butterflies

Summer Weekend Adventures

| terriaw

Weekends are never long enough, especially in summer.

Spending a long holiday weekend at my parents’ house on Lake Michigan is always full of adventures, from kayaking to hiking. This time we also hiked The Ridges and the Mink River Trail.

Exploring the variety of flora is a fun treasure hunt throughout the seasons.

Noticing the wildlife is an exciting outdoor activity too, finding birds, wildlife and insects.

Some critters are hard to capture with the camera, like this pileated woodpecker, and other critters are fun to watch their shenanigans, like these cute little red squirrels chomping on cones right outside our kitchen door.

And of course, there are many varieties of butterflies and dragonflies to follow. I’ve never seen this particular 12-Spotted skimmer dragonfly before. I had fun following a tiger swallowtail and a few monarchs too.

I always cherish these weekend getaways and wish I could stay longer. I’m already looking forward to the next one! Cheers to more summer weekend adventures!

Animal Art Series: July Wildflowers + Pollinators

| terriaw

In order to continue my mission to draw all the time and fill up more sketchbooks in 2016, I’ve been busy working on a new theme of drawings each week. At the end of the week, it’s nice to have lots of new drawings and a full page illustration. And I’m learning how to draw so many new things this year, which is really exciting!

I finished some fun illustrations in July for my animal art series. My theme was Wildflowers + Pollinators, so I tried a variety of wildflowers, butterflies, bees, ants and birds.

animal art sketchbook wildflowers and pollinatorsOne of my good friends took a few pictures of me while working on some of these pages, which I thought might be fun to share.

painting in my sketchbook

Can’t wait to turn these sketchbook page into fun new digital art! Happy drawing!

Terri

Click here to see my Weeks 1-16 illustrations, ranging from bears to owls to whales to saltwater fish

Click here to see Weeks 17-20: Backyard Birds, Flamingos, Peacock and Macaws

Click here to see Weeks 21-25: Bugs: Neon Insects, Monarch Butterflies, Butterflies, Neon Spiders, and Moths

Click here to see Week 26: Nature is new every morning.

Click here to see Week 27: Wildflowers and Pollinators: Butterflies

Click here to see Week 28: Roadside Wildflowers and Pollinators

Click here to see Week 29: Wildflowers + Hummingbirds

Click here to see Week 30: Sunflowers + Pollinators

Week 30 Animal Art Series: Sunflowers + Pollinators

| terriaw

In order to continue my mission to draw all the time and fill up more sketchbooks in 2016, I’ve been busy working on a new theme of drawings each week. At the end of the week, it’s nice to have lots of new drawings and a full page illustration. And I’m learning how to draw so many new things this year, which is really exciting!

My theme for July is wildflowers and pollinators, so week 30 in my animal art series features sunflowers and pollinators.

animal art sketchbook sunflowers and pollinators

I challenged myself again to do the illustrations with just watercolors and my tiny paintbrushes, no Micron black pens. I love doing illustrations this way but I do love and miss working with my black pens.

Can’t wait to turn this playful sketchbook page into fun new digital art! Happy drawing!

Terri

Click here to see my Weeks 1-16 illustrations, ranging from bears to owls to whales to saltwater fish

Click here to see Weeks 17-20: Backyard Birds, Flamingos, Peacock and Macaws

Click here to see Weeks 21-25: Bugs: Neon Insects, Monarch Butterflies, Butterflies, Neon Spiders, and Moths

Click here to see Week 26: Nature is new every morning.

Click here to see Week 27: Wildflowers and Pollinators: Butterflies

Click here to see Week 28: Roadside Wildflowers and Pollinators

Click here to see Week 29: Wildflowers + Hummingbirds

Week 28 Animal Art Series: Roadside Wildflowers and Pollinators

| terriaw

In order to continue my mission to draw all the time and fill up more sketchbooks in 2016, I’ve been busy working on a new theme of drawings each week. At the end of the week, it’s nice to have lots of new drawings and a full page illustration. And I’m learning how to draw so many new things this year, which is really exciting!

My theme for July is wildflowers and pollinators, so week 28 in my animal art series features butterflies and bees and all the wildflowers I’m seeing on the roadside these dog days of summer.

week 28 roadside wildflowersI thought it might be fun to share my process with you this week. The first step for me is to lightly pencil in the composition. I’m still a tentative drawer so I like to be able to erase and change my mind. I tend to leave the pencil marks and let them show through the watercolors later, using them to subtly show details and shading.
 week 28 drawing in progress

My next step is to start laying down watercolors. I usually start with all over background colors, and then go back in later and add the details and highlights. This time I got caught up in the little details so it took me longer to finish this page.
 week 28 painting in progress

I challenged myself again to do the illustrations with just watercolors and my tiny paintbrushes, no Micron black pens. I love doing illustrations this way but I do love and miss working with my black pens.

Can’t wait to turn this playful sketchbook page into fun new digital art! Happy drawing!

Terri

Click here to see my Weeks 1-16 illustrations, ranging from bears to owls to whales to saltwater fish

Click here to see Weeks 17-20: Backyard Birds, Flamingos, Peacock and Macaws

Click here to see Weeks 21-25: Bugs: Neon Insects, Monarch Butterflies, Butterflies, Neon Spiders, and Moths

Click here to see Week 26: Nature is new every morning.

