Product of the Month - April 2021 - iPad Pro + Procreate

I have been somewhat of an old lady when it comes to trying new things in the art world. Even though I’ve been working with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for about 17 years, it took me an embarrassingly long time to consider getting Procreate.

About a 12 years ago I had a Wacom digital drawing tablet. It was finicky, and not easy to use considering I was looking at a monitor while drawing and not at my hand working the stylus. It was not effortless for me and I ended up going back to drawing with my mouse rather than deal with it. It gathered dust and then became obsolete as my computer upgraded and my Wacom tablet sat on the shelf.

As the years went by I didn’t take the time to see what the world of digital drawing was doing. I started following a few artists who were using tablets again and it was clear the technology was kicking ass. I learned about the Procreate app and other drawing tools and decided that I’d save up for an Apple Pencil and Procreate so I could give them a try. Then my husband informed me that the my iPad was too old to work with the Apple Pencil. That $200 goal was now closer to $1000. Deflated is the best word to describe how I felt. I couldn’t justify spending that much money on this new tool when I really had no idea how much I would really use it. I put it off to a “someday” thing.

Lo and behold, my husband surprised me with an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil for Christmas last year. This was a big deal because we don’t exchange gifts at Christmas; a deal we made with each other a long time ago.

It has been SO much fun to play with these! I watched a few videos on Skillshare to get myself started on Procreate and it’s been a fun program to learn. I’m nowhere close to feeling like any kind of pro, but it’s been a blast to figure out. I love that I can work in layers and build a simple, rough sketch up to a finished drawing or digital painting. I can layer in photo reference too.

The first thing I did was a self-portrait to commemorate my taekwondo black belt test later this year. It resides on the cover of my black belt binder (where I keep study materials and essays). I’m currently working on a portrait of a friend next.

Thanks to a few artists I follow on Instagram, I downloaded the Amaziograph app next. It’s an app for drawing tesselations and mandalas. It’s like therapy and meditation on an iPad. I’ll sit for an hour or more drawing mandalas and then coloring them. I’ll paint colored shapes and then draw a mandala on top in white. It’s mesmerizing to use and even my kids enjoy using it. For them it helps build fine motor skills too.

I learned quickly that I don’t like to draw when I can’t rest my hand on the iPad. A quick search on Amazon revealed these two-finger gloves designed to work with digital drawing. They work with either a left or right hand and they work like a charm. My iPad doesn’t register the palm of my hand when I’m drawing; just the pencil or my fingertips.

So this month’s POTM was more a group of products than a single product. They are tools that I am slowly adding to my repertoire and thoroughly enjoying along the way.

• iPad Pro 11 inch

• Apple Pencil

• iPad Pro Case

• Palm Rejection Gloves

• Procreate App

• Amaziograph App

• Skillshare

What are some other apps that are super fun to use with an Apple Pencil?? Share in the comments.

Kula Cloth Design Contest - 2021

I entered a new painting into the Kula Cloth Design Contest this week. They are running their second annual contest and the grand prize winner gets $1250 and their artwork on a Kula Cloth to be sold for the whole world to purchase. The 15 designs with the most votes will get 2 Kulas with their artwork on them. I would honestly be stoked to make the top 15. Click HERE to vote!

What is a Kula Cloth? It’s one of the best inventions for people who squat or use a funnel to pee. It’s a washable, reusable, antimicrobial pee cloth for when nature calls when you’re camping, on a the trail, or out where there isn’t a toilet. Heck, even if there IS a toilet, there isn’t always toilet paper, is there? Use your Kula as a pee cloth and you don’t have to worry about packing toilet paper in and out. Clip it to your pack to dry and it’s good to be used again or washed. The fabric dries quickly too.

Image by Zion Adventure Photo - Me hiking with my Kula Cloth

I have had Colonnade Arch, aka Five Hole Arch, on my radar and I just hadn’t painted it yet. It lies close to the Green River kinda near Moab, UT on BLM land. I thought the layout and composition would work great for a diamond shape, so off I went.

Such a beautiful spot to watch a sunrise; which is the vibe I was going for here. I call this one “Windows.”

