ink pen – Paper Opera

I am working with Inktense pencils, Micron ink pens, and Canson Illustration 11×14″ 150lb art pad to create 15 illustrations (that is how many pieces of paper are in the art pad) of my current family life and inspirations.

This work is narrative in content and uses color in a monochromatic way accentuating one part of each drawing. These fun and quirky illustrations are a reflection of the current joy and activities I have been experiencing.

“Key of G” is a musical family portrait in the playroom. G was the first note our baby played on her Casio keyboard. I liked this drawing so much that I made it into E’s first birthday party invitations and thank you notes. It’s super fun with all of the patterns, shapes, and there is that party pink color again. I used Inktense Carmine Pink and Fuchsia blended. I never thought I would be a little girl pink promoter, but goodness there are so many cool things in pink!

Some of my favorite details of this drawing are the thread in a jar, the piano, the piano bench cushion pattern, M’s fun socks (completely made up), the rug pattern inspired by The Land of Nod,

the play kitchen with the triangles on the wall (which the pink triangle decals are from the Land of Nod and placed by Gallery Gal), our fun family musical portrait,

me playing accordion, E playing the maracas, Ein playing the jingle bells,

the fun pendant (that I designed and embroidered), table cloth triangle pattern, and flowers in the kitchen, M playing the concertina (Grandpa and Grandma Sugar gave us the concertina – thanks!),

and the musical alphabet banner I made.

The inspiration for this drawing (wall done by Gallery Gal in Springfield, MO):

The embroidery pendant I made:

“Easter Picnic at St. Andrews” was something we did back in March that really stuck in my mind. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. St. Andrews Church has an amazing family program and hosted this really fun and laid back picnic and Easter egg hunt the Saturday before Easter. We went to this event and actually brought a picnic lunch – though we realized once there that the “picnic” was more like pick up some food after the egg hunt. We found a table and enjoyed our picnic fully.

I used Inktense pencil Spring Green for the color. This drawing was a bit of a challenge to chose what color and where to put it. I’m not fully convinced I made the right decision on either front, but it’s done now.