Hello! It's been a while.

I have taken a little break and became a new mom back in 2010 to a sweet little boy who is now three.  Being a mom has kept me very busy!  I am now focusing on painting and have started a new blog at cynthiadiblasi.blogspot.com.  Stop by and say hi!

Cactus Monday - Painting in Photoshop

Painting in Photoshop. . . who would have thought?  For the past few years I have been scratching on my tablet mostly in Illustrator and trying to master it, and I forgot about painting in Photoshop like I used to.  I have been inspired by some of the images I've seen created in this program as of late.  Very painterly and beautiful.  So I thought I'd give it a try again.

Here is my creation for Cactus Monday of a blooming prickly pear. . . vector free!  What do you think?

Sketchcrawl at the Talking Stick Resort and Casino

 

Last Saturday I attended the January Sketchcrawl at a local Indian Casino in Scottsdale.  Just two watercolor sketches completed. . . as I ran my mouth most of the time instead of sketching!  But that's what it's all about, right?

It was nice to meet a few new crawlers, and see some familiar faces from the previous ones.  I didn't do any casino sketches as it was dark in there and crowded.  Above is a sketch of the grounds and another of inside the hotel lobby.  Enjoy!

Sketchbook Project, page 4

And the sketching continues. . . Today's sketch was a special request by my artist gal pals here in the Phoenix area.  They wanted to be sketched.  The inspiration for this piece was a picture I snapped on my camera phone of them tearing into a clothes rack at a cute little boutique.  The shop owner came out to observe the scene and said that they looked like a bunch of piranhas devouring the clothes.  Amber (far left) replied, "Gnar! Gnar! Gnar"!  Ah, I love those ladies!  Yes, many purchases were made, and I got me a cute frilly scarf.

Not all sketchbook pages are going to grace the blog.  However, I WILL post all of them on my Facebook Fan Page.  I hope that you will "Like" me so that you can see them.  And who knows. . . you just might find yourself in there!

Sketchbook Project Progress

I finally have begun to fill the inside pages of my little sketchbook.  Here is a glimpse at one of the pages.  Portraits are calling me lately, and there's going to be a bunch.  I know it sounds crazy to do the cover first, but it just sort of happened that way.  Since time is limited, I'm just going to go with the flow of the creative process and see where it leads.  It's always more fun that way!

Cactus Monday: Nest

A teeny little nest snuggled between two pricklies.  This photo was taken with my camera phone, since I didn't bring my good one to a spur of the moment trip to the Desert Botanical Garden.  Happy Cactus Monday! 

New Facebook Fan Page!

It's about time, right?  Click on the image to go to my page and find out everything I am up to that may not get posted here.  I hope you "Like" me!