This is an approximation on what my Kula might look like. I think the corners will be more rounded.

Everyone can only vote one time, but you can vote for as many designs as you’d like. There is some really beautiful artwork on there, Click HERE to vote!

Product of the Month - March 2021 - Ring Light & Phone Clip

I use so many different products with my work, I decided to start featuring a product each month and see how long I can keep it up. This post contains affiliate links. Shopping through them earns me a few cents and it is very much appreciated.

Last March, when my kids convinced me to start making time lapse videos of my watercolor paintings, I ordered this ring light and phone clip thingie from Amazon. I’m fairly certain my iPhone was listening in on my conversation with my kids because one popped up as a sponsored ad on Instagram later that day…. because that’s not at all creepy.

This thing has turned out to be really, really useful. The clip is decently strong to grip the edge of a table or a shelf and hold my iPhone 11 with very little sagging.

The ring light can be adjusted to be super bright or a couple of steps dimmer and I can even adjust the color of the light if I need a warmer or cooler light. I often use just the light when joining conference calls or job interviews via Zoom. The ring itself isn’t large enough to get that neat reflection in people’s eyes, but it does a great job lighting my desk for when I’m painting.

This device came with a little remote control that can link to an iPhone or Android phone. I’m sure it would come in handy if I ever plan to use my clip to make videos where I’m physically in the shots.

For a tool that was only $20, this has been perfect for my current needs. But I know that someday, if I want to continue making videos of my paintings, I will want something sturdier that can get a true, overhead view. For now though, this clip works great for what I need.

Babylon Arch & Lower Calf Creek Falls Watercolors

A few months back I finished these two paintings of Babylon Arch and Lower Calf Creek Falls. Both of these beautiful spots are in southern Utah and they are seriously two my all-time favorite hikes in Utah.

Babylon Arch is near Hurricane, UT and is part of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. It’s a beautiful hike through some little canyons and you get a beautiful view of the Virgin River before descending a sandy slope to the arch. Late afternoon is a wonderful time to go for some really amazing light.

If you’d like to purchase a sticker of this artwork, click here!

Lower Calf Creek Falls is in southern Utah too, but closer to Boulder and Bryce Canyon National Park. As the crow flies, it’s about halfway between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks. It’s a really wonderful hike through a small canyon and along a creek. There are sections that are loose sand, and the hike is a bit long for kids at about 6.5 miles roundtrip. But the waterfall at the end is so worth it! You can even find thousand-year-old pictographs on a canyon wall. In the summer I bet it’s very hot, but you can swim in the icy water. We hiked in early April, so it was warm enough to enjoy the water on our tired feet, but still cool enough to not be miserable.

If you’d like to purchase a sticker of this artwork, click here!

My kids informed me that my time lapse videos are too short to gain many viewers or subscribers on YouTube, so I combined both of these paintings into one. They can stop giving me crap now.

Materials (many of these are affiliate links):

Daniel Smith Watercolor
Trekell Watercolor Brushes
daVinci Travel Watercolor Brushes
Pocket Palette (x2)
Grumbacher Miskit Masking Fluid
Fluid Cold Press Watercolor Paper
Phone Holder/Ring Light Thingie (quite handy!)

Have any of you been to one or both of these beautiful spots??

Sundial Peak Watercolor

I have been struggling to have the motivation to paint the last month or two. I really want to make more paintings that I can turn into stickers and maybe even sell as prints, but motivation just hasn’t been there. My kids are back to attending school in-person too, so it’s not like I don’t have the time. Sometimes it’s kind of like exercise: when I don’t feel like doing it, if I force myself, I feel so much better afterward and feel glad that I pushed myself.

This was my mood the other night, so I made myself a mug of hot tea, put some Star Trek: Discovery on my iPad and set to work on a new painting. I wanted to do another starry night sky, so I chose a mountain that is relatively close to home rather than a spot in southern Utah: Sundial Peak and Lake Blanche. Lake Blanche is in Big Cottonwood Canyon and it’s a hike I really want to do this year. It’s more challenging than ones we’ve done before, so I haven’t been able to go with my kids. I have heard that we can backpack up there too, so I’m going to try and convince my oldest to go backpacking with me up there. The promise of a lake with fish should be enough.

