A is for Art- #AtoZChallenge

Woohoo! The first blog for the A-to-Z Challenge, starting out with "A is for Art"! I am so stoked, because to get this month started off right, I'm going to share with you my favorite side hobby: Drawing!

I have been a fan of drawing and coloring for as long as I can remember. The most exciting moment of my 6 year old life (apart from getting my first bike) was being given the Big Box of Crayola Crayons, which I used to carefully color in the mermaids, princesses and animals displayed in my many coloring books. It wasn't long either, before I went from straight coloring to traditional drawing. I distinctly remember, in the 3rd grade, drawing a huge dragon on a piece of notebook paper, flying through the air carrying a heart shaped wreath covered in flowers (it wasn't nearly as sophisticated as it sounds, but for an 8 year old it wasn't a bad composition- I sort of wish it has survived the years).

I've experimented with many techniques of artistic expression over the years, but my long standing absolute favorite, and the one I'm most skilled in, is simple black and white pencil. It's probably the easiest and cheapest, because you literally only need a #2 pencil (or a mechanical pencil- I like those a lot too), a good eraser (the white ones work best) and a piece of paper (I've used a lot of materials for paper- napkins, place mats, lined paper, scratch paper, copy paper, card stock, etc). Nowadays, I use sketchbooks, with fine grained white paper designed for pencil.

Before I got into the technology game, I would draw something, take a picture of it, and upload that into the computer to be processed, at first in paint, then in a Photoshop knock off program. When I got married, I moved up in the world into the system that I use today: Draw a picture, use a flat bed scanner to get it into the computer, then use the mouse and the graphics tablet and stylus to do what I want with it.

What with the rise of "adult" coloring books, I found my inspiration to create my own coloring page designs, as they slotted perfectly into my prime skill zone: pretty patterns, pencil drawings, and black and white images.

People saw my images, became interested in coloring them, and I started getting offers to buy my art. So, a few months ago, I started a page on Facebook called >>Paw Print Works<<. Through that page, I display and sell my art, both the black and white images and the colored versions that I digitally colored and enhanced myself. Friends buy the designs for their kids and themselves, and I love it when they share their finished coloring pages. 

Drawing is sometimes a slow process, and inspiration is often a fickle beast, so I don't have many designs published yet, but if you are interested, check out my page, like, comment, share with your friends, and help support an artist (me!)

Not only that, but through a friend of mine at >>8th Dimension<<, I have my art "published" as apparel and housewares art on RedBubble. << Check out that link and buy something cool and unique.

Also, check out >>14th Street<< on Amazon and buy a shirt or two; they're displaying my art as well. There you can find "Scorpio", "Phoenix", "Serpent Crest" and the "Chimera" patterns, in a variety of tee shirt fits, sizes and colors.

Now that I'm finished shamelessly selling my work, I just want to add that every purchase goes towards my income. My hobbies are my job, and that means my art, soaps, hand crafts, the vegetables I grow, and even the seeds I collect, all benefit from their sales. All money is put towards production and further development of what I hope one day will be a booming business.

Until tomorrow then-
Cheers!