Channeling Sam Cannon

While looking for something else I discovered Sam Cannon’s artwork and fell in love with his imagery and calligraphy. His eloquently realized animals, with beautifully hand-lettered quotations, spoke to a desire in me to do likewise. His tiny Petal Paper originals were particularly appealing.

When I looked into channeling his style I found I was fresh out of Petal Paper, so I just made my own version by wetting watercolor paper and painting  loose leaves and flowers.

Using these backgrounds as inspiration, I added figures and quotes that particularly resonated with me, keeping faithfully to Sam Cannon’s style.

As the paintings developed I added more leaves, flowers and stems around the figures and calligraphy, making the most of my watercolors.

I love the distinctive Sam Cannon ‘font’ and line arrangement. I experimented with different tools for the calligraphy.

I tried a more traditional opaque gouache approach with the dip pen on brown paper for this garden painting.

My favorite Thoreau quote is painted with white ink and a brush on the woodpile. These chilly chickadees are drawn from the flocks right outside my window here in Vermont.

I am using Schminke Aqua Bronze Rich Gold and Silver gouache to paint the metallic accents.

I learn by copying and experimenting and evolving. I hope to keep moving ever further from copying Sam and more into being entirely me.

As always, you can find my work for sale at my Etsy shop.

 

There’s a Fungus Amungus

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There are mushrooms EVERYWHERE! Days of rain here in northern New England have produced a sprouting, thrusting crop of fungus, some of them edible and choice.

Though I haven’t spotted any Chanterelles, like the ones Pumpkin is picking.

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The shapes and colors of mushrooms make them fun to draw and paint. I have probably drawn them my whole life.

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Lately I’ve been imagining them as tiny, secret houses.

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You can own your own, hand painted mushroom cottage here.

Happy Hunting!

Into the Woods

When the going gets tough, the sensitive go into the woods…

and stoop down, look closely, listen to birds and the wind and pretend there isn’t a madman in the white house/a refugee crisis/global weirding/or white supremacist trolls…

I’ll see you there…

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Making a Fairy Card

Every summer I make many ‘copies’ of one Cottage Card to send to close friends.  I am lucky to have a lot of friends, so I make a LOT of cards.

I usually keep the prototype here in my cabin in Vermont. So far, there are 12 of them. The Fairy Card started like this, but a square image is harder to mail, so it morphed into a rectangle.

I begin with a sheet of watercolor paper, grid it with masking tape and draw the design on each card.

Then I use classic assembly line techniques, pioneered by Henry Ford. Of course, there is a huge difference since I fill all the positions on the assembly line!

I start adding color, working on all the cards sequentially. No two are alike, but the palette is consistent.

This is a group of brunette fairies.

And they are all pleased to be bathing in an upturned mushroom cap.

And to fly around with rainbow wings.