By the way, I bought myself a second Pocket Palette so I can keep my warm and cool colors separate and I am loving it!

I chose not to go over this one with black ink. I felt it really didn’t need it. I also need to stop using blue painter’s tape and get some proper masking tape. I keep having issues with the tape tearing the paper. I’m betting thicker paper may help too.

I don’t know if I will turn this one into a sticker. I like how it turned out, but there are a few tweaks I’d like to make to the colors before I will be happy with making it a sticker. Plus, it’s part of National Forest land, not sure my “I heart public lands” verbiage really works. Should I do something else? Maybe a short quote about wilderness or exploration? I will have to think on it for a bit.

In the meantime, here’s a time lapse of how I made this painting:

By the way, are you following my YouTube channel? If not, here’s the link. My kids keep telling me I need to post more, so I’m working on that. The fact that I have no formal video-editing skills is quite apparent.

Here are the materials I used for this painting (many of these are affiliate links):

Daniel Smith Watercolor
Trekell Watercolor Brushes
daVinci Travel Watercolor Brushes
Pocket Palette (x2)
Grumbacher Miskit Masking Fluid
Fluid Cold Press Watercolor Paper
Phone Holder/Ring Light Thingie (quite handy!)

I never regret forcing myself to paint… but occasionally, I start a painting and never finish. I have a painting started on my desk right now, and I’m not sure if I will finish it. I want to do two more paintings on Utah’s public lands and then I will offer a deal on buying the whole set of stickers. I need to get that finished.

Any suggestions on beautiful spots you’d like to see painted?? I have some ideas saved, but I would love to hear more; even from spots that are not in Utah!

Printable Calendars on Etsy

I have had these printable wall calendars in my Etsy shop for more than a few years. I just added a handful of new ones and I wanted to share. Here’s a link to my Etsy shop.

These are a fairly simple and really useful concept:

• Print the calendar page at a local print shop at 16x20 inches (Office Depot, Staples, etc. You can order online or take the file to a store on a flash drive. Some will accept files via email.)

• Insert it into a 16x20 inch ready-made picture frame and the glass becomes your dry erase board.

• Write in the month, days, and your family’s activities and appointments for the month.

• If you have the wall space and need to have two (ore more) months up at a time, print as many as you need.

I have two 11x14 inch calendar frames hanging on the wall in my office and they’re really handy for me to see what the coming weeks have in store for us. 11x14 is all I have wall space for right now, but I am hoping to be able to go up to 16x20 in my next home office. Fingers crossed!

Pro Tip: Use Command Strips to hang these on the wall (yep, that’s an affiliate link). They make pulling these frames down to write on easier to do each month and no holes in the wall. It’s easier for me to write on these when I can put them on a table and Command Strips totally make that easier.

I also keep track using the calendar on my phone, but I’m a very visual person, so having months visible on the wall makes it easier for me. It also makes it easy for my husband and my kids to see what family or school events and appointments are coming up.

These DIY calendars are very simple with a space at the top to add in the month and information in all of the date squares. Ultra-fine tip dry erase markers work the best, but regular fine-tip pens will work as well.

I can customize the name at the top to say pretty much anything; whether it’s just your family name or something different like “The Hollises Craziness,” “The Murray Clan,” or “The Gonzalez House.” I have even made one that says “Girl’s Office” or even a company name. Other fun ones to consider, if it works for your family: brood, flock, clan, dynasty, and progeny. Since my married name is Wong, my husband and I would totally go punny and say “The Wong House.”

If you would like to skip the fun, family name at the top, you can always opt for just a few lines and space to write any notes at the top like the ones on my wall.

Clicking on any of these images will take you to its listing on Etsy.

If you’re interested in customizing a wall calendar with different fonts, adding colors, or going with a different size, shoot me an email and we can talk details.

Product of the Month - February 2021 - Daniel Smith Watercolors

I get to use a wide variety or products with my work, and I wanted to share what I use and love. This month I’m featuring my favorite watercolor paints: Daniel Smith Watercolor Paint.

There are affiliate links in this post. Shopping though these links means Amazon gives me a little percentage and it helps support my small business.

