... and this is why I changed from "some subscription content" to "it's all free, subscribe if you feel like supporting me anyway" ... I haven't posted anything since April, which is really sad. I post regularly to Instagram, if you'd like to follow me there: annranlett

I've been doing creative things though: always working on pet portrait commissions, creating a bunch of miniatures, a mini show of miniatures, an interesting collaborative piece featuring a raccoon scratchboard & plasma-cut steel, scratchboard demos ... All of these are on Instagram.

Here's one of my latest miniatures, a 1.5" square drawing on Ampersand Stampbord of a stuffed-cheeked Eastern Chipmunk. (affiliate links -->) I used Pitt Artist Pens, Micron pens, and a little bit of scratching for this mini piece of art.

I made the mini easel myself: cut it out of 300-lb watercolor paper on my Cricut, then painted it to match. I'm pretty proud of that component, if I do say so myself!

I made an Instagram reel for the easel process, watch it here.

I've been having a lot of fun with reels on Instagram! Most recently they feature my miniature art (see previous post for more mini art) on Ampersand Claybord Art Tiles. Here's a reel I posted the other day, showing the many markers & pens I used on a tiny 1" square tile.

(affiliate links below)
The majority of the pens used for the tiny bunny are Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens (the colorful ones), but I also used Micron pens in black & 2 shades of gray, and a Stabilo 88 pen. The knife was used for scratching detail and blending colors. It's an X-acto #16 blade. 

Audio in the reel is "Wait... What?!" by CBL

Earlier this month, I put a collection of my very small works in the Burnett Way Mini Gallery, a truly mini gallery in Sacramento CA. I won't repost all the details here, since there's a blog post on my web site that you can read. Suffice to say, I think the show looks really cute and the mini gallery is a fun and creative idea!

👍Thanks to the team at SubKit for contacting me for a short interview about my art business! I really appreciate the opportunity 💕

This has been in my drafts since October 2021! Not sure why I forgot to post, but here it is now.

Video of process on a mini scratchboard drawing of a Meerkat.
 
2" x 1" Claybord Art Tile, painted with India ink, then scratched. 
 
Images 1 & 2: all-scratched stage  
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3: Speedy Video: adding watercolor  
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4: Finished drawing  
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5: Honey-colored frame (backside, because I had already customized the front)  
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6: Lightly sanded the frame front & sides, drew on it w/black acrylic marker & smudged it quickly w/my finger  
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7: Meerkat, grey mat, frame (after the drawing is sealed, I'll glue it to the mat)  

#meerkatart #meerkat #miniatureart #miniart #tinyart #scratchboard #drawing 

I'm still scratching away on various projects & commissions, but I've taken a little side trip into the world of the Cricut machine. It's been interesting, with a bit of a learning curve, but that process has been fun and mostly smooth. The toughest part is figuring out the proper settings for cutting depth, depending on the product: kiss cut (for sheets of stickers) or full cut for individual stickers. Depth also varies depending on the materials and whether I've added a layer of laminate on top. Cricut YouTubers and bloggers have been a very helpful resources for supplies and hacks!

 I'm happy with what I've been able to create so far. These stickers from my "Tough Chick" drawing are one example. These are on "printable" vinyl: I run them through my printer (an Epson Artisan 1400) and then run them through the Cricut to cut them out.

Stickers are available in my shop. Some are my Cricut projects, others are from StickerMule (affiliate link).

I created this video as a reel on Instagram, the music is Gary Puckett's, "Home of Happy Chickens". Click here to see more reels, including some silly ones with my dogs.

#stickers #printablevinyl #Cricut #chickenart #chickensticker