Category: wildlife

The Coffee Cup Critters aka the “Cuppa” Series

Posted on by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, big cats, birds, brush pen, cats, colorwheel, Commissions, Equine Artist, Etsy, Fantasy Art, geek, Gouache, ink, inktense, Redbubble, sketches, tiger, watercolors, wildlife

I really love drawing animals. When I’m stuck for ideas, I find some reference pictures and draw an animal.

And then…..and then I give them a coffee cup.

I don’t know why.

It just makes me happy.

So, here they are (most of them, anyway). I hope they make you happy too!

If you aren’t a coffee person, think of them as giant, steaming, mugs of tea.

Several of these are up on my Redbubble shop already–the rest are pending! I’m also hoping to get some of them as stickers for sale on my Etsy. But that’s a project I’m *just* beginning. Let me know in the comments which ones you think would be the best stickers.

What animals would you like to see cherishing a nice steaming cuppa?

Let me know what you think in the comments, and if you like, subscribe so you won’t miss any art, incredibly profound musings, or other treasures from the Raven’s Landing!

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Faith is a Blue Bird

Posted on by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, bird watching, birds, brush pen, Commissions, Conservation, Etsy, Gifts, home decor, ink, inktense, Redbubble, songbirds, watercolors, wildlife
https://ravenslanding.redbubble.com

Remember that line from The Rescuers? “Faith is like a bluebird, you can’t catch it or buy it or wrap it up tight, but it’s there just the same making things turn out right.”

The Rescuers wasn’t my favorite movie mostly because I found Madam Medusa *very* scary, in a way that McLeach just wasn’t. Yet Rufus the Cat and his little bit of encouragement, as well as about a zillion other lines from the movie, are burned indelibly into my memory.

When people in my generation start losing their memories, they will probably still be able to quote movies.

I always preferred The Rescuers Down Under–I think I may have even seen it first–who knows, I was so little. I mean, Wilbur is fantastic, then of course there is the lovable Australian cast of creatures.

….oh yeah, and I painted a blue bird that I can’t look at without thinking of the Rescuers and subsequently Australia (which is so frighteningly on fire)…

The background is inktense, the bird itself is Daniel Smith watercolors, and the black tips on its wings are gouache. The eye, ever bright, is ink.

*

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The Mud Horn

Posted on by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, brush pen, geek, ink, inktense, Pet Portrait, Redbubble, Star Wars, wildlife
Redbubble

Are you watching the Mandelorian? Did you see the finale? Man. This is what I want when I start into a Star Wars story. It’s so grounded. So inspiring. It’s like…Firefly meets Star Wars.

I’ve enjoyed a handful of Star Wars novels, none of which are canon anymore. Most of them by Timothy Zahn. James Corey (the pen name for a duo) has a couple good ones also.

I predict that soon, the Mudhorn signet will have almost as broad a reach as Boba Fett’s signet. Well. Ok. Maybe not, since you have to have Disney + in order to see the show and fall in love.

But it *should* because it’s that good. So I pretty much immediately drew a Mud Horn signet in ink (prismacolor) and put it on Redbubble so I could stalk their sales and buy myself something. It’s a brilliant plot.

galleries

Posted on by abigailcossetteryan in acrylics, Animals, artist, ballet, Ballet, big cats, birds, brush pen, cats, Christmas, colorwheel, Commissions, dancer, Equine Artist, Etsy, fairy, floral, geek, Gifts, Holidays, home, home decor, horse, ink, inktense, mountains, owls, Pet Portrait, Redbubble, songbirds, tiger, watercolors, wildlife

At the end of August I collected the last of my pieces from the Firehouse Gallery and moved them all to–plus a lot more original pieces–to the Leesburg Town Hall. I was in such a rush I didn’t really get pictures of everything once they were on the walls–but they DO look good I think.

All the pieces are for sale, of course. I actually last minute switched out one of the works (my Blue Ridge Mountains) just so I could say that. The Blue Ridge stays with me!

I think one of the hardest things for me to do, as a artist, is put the brush down and let a piece be finished. I did that with the Blue Ridge, and it is just so pretty.

pure ultramarine

Here is the one picture I have of the arrangement in the town hall lobby:

It was also cool, then night we held an opening during First Friday Leesburg, to see so many of my products on display. Most of them owned by my very supportive mother–but some of them are mine.

I have these gorgeous painted boots you can see in the back there–not for riding anymore, if ever–perfect for a Kentucky Derby Party, or maybe a Steeple chase tailgate. I have a couple more pairs needing painting, I should probably paint them all up and then list them all at once instead of dripping them out into the world.

Also, you should know: Product pictures are a thing. There are moments when I think, “OH! I can totally do that.” and others, usually when I am holding a camera, when I realize that it is MUCH harder than it looks. Hats off to all you product picture people. Good work!

The exhibit runs to the end of Nov, you should swing by the Leesburg Town Hall if you happen through Northern VA. The downtown is incredibly cute, lots of great food and fun shops, plus, you know, this really awesome art exhibit by this artist you follow on the internet.

I’ve already started thinking about Christmas and I’ll be planning out time to paint. If you’re interested in a commission piece, they are shockingly affordable and make amazing presents. If you aren’t sure about something, just ask me.

You can hit me up here, or go straight to my Etsy shop and place an order there.

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gauche tigers

Posted on by abigailcossetteryan in Animals, artist, big cats, brush pen, cats, colorwheel, Conservation, Pet Portrait, Redbubble, tiger, watercolors, wildlife

I decided to investigate gauche. I was curious what made it different from watercolor, when most people say, “Oh, it’s like watercolors” when you ask what it is.

The binder is different than watercolor, so it’s just…different…more translucent? More…luminous.

tigre!

I borrowed some of my mother in law’s gauche, and I’ve been enjoying playing with it. Though, apparently it makes me want to paint tigers because that’s all I’ve done.

Yaaaaawn

I’m enjoying how different it is…and how the same. I’ve used the gauche for a base, and then finished the tigers with my brush pens to get really stark lines for the stripes. On the second tiger I also relied on masking fluid. Well….experimented with masking fluid.

I feel like masking fluid is a really interesting tool, and I’m enjoying messing around with it.

Oh, did you notice? I’m still trying to make a tiger half as awesome as my glamour leopard. I’m getting closer. Actually, both of these tigers came out pretty awesome, but are a different medium than the leopard so they still don’t go. I just forget about colored pencils. they still exist. I own them, even.

So how is everyone? September flashed past me at top speed. I cannoooooot believe October is this week.

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