Merry Christmas

Who doesn’t have a day job? I was excited to watercolor paint the holiday card this year for my 8 to 5.

I can not take the credit for the lil moose-y. Though, I could paint the itty pine trees forever. I used the mountainous region I live in as inspiration.

How was your holiday season?

My family had a stay-cation for my youngest’s first Christmas. All of the photo’s for the boys are blurry. They never sit still!

My parents stayed a week and were A LOT of help wrangling my wild toddler. They gifted me time to take care of things that piled up when I was focusing on commissions.

My toddler is wrapping his head around the whole idea of grandparents being his parent’s parents. Hearing him work out concepts is amusing. Although, I am now sometimes called “regular mommy”.

I finished a wave of incoming watercolor portrait paintings.

I love the feeling of meeting a deadline early and exceeding client expectations.

Taking last minute orders would not have been possible without Trello and Toggl to help me balance my work and family commitments.

How was your 2018?

I met my goals for the year. I’m ending it on a really good note. I kept things simple since I was expecting.

I want to destroy 2019.

Do you have kids?

We welcomed a new peanut in the family. I still can not believe I have 2 kids. I have heard that feeling never goes away, even when they are graduating high school.

Instagram

I like the sense of community going on over there. I am sharing my works in progress and process.

Tag me if you want me to swing by for a visit → @fallonfly_art.

Participated in my first #inktober challenge.

I could not help myself. I used watercolor techniques for most of the pieces.

If you are curious, yes, the ink does behave like watercolor. Though, it is permanent and harder to recover from mistakes- no lifting!

As with the staining-type watercolor pigments, you have to accept mistakes as happy accidents and push forward.

For #inktober2020, I plan to draw around a central theme or story to tie the 31 pieces together.

Printing high-quality art prints of my works.

I researched the value of using a printing company and DIY.

It is something I have always wanted to offer. I think it is more intimate if it is coming straight from the Artist.

I am printing them, so I am involved from start to finish and (neurotically) check each print comparing it to the original. All material used is archival museum quality giving my prints a lifespan equal to the original.

Using special pigment ink creates a depth of color that is unreal and rivals the original painting. It has been worth the investment.

I focused on a monochrome watercolor portrait painting style.

They are more popular than I expected, especially around the holidays.

It was a fun journey in color exploration and pushing the limits on what I can achieve with one color.

I gifted them in the past. This year is the first time I accepted commissions for this style.

I am teaching watercolor painting classes.

Skillshare has been a great experience. I have to think about my process, especially the times when it’s a feeling.

It feels really reflective to think about all the small pieces that come together for a successful painting.

I am picking topics based on frequently asked questions. I am a visual learner and appreciate when there are video tutorial’s available. I walk you through everything, including a bit of the science behind it all.

What would you like to learn?

I started this BLOG!!

Shout out to my web developer husband for designing this in-between juggling the kiddos, our day jobs, and his own projects.

I’m excited for the new years’ possibilities!

What are your goals for 2019?

Author

Hello, my name is Fallon and I have been creating Art for about 20 years along with a BS in Biology and Art. I started with pen and ink illustrations, then dived into graphite, colored pencil, watercolor and finally, wood burning. I love learning new mediums but will always have a soft spot for watercolor. Always challenging you, it fulfills my need to discover why something behaves the way it does.