I forgot how to cut holes in things and use the gradient tool – but it didn’t take long to figure it out again. I may use this as part of a larger piece later.
Monstera leaf
Tag: Inkscape
Aspens
I think this is the final but I may add more tiny branches and some detail in the far background.
Night forest and landscape painting
I have several uncompleted works now. I’ve joined some friends to try to learn oil painting – something I’ve never done before. I’ve hardly handled paints at all. But since the oil painting takes so long to work on and I only try once or twice per week, I’ve been sketching, and now putting some inkscape art together. Here’s what I’ve got.
Oil Painting – Week 1 
Oil Painting – Week 3 
Pencil sketch of original 
pencil doodles 
doodle tree 
Blackberries
I spent a surprisingly long time arranging the berries. I may still go back and add the little hairs to them and possibly a shadow. It may not be noticeable, but each berry is a slightly different color because I wanted to make it clear that they were distinct even when they were on top of each other like this.
The hardest part of the thorns was getting the lighter color to run down the middle. I’m still not 100% happy with it, but after spending hours trying to fiddle with ‘mesh gradient’ until I gave up, I’m going to call this good enough for now.
Edit: here’s my soap label made from the above images.
Inkscape Marbles
I followed an online tutorial to make this. I’ve got a few Inkscape images I’m working on, but this one is the one that’s complete right now and it was fun trying to get a glass effect.
Sandalwood Tree
Or at least – ‘artists impression of a sandalwood tree’. I admit it looks more like a madrone (and like all my other trees so far), but I’m happy with it.
A little break from photos of France. I am getting ready for my fall soaps and thinking of new labels in color. I wanted a wood grain, but when I tried looking for photos of that I was disappointed in the results.
And if you are thinking “what is a madrone tree?” They have a very striking cinnamon color bark that peels. The outer bark can get rough and darker, the inner bark is smooth, flowing and can be orange to green. They are a broad leaf evergreen that lives in the pacific northwest.
Round bars and solid lotion
I intended to make two soaps today but I wound up not having the time. Instead I’ve been working on packaging and tried making a few solid lotion bars as a test. First, the new label pattern.
This may be a little dark, but I wanted something “citrus” themed for the label background for the “Tropical Citrus” soap. I like the almost glass-like look of the cut fruit. (My printer only does black and white).
Then I moved on to wrapping and labeling the round shampoo bars. These are my first label mockups. I learned that I have to put the label on the flat side (the top is bumpier than the bottom). Below that are my 4 tiny solid lotion bars to test out. They are made with shea butter, beeswax, coconut oil and sweet almond oil.
Blue Sun Art
I’m going to need a business card and a label template for 1oz soap samples, which means it’s time to play with logos.
This is fun, although I’m glad I don’t have to try to please anyone else with my designs. I am going for an Art Deco look.
#33-34/365
Sneaky fox
I’ve been trying to come up with a very stylized fox to fit with the tree & owl and so far that’s not been working out so great. I may need to go back to some sort of ancient technology like paper and pencil to get the sketch done first!
Instead I made another color-block fox. This time I tried to use simpler lines, but I may need to ‘cartoonify’ him even more to get him to fit the scene. Still, I like him.
#27/365
Fox
This is a vector tracing/coloring of a photograph, with some creative embellishments. I’m not 100% happy with the colors or how I split them up, but it came out, overall, better than I expected.
I thought my trees could use some foxes. This one is probably a bit too realistic in shape to go with that, but I will modify it to fit the tone as I get better.
#25/365
