I've been looking longingly at my camera and at my painting supplies for awhile now.  I vow to document more and play with my process of shooting and filling my blank watercolor canvases.

Right now my process is making a sketch, scanning it in and adjusting the size in Photoshop.  For this one the final is 6 " x 8".  I then print out the sketch with crop marks, cut it down and place it on top of watercolor paper on top of my light box.  Then I lightly trace my sketch onto the watercolor paper.  This whole time I am thinking of a color scheme and just putting the colors together in my mind.  I have pictures I've been inspired by in magazines or catalogs (love Anthropologie, Madewell and JCrew).  They are great places to look for color combos.

Now it's time to paint and I jump from section to section around the painting, waiting for sections that are right next to each other to dry completely.  A little over a week ago I finished this peacock painting and it took all day.  I was entertaining my 10 month old in between waiting for washes to dry and I posted the progress bit by bit on Twitter.

This beautiful peacock can be flown to your home because he's been added to my shop!

One of my dreams is to have a show in a gallery, I want it to come true soon.  Thanks for reading, I hope this gives a little insight into how these illustrations come to life.