Click here to see Week 27: Wildflowers and Pollinators: Butterflies

Week 27 Animal Art Series: Wildflowers and Pollinators

| terriaw

In order to continue my mission to draw all the time and fill up more sketchbooks in 2016, I’m working on a new weekly theme to do daily drawings, while experimenting with watercolor. At the end of each week, it’s nice to have lots of new drawings and a full page illustration.

My theme for July is wildflowers and pollinators, so week 27 in my animal art series features a few butterflies I haven’t illustrated yet (there are so many!). For this page, I challenged myself again to do the illustrations with just watercolors and my tiny paintbrushes, no Micron black pens. Some of the pencil lines show through, which adds to the shading.

week 27 wildflowers and pollinators

Can’t wait to turn this playful sketchbook page into fun new digital art! Happy drawing!

Terri

Click here to see my Weeks 1-16 illustrations, ranging from bears to owls to whales to saltwater fish

Click here to see Weeks 17-20: Backyard Birds, Flamingos, Peacock and Macaws

Click here to see Weeks 21-25: Bugs: Neon Insects, Monarch Butterflies, Butterflies, Neon Spiders, and Moths

Click here to see Week 26: Nature is new every morning.

Week 26 Animal Art Series: Nature

| terriaw

In order to continue my mission to draw all the time and fill up more sketchbooks in 2016, I’m working on a new weekly theme to do daily drawings, while experimenting with watercolor. At the end of each week, it’s nice to have lots of new drawings and a full page illustration.

Week 26 in my animal art series features a hand-lettered saying “Nature is new every morning” and a bouquet of wildflowers and butterflies. I’m so excited about this page because it’s the last page in my sketchbook AND it marks the halfway point in my 2016 animal art series!

week 26 animal art nature

Can’t wait to turn this playful sketchbook page into fun new digital art! I think it will make a great are print or postcard. Happy drawing!

Terri

Click here to see my Weeks 1-16 illustrations, ranging from bears to owls to whales to saltwater fish

Click here to see Weeks 17-20: Backyard Birds, Flamingos, Peacock and Macaws

Click here to see Weeks 21-25: Bugs: Neon Insects, Monarch Butterflies, Butterflies, Neon Spiders, and Moths

Animal Art Series: Bugs for June

| terriaw

In order to continue my mission to draw all the time and fill up more sketchbooks in 2016, I’m working on a new weekly theme to do daily drawings, while experimenting with watercolor. At the end of each week, it’s nice to have lots of new drawings and a full page illustration.

I finished some fun illustrations in June for my animal art series.

June animal art series

Can’t wait to turn these sketchbook page into fun new digital art! Happy drawing!

Terri

Click here to see my Weeks 1-16 illustrations, ranging from bears to owls to whales to saltwater fish

Click here to see Weeks 17-20: Backyard Birds, Flamingos, Peacock and Macaws

Click here to see Week 21: Neon Insects

Click here to see Week 22: Monarch Butterflies

Click here to see Week 23: Butterflies

Click here to see Week 24: Neon Spiders

Click here to see Week 25: Moths

Week 23 Animal Art Series: Butterflies

| terriaw

In order to continue my mission to draw all the time and fill up more sketchbooks in 2016, I’m working on a new weekly theme to do daily drawings, while experimenting with watercolor. At the end of each week, it’s nice to have lots of new drawings and a full page illustration.

I finished my sketchbook page for week 23 in my animal art series with Butterflies. 

week 23 animal art butterfliesThere are so many butterflies in the world; I could draw them all month.

Can’t wait to turn this playful sketchbook page into fun new digital art! Happy drawing!

Terri

Click here to see my Weeks 1-16 illustrations, ranging from bears to owls to whales to saltwater fish

Click here to see Weeks 17-20: Backyard Birds, Flamingos, Peacock and Macaws

Click here to see Week 21: Neon Insects

Click here to see Week 22: Monarch Butterflies

Saturday Adventures: Botanical Gardens

| terriaw

On Saturdays, we’re always trying to think of something fun to do that’s outside our neighborhood. Sometimes, we go to the farmers market. Other times, we go downtown for a slice of pizza and a dose of people-watching. Sometimes, in Fall, we hit the hiking trails.

This Saturday we went to the Blooming Butterflies exhibit at the botanical gardens. We saw a nice variety of free-flying butterflies in the conservatory:

Painted Lady butterfly, found in Europe, North Africa, America and Australia. I’ve seen these in our gardens, but they were much darker brown and orange.

painted lady butterfly

Julia butterfly, native from Brazil to southern Texas and Florida.

julia butterfly

Zebra Longwing butterfly, the official butterfly of Florida, also native to South America, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North and South Carolina.

zebra butterfly

Monarch butterfly, the milkweed butterfly, the most known in all of North America, and famous for its migration from central Mexico to Canada and back again.

monarch wings up

monarch wings open

They also have cases of butterfly specimens from all over the world. The most colorful butterflies seemed to be from warm, exotic places.

butterfly and stamp

colorful butterfly

I took as many pictures as I could for drawing reference when my imagination needs a boost. Such a great adventure full of discovery, treasure hunting, nature, and creative inspiration. Thanks for stopping by!

Terri