


The Monthly Round-Up is where I share an overview of the past month and highlight any projects, happenings, art life, and life in general that I think will be of interest. I enjoy and share the season, weather, and cultural changes of each month. At the end I’ll share with you what’s coming up in the new month.
November and December, months to cozy up inside and savor the season. We managed to pull off another Thanksgiving Day family meal despite my being only 2 days out from a neck procedure. We had a lovely time with my folks here for food, conversation, and togetherness. It’s amazing how life changes so drastically for each individual from year to year, yet we come together for the familiarity of holiday time.
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Last month I decided to close down my Patreon. It was mirroring my Substack and I was being stretched too thin. I thank those of you who migrated to Substack with me. Your continuing on in my art community means a lot to me.
I’m participating in not one, but three monthly challenges in December. My second Carve December, and similar to July’s World Watercolor Month challenge, there is a Watercolor & Drawing December challenge. Lastly, I’m doing the Twelve Days of Art-mas challenge. It’s every other day through the 24th. I figured with the neck procedure I just had, and the neck surgery coming up this month, I needed to make myself accountable to keep on keeping on with my art. Somehow, anyway. What could go wrong? So, as with the past monthly challenges I’ve done, I will post every few days worth on Instagram and Facebook. I’ll then make a sketchbook tour video on YouTube for each of these at the end of the month. I’ll explain my thoughts behind my page idea and what supplies I used each day. Look for those posts on my social media, and/or the video tour video on YouTube. If you miss the video, I will later post all of the highlights and links here on Substack in a future blog post in January. If you would like to read these posts on July’s World Watercolor and October’s Inktober that I participated in, I've linked a post I made combining the highlights of both here.
Monthly Challenge 2024 Highlights. World Watercolor Month 7/2024 & Inktober 10/2024
In November, I put out a few Substack blogs on Art Book Recommendations. These are part of my “The Book Shelf” series on YouTube. I’ve linked them below.
Reference Books On Art Supplies
Photographing, Framing, and Protecting Your Artwork
Influential Books About My Favorite Artists (episode 1)
The Myths, the Legends, and the Gossip About Artists
I put out several blog posts in November on painting and drawing. These are filled with tips and stories as I make a piece as a review of a specific medium and/or brand. They can be tutorials as we paint and draw together, or just something to sit back and relax as we go. I’ve linked them below.
Painting With Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors
Painting With Himi Jelly Gouache
Drawing A Colored Pencil Still Life in My Sketchbook
A Still Life of Artichokes With Rosa Gallery Watercolors
I also did a review while making a piece I made to see what they can do. I will be posting it here on the blog soon. If you would like to check it out on YouTube without waiting, here’s the link below.
Review & Paint With Art Whale Watercolors
Lastly, I posted some videos on YouTube that were relaxing with calm music while I used colored pencils in my sketchbook, finishing up a couple of pieces from an earlier plein air session in my yard. I don’t know why many of us, myself included, enjoy watching those types of short videos, but give it a try because you may find you do as well!
A Quiet Colored Pencil Drawing of Garden Foliage (time-lapsed)
A Quiet Sketchbook Session - Sketching a Row of Trees
Other Places To Find Me
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My Pinterest is a catalog of all the consequential Artists, female Artists forgotten or overshadowed for their time, and my favorite Artists and pieces. It also lets you know when I’ve put out new content.
I hope this finds you well, and I hope you are taking in the season in whatever way works best for you and yours.
Until next time, Elizabeth