Welcome to the Daily Marker Blog Hop

Hello there, sweet friends, and welcome to your garden-drenched stop on today’s wonderful blog hop!

We are celebrating the Daily Marker’s 10th 30 Day Coloring Challenge, and I am so very happy to be a part of it. Kathy Racoosin is one of the dearest people I know, so giving, sharing, encouraging, talented, and genuinely GOOD. She came up with the idea for this coloring challenge to get us to spend a bit more time doing the thing we all love. Being a huge proponent of taking time for oneself and enjoying the things we love (I call it “Vitamin ME”), I love when Kathy’s challenges come ’round and I too take time to color as much as I can. Why, I’ve been doing just that...

Sitting on the front porch of my home in St. Louis, I’ve been working with a big bouquet of spring flowers from a stamp set that Power Poppy offers in both clear and digital (the clear version is Burst of Kindness, the digital is Spring Meadow Bouquet). I stamped it in a celery green pigment ink (I prefer it to the dye kind for some reason), onto watercolor paper, just in case I decide to add a washy background. But I am indulging in my new 150-color Prismacolor pencil set that I snagged on Amazon and going bananas with the range of shades — I feel like I could swim in them!

That is Tibbs the Corgi peeking up at us. :)

This is still very much a work in progress, my friends. While working with colored pencils, I find that I will hold 4-5 in one hand while I draw with the other, then I might have one or two clenched between my teeth, and the rest in my lap. Not the most ergonomic set up, but it works for me!

Now, this Burst of Kindness bouquet features a number of interesting flowers — I am not one to gravitate towards the most common stuff. I mean, I like a daisy and all, but I really get my kicks drawing (and growing) unique and special plants. Case in point, this group of flowers includes old fashioned Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis), Checkered Lily (Fritillaria meleagris), Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum), and Lilac (Syringa). 

Lilac 'President Lincoln', Summer Snowflake, Bleeding Heart, Checkered Lily, Lilac 'President Lincoln'

When coloring, painting, or drawing, I *always* have reference material handy, whether it’s a stack of gardening books, magazines, catalogs, or my iPad. You simply get a better idea of what you are doing when looking at pictures of actual flowers. You get cues as to what the color values should be, you get ideas as to where the highlights and shadows fall. And you don’t have to feel as though you need to reinvent the wheel as far as color choices, because nature already picked out some incredible ones!

In the case of this bouquet, I chose blue Lilacs, because I think they look cool with the pink Bleeding Hearts and purple-burgundy Checkered Lilies. But get this: Bleeding Hearts also come in white and red, and in various shades of pink, so you can stay true to the plant and still have leeway if you’re trying to do realistic coloring.

Checkered Lilies also come in a white form (Fritillaria meleagris 'Alba') which would be fun to tackle. And Lilacs are not just lilac. Blue, purple, pink, white, and even yellow varieties are out there, so you can really have some fun. In fact, here’s a card made by Katie Sims showing a diverse palette, and where she made the Checked Lilies orange — such an awesome idea.

Just Google the names of the plants, click on the “images” tab under search results, and the world is your color palette oyster.

A little close up of my Burst of Kindness process. I feel that my Checkered Lilies are getting a little dark, so I might have to go back in with white gouache paint to lighten them up! Still a newbie with the colored pencils, but having such a blast. I will update this post later in the day, as I'm going to keep on coloring after I hit “Publish”. 

*** SPECIAL SALE ***

Burst of Kindness clear - $12.99 - save $5

 Spring Meadow Bouquet digital - $2.99 - save $3

Grab these for yourself and show me whatcha got!

Sale price ends Saturday, June 9.

Post your images on Instagram (use hashtag #thedailymarker30day in your post) or share a link with me here in the comments. I always, always love to see your interpretations and coloring adventures.

AND NOW, let’s keep rolling with the blog hop, there is so much inspiration to see today...

The Daily Marker

Altenew

Concord & 9th

Creative Chick

Gina K Designs

Hero Arts

Honey Bee Stamps

Jennifer McGuire

Kristina Werner

Lawn Fawn

Lime Doodle Design

Mama Elephant

Neat & Tangled  

Paper Smooches

Power Poppy >> you are here!

Simon says Stamp  

Stamping Bella

Stampin Libby

Understand Blue  

Waffle Flower

Wplus9

Thank you for coming by! I’m gonna get another cup of coffee and dive back in to my bouquet... enjoy this gorgeous day.