Scalloped Table Update!

In my previous post here, you will find that I left you off on a completed design but it was all on paper.  I was very excited to start on the table but was still waiting on my Posca pens to arrive from Japan. They have the extra fine tip I was looking for. So, while I waited for the 25 day shipping projection, I started to start my grid on the table in pencil.

Session Three – Photo by Charity Woods

This was like the easiest part but it took me over 3 hours to complete. I decided that since this table would set me back quite a few hours, I would need to break up my time into blocks, 3 hour blocks. Since I had drawn out with details, the rough draft on paper in 6 hours, (2 sessions) I really thought that this part would take me longer, but instead of adding all the details, I just simply lined out a grid and left a lot to the imagination. What I found was that I had started changing the design slightly within the pencil outline.

One my next session, I didn’t make it near as far as I thought I would. By the time the three hours were done, I was amazed that I hadn’t made significant progress. Knowing this was paint, I was really trying to make sure there were no mess-ups. I didn’t want to have to redo the whole table.

This was no where near the detail that I wanted to do in the center, but in order not to get discouraged, I decided quickly that I would take my time and appreciate every step along the way. One of the amazing things that I discovered was that I was changing my pattern from the original one I drew on paper. Not drastically, but enough because I felt the table moving in a different direction. Its very difficult for me to draw the same thing twice in a row, they are always a little different.

Moving on to the fifth session. I made a lot more progress on this session, but I think maybe it was mostly because the elements were a lot smaller, and there wasn’t a lot of major design issues, but I will tell you that I can’t decide if my hand hurt more from this session or the sixth, which is where I added a lot of swirls.

A couple things I wanted to point out on this design point. The leaves, I think, photograph very well and I typically don’t do such a small design element at this point in any mandala. It seemed extremely too simple when I finished (Photo 1, Session 5). After adding the next level of that design, the entire ring came to life and looked way more detailed than I thought it would. After such a detailed design, I decided to outline the next ring bringing in just a few elements to break this level up from the next. Finally, I did my basic overlap triangle that is the base for so many designs. I felt like this was a great place to stop until I could figure out exactly what I was going to do.

Session six was killer! All of the swirls and the tiny details had my hand cramping at the end. If you’re keeping track, this is now 18 hours into this project. But the payoff of seeing my momma’s face when I am all done, will totally be worth it. If I am going to give her something that is “me” I am going to make it all the elements of me. Structured, yet flexible. Fun, yet functional. This table has been such a blessing to me to design so far.

Session six was the end of my first Posca pen. But I had one more, so I could continue on the next day. The final picture in Session six, sorta gives you an idea of how far I have come and just how far I still have to go to complete this table. Overall, I think its turning out far better than I could have imagined when I started.

Session Seven was very interesting. I painted this while watching White Christmas and trying to get well from a bout of sickness that had me couch ridden the day before. What better way to make myself feel better than to pull up my rocking chair and get to work.

After adding the final touches to the outside, I finished the whole table off with some flowers that mimic the scalloped edges of the table. (Pictured Below) Before I gave this finished table to my mom, I coated it with two layers of clear coat that I purchased in a spray can from an art supply store. It seems to seal in all the colors and there was no feathering as a result of the spray coat being used.

Overall, this project was such a joy to do and it was ready before Christmas. Not only did my parents love this table, it is now proudly displayed in their bedroom. I would love to know your favorite part of this project and what you would like to see in the future.

Christmas Presents!

I know I know! Christmas is already over, but now that all the gifts that I made have been well-received I thought I would share them with you. Each year I love to give gifts that I have created. I love to create something that makes them think of me and the memories we have together when  they see them. They are also personalized so that they meet the needs of the person and their tastes.

Ok, I want to start off with one of my favorite type pieces. A very dear friend of mine went through a tough time and didn’t believe that they would get through it. However, after they rose from the ashes of that destruction, we started to talk about how they were like the Phoenix. Every year, I give this friend something that goes along with the theme of rising above your circumstance and setbacks. Each year is a new beginning. You can check out last years here. And the one for this year was a beautiful staff, since we are both nerds, that is designed after the Phoenix.

 

This was drawn with my black .03 Staedtler Pigment Liners, and colored with red, orange, yellow, grey and brown Steadtler Color Pencils. I then decided that taking the grey color pencil and rubbing it lightly over the outer edge of the paper gave the whole thing a new look. Overall, I’m happy with how this turned out and have already started researching phoenix ideas for next Christmas. If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.

Onto the second gift, I was gifted a smaller lazy susan. It was made from bamboo, but had some apples painted on the top of it.  I wanted to do something very personal for my sister-n-law and her new husband. I knew that they would appreciate a handmade gift. So, I had my fiance’ sand down the top and it left a beautiful finish. Then, I started working from the inside out. Starting with the first letter of her new last name, “S.”

After surrounding the monogram with a very detailed mandala, I then erased my guidelines (still in the picture above) and put two clear protective coats on it. On the night we gave this gift, It was immediately put to use under the salad bowl in the center of the table.

The last, but certainly NOT least, gift that I made personally, was for my fiance’s parents. They have been such a wonderful blessing in my life and I wanted to give them something that represented family and unity. So, like the last gift, I chose to do a monogram again, but with my fiance’s parents last name letter “L”. But unlike the last gift, I chose to paint this on a black square canvas that I had.

I decided that using my gold paint pen from my table project gave this piece the life it was searching for. I absolutely love how it turned out and they seemed to as well. I am truly blessed to be able to share my talents with those around me.

Although these were not the only gifts I gave for Christmas, they were the most personalized gifts and I wanted to share them with you. Please let me know in the comments below, which was your favorite and why. I would also love to know any ideas you may like to see in the future.

