North Conway, New Hampshire, Oh How I Love You

I have been going to North Conway since I was very small.  It is by far my favorite place on Earth (so far). It is gorgeous no matter the season and there is always something to do! I am in my element when I am up there.  A few summers ago, I sat in the park and tried to sketch the train station.  It was so much fun! Here is a picture of the train station from this weekend.  The park is located directly in front, this is where they have concerts in the park, baseball games, and right now there is  a skating rink for the winter.

 Here are the sketches that I started.  I never finished but hopefully one day I will do a complete picture.

In town there is a coffee shop called The Met, and inside there are paintings all over the walls that you can look at and buy.  One day I took a picture of the outside of the building and when I got back to Rhode Island, I was trying to figure out what to draw one day and I randomly narrowed in on the small one way street sign haha.  That was what I drew that day:

I always find it funny that is what my eyes caught in the picture but hey at least it was something to draw!
Behind our house in New Hampshire there is a river.  My brother, sister, and I spent countless summer days playing back there.  We would spend the whole day finding old treasures (plates, bottles, old leather shoes, etc.) and we would build a bridge from one end to the other so we could walk across the water.  The bridges would never last because the water would take the logs we would use so the following weeks and weekends we would do it all over again.  It was amazing and so much fun!  This summer my brother, his friend, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I were down by the river relaxing.  The boys were all fishing, my sister was reading, and I was trying to draw the bridge.  Boy was it challenging!  There were lots of angles and shadows.  I never finished (because we walked down the river and then it was time for dinner) but like some of my pictures, I plan to try again and get further along someday.  Here is a picture of the bridge from the top of the hill.  When I was trying to draw it I was sitting on a big rock in the middle of the river.

Here are some more pictures I took this weekend.  There was a gorgeous picture of Mt. Washington this morning but I didn't get it.  I'll just have to go back and try to get it another day :)

xoxo Savannah

Getting Lost On Pinterest

My new favorite thing to do and spend some time than I should, is going on Pinterest.  I'm not sure if you have heard of it or not but it basically an electronic pin up board.  There are a million pictures that connect you to the web page the picture is originally from.  For instance, if there is a picture of chocolate cake, if you click on the picture twice it will bring you to the recipe for that chocolate cake.  It is so much fun!  My friend Steph got me started with it and now I cannot stop!
Not only do I find great recipes (I always get hungry looking at all the pictures of amazing dinners, snacks, and of course desserts!) but I also find inspirations and motivations.
There are amazing pictures of houses, art, and cool do it yourself (DIY) things.  Here are some of the pictures that I find very inspiring and motivating:

I hope to have this set up one day.  It's beautiful and inspiring!

If any one needs an invitation to pinterest, just send me your email address and I will send you an invite. I hope you find lots of goodies like I do!

xoxo Savannah

Bangles of Fun...My First Attempt

Lately I have been really into wearing bangle bracelets.  I don't own one yet, but I have fallen into the Alex and Ani craze!  I love wearing those types of bracelets, they are so much fun.  Two weeks ago, I bought 2 bracelets on the FrostedWillow etsy shop.  Her bracelets are beautiful!  I decided that I wanted to give it a whirl and try making a bracelet like that on my own.  After work I went to Michaels to pick out a few things:

I figured if I don't use any of this for a bangle bracelet I could always use them for the other bracelets that I make.  I had only used wire one other time and it hadn't seemed too bad, I figured it would be fun and wouldn't take too long.  Boy was I wrong!  I mean it was fun but two hours later I have a few holes in my fingers and the bracelet came out alright but I can't get the wire to stop twisting!  It is currently sitting under a candle to try and straighten itself out.  I had to throw a few pieces of wire away that I ended up twisting too much.  But so far, this is my first attempt:

It's cute but one thing I learned is that the wire itself needs to be a little thicker, it is too thin and may be a little long.  I look forward to making more and when I do I will be sure to put some pictures up!  Let me know what you think of my first try :)
xoxo Savannah

Are You Ready For Some Football?!!

Woooohoooo Super Bowl!!  I love football, especially the New England Patriots!  I have been watching them since I was a little girl, I remember watching them when they use to practice at Bryant College.  I received Drew Bledsoe's autograph a few times, it was always so exciting!

For the most part the Patriots have had an awesome season.  There have been lots of ups and downs, good plays and bad plays but that is like everything in life.  I do have to say that that Wilfolk was awesome this season!  I loved all of his interceptions :)  Can't forget Gronk and Hernandez, they did amazing this season! No matter what anyone says, they deserve to be in this Super Bowl.  Just because their last game wasn't that great it doesn't matter, it's not like the Ravens played so great either.  The Super Bowl is about the whole football season!  Now with that said haha:

It has been stated in many of my previous blogs that usually paint and draw the things I love.  My boyfriend wasn't as always into the NFL like I am but loves football just as much as I do.  He would always watch college ball, his team being the Michigan Wolverines.  I have to admit I like watching them almost as much as watching the Patriots (almost ;) ).  I wanted to paint him a picture with the Michigan's team colors and stuff on canvas.  I was originally going to paint only the M in the background and the helmet in front of it.  But then....I asked his opinion haha.  He wanted me to try and paint the field in the background. 

I don't think it looks too bad but I would've much preferred not having the green in back.  And to tell you the truth I think he agrees with me on that.  I had some trouble painting the yellow M because I had originally made one part a little smaller than and when I tried to paint over the green, it didn't work so well.  The yellow was a little thinner than the green.  (To make the green I mixed the yellow and blue.  The blue paint thickened up the yellow.)

