's been some time since I wrote a blog entry. I admit, I opened one of those twitter accounts, and well, it's just really easy to log into twitter and tweet... Given that I'm not a spammer or a phishing scam, the lack of word verifications or "moderated comments" and the instant sort of interaction is just kind of welcome, and well, immediate.

So, since it's been a while, this is a piece I recently completed: "the house"

I made this for myself. This seems surprising even to me, but it's been a long time since I made an illustration and actually hung it up in my abode. I've made a lot of prints, and I've framed or matted a lot prints and given them away as gifts... but it's been ages since I did anything just for myself.

So, I decided I wanted something new to hang over the computer in my office that I do most of my work on. Now, my office is a painted a pastel peachy-pink color. I believe it was called "mermaid" on the paint chip. I picked it simply because I had bought really gaudy clearance priced fabric at JoAnn Fabrics which I had decided I was going to hang on the walls like they do on those makeover shows that used to be all over HGTV, at least, they were 7 years ago when I painted my office. Mind you, I didn't paint my office in response to a makeover show. I did it because otherwise the walls were white and pocked cement. Part of the appeal of fabric was to cover up some of the cement: it was less spackling that I had to do.

So, the fabric was pastel pinky-peach, and I bought paint to match... so, the artwork that I was going to create to replace the chalk pastel drawing of irises which has been hanging there for 7 years — well, it needed to match that color scheme.

I like calla lilies, so, I decided to draw them in a peach tone... and that was pretty much where this composition began: with peach calla lilies. Amusingly, the first set of callas I drew — I wasn't so hot on them after I had them scanned & cut. So, I drew a second set of callas, and those are the ones that ended up in the picture.

So, with the callas, I had half my composition set, but, of course, there needed to be something more. So, I grabbed the sun that I had used on summer hummingbirds, and added that to the composition... and of course, I wanted some birds, since apparently I'm kind of a bird person. I had also been thinking about drawing a birdhouse around the same time, so it seemed only natural to incorporate it into the piece.

I decided I wanted to use tree swallows. So, I opened up the file with my tree swallows that I drew for calla lilies & tree swallows and picked the birds that I wanted. I actually printed out my selection and colored over them... and then since I decided on the birdhouse, I actually sat down in front of my iphoto on a Saturday morning and sketched out the tree swallow looking into the nest box from one of my personal photos. So, I scanned those into photoshop and cut them.

Then, of course, I had to draw the house. From a drafting perspective, it was a piece of cake. But then, I had to fill it. Now, if I had drawn this in the fall, spring, or summer, this would have been less of a chore. In those months I could just go out and photograph some wood. But, no, I made this in the middle of winter, so I had to scour my reserve of photos for a serviceable shot of wood. Amusingly, the wood of the birdhouse is actually a photo of a telephone pole.

So, I made my birdhouse and transferred it into the illustration, and added my tree swallows, and sized them to the box, and played with the sun with layers to get the rays to flow over certain parts of the picture...

And in the mean time, I had to make the sky: which is a combination of various layers between a scan of an abstract acrylic painting and a photograph of a cloudy sky... both of which were manipulated with color layers to gradate the background from green to peachy-pink to a hint of lavender that runs into an aqua blue... because the fabric that hangs behind my computer is not only pinky-peach, but also has peach flowers with seafoam green stems... seafoam being the green equivalent of aqua.

And so, I have my new picture! After 7 long years my office is getting a mini-makeover.

Of course, now I have to frame it.

Coming in February!

While I am not the kind of person who makes New Year's resolutions... I did decide some time late last fall that there would be some changes coming with my etsy shops: sarahkdesigns & sarahknight.
sarahkdesigns will continue to focus on my illustrations of nature and landscapes.
sarahknight will continue to stock cards, but will now be home to my photography!

I take an enormous amount of pictures. Many of them are essentially process photos intended to be used as snippets for my illustrations. But, well, they're my photos, and many of them are wonderful stand alone compositions.

Being an illustrator — I also love photo manipulation. So, coming in February I will be listing photos like these at sarahknight!

Warblers & Callas

Since the calendar is done, and I have 11 months to finish the next one, I now have time to just illustrate whatever happens to come to mind. So, no trying to match a graphic to a season or month, and everything doesn't have to be formatted horizontally! Ah, freedom.

It's cold outside here, so I suppose that might be the reason I've been working on so many suns lately. Well, that and the sun graphic is part of a project that I'll be unveiling some time in the future. Anyway, I've been drawing a lot of flowers lately. I finished some black eyed susans last week, and have those scanned and cut into a piece... and I've drawn a couple bunches of tulips, and some compositions with birds and tulips. What can I say? Tulips are fun to draw. Of course, now I have to color them.