I’ve used a big variety of brands of paint, whether it’s been watercolor, oils, acrylic, or gouache. Watercolor is my favorite right now for it’s ease when traveling and I don’t have to worry about wasting any paint when it dries. When I was a poor, college student, I only ever bought the cheapest, student-grade paints; it didn’t matter the brand. It was hard to justify spending more on the higher quality brands when money was tight and I had no idea where my degree was going to take me. Instructors taught us why the more-expensive brands were better, but that didn’t really get through to my 24yo brain and wallet.

It wasn’t until I was much older and able to justify spending more on paint that I finally got it. These paints are sooooooo nice and they have so much more pigment in them than any of the student-grade brands I used in the past. I feel like I end up using less paint overall with each painting simply because there is more pigment and the quality is better.

I see a similar correlation when I look at inexpensive eye shadows from drugstores and compare them to the higher-end brands like Benefit, Smashbox, and Urban Decay. There is so much more pigment in the nicer brands and you end up using a lot less of the product overall because there are less fillers.

Daniel Smith has been my favorite in quality and variety of colors. I started out with a starter set and it’s been all downhill from there when it comes to brand loyalty. I KNOW there are other brands out there, but the old lady in my just knows I’ll be happy with one brand.

I’m considering getting back into oils and will look at stepping away from the student-grade paints, but I’m not quite there yet… unsure if I will stick with them. Maybe when it’s warm enough to open my windows?

I’m in love with the quality of these paints, but if you have a favorite brand I should try, leave me a comment.

Valentine's Day 2021

We’re still dealing with a pandemic and I fully expected our kids’ teachers to send emails asking us not to send valentines to school next week. Our 1st grade teacher actually did, and then rescinded and laid out plans to have us send valentines to school ahead of time and kids will do lots of hand-washing before valentines are exchanged.

My 5th grader informed me that this will be his LAST year exchanging valentines at school because in 6th grade, middle schoolers don’t do valentines anymore (insert eyeroll).

Since we spent the first half of the school year attending school virtually, it became apparent how valuable dry erase makers are in our classrooms. Dry erase markers are used every day in both my kids’ classes to reduce the amount of paper used and hopefully reduce the number of high-touch spaces. Caps get lost and markers dry out, they are played with, and our teachers end up going through Expo markers like water.

We wanted to do another year of candy-free and non-edible valentines, so it was fitting for us to give Expo markers this year and we brainstormed a bunch of fun, punny sayings to put on them.

To save time, instead of drawing my kids’ faces, I created cartoons using a free Photoshop Action Set. The drawings we used on last year’s valentines are now more than two years old and my kids’ hairstyles have changed a lot, it was time for something new.

Expo markers came in packs of 18 at Sam’s Club, so I bought four packs and bagged up the extras into Ziplock bags for both teachers with their own cards.

Supplies & Cost Breakdown:

• 4 packs of 18 Expo Markers - $54.96 @ Sam’s Club. I think they were cheaper at Costco, but my local store was out.

• 1 roll double-sided tape (I considered picking up washi tape, but decided to save a few bucks)

• 15 sheets of card stock

• paper cutter

• computer and printer - I used the free Toon Artist Photoshop Action from Adobe to turn my kids into cartoons. Then I created the heart pattern, added text, and put it all together in Illustrator.

I already had all of the supplies listed except for the markers, so the cost came out to $.94 per valentine. It probably would’ve been cheaper if my Costco had these markers in stock, online lists them at 18 for $10.99. A pack of 36 markers is currently $21.27 on Amazon, or a box of 12 for $7.95, but I didn’t want to wait for shipping. I probably used a few bucks in printer ink, but I use HP’s Instant Ink program, so I have no idea how much that ended up being.

These were definitely more than I would have liked to spend on valentines, but they turned out cute and heck, next year we’ll only be making them for ONE class.

And in true reMARKably average parenting fashion, these were done a full week early because I got my weeks mixed up and thought their Valentine’s Day parties were THIS Thursday instead of next Thursday. In the end, I didn’t really need to save time and I could’ve ordered Expo markers from Amazon. I’m going to bed now.