Maybe during the summer I will try painting him another picture but this time I will show him at the very end.

I have posted pictures of my sports hats that I like to draw.  Here I tried drawing a hat next to a football:

I really like this picture, the Patriots symbol is there just enough to have a presence.  The bottom and top of that football gave me such trouble but I kept at it.  I think you can even see all of my eraser marks on the side.  Sometimes I feel like my pieces are unfinished.  For instance, this picture, I would really like to see it have a background.  But in the moment I left it, and when I look back on it I'm not even sure what I would like to put back there.  So for now it's staying the way it is.  I tried drawing my first Patriots helmet, for my first time I think it came out ok:

There are some things that are off on it but it's just something I need to practice.

Here are some great Super Bowl recipes that I got off pinterest.com:

http://picturetherecipe.com/index.php/recipes/game-day-snacks-football-pizza-pockets/

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/garlic_white_bean_dip.html

http://www.inspiredbycharm.com/2012/01/very-pinteresting-delicious-dips.html

http://theglitterguide.com/2012/01/30/white-chocolate-confetti-popcorn/

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/01/30/melty-pizza-hummus/

These all look so good!  I will hopefully be trying to make some for the game.  There are a thousand recipes out there, try to make one that that you don't usually make for the game...celebrate :)

I hope everyone enjoys the game and is rooting for the Patriots!!!

Until next time,

xoxoSavannah

A Peace of Mind

Boy it has been a while since I have posted!  One thing I have been working on lately (part of my 2012 goals) is a peace of mind.  The picture of the lotus flower that I painted above represents to many meditation, peace, enlightenment, rebirth, and joy.  I painted this flower as a sign of peace.  These flowers are very relaxing and beautiful.  Throughout the day I know my mind has a thousand things running through it and I tend to get caught up with the stress at work or whatever stress is around me.  One de-stresser that is sometimes associated with the lotus flower is yoga and meditation.

Over the past year I have been working out and doing yoga to help clear my mind (I highly recommend it if anyone has lots of stress or just a lot going on at once).  I am becoming more drawn to these flowers and hope to see them in person one day.  Until then I look at pictures online and sketch them and add different characteristics.

I think the next lotus flower I paint or draw will have some orange in it :)

Until next time, which I hope won't be very long!

xoxoSavannah

A World of Artists

There are millions of different artists in this world, some famous and some not.  Not all artists are like Van Gogh or Monet.  Some are known for different things and different types of art.  There are all types of artists that I love to look at their work, and it gives me inspiration and motivation for my own.  Sometimes getting to know a young and knew artist is getting to know their interests and who they enjoy looking at.
I wanted to show you a little more of myself through some of the artists that I enjoy.  Some of my favorites you may know or maybe not at all.  If you have never heard of them, I hope I have interested you to do a little research because in my opinion they are truely amazing.

Thomas Kinkade is one of my all time favorite painters.  His paintings remind of places that I want to escape and run away to.  They are absolutely beautiful!  His colors have a light touch but yet are very vibrant at the same time. "Hidden in his paintings are messages that speak to Thom's inspiration for each image. Whether including the initials of family members, hiding Disney characters, or imbedding hearts for special occasions and loved ones, each image contain treasures that add to their mystique."  that was taken off his website - www.thomaskinkade.com.  There is a Christmas movie called Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage.  This movie is really good, it tells the story of Thomas Kinkade and how he started out.

Brian Selznick is another one of my favorites, he is an author and an illustrator.  One of my college professors introduced his work to me and I fell in love!  Some of the stories he has written like The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is a story that is told through words and pictures.  Throughout the entire book he switches between the two to tell the story.  It is so cool!  His drawings are beautiful!  They are in black and white.  Here are some of his pictures:

To read a little more about him, www.theinventionofhugocabret.com.  Brian studied at RISD, Rhode Island School of Design :)
I find his unique way of writing books and his beautiful black and white drawings inspiring!

Another amazing artist is Antoni Gaudi.  He was a spanish catalan architect.  One of his most famous masterpieces is Sagrada Familia and it was the most visited monuments in Spain, it is still uncompleted.  There is a blog that dedicated a post to:  www.dailyartfixx.com/tag/antoni-gaudi/
check it out if you would like to hear what they had to say about him.

These are only a few of his many works of art.  I love how unique and colorful his work is!  The first time I ever heard about him was when my friend Debbie went to Spain with her husband.  When she was showing me her pictures, she had some of his buildings.  She explained what the tour guide had said about some of the buildings and I immediately googled him.  His work is really incredible.

Who are some of your favorite artists?  I would love to hear about them!
xoxo Savannah

2012 - Going To Be An Amazing Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you enjoyed your holidays!  Usually I don't get wrapped up with new year resolutions and all the new year talk...but this year, I'm happy it's a new year!  I don't have a new year resolution, instead I have goals for 2012.  It feels so good to have a list of things I want to accomplish this year. For instance, I am hoping to have my website, savviedesigns.net up and running by the end of the year and I am looking to sell at least one piece of art online.  It is an adventure and challenge working on my goals for the year.  I recommend everyone trying it and seeing how it makes you feel.
I am trying to work on not only landscapes this year but also painting sunsets with water.  Here is my first shot:

Unfortunately my camera broke before Christmas and the lighting didn't work well.  I'm sorry I am going to try and get a new one as soon as possible!
Here are a few other pictures that I have been working on:

This last picture is hard to see because it is sketched in graphite.  I drew this from a geisha in my friend Jell's house one day.
I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!
Thank you for reading and I will blog again soon :)
xoxoSavannah