Weekend Floral Illustrations: Here Comes Spring!

Hi friends! Wow, what a busy week we had here last week! It seemed like we had important events and things to do every day and evening, and I was so glad when the weekend finally rolled around!  I was so looking forward to doing something to help me unwind...something artsy of course! 

I had a lot of fun doodling around with some watercolor flower illustrations. I painted them up with my watercolors and then inked them with some pigment ink pens. These were nothing stiff and formal, just loose and fun— and they were so relaxing to do!

I love how they turned out so I scanned a few of them into my computer and turned them into transparencies, cleaned them up, and then created some cool products with them in my POD (print on demand) shops on Society6, Redbubble, and DBH (DesignbyHumans.)

These really got me in the mood for spring! I love how the products turned out - especially the bedding and pillows. I think I will be turning these into cards that will be available in my Zazzle shop. I think they'd make great Thank You note cards and Wedding Invitations! 

 Peachy watercolor bouquet

Peachy watercolor bouquet pillow at Society6

Watercolor pink roses

Watercolor pink roses comforter from Society6 




Bridesmaid and wedding party tops in my Zazzle shop

Yellow and blue spring floral


Yellow and blue spring floral relaxed fit t-shirt on Redbubble

 I finished up these two last night

Which do you like the best?

Have a great week!

 Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Article, images, and designs copyright ©Laura Beth Love for Dishfunctional Designs™ 2018

all rights reserved

Those Sunday Mornings

I don't know if it's because of the changing light of autumn or just because I got a full 8+ hours of sleep, but there's something magical in waking on a Sunday morning — coffee cup in hand — and being completely inspired to make art. 

Do I paint with watercolors, or maybe acrylics, or do I create some ink drawings? I go back and forth, deciding on my tools and my medium — my mode of transport to get whatever creative magic from inside my being, out — and into the world. 

It's my raw drive, my spiritual push into the universe. At least, that's what it feels like. 

Nothing else will do. I can go downtown on Sunday morning and walk around our charming little farmer's market and pick up an amazing pastry or maybe some apples or locally harvested honey—but my mind is like the transcendental silver string that connects me to—and never leaves—my place where I create art. 

I want to choose the brushes, the colors, I think about watercolor painting and I imagine the movement, the flow and spread of color in the water, the bloom, the transparency, the drying, the contemplation of the next layer.

Without any formal training, thoughts of rules—and fear of not following them—try to push into my mind. I push them away.

I want to create something new, to pull it out from inside myself - I know that it's there, I can feel it all the time. I think about how I can get it out of me and into the world. But even that's not really enough for me. I want to make something beautiful. I try. 

It doesn't have to be fantastic or amazing — it only has to be.

Have a great Sunday!
love,

 Laura

article, images, and designs copyright ©Laura Beth Love 2017 all rights reserved

Painting Doughnuts. Or is it Donuts?

I've been having a lot of fun painting doughnuts. Or is it donuts? I'm not sure which spelling is correct, but it seems that donuts are suddenly all around me. There's a TV show about doughnuts, and in my local newspaper yesterday there was an article about a new "design your own doughnut" shop opening in my town. Phish is doing a 13-day concert run at Madison Square Garden in NYC this summer, calling it "Baker's Dozen" - yet another doughnut reference. Coincidence? Conspiracy? Hmmm. 

Tote bag

T-shirts

Phone case

Floor pillow

What's your favorite kind?

I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!

article and images ©Laura Beth Love 2017 all rights reserved

Painting Through A Blizzard And Learning As I Go

Thank goodness we didn't get the 26 or 27 inches of snow they were calling for Monday night into Tuesday (we got a managable 12 to 13 inches instead) but we still settled in to wait out the storm. I filled the birdfeeder and hung the suet and then made a big pot of white chicken chili (I used this recipe and it's now a family favorite) along with some honey cornbread.  The birdfeeders and suet brought out every bird in the neighborhood and it was neat to see a few woodpeckers (check out this video on my Instagram that I took of a Downy Woodpecker) and all sorts of other birds. 

Sam keeping me company as I do a sketch for another watercolor painting. 

I drew out a rough sketch to use as a guide.

I kept it pretty simple and only used three colors, this was the first layer.

The next day I added some details and her hair.

Drying.

I probably could have added more paint or more details but I'm trying to avoid over-painting.

I'm pretty happy with the results. I've never had any kind of formal art training so I am just kind of teaching myself and am learning as I go. 

At this point I would rather just observe and figure it out myself instead of being told I am doing something wrong or right, or be shown the way someone else says I should do something. I think it allows my art to be free and without limits or rules because I don't have to worry about any of those things I can just purely express. :)

I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!

article and images copyright ©LauraBethLove2017

My 4 Favorite Things For Today - Monday March 6th

It's kind of hard to think of four favorite things first thing in the morning on a Monday morning after staying up too late the night before but here goes... :D

1. Hot chocolate. I gave up sugar for the past two weeks  - not completely, but I cut back about 85 percent because I felt like I was overdoing it lately. I love sweets so that was a tough one for me, but I needed to stop and kind of reel things in a bit to gain some perspective on how much sugar I was consuming. 