2017 Year in Review

Happy New Year!

I want to create a special post that sorta sums up my year for 2017. You know that although I had been blogging since 2016, I only got my own website in 2017. Boy have I been blessed with this outlet to share my creativity and inspire others to do something creative every day.  There are several things that I am going to discuss, to include my subscription to Sketchbox, My first Mandala Collection, Christmas Gifts I created and my favorite creations of the year. So grab your cup of coffee or your favorite beverage and lets get started!

SketchBox

For those of you that don’t know, Sketchbox is a monthly subscription box for artists to try out different mediums. I have really been excited by everything that I have been able to create using the products I have received through these boxes. Some of my favorite products include a watercolor sketchbook, a full sepia Copic fineliner set, and last but not least watercolor pencils, this is only to name a few. If you would like to go back and review my unboxing posts you can visit them by clicking on the links below.

May  

June

JulyJuly Grab box  

August

September

October

 November

December

Mandala Collection I

For me, this was a huge accomplishment.  I wanted to start a collection of the mandala that was similar and yet different at the same time. For this collection, I chose to draw my mandala on gradient paper with black fineliners and a white gel pen. I was so happy how each one came out so different than the ones before.  Prints of these will be available in my shop once I get it all online. Stay tuned for this special collection. Each one of these mandalas are so special to me. I wrote a different post for each one, which you can visit below:

Mandala #1

Mandala #2

Mandala #3

Mandala #4

Mandala #5

Personalized Gifts

One of my favorite things to do is create something beautiful and personal for my friends, family, and co-workers. I truly enjoy the look on their face when they realize it is not only an original, but there are no others like it in the world. I want to share these few gifts with you.

Personalized Parties

Every birthday that happens in my house is a reason to celebrate. With the birthdays spread throughout the year, we are able to party all year long! Starting in February with my two from my previous marriage celebrating, then moving to my youngest two in June, oldest two in July and 3rd oldest in November. Mix that in with all the holidays and we rarely don’t have a reason to bust out some exciting party decorations. But also, because we have so many celebrations, It’s important that we get creative with them all, most of the decorations were homemade. Check out the following posts about my under the sea themed party for my youngest two.

Under the Sea

Octopus Guard

Sea Sponges

Jellyfish Mood Lighting

Furniture Painting

The absolute highlight of my year was creating a beautiful work of art for my mother. She brought this table to me and gave me no restrictions other than she wanted a Charity Original painted on top. Painted?! I’ve never painted anything detailed like the creations I have made.  Check out how this table progressed by clicking on the links below:

Scallopped Table #1

Scallopped Table #2

There are several other projects that I completed this year for Christmas Gifts to include a 12×12 personalized mandala painting on canvas, a monogrammed lazy susan and a phoenix staff for my best guy friend. All of these projects were special in their own ways and were hard to keep a secret for as long as I could since I love to share my progress pictures with the special people that received these gifts.

My Favorites of the Year

 

Final Thoughts

I do want to send out a special thank you for all of you that have supported me this year. I couldn’t have done this without you cheering me on. Special thanks to my fiance’ who has stuck by my side while I have spent the long hours trying to make something out of nothing. I love each and every one of you and I can only hope that in 2018, we will see a lot more growth from CraftyArtistKC. Help me make this year a good one by sharing my site with your friends family and social media accounts. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Let me know in the comments below, what was your favorite project or post from this year!

Scalloped Table

So I have this table that my mom gave me to put my touch on it. After asking her several times what exactly she wants, she told me that she wants an original me. This touched my heart in ways you may not comprehend. Someone is taking pride in my work. To have a piece of my work out there is amazing to me.

So I decided I would go through the process with you. I have so many pictures of this process but lets start with the table itself. (pictured above). This table was pre-painted with the colors that will be in my moms bedroom, which is where she hopes to keep this table. How am I supposed to actually get the measurements of the scallops since they are different sizes? Well I’m glad you asked! I decided on taping 9 sheets of regular paper together to cover the complete top of the table. After I taped them together I placed the center piece in the center of the table and pressed outward on the paper to give me the size and shape of the top of the table.

 

After I got the correct shape, I started with a pencil and created the grid lines using a pushpin and paperclips since I didn’t have anything that was big enough to give me the circles I needed. I will say that even I was impressed with the way that the paperclips created a perfect circle no matter how far out I went.  I highly suggest using this method if you have a large area to work on.  It took about three hours to get to this point, from making the paper to creating the grid lines. From there I started to create the patterns that I liked. This took another 2 hours to draw out the pattern.

Starting the next evening, I began to ink up the pencil drawings. I spent roughly 3 hours on this part as well, changing so much as I went along. Because my art supplies are packed away, the only thing I had to use was a Prismacolor brush pen that was blue. The above image is the end of the second day. I decided to keep the mandala in reference by taking the picture with the 18-inch ruler I have.

[amazon_link asins=’B0032JX1MU,B00317ERM6,B000XAORTC,B000V59R8K’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’rafrti-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7801243f-c32b-11e7-978b-7193ebafc148′]

Finally, I decided to bring the inking all the way to the edge which was another 4 hours spent on detailing and changing the end product. The point of creating this piece on paper first is because I needed to measure out the full size of the mandala, as well as ensure that the mandala stopped where the scalloped edges started. Once I free-hand the pattern on the table, I will then create the patterns within the scalloped edges at that time.

Although this is not the final project, it does show the progression to the point where I am at currently. I have really enjoyed this process and can’t wait until I am able to transfer it onto the table. Look for a vlog on my YouTube channel about different mediums being tested to see how they interact with a protective coat on top. If there is a medium you would like for me to try, please comment below.

I will post again when I actually start putting the design on the table.  Let me know what you think so far!