Deborah Velásquez

Monday, February 13, 2012

Sharing a Warm up Exercise

I have always tried to make art everyday, it can just be a doodle. I have an exercise I do in the morning, it only takes seconds and at times it may be all the time I have. I take a sheet of paper and put the pen down once to make a continuous line of scribbles/doodles never picking up the pen till the page is significantly covered with creative marks. Voilà! Your first masterpiece of the day! I keep these in a sketch and turn to them for design inspiration. Many can be a base for a lovely surface pattern design, have a go!

Pieces from the One Liners Collection©

Thank you for stopping by!

Please do not use anything without permission or without making note of the origin on your blog or website

Friday, February 10, 2012

Word Paths • Love Repeats Itself

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Everyone has a word path. One word leads to another.

Word Paths, a Friday feature showcasing possibilities in written words, creative process and artistic pieces.

My goal is to present three to five words or three to five lines.

I may go to seven words or seven lines but probably not often, only if needed.

I plan to work the Word Paths out artistically and process them to share with you here.

You can go here, to my first post on this project and see how it all started.

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As Valentine's Day approaches I wanted to send a bit love your way.
Happy Love Day!

Here is my word path for today

Happy Weekend • Show Your Love • Enjoy the Language of Words

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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Pretty as a Peacock

In a previous post called Birds as a Motif I shared some rough sketches of peacock motifs on butcher paper. I promised to show my progress and here it is. I loved having a large drawing to work with as my base. Inspired to try to mix hand drawn art with coloring options on the computer, I created and finished the Colorful Peacock.

Thank you for stopping by!

Please do not use anything without permission or without making note of the origin on your blog or website

Friday, February 3, 2012

Word Paths • Coffee, One Good Cup Deserves Another

Everyone has a word path. One word leads to another.

Word Paths, a Friday feature showcasing possibilities in written words, creative process and artistic pieces.

My goal is to present three to five words or three to five lines.

I may go to seven words or seven lines but probably not often, only if needed.

I plan to work the Word Paths out artistically and process them to share with you here.
You can go here, to my first post on this project and see how it all started.

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Sometimes one cup is not enough hence the repost of this coffee print. A very popular piece here in the US. I am thrilled to share that an original print from this series is on its way to Gemany. This is such a great happening for me! I thought I would revisit "Coffee is Always a Good Idea" which I created early on when I first entered blogland. What a great feeling to know your work has appeal overseas. For an artist there is a great value to blogging, connecting and Etsy. This blog has given me much opportunity in the way of connection and exposure and for that I am grateful. I am into my sixth month of blogging with my one hundreth post coming up soon. I am glad to have this space to share my work. You can find the original post here.

Just like one word leads to another in making a Word Path, one piece of work inspires another. I paid homage to my tea drinking friends with "There is Always Time for Tea". Have a look here.

Here is My Word Path for Today

Ink and coffee on Paper.

Sometimes one cup is not enough. Whether you are a tall, a grande, a venti, one sugar, no sugar, a cappaciuno, or an expresso, enjoy a second cup and curl up with a few good magazines. Now that is what I call heaven!

Thank you for stopping by!
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Happy Weekend • Have a Second Cup • Enjoy the Language of Words

Please do not use anything without permission or without making note of the origin on your blog or website

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Flowers, What is in a Name?

The weather has been so Spring like here that I have been thinking about the garden and about flowers. I sat for a bit and flipped through some books and some catalogues. I came a across a sweet little book I thought I would share with you. It contains

one hundred stories of myth and legend to enjoy. 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names written by Diana Wells and illustrated by Ippy Patterson has fun and interesting bits about your favorite friends in the garden. The book offers two hundred plus pages of lovely illustrations, stories, folk beliefs, facts and lore. If you are interested in not only flowers but roots as well this is a fun book. It makes a great gift for any gardener. As a gardener myself it is always fun to have something besides the "how to" books in the gardening book collection.

In this book you will find out that Empress Josephine, Napoleon's wife used the Rose to hide her teeth when she laughed.
Another fun fact is that The Acanthus leaves inspired ornamentation in Ancient Greek architecture. As an artist I truly enjoy the inspiration nature provides. I am crazy about flowers not just in my garden but in my artwork as well.

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.
It will never fail you.-Frank Lloyd Wright(1869-1959)

Botanical Name: Echinacea Purpurea

I have an affinity for the Echinacea flower also known as the coneflower and snake root.

One of my favorite flowers to draw, paint and grow. Various species of Echinacea were used to treat poisonous insect and snake bites, toothaches, sore throat, wounds, as well as mumps, smallpox, and measles by the Plains Indians.

Echinacea is the best known as an herb for stimulating the immune system.

Echinacea is a genus of nine species of flowering plants all native to eastern North America.

Drought-tolerant perennial plants which can grow up to six feet tall. The most

common types are Echinacea Purpurea and Echinacea Angustifolia.

The nine species of Echinacea are:

▪ Echinacea angustifolia - Narrow-leaf Coneflower

▪ Echinacea atrorubens - Topeka Purple Coneflower

▪ Echinacea laevigata - Smooth Coneflower, Smooth Purple Coneflower

▪ Echinacea pallida - Pale Purple Coneflower

▪ Echinacea paradoxa - Yellow Coneflower, Bush’s Purple Coneflower

▪ Echinacea purpurea - Purple Coneflower, Eastern Purple Coneflower

▪ Echinacea sanguinea - Sanguin Purple Coneflower

▪ Echinacea simulata - Wavyleaf Purple Coneflower

▪ Echinacea tennesseensis - Tennessee Coneflower

Can't wait to paint them all! Thank you for stopping by!

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Color Challenge • Want to Dance?

let's tango by Velásquez©2012

The Color Challenge has begun! Today we post our creations inspired by Tangerine Tango and or variations thereof.
What a treat this is because orange is one of my favorite colors, I blogged about it in a previous post, here. Orange so vibrant, alive, happy and "hot" at the same time. The color invites you to dance! I had so many ideas but I couldn't get the word "tango" out of my head. I love words and typography as you can tell from my blog so, I had fun with type.
Almost looks like a CD cover, a nice happy accident.
Louise Gale, a fellow blogger, artist and life coach, has a color challenge on her blog which she started in August of 2010. At the first of the every month a color is given and you are challenged to create something using the color and others from the palette. You have until the 28th of the month to complete your project. Join the challenge, here, it is going to be fun. Make sure to visit the other artists who are participating in the challenge at Louis Gale's website.

Thank you for stopping by!

Please do not use anything without permission or without making note of the origin on your blog or website