I don't drink soda or juice but I do use sugar in my coffee and tea - both of which I drink a lot! Basically all day! I believe in all things in moderation, and I guess it was time to moderate how much sugar I was eating or drinking. That being said, my big splurge for the weekend was real hot chocolate that I made with 1 % milk and of course lots of marshmallows. It was amazing. :)

2. The elephant necklace with gemstone beads. I made and sold one of these over Christmas, so I thought I would make another one. I just love the colors of these stones (left to right Phrenite, Ruby Jade, Garnet, Iolite, Larimar, and Fluorite). I just love Iolite!  

I wrapped them in silver wire and then hung them from a leather cord. This type of jewelry making (beading/wire wrapping) is a nice change from the china jewelry that I make all the time. Sometimes my hands and mind have to do something new for the sake of variety and creativity.

3. Making homemade Chicken Marsala. This week I made homemade Chicken Marsala for the first time ever for my girls and it was awesome! I even slow roasted bulbs of fresh garlic to make garlic mashed potatoes as an accompaniment. All I can say is it was divine. 

I used this recipe from Epicurious (still my favorite place to find amazing recipes) and tweaked it to taste as I cooked, making double the sauce. If you ever cook anything from Epi make sure that you read all the reviews first before you start. I've found lots of great advice in the reviews and comments. 

I used this recipe as a guide for making the mashed potatoes but I used regular potatoes, extra garlic, and half and half instead of the heavy cream. They were amazing. 

4. Trying my hand at watercolor painting. Here's the first ever face/eye that I painted, and I think it turned out pretty good. At least it did until I started over-painting it! I am learning. 

I like doing small drawings for fun and painting those, and I've found that I really like painting faces. It's interesting to see how when you paint a face, a personality starts to emerge. It's kind of mysterious!

If there is anything in particular that you'd like to see just leave me a comment!

I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!

©Laura Beth Love 2017 all rights reserved

Crystal Cluster Watercolor Illustration: New Video On My YouTube Channel!

Hi friends! I just uploaded a brand new video to my YouTube channel so please check it out, give it a like and be sure to subscribe. 

For this project I used watercolor paper, pencil, Micron ink pen, and Windsor & Newton watercolor paints, but you can use whatever you have on hand. 

Who isn't crazy for crystals? They're fun to paint (and super easy too!) so I thought I would try my hand at painting my own (Yes, all of my videos are my first-time try, learn as I go!) 

I started with a pencil sketch to get the shapes on the paper, and then I used watercolor paints to color my drawing. I used very little paint - I wanted my crystals to be predominantly purple, so I used some different tones of violet, and then here and there added a bit of blue and then just a whisper of yellow and green to give my crystals that iridescent glow. 

Once my drawing was finished I added a quick sketchy outline in black micron ink. Check it out below!

I hope to do a few jewelry making videos in the near future so be sure to check back! 

If there is anything in particular that you'd like to see just leave me a comment!

I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!

©Laura Beth Love 2017 all rights reserved

New Video On My YouTube Channel: Space Feather Illustration

Hi friends! I just uploaded a brand new video to my YouTube channel so please check it out, give it a like and be sure to subscribe. 

For this project I used watercolor paper, pencil, Micron ink pen, and Windsor & Newton watercolor paints, but you can use whatever you have on hand. 

Feathers are super-popular right now in art and illustration so I thought I'd share my own version...the space feather :) 

I start with a pencil sketch to get my shape on the paper, and then I bring in the big guns (black ink pen) to go over the outline and add the designs. Using simple lines and circles and a few spirals I fill in the feather areas thinking up the designs as I work. 

Once my drawing is finished I add a little bit of watercolor paint just to give it a blush of color.

I added the script lettering so that you could see how you can easily fancy it up by adding an additional line on the down-stroke, and then fill it in with a little bit of watercolor paint to tie it in nicely with your painting. 

I hope to do a few jewelry making videos in the near future so be sure to check back! 

If there is anything in particular that you'd like to see just leave me a comment!

I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!

Time Lapse Mandala Artwork - Ink Drawing With Watercolor Painting

I've been playing around with creating time lapse videos, tooling around with the time lapse feature on my iphone... but quickly found out that the built in time lapse feature is just too fast for capturing artwork! 

I thought I would try it out while creating this doodle - a quick pencil sketch to get my design started, and then some pen and paper drawing, topped off with a little bit of color added with water and watercolor paints.  

You can see it all below in about 26 blazing seconds haha! ...but I was unhappy with the video's rhythm of my drawing, which turned out to be just too fast for you to really see what I was doing. (watch it here on my YouTube Channel instead)

Regardless, I uploaded the video to my YouTube channel and then tried to toy with the video's settings, slowing it down 2x and then 4x but I soon found out that that didn't work because when a time lapse video is filmed, there are sections of time that are actually skipped. If you try to slow down a video that you filmed in time lapse mode on your iphone, the result is actually a trippy, smeared video! 

My resolution? I just downloaded an app that allows you to choose your video recording speed, so back to the drawing board - literally. When I get some free time I will give it another shot using the app and hopefully have some better results! 

Have you ever made a time lapse video for your artwork? 

Any tips to share? 

I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!