Anyway, I drew some callas in the mean time, because I want to make a picture for me. Well, actually, a couple pictures for me. The same stuff has been hanging in my office for what seems like ages (we'll say more than 3 years now). It's not that I don't like my current artwork, just that it's time for something new.

So, I actually sketched the callas, scanned them and printed them out as a blue page, inked that, scanned it and printed it out clean, and then colored it with prismacolor pencils. And scanned that, and cut it, without any real idea what the rest of the picture was going to be. I like the process to be open.

So, I picked out one of the scan of my salt on watercolors for the background. Kind of to change things up — because I've been using a lot of acrylic paintings as backgrounds. So, the watercolor is something different.

I was thinking maybe it would be a night scene with stars. But then I added the sun, and the rest of the pieces just kind of fell into place. The yellow warblers that I originally drew for "spring sing" were the right color... throw in some sheet music on the background and some musical notes, and well, everything just kind of came together.

Of course, now I have to name it...
yellow warblers sunshine song available at sarahkdesigns

Tidings for a new year!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

I invite you to check out my interview here at mizkatie.com
http://www.mizkatie.com/2010/01/04/interview-with-sarah-from-sarahkdesigns/

This is my latest composition: summer hummingbirds

I was actually laying in bed on the night before Christmas Eve when I was imagining this piece. I was trying to think of what I was going to give my mother for Christmas. I knew it was going to be a print; I had already purchased the picture frame. I had already given my mother a framed print of "violet night" — which is my Mother's favorite piece of all my current work. I wanted to make something that would be a companion piece.

And, I was thinking it might be possible to assemble it before Christmas... well, that didn't pan out. I finished it last week. But as far as gifts are concerned, there's always Mother's Day or her birthday. Anyway, my mother was perfectly with her "firefly sky" print.

Anyway, I wanted the picture to mirror aspects of "violet night". I wanted flowers, some animal flying through the air, to use a painting for the background, and some celestial element. Very basic compositional stuff. So, I settled on the lilies (which I composed for "a summer day"). And since I just spent what seemed like an eternity rendering them, I wanted to use the hummingbirds that I drew for "nectar" and "hummingbirds & hollyhocks".

So, I had my flowers and my birds. The next step was to pick one of my paintings to manipulate for the background. I played around with its color a bit. I then picked out one of my photos of clouds to superimpose over the painting, and spent some time tinkering with layers and levels until I was satisfied with the result.

I decided I wanted some sun. Perhaps it's the cold and winter here getting to me. Anyway, I've been working on suns lately for another project I have in the works. So, I changed up the sun I used on penguin pals so that there would be less rays, and that they would be larger. And then I set about making them splay over the elements in the picture, so that they were indeed over, but not obscuring the pictorial elements. It involved a lot of erasing at a low opacity...

Anyway, for fun I decided to play with the lens flare, and add a few imitation sun spots of my own. I think it adds a playful dash to the composition. And, eventually, when some gift giving holiday rolls around, I'm sure my mom will love it.

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.

Hummingbirds!

Okay, so the hummingbirds should have all flown south to their winter range by now... and really, I should have taken the hummingbird feeders down from the backyard. But let's not dwell on factual stuff and chores. I sat down at the computer last night, and after several hours of playing and tinkering came up with these:






So, now, I suppose I have to come up with titles.

Anyway, I drew the hummingbirds first for my picture "nectar." And am using the birds in another picture I've been working on specifically for the calendar with hummingbirds and hollyhocks, which I have almost finished! It's November, and I'm halfway done. Who knows, maybe I'll get to relax on Christmas Eve this year? I hope so.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy these : ) they'll be in my shop shortly.

Thank you : )

you blogged about me...

THANKS!

you blogged about me...

Justine Miller Hernandez's "justnibbles.blogspot.com"
http://justnibbles.blogspot.com/2009/10/terrifying-tuesday-treasures_27.html

Lisa Orgler's "the lunch box project NEWSLETTER"
http://lbpnewsfoodart.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-november-cranberry-delight.html

izile's oddities "izile.blogspot.com"
http://izile.blogspot.com/2009/11/veritas-equitas.html

Studio Haus www.studiohaus.blogspot.com
http://studiohaus.blogspot.com/2009/11/yellow-submarine.html

Outside: autumn leaves

some recent pictures...










and don't forget to vote for "pumpkin harvest" in the voter!
http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=75

Voter!

My "pumpkin harvest" print is in the voter!

I heartily encourage you to go vote (for me)!
http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=75
:)

Halloween!

It's October... and Halloween is just 2 weeks away.

I am one of those people who dresses up every year and hands out candy. And I bought my candy while out running errands the other day. So, I suppose it's time to put up the Halloween decorations (and take down the summer decorations).

