Pencil Case And Index Card Drawings

Viking Penguin Quilt Pattern | Whims And Fancies  

Purchase Viking Penguin Olaf pattern

 

Last year I was working on the icad or index-card-a-day project where I painted one index card per day over the span of two months, totalling 60 cards.  During that time I purchased some loose colour pencils.  I had been wanting to draw a little penguin quilt pattern in Viking costume for ages, so I decided I would make that block for a pencil case.

This little penguin is Olaf and he loves his helmet with horns on it.  I tried to tell him that Viking helmets didn’t have horns, but he was most insistent.  He thought they made him look more mighty.

The pattern is for a 10″ block, but I made a 7″ one for my pencil case.  I finished the block long ago and finally, during my attempt to finish a few projects, the pencil case was completed.  I usually travel with my pencil cases, so I needed to use a dark fabric.  Brown was perfect, plus, it made me think of a wooden hut where Olaf might live.

 

 

Pencil Pouch Tutorial | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I used a frosty branch fabric for the inside.  After all, penguins have to have snow!  This pencil case comfortably fits my pencils and my water brushes.  It is not too large, but big enough for me to toss a sketchbook in there and tie the ribbons around it.

Olaf is available in my shop if you want to make one.  I am thinking of making a couple of friends for him and Polaris –

 

 

Penguin Quilt Pattern | Whims And Fancies

 

Purchase Little Penguin Polaris Pattern

 

A couple of years ago, my friend Janine from Rainbow Hare hosted Making Christmas.  I wrote a tutorial for that event on how to make a pencil case featuring a decorative piece in the front.  I made this little pencil case then with Little Penguin Polaris for my micron pens.  I followed my own tutorial to make the new one and it hardly took any time to make it.

 

Interestingly enough, I made the Viking Penguin Olaf block when I shared the last set of index card drawings.  I often thought of posting them together in one post.  Before I show them though, I thought I’d share a list of all the mediums I used on this project.  I had no idea I used these many!

 

  • Micron pens
  • Micron Gelly Roll pens
  • Uniball Signo pen – white
  • Uniball Gel Impact pens – gold and silver
  • Recollections Metallic pen – copper
  • Pentel Touch pens – silver and gold
  • Faber Castell Pitt artist pens
  • Faber Castell Aquarell watercolour pencils
  • Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils
  • Inktense pencils
  • Prismacolor pencils
  • Prismacolor markers
  • Gesso
  • Turpentine

 

I have never had any training in painting, I paint because it makes me happy.  This project definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me explore new venues.

 

 

Index Card Paintings | Whims And Fancies

 

1. Carnival  2.  Milky Way map  3.  Edwardian Mailbox for P. G. Wodehouse

4. Owl – playing in the rain 5. Taxi  6. Element Picker

7. Solitude in rain  8. Wind turbine sentinel  9.  Vintage Porsche

10. California poppy  11. Corn lilies  12.  Tardis

 

 

Index Card Paintings | Whims And Fancies

 

13. Grey dappled foal  14. Route 66 neon sign 15. National parks of America

16. Melrose Abbey 17.  Fairy Door  18.  Snow Globe

19.  Dryburgh Abbey  20.  Disco  21. Psychedelic gravitational waves

22. For Alan Turing 23. Devil’s Postpile 24. Dancing neurons

 

 

Index Card Paintings | Whims And Fancies

 

25. Peacock feather  26. Endeavour & transit of Venus  27. Solar prominence

28.  Ice cream  29. Shel Silverstein 30. Exploding clock

31. Blustery autumn day  32. Unplugged  33. Pre-dawn driving

34.  Self-portrait – walking into the unknown 35. Steampunk wings 36. Stargazing

 

 

Index Card Paintings | Whims And Fancies

 

37. My violins 38. Tell Them Stories 39. Solar eclipse and Shuttle Endeavour

40. Paper tunnel 41. Vineyard  42.  Svalbard

43.  Focusing through lens 44. Saturday night  45. Playing summer 78 by Yann Tiersen on piano

46. Love to walk  47. Dancing Aurora  48. Aston Martin

 

