2024 Arizona Calendar, watercolors

I've been wanting to put together a calendar of watercolors for awhile now, and I'm so happy to share it with the world!  It is a collection of some of my favorite things about Arizona, in a colorful illustrative style. It features the Grand Canyon, saguaros, cactus wrens, Salt River horses, Montezuma Castle, jackrabbits, and more. I found a POD that does high quality work and ships within a week. The images are square, 11 inches and can be framed if you can pick a favorite. 

Purchase calendar on Etsy

December: Magazine Interview and Instagram challenges

Recently I was interviewed by Voyage Phoenix magazine and the article is now on their website.  It's not the easiest thing to talk about myself and my journey, but there are also some nice pictures of my paintings, so check it out!

Sandra Jessop interview

And over on instagram I've been part of a couple challenges.  There was a full week of November reserved for Folktale art.  I chose The Musicians of Bremen and stuck with it to illustrate all of the prompts.  I took a month to decide, sketch, and then paint the finals.  They were posted a bit out of order in real time but look wonderful alongside the story.  I chose that folktale out of our Grimm book, mostly because of the animals in it.  After a little research I found that alternate versions had the robbers represented by a wolf, a lion, and a bear so I played with that idea.  

I don't usually draw anthropomorphic characters, but one of my favorite scenes turned out to be the robbers around the table.  The musician animals have left their old lives and found this little house and they are peeking in the window to see who is there.  The prompt was "Feast" and I had so much fun illustrating this scene after they finished the meal and were moving on to pie.  It cracked me up putting napkins and little forks in place for them, as though they were refined, but then showing the bear and lion armwrestling.  Can't you imagine the discussion that came before?  To do it again I would love to see the bones flying around in the sudden clearing of the table.  

©Sandra Jessop

Watercolor and ink pencil.

It's Spooky Season! illustration by Sandra Jessop

 For the TheyDraw.com community, I present "To the Spooky House!"  I never encountered anything like this while Trick-orTreating, but I'm sure I would have been nervous.  All the others are fine, so it must be OK.

I think she may be an old woman who loves Halloween, but is a little afraid, herself.  Costumes can be so scary!  So she dresses as a witch (for confidence) and sits on the roof (to be mysterious) and drops the candy (fun factor!).  Of course she is a cat lover, and that cat sits in the window because it doesn't want to miss anything.  Cats love the action!  

https://www.instagram.com/sandra_jessop/ 

Hoopa Doopa Valley Children's book , watercolor illustrations

 

All three of the Hoopa Doopa Valley books are now available at Amazon.com!

My aunt and I worked together to create this wonderful trilogy of children's books, and we'd like to share it with you!

Pick your favorite season or try them all - Farmer Jim's cows and crops will delight you with a special surprise in each story.   If it brings you happiness, tell a friend and consider leaving a positive review to help others find it.  🐄

Hoopa Doopa Valley: Harvest Day

Hoopa Doopa Valley: The Snowy Day

Hoopa Doopa Valley

Sketch to final - Watercolor illustration

I recently did a pencil drawing of a candy store, with a shop keeper, customers, and a few mischief makers releasing birds into the store.  I started to wonder how they got those birds and came up with this idea.  Here is the summary (character design and location reference not included).  

 I wanted it to be more about the bird trap, so I kept higher contrast there. Knowing what areas I wanted to keep light, I started with the shadows and washed in a glaze of blue and pink.  Next, I added green and yellow, followed by ultramarine/grey to the birds.  

For this illustration I used limited colors, using only Sennelier's Deep Ultramarine, Bright red, Lemon Yellow, and Payne's grey watercolors, on Arches hot press watercolor paper.

It was probably at this point I realized that I missed printmaking.  (Add that to the list of things I can be doing during COVID19)

Initially I wanted this to be a big scene, with a lot happening, bikers going by, dog walkers, people hanging out windows, but then decided to narrow the focus.  I'll use those other characters in another scene.

The first rough sketch:

Hoopa Doopa Valley The Snowy Day - children's book

Hoopa Doopa Valley - The Snowy Day

I'm very excited to announce our next book in the Hoopa Doopa Valley series is published!  It's a snowy day for Farmer Jim and the animals.

Dream for Illustration Friday, watercolor illustration

Dream Memories

Sandra Jessop, watercolor

Mysterious walk- girl in forest illustration, watercolor

Mysterious for Illustration Friday.

©Sandra Jessop, Mysterious. Watercolor illustration, 9x12

From the sketchbook, watercolor and pencil - Puglia, Italy

First of all, I have never been to Puglia, Italy, but happened to see it on a TV program and thought, wow! how do I not know about this place?  I found my nearest sketchbook, and got to playing with watercolor and watercolor pencil.  I just loved the way the buildings were all stacked up, glowing in the sun on the cliff over the blue water.  

