SCHPIRRER FARBEN Colored Pencils and DEA LENIHAN Coloring Book Giveaway

I'm excited to say that Schpirerr Farben has given me a 72 set of pencils for a giveaway!

These pencils are creamy and they sharpen and keep a wonderful point. I have drawn several images with them and they layer like crazy!

Just follow the directions in the link below and GOOD LUCK!

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SCHPIRERR FARBEN Colored Pencil Review and Marble Drawing

This 72 set of colored pencils by Schpirerr Farben was a delightful surprise.

With a price point of approximately $27 for 72 pencils, I did not have high expectations. But I am happy to report that I was very wrong.

They come in a sturdy tin and are housed in three easily removable trays. They are oil based and the colors are identifiable by number. 

The pencils are the approximate diameter of Prismacolor pencils, and feel like a combo of of Prismas and Polychromos. I did a review of the pencils in the video below as I drew and colored an orange glass marble, and had to use many layers. There was no build up, and I love the way the image turned out.

I had no problem sharpening the pencils. They have the feel of a more expensive pencil.

I am looking forward to using these pencils again, and I hope you consider using them. You can purchase from the link on right >>>

Coloring Supply Cart and Bygel Cups

If you are anything like me, your coloring supplies take up soooo much room.

Here is a wonderful solution. 

In this vid is a sturdy supply cart on wheels. They are available on Amazon and Target, along with the wonderful Bygel cups that can hook to the side of the cart...perfect combo!

The turquiose version of the cart and orange cups are listed in the right column >>
and the white cart from Target is here:  CLICK

The cups save me so much room! I was just thinking I needed a new cart, but because the cups hang on the outside of the cart, I don't need a new one. My husband is not thrilled that I can wheel this thing all over the house and make any room my studio...but I am~!

Hope these are helpful!

xo

Coloring Mushrooms and Water Droplets

Aahhh!! The magic of coloring.

It is so fun too see all the wonderful work out there. It can also be frustrating when you don't know how to do one of the effects you see.

Here is a color-along video that includes a how-to color water droplets segment.

Subscribe on YouTube for two coloring videos a week.

xo

A Fun Trick to Color Animal Fur and a Special Invitation

Hi to all my coloring friends!

I'd like to invite you to my brand new group, Dea Lenihan COLORING GALLERY. 

I am so grateful that many of you have colored my images, and now I have a place to show them off. You will also find giveaways, how tos, coloring tips, and videos.

                                    
                                    CLICK HERE to Join!

And here is a video with a fun way to color animal fur. Enjoy. xo

Coloring Glowing Glass Lanterns

Here is a quick video with tips about making a lantern look like it has panes of glass. I also show how to make them look like they are glowing.

                                         Colored by Ronda Francis

Enjoy! Hope the videos are helpful.

xo

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Eek! Quicky Coloring GIVEAWAY!

Hellloooo!!

Congratulations to MIMI GAREAU, the winner of my witchy GIVEAWAY!

This one is super easy--just click the YouTube video below--it's only a minute--then SUBSCRIBE to my channel and leave me an email. Voila! You're in.

                                              

           Important! Click YouTube logo on bottom when video starts. You will be taken to YouTube and you can SUBSCRIBE and leave email address.

OR

Click HERE to be taken right to YouTube.

The winner will receive one PENELOPE'S GARDEN Coloring Book, and five runners-up will receive a downloadable coloring page from my Etsy shop.

Good luck and Happy Halloween!

xo

Coloring Schedule on YouTube

I am so happy to announce my new schedule for YouTube!

                                   Watch this video HERE.

From this time forward, I will be creating two coloring videos each week...one on Wednesday and one on Sunday.

These videos will contain how tos, color-alongs, and some interesting and helpful tips.

I posted two this past week, and showed shading, highlighting, and how to color a large area in one color and add depth and dimension.

                                            Coloring Penelope
                                                                                                       

                                            Coloring a Large Area

I am looking forward to this new program, and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Please leave me a message below if you have any suggestions for what you would like to see.

I will also be working with the incredibly talented colorist Ronda Francis--I can't wait!

See you on Wednesday!

xo

Coloring is the New Black...and Orange, and Pink, and Blue...