 

Index Card Paintings | Whims And Fancies

 

49. Snowdrop  50.  Star trails  51. Garden bench

52. Downpour  53. Mail  54. Affair of hearts

55. Western view of sunrise  56. Brunel’s SS Great Britain 57. Historic hot air balloon

58. Edinburgh flat  59. Explore other worlds  60. William Blake – Eternity in an hour

 

 

I hope you enjoyed them.  Many thanks to you for leaving encouraging comments, to Dixie from Arranged Words for inspiring me with her artwork to get back to painting, and to my husband for putting up with “I’ll be right there, just need to finish this one little bit” while he took care of a lot of things during those two months.

This year I am doing the daily photo project and sharing the photos on the monthly Wandering Camera linky party that I am also hosting here.

 

 

Camera And Photography Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

Wandering Camera

 

I suppose I like these immersing projects way too much!  Art is good for the soul, right?!

-Soma

 

 

 

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Viking Penguin Olaf, Paintings And Eclipse

Viking Penguin Quilt Pattern | Whims And Fancies
 

Purchase Viking Penguin Olaf Pattern

 

I have had this idea of creating another penguin quilt pattern for months now.  I recently got a set of loose colour pencils and I desperately need to make a new pencil case.  That provided a perfect excuse to draw my little Viking Penguin Olaf.   Viking helmets didn’t really have those horns, but Olaf insisted that I put horns on his helmet.  Although I think he looks very cute, he thinks the horns make him look more formidable!

I couldn’t resist taking a short break from the stained glass flower blocks to make him.  The penguin pattern is for a 10″ block.  I scaled it down to make a 7″ block for my pencil case.  Originally I was going to give him a green vest, but the red looks so much better on him against the starry background.  Olaf is available in my shop if you want to make him for yourself.

 

 

Penguin Quilt Pattern | Whims And Fancies

 

Purchase Little Penguin Polaris Pattern

 

It all started with Little Penguin Polaris.  I have a gimpy and chubby kitty cat called Charlie, whose photo occasionally surfaces here.  He would like nothing more than for people to take him seriously.  Except it has never worked since he was a baby.  He just gets picked up and cuddled, and he just sits on your lap with all of his claws tucked in.

When I was going to make a little winter-themed block for a friend, I knew I had to make a chubby little disgruntled penguin in a scarf and a hat.  So if Charlie were a penguin instead of a cat, this is what he would look like where all the other grown up penguins are just not taking him seriously enough!

Polaris and Olaf have become great friends already.  They are busy planning all sorts of mischief together.

 

 

Thank you for staying with me until the last set of cards from this set of 61 index card paintings.  Here are the last five –

 

 

icad 2015 Sunrise Painting | Whims And Fancies

 

Sunrise

 

I like to look toward the west during sunrise where the first rays of the sun light up the mountain ranges while the full moon sets behind them.

 

 

icad 2015 Affair Of The Hearts Painting | Whims And Fancies

 

An Affair Of Hearts

 

 

icad 2015 Edinburgh Tenement Painting | Whims And Fancies

 

Edinburgh Flat

 

I really like moss-covered stone buildings.

 

 

icad 2015 Explore other worlds | Whims And Fancies

 

Cross the boundary and explore other worlds

 

 

icad 2015 Telescope, Stars And Blake Painting | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I had to make this one as my final card.  I love William Blake’s work and I love the stars.  I see William Blake’s words come to life every time I look through my telescope.

I will share another post about the index card painting experience along with photos of all the cards together.   It has been a lot of fun sharing these cards with you.  Thank you again for your encouraging words.

 

 

I will leave you with a photo of the lunar eclipse I took last Sunday.  We are surrounded by mountain ranges, and there was also a thick layer of cloud right at the horizon.   The eclipse occurred right around sunset for us, so it was low in our sky.   I really wanted to see it during the maximum eclipse.  Just as I was losing hope, a faint, eclipsed moon showed up, shortly before the maximum eclipse and right above the cloud layer.

 

 

Lunar Eclipse 2015 | Whims And Fancies

 

Enjoy,
-Soma

 

 

 

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