I figured I could get in the spirit over on sarahkdesigns as well: with a new banner



I've been having fun with graphics lately.

ghosts float


wandering spirits


Because creating is fun, and so is Halloween.
I invite you to check out the rest of my Halloween pictures : )

And have a Happy Halloween!

New Cards!

I've been busy lately. I've been drawing bits and pieces of this and that and illustrating birds. I just put up 3 new prints at sarahkdesigns: "chirp" "twitter" and "chirrup"
I need the drawings of the black-capped chickadees for my December calendar graphic, and well, I seem to still be on the 'bird song' train of thought, so, they just materialized...

I've also been busy with my Christmas cards!
I decided to spend some time focusing on my nature series. These are some of the new designs:




come stop by sarahknight.etsy.com & check them out !

Thank you : )

you blogged about me...

THANKS!

you blogged about me...

All Strung Out
http://allstrungout1.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-with-your-christmas-shopping.html

Masha-Poppins.livejournal.com
http://masha-poppins.livejournal.com/102495.html

"From Victoria's desk..." the-moss-garden.blogspot.com
http://the-moss-garden.blogspot.com/2009/10/random-hearts.html

1happycorner.com
http://www.1happycorner.com/how-to-find-affordable-art-to-give-as-gifts

Outside: harvest pumpkins

It is now officially autumn here in the United States. And the pumpkins and squash have been harvested. So, here are some pictures I have taken:

Yellow Warblers!

I've been doing a lot of work lately, a lot of sketching and drawing... because I want to be able to relax this Christmas. But every once in a while I like to just make something.
I did a series of "bird song" pictures a while back. And I decided to make some companion pieces.

This is one of the originals:






And these last two are the new ones. I hope you like them. They were a delight to create.

Picture Story: chickadee in autumn

"chickadee in autumn" is available at sarahkdesigns


Freddie Mercury may have professed his love for his car (in that he had a feel for his automobile)... well, I apparently love my little black-capped chickadee.

I finished this picture on Wednesday morning, much to my own delight. It wasn't planned, it wasn't sketched out or mocked up. It just kind of happened. And sometimes, those are the ones that are the most fun.

Most of the illustrations I do presently are digital collage. I usually end up sketching something, inking that sketch, and scanning that into photoshop where I manipulate it with color and texture fills, and fills created from my drawings, paintings, or photos... so I tend to just have a lot of stuff around, which I suppose might seem a little aimless: piles of salt on watercolor paintings, a stack of paintings that are acrylics smeared across illustration board, plus the many many folders I have filled with my colored pencil drawings of birds or flowers or butterflies... and then there is my massively full iphoto...

I have a lot of graphic material hanging around.

And sometimes, I just have a moment where the idea just comes to mind and the parts just fit together... and I think this was one of those moments.

I've been working lately on the calendar... because, really, after 5 years, I don't want to be finishing my traditional family Christmas gift on the 24th of December. Miraculously (although I do keep changing my mind) I have 5 of the pictures fully completed, and at the very least a sketch for each of the graphics... January, December, and November are the least completed, as usual.

Anyway, it occurs to me that I usually wuss out and chuck a landscape photo into the September slot (although, this year's September is already complete). So, although I have a seasonal illustration for most of the year, I tend to have a very sparse selection of work involving autumn, which is part of the reason I made the chickadee in autumn picture: to add some autumn to my catalog of work.

Hopefully, you enjoy it!

Outside: autumn trees

It's getting to be that time again when the leaves begin to turn...

New Snowflakes!

I've been busy lately. Yes, it was the end of August, and it is the beginning of September — but it's snowflake season!

For the past several years I have been creating snowflakes. I believe I began doing it in 2005. I designed my first snowflakes for my Christmas cards — because I wanted to use something of my own — not glyphs from a wing-dings font.

Inevitably, I designed a template on which I could create my snowflakes. The template isn’t particularly eye catching, and I suppose it probably looks strange to anyone who happens to catch me drawing on it. It’s 4 rows of 60˚ angles, 3 per column; which yields 12 snowflakes per page.

I sketch the snowflake arms, and then fill them with black ink. I then scan the page into photoshop, where I do all the necessary editing (making sure that all I have is the black portions). And from there each arm is transferred to another file which is inevitably a template of new snowflakes. That new file is genially referred to as the snowflakenator, because that’s where the real snowflake magic happens.

Each snowflake has 6 arms. Some of the arms have bilateral symmetry, some don’t; it depends on what I was designing at the time…

Anyway, these are some of this year’s new snowflakes:



Look for them on prints at sarahkdesigns, and on my snowflake Christmas cards at sarahknight.etsy.com!