I remember coloring in the basement of my aunt's house in New Jersey with my cousins as a child. We all had the same Casper coloring book, and despite the mostly adult party going on all around us, we were in our own very happy colorful world, creating, and feeling great.

My images were boldly outlined, then colored in with a lighter hand. My sister loved brights and it made her pictures eye-catching and fun. A cousin didn't follow any type of guidelines--her own or any other--her trees may have been pink and the sky possibly purple.

The point of telling this is just that we all had a great time, we all did a different version of the same picture, no pressure, and it was awesome.

We spent time together, kind of like a youngster version of a quilting circle. No one had to entertain or impress anyone...we just did our thing. Sometimes we cracked jokes, sometimes we chatted about our lives, and sometimes we said nothing. We were just together.

I think this is missing in the world today.

We get together, but there is a lot of social climbing, and fancy Pinterest table setting, and fancier recipes than I could ever cook. I miss getting together just for the sake of getting together...nothing fancy...and I think coloring is helping us do just that.

Yes, it is a digital world, but it is a good thing here. We find groups on Facebook or Instagram, or follow our favorite artists and find other like-minded colorists.

The world is a crazy place right now, and coloring is a gentle place to sit, create, and be yourself. 

I think we all have an artist inside. Picasso said all children are artists, and the problem is how to remain one once we grow up. Coloring books take the pressure out of art. Many get canvas confusion...when they look at a blank page or canvas they don't even know where to start. When we color, someone has started the canvasfor us, and a little of the steam is released so we are free to just go for it and have fun.

Some see a therapist, some meditate, some do yoga. I think we are seeing a new way to relax...and that is coloring.

xo

Join my Facebook group if you like...coloring friends abound!

Click here to join in!  

PENELOPE'S GARDEN GIVEAWAY!

Only two more weeks until the spookiest time of the year!

For the next 48 hours I am running a giveaway for one Penelope's Garden coloring book.

Please enter below. You do NOT have to take part in all three options to be entered in the giveaway. BUT, there is a bonus entry for anyone that already follows me. If you share my new coloring page, Penelope's Haunted House, or this blog post, you will receive it in a PDF form to color. 

Penelope's Haunted House

Just leave your name and email below if you share, and I will zip the file magically to your mailbox.

ENTER HERE!

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Happy Halloween and Good Luck!! xo

Compare Coloring Styles and Get Creative

As a coloring book designer I have the privilege to see many talented colorists use many different styles in my books.

When I design a coloring page I have an idea of what it will look like completely colored...well, I have an idea of my version anyway.

I have drawn hundreds of images, and I am still surprised on a regular basis at some of the styles and color schemes used on my images--and I have to say I love them.

Here are some examples of the exciting ways my images have been colored:

Penelope's Pumpkins, uncolored.

Colored by Karikaribik on Instagram:

This was colored with Ploychromos pencils and Posca Markers. The colors are very earthy and rich, and very similar to what you would see in real life. Pumpkins are (for the most part) orange, and leaves are green. The flowers of a pumpkin plant are yellow. There is white highlighting throughout the picture done with a Posca marker, and the shading is done realistically, too. The ground looks dimensional and rolling because the shadows surround the objects on almost all sides. Love this.

Colored by colouring_inner on Instagram:

This was only marked as "colored pencils" so I can't even be specific which ones! It is very soft and pastel, and very original for a Halloween image. The sky is black, the ground is grey, and the pumpkins are periwinkle! Love!

Colored by me:

This was colored with Poychromos pencils, and blended with a Faber-Castell blender. The shadows fall in the direction the light of the moon would cast them, and the highlights are done by leaving them white, and not coloring there. The depth of this one is somewhere between the previous images.

Colored by Kimberley Calaminici:

This was colored with Derwent Inktense pencils, activated by water. It gives the impression of watercolor, and allows the colors to be very bright. She also used a white gel pen for highlights which is a lovely touch. She used a deep aqua blue for the sky which gives the impression of early evening. Very lovely.

It is interesting to me that we all made the mice the same color, and we also made the cat black.

This has inspired me to try and change up what I think a picture should look like, and make it into something new and different. I also want to try water-activated pencils, or maybe even paint.

I hope this inspires you to try new things while coloring. You can always make a copy of the images that you have, so you can do them in more than one way.