From the sketchbook - Muscle for Illustration Friday

"Muscle"

I checked in again with Illustration Friday to see what the topic was, so I created this little guy while watching tv.  Sometimes those little dogs are stronger than you expect!

Hoopa Doopa Valley children's book, a farm story

I'm so excited to announce that the book I illustrated is now available at Blurb!

The story is written by Patricia Kerner and tells of a very special farm in the country, where all the vegetables grow taller and bigger and the cows have a special talent.

It was such a joy to work on this project, because Patricia Kerner is my aunt and the story came from my great grandfather.  I used family photos for inspiration, and included illustrations that have personal or family meaning.  I researched farms and flowers and clothing, practiced drawing a 1950 Ford pickup and lots of cows.  Even after all of that, one of the pages is really three different versions of myself.

Fun fact: on every two page spread there is some kind of bird. 

Available for purchase here:

Hoopa Doopa Valley

Colossal strawberry children's illustration for IF

"Colossal" for Illustration Friday

"...and strawberries so big and fat, only one would fit inside your hat!"

©SandraJessop, Watercolor

Illustration Friday- Electronic

Oh No!  Not again!

Botanical escape, watercolor illustration

©SandraJessop, "Vines" watercolor 9x12

Every little kitty needs a hero - Illustration Friday

What's happening here?

HERO

by Sandra Jessop, watercolor pencil and ink

Queen Anne's masking fluid work in progress

I've been working on some drawings for a farm story, and decided to test out an idea for Queen Anne's lace flowers.   I wanted to be able to include these because I remember as a child, stopping beside the road to pick these flowers, and then placing them in colored water to watch them slowly take on the new color.  This still fascinates me.

Here are the steps, minus a few photos.  What can I say, I was in the moment.

Step One:  Apply masking fluid.

 Remember that wherever you place masking fluid will be white.  For this painting, I wanted the Queen Anne's flowers to be white.  On the image below, the masking fluid is blue.  The color of masking fluid may vary according to brand, but it's there so you can see where you are putting it.  

Step Two: Paint watercolor.

After the masking fluid dries, use watercolor paints for the grassy field around the flowers.  I used green and blue with a little yellow.  Just throw some color down and have fun. I love to let them mix together on the paper.  For another fantastic effect, drop a pinch of salt onto the watercolor while it is still wet, for a soft dappled look.  I used that technique for Winter Reindeer Sleigh. 

I am using a hot pressed 6 x 8" Fluid watercolor paper block and a Molotow masking fluid pen. 

Step Three:  Remove masking fluid.  

Once everything is completely dry, I use a pink eraser to rub away the masking fluid.  You can use your finger, but this is what I found works best for me.   I think this might be my favorite part as the white of the paper shines through again.

Step Four: Final adjustments.  

This is when I add details, such as stems, leaves, and the distant mountain.  

And that's it!  This is a very small painting, but the technique can be used at any size.  

Annie's flowers

Reindeer sleigh watercolor illustration

I love 'before and after' so I will go ahead and share another one.  I started sketching ideas  for this back in December, for the Illustration Friday topic "Winter". 

But December is always busy, and I set this project aside to do other things.  I didn't forget about it because I taped it to my wall.  It was just there, every day, waiting to be painted.  I even sat underneath it drawing other things, like cows and chickens, and kids chasing chickens.

Today, it's finished.  Yay!  My daughter can't wait to turn this into a Christmas card and add glitter to it.  We've still got time, right?

©Sandra Jessop, "Winter". Watercolor, 9x12

Cat illustration - Happy New Year!

I've decided to get back to the Creative Every Day group this year, so here is my first contribution.  

While sitting around enjoying time with my family, I picked up some nearby paper (grocery list was on the previous page) and made a couple drawings of the cats before they moved.  This was colored in Procreate Pocket on my phone.  It was a fun way to play around with colors and tools.  I'm still getting used to all the different techniques that can be applied, but it was fun and creative.  And that's the point!  I won't learn which is my favorite without experimenting.  

And no, the cat is not on the table, but on the box that will hold Christmas ornaments when I get around to that. 

Christmas Puppy watercolor illustration

Years ago I would take oil paints, a field easel, and set up in a field or beside a river and paint away.  I still have one of those New Hampshire paintings hanging on my wall today and it reminds me of all the walks I took with our dogs when we lived there.  It's sort of like a photograph, but it took a lot longer.

Yesterday I sat outside with watercolors and created a little illustration to celebrate the holiday season, and my aging dog.  She can't quite hike as far as she used to, but she still loves to go for a walk and would still chase a bunny if I let her.  

©SandraJessop, Christmas Puppy. Watercolor, 4x4

Summer Rain children's illustration

©Sandra Jessop, Summer Rain. Watercolor, 9x12

I took a Character Design workshop with the Illustration Dept.  and this is the final watercolor illustration and pencil sketch.

Reversing the boy on the left helped the balance of the whole piece.  The frogs were in one of the original drawings, and I brought them back for the final.  I think they make it a little more fun.