Sketchbook... Number 2

A week ago, you were introduced to Sketchbook Number One, which was scribbled and drawn and doodled in by an 8 year old me.



And this week.... may I present to you... SKETCHBOOK NUMBER TWO!

Sketchbook number two, meet my lovely (or handsome, as the case may be) blog reader.

Dear blog reader, please meet sketchbook number two.


P.S. Missed sketchbook number one? Find it (and a description of the Sketchbook Tours), right { here } on my blog!

DeviantArt

After being bugged... to death... (in a good way), by multiple friends...

I caved in!

Please visit my DeviantArt page at:


For those who don't know about DeviantArt, it's basically a huge networking website for artists. They can upload artwork, browse the work of thousands of other artists, get feedback, and much more. I'm still trying to get the hang of it, and only have about 15 pieces up artwork uploaded and another couple in the "scrapsbook."

(One thing I'll add-- you probably don't want to browse the site at large via the search box unless you have the "mature content filter" turned on. I prefer to do my random browsing by checking out my friends' "favorites," because they have both good taste and really good morals, lol!)

There's some artwork up on DeviantArt that's brand-new, like this Art Nouveau Mermaid fresh out of my sketchbook!

If YOU have a DeviantArt account, please let me know! I'd love to check out my readers' galleries. :)

The Dragon's Treasure Chest

A red flower necklace-- perhaps brought to life by an Autumn Fairy? Handmade, of course, by moi. :)

Fair maidens dwell in fairytales. So do chivalrous knights, courageous children, evil monsters, magical creatures, and treasure chests. It's a world full of marvels, and once we've come out and returned to the real world, the stories remind us that every real thing is in itself a wonder and a marvel.

This post isn't supposed to be a rambling on the land of Faerie, however. I just wanted to let you know that I have made many new pieces of jewelry!

My last "big batch of jewelry" post was inspired by everything Elvish. This batch comes to you straight out of the dragon's treasure trove. Most were inspired by fairytales!

These jewels all have that touch of whimsy that will bring the sparkle and marvel of the Land of Faerie into the Land of Earth.

Click for bigger images!


Blog readers may be familiar with this design-- it was my first attempt at some extremely complicated wirewrapping techniques. Named the Flower Garden, it was inspired by the sorts of gardens that are so beautiful you expect a fairy or a magical portal to appear!




edit: pink ones sold! I'll be making more!

Pixie Dust earrings! You can't go wrong with swirls of color and sparkling beads. :)

Another wirewrapped necklace. I could just see a mermaid or naiad wearing this... :)

And earrings to match. :) Oh, btw, what do you think about the earrings stand I made?




A royal necklace. Man, am I proud of this. :) Made with copper wire from A Beaded Affair. LOVE the wire. And having too much fun learning how to make filigree style necklaces!


Just another shot of the same necklace. :)

A snowflake set. I was actually inspired to make this after re-watching Tilda Swinton play the White Witch in Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But don't worry. This jewelry set will not turn you into stone!

Another new technique! This filigree beaded necklace is made with copper wire that I carefully twisted and twisted around on a jig. It's surprising how much wire and time it took-- but I think I need to do more like this. It was so much fun to make.

Another Fairy Garden necklace-- only this one is made entirely out of copper and green glass beads.

Some leafy earrings that remind me of Mirkwood from LotR.

A seashell swirl pendant! I think it must have washed up on a beach... perhaps a little peasant boy found it and it started a whole new adventure. (Can you tell that I like making up stories as I work on designing jewelry?)

So this one isn't exactly fairytale-ish. But it's chainmaille and its black and its cool. :)


You can't get more fairytale-ish than a royal circlet... but this headpiece can also be worn as a sparkling headband and would totally not look out of place with a modern outfit.

These silver-plated chainmaille earrings would go equally well with jeans and a t-shirt or a noble gown.

More long and slender Elvish earrings! I've made several of these in all sorts of colors. :) This one is hand-formed silver-plate wire and two deep purple leaf beads. The swirls could pass as music notes, too!


My workbench is full of many more things that still need the final tweaks before I get them uploaded. There should be a new batch coming soon!


Rivendell's Twilight

All of this jewelry is available in my Shoppe as well as being fairytale eye-candy for you today. I hope these designs made you smile!

(And perfect timing, too. Right now it's Christmas in July! The entire store is on a 10% off sale until the last day of July 2011!)


The Evenstar Set.

Christmas in July!

Only 152 days until Christmas!

(Surely I'm not the only one who keeps track? LOL!)

Have a bit of Christmas in July! Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe on Artfire is currently running a 10% of sale!

New in the Shoppe-- Royal Necklace

That's 10% off EVERYTHING in the Shoppe!
(Except Elena's quilts)

Check it out-- there are many more things I have recently uploaded!

But hurry-- the sale is only through the end of July! That's 6 days...

ArtFire - Buy Handmade - Sell Handmade

Also, keep an eye out. I'll be doing a little promotion on one item each day-- you can get up to 25% off, or free shipping, or something along those lines!

A Tour of my Sketchbooks, Part One

During our unpacking process, I found a veritable treasure trove: a cardboard box full of my old sketchbooks!

I know that many of my readers have requested to see more of my artwork, so I got this brilliant idea to share my sketchbooks with you. Yes, you read that correctly.


You get to see every last embarrassing sketch that I have hidden away in the depths of my spiral-bound, bent-paged books.


Now, the sketchbooks are obviously just small samples of the artwork that I did. At first, all of my art went into my sketchbooks-- but I tore out almost everything that turned out decent and gave them to friends and family as gifts. That means that you will only be seeing the not-so-decent drawings!

As I got older and more experienced, I started to do all of my planned works-of-art on separate paper. I also developed a bad habit of drawing on everything from napkins to schoolwork, so many of my sketches never found their way into these books.

And so, my sketchbooks truly are sketchbooks. They aren't glamorous. They are sometimes embarrassing, because I tend to use sketchbooks (rather than journals) to let loose when I am upset. Some of them cover over a year or even longer, reflecting periods when I wasn't focused on art... and others represent mere months. Most are somewhat lame, others positively exciting. :)

But they are my art. They are a part of me. You can see me grow as an artist. You can watch my tastes evolve (although I think that every one of my sketchbooks has at least one drawing of a fairy or princess... some things never change!).

I've been able to locate 9 sketchbooks, and plan on giving you tours on all of them. :) I might even pull out one of my folders full of random artwork.

I found that it would be much, much easier for me to take videos of my sketchbooks, rather than scan each page. As I said in the video, just leave a comment if you would like to see any particular drawing in greater detail. :D

(And excuse the accent at the very beginning. I was being silly!)

Enjoy the peek into my sketchbook!


P.S. Want to see more? As I post each new sketchbook, you will be able to find them on my YouTube channel, or right here on my blog under the label Sketchbook Tour!

P.P.S. I actually finished that sketchbook back in March or April. That's how long it took for the computer to get fixed so I could edit the video!!!