Show me your finished work! I'd love to see.

You can buy PENELOPE'S GARDEN HERE on Amazon or at my ETSY Store.

xo

A Cute Halloween Coloring Book Witch for Kids and Adults

Penelope the witch made her debut last Halloween as a #1 New Release on Amazon.

This year, I will be adding several new Penelope pictures to my Etsy store.

Here is a glimpse of the first greyscale image:

INK on ETSY

                                        Greyscale on ETSY

This image and more will be available soon on YouTube, with instructional videos. Ronda Francis, my coloring partner in crime, will be doing the coloring, and there will be tips and trends galore.

The full PENELOPE'S GARDEN coloring book is also available at my Etsy shop and on AMAZON.

I am looking forward to this endeavor--I hope you are too!

xo

Five Wonderful and Spooky Halloween Coloring Books

Oooo there is a little nip in the air--so that means Halloween can't be too far away!

I have gathered up five wonderfully spooky coloring books for you to enjoy.

1. The Beauty of Horror: a GOREgeous Coloring Book by Alan Robert.
This is for anyone that might be a bit sick of flowers and mandalas. But buckle up! Not for the faint of heart.



                                                                    Click to Buy

2. Jasmine Becket-Griffith Halloween Coloring Book. This is perfect for Becket-Griffith fans, or anyone who loves the dark side of pretty.



                                           Click to Buy


Penelope's Garden, An Enchanted Coloring Book by Dea Lenihan. This book is filled with zombie mice, a nightshade garden, and an adorable witch named Penelope. Spooky cuteness for all ages.



                                           Click to Buy

4. Night Magic Gothic and Halloween Coloring Book by Selena Fenech.  Sweet, sexy, and magical witches, vampires, and more!



                                                   Click to Buy

5. Hanted House by Jade Summer. This easy to color book shows all the spooky rooms of a haunted house. Old fashioned Halloween fun!



                                            Click to Buy

With three spooky/witchy books and one straight up horror and a haunted house--how can you go wrong!

Each of the designers listed has more coloring books to buy--check them out!

Happy (very early) Halloween shopping everyone!

xo

Squirrel Appreciation Day 2017!

Awww Willow!

Some of you may know that I have a God-squirrel named Willow. 

Willow fell from a tree as a four week old baby five years ago. Thankfully he ended up with a licensed animal rehabber who took him in and nursed him back to health. Circumstances did not allow him to be re-released as usual, and he lives in her home, cage-free to this day.

He is adorable, and active, and smart as a whip...and he wreaks havoc on her home daily. He thrives because he is with a professional rehabber. I would not suggest trying to raise one or keep one for a pet yourself. They live about 20 years in the wild, and only 5 years in cage. :( Willow has run of the house, and has chewed endless cords, molding, furniture, cabinets, and a few potentially dangerous items. Take my word--leave it to the pros. 

That being said, Willow inspires me all the time. He is a beautiful thing, partially due to genetics, and partially, I am sure, due to his perfect diet. As Willow's mama says, he is the Brad Pitt of squirrels. 

He is going to appear on my Etsy site soon, as an original graphite drawing, then as a limited edition of reproductions.

Click here to see him in my Etsy shop.

He is so pretty, I draw him all the time. 

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day, about a month late. ;)

Follow Your Dreams!

As a job I write and illustrate.

I love to see my ideas come to life in stories and in pictures.

The Good Samaritan movie poster

When we are young everything is new and interesting--everything is a first. As we grow, we become familiar with things in our lives. As we get older many of these things become more commonplace, and to keep things interesting and exciting we need to create our own firsts.

My latest first is to produce a short film.

This film is a mature thriller called The Good Samaritan, written and directed by Brooklyn Hudson. I supplied the art for this project, including the photography for the posters and campaign.

I am thrilled to be part of this project and can't wait to see it on the big screen. 

Life is short and precious. If you have something you want to do, do not hesitate. Create a first that you will never forget.

I hope some of you take advantage of the perks of this project which range from an advanced screening of the film, to an IMDb credit and personal thank you from the writer and director. There is even a Hollywood makeover and a chance to have your child in the film!

Click here to support women in film and to read about The Good Samaritan.

Then get out there and start following your dreams.