I had a moment recently to return to the basics of my love for art. I was traveling to see my sister, so I packed a sketchbook and a few pencils and pens just as we had always done when we were kids, bringing our sketchbooks on every journey, on every outing, in every backpack.
I drew my favorite things in my favorite way: starting with a fine pencil, I drew an eye, and then I imagined from there the magical being who was looking out of it until a picture took shape in a pure mind-to-paper flow. Here was my first drawing of the trip, in pencil on the left, and on the right, inked with pencil erased:
Sometimes a picture seems to want to stay simple, an ink entity of flowing lines. But sometimes it seems to shout “color me!” So with this next one I did:
My sister and I really enjoyed our visit to St. Helena, CA, for my 40th birthday! I got the delightful little “Wanderlust and Wildflowers” pencil set (above) at the Napa Valley Vintage Home shop. (But our matching shirts shown below are even more special – they were designed and made by my sister! See her sewing art here: https://instagram.com/Sarah.Maries.Sewing.School)
Back to the drawings! With my fairy folk, I of course needed a unicorn and a dragon:
And then, when I arrived home, what I needed to do was share! My daughter loved the pictures and asked to color them in!
Would you like to add some color, too? The drawings I made on my trip can be downloaded for printing here. I’d love to see the colors you choose! Email them to me at CSchneiderAuthorIllustrator@gmail.com and I’ll add them to this post!
Carrie Schneider Author/Illustrator 