Brown Paper Packages

Holiday Traditions: Brown Paper Packages

Every year for many, many years now, my husband and I wrap our Christmas gifts in plain brown paper. We started with using green string as the only decoration with a simple gift tag. It has evolved into a fun Christmas tradition of drawing on the packages, at first with simple pen, then some color marker and then full blown art with color pencils. At some point in this process, I started to pick a theme for each holiday. One year was all about snowmen, another Santa and his elves, another reindeer.... And a new tradition was born.

I love creating these packages. Besides helping get into the festive mood, it's non-stress artwork, where I can draw whatever I want without any expectations of having to be perfect. This was something I did for fun and for the enjoyment of the receivers. I didn't take pictures most of the years, because I didn't really care, and as an artist of many years, I'm not that attached to every piece of art I do, so I let it go out into the world to suffer the fate of being ripped open, or whatever. Not until later when it became more of a thing that people always mentioned and loved about getting gifts from us, that my husband decided to start photographing the packages. I've shared a few of those with you. Enjoy!

 

This year will be a little different however, since we are not really doing gifts. To get my holiday artistic fix, we will be decorating sugar cookies with artistic style. Or so we hope. I've decorated cookies in a basic way, but we're going to try do do this the fancy way and make one-of-a-kind cookies for people on our gift list. I'll share the results, so stay tuned.

What are your favorite holiday traditions? Feel free to share in the comments what family traditions you enjoy.

Happy holidays!

IF: Vote

Yes, I should have posted this yesterday, but I was busy actually leaving my studio -- in the rain -- to go vote. I was at first concerned that there was no line. I even took a book with me in case. I was concerned the rain had scared people away, but when I asked, the woman assured me that they had been busy all morning and they were just having an afternoon lull. So it was perfect timing for me.

Thanks to Illustration Friday for the kick in the seat of the pants to actually create this piece of art. I painted this using Procreate with my iPad Pro and mostly my finger to paint with details added using the Apple Pencil.

Did you vote? Do you think it's important to raise our children to be involved in politics and the decisions being made in our country?

©2018 Traci Van Wagoner

IF: Witch

Illustration Friday: Witch

I know, I know, I should have posted this yesterday for Halloween, but as you may or may not know by now, I firmly believe in procrastination. This is NYC Witch I created a while ago. I had another witch painting I was working on, but I haven't had a chance to finish it since other work stuff got in the way. Pesky work stuff. This was created in Photoshop using my signature texture colors which were originally created in Painter.

Wouldn't you just love to be able to fly over New York City on a broomstick? I know I would. I hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween. Since I don't have kids, I don't do the trick or treat thing, and so, I have no candy. Boo. I'd love to hear about your Halloween escapades in the comments below.

©2014 Traci Van Wagoner,  NYC Witch

IF: Ghost

BOO!

'Tis that time of year again with ghosts roaming about. So I'm sharing (again) my Balloon Lift Off Spooky for this week's Illustration Friday prompt Ghost. The house on the hill is haunted.

This painting is part of my Red Balloon series. If you're interested getting this as a print, let me know.

Happy Halloween!

©2017 Traci Van Wagoner

Magical

Have a MAGICAL Monday!

It's been a while since I've shared here. I thought I'd dive back in with the Illustration Friday challenge word, Magical. Oh yeah, that's my kind of word. Doesn't everyone want a fairy godmother to turn them into a princess or prince? Or a mouse into a carriage horse? A pumpkin into the carriage? Bippity-boppity-boo! The transformation has begun.

I created this using Procreate on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. Part of my #paintplay exploration and fun painting adventure. Please let me know if you would like to purchase this as a print.

If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

Fairy Godmother, @2018 Traci Van Wagoner

Illustration Friday: Green

Sunny Green 

I haven't had a chance to participate in Illustration Friday for a while. I couldn't pass up on the prompt word, Green. So, as I took a few moments to relax between deadlines and paint play in my iPad Pro with Procreate and my finger and this pretty scene of rolling green hills is what came out. And a castle is always fun, and a warm, bright sun, yeah. So, there you have it, Sunny Green.

What do you think of when you hear the word Green?

©2018 Traci Van Wagoner

Christine L. Henderson, Let's Write!: The Artwork of Stories: An Interview with Traci Van Wagoner

I took a break from the digital world for a couple weeks while I spent the holidays with my family so I didn't get a chance to share this interview earlier. I hope you were all able to enjoy family and traditions this Christmas. Happy New Year!

Christine L. Henderson... Let's Write!: The Artwork of Stories: An Interview with Traci Va...: How did you get involved with doing the illustrations for this book? I worked with Pelican Publishing on a book before this, The Mermai...