Monica McFawn

Art

monicamcfawn

I really like this pic @sailordn took of me in McC

I really like this pic @sailordn took of me in McCarty’s Cove. I’ve spent a lot of my life not liking photos of myself or my image in a mirror. I have no trouble seeing the beauty in my art or writing…it’s long overdue that I start seeing it in myself. For those of you who struggle with body positivity, what has helped you? #bodypositivity #portrait #photography #waterylight

Belinda the blue horse wades through clover. I too

Belinda the blue horse wades through clover. I took this on my trip to North Carolina, and I made Belinda using a elegant writer pen on the back of an index card. I just love this photo for some reason, something about the play of the foreground and background. #equineart #elegantwriterwatercolor #indexcardart #photooftheday #papercutout

Here’s project #2 for my @svanyc class. The brie

Here’s project #2 for my @svanyc class. The brief was to reimagine Goldilocks and draw a scene from your version. In my version, “Lily and the Luna Moths,” a mini-Pegasus (Lily) becomes lost and ends up in a Luna Moth (The Mothingtons) family home. In this scene, she is trying various bowls of flowers to eat, settling on Baby Moth’s favorites. Later she’ll fall asleep in Baby Moth’s cocoon where she’ll be discovered by the Mothingtons when they get home. This is my first attempt at blending narrative scenes into my love of taking paper animal pics outdoors...I made the sign, rebuilt a mini chandelier from Micheals with leaves and greenery from the yard, gathered a bed of pine needles and a rock for the table and floor. I made Lily from paper and bought the paper bowls and mini coffee cups from Micheals. The flowers were all growing wild in the yard. It was like shooting a movie to get everything in place...happened to be a windy day and Lily kept falling over. And after all this, I had to redraw/remake everything for the color version, since my chandelier, flowers etc are ephemeral. Swipe to see B&W rough draft. 🌸🌟#papercrafts #scbwiillustrators #picturebookillustration #lunamoth #fairygarden #natureart #handcrafted

Here’s the color/revised version of my @svanyc i

Here’s the color/revised version of my @svanyc illustration assignment. I changed the composition slightly in response to class feedback (including fluffing the tails and curling the leaf) This was so difficult to make...I had to redraw multiple squirrels to try out different colors and mediums to see what works. This is made out of watercolors, water markers, alcohol markers, and an elegant writer pen. Going to make a few tweaks still but I wanted to share what I turned in. See my stories for some pictures of the elaborate trial and error process! It was a regular squirrel factory in here for a while 🤣 #creativeprocess #childrenspicturebooks #picturebookillustration #childrensbookillustration #groundsquirrel #flyingsquirrel #mixedmediaonpaper #collage

Here’s the first piece I made for my @svanyc cla

Here’s the first piece I made for my @svanyc class. The assignment was to rewrite/reimagine Aesop’s “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” then illustrate a scene in black and white. In my version, it’s about a ground squirrel (Mo) and flying squirrel (Loni) who envy each other’s habitats and lives (Mo longs for the treetops, Loni is enraptured with burrows). I envision the book being part life lesson/ecological education, as I’d use real facts/habitats of both species...anyway, this was a tough assignment because we were to work in black and white before making a color version. I don’t normally work like this at all—I never really plan out drawings this way, nor do I remake the same image in color after B&W. I bet this is how my writing students feel when I give them all kinds of prompts and preliminary work to disrupt their normal process. I’m not sure where this project with go...do you think I should make this a book? #creativeprocess #childrensbookillustration #thirteenlinedgroundsquirrel #flyingsquirrel #picturebookillustration #picturebookart

Linden the deer naps in the ground cover. I made L

Linden the deer naps in the ground cover. I made Linden several months ago, but I was feeling too perfectionist to post her...Covid times/chronic illness has really messed with my self-esteem and sense of worth. I’m slowly feeling better (physically and about myself), and making a bigger commitment to art has helped with with that. I’m taking a children’s book illustration class online @svanyc and I’m feeling challenged in the best of ways. Plus it’s wonderful to be a student again after such a hard year of teaching. Looking forward to sharing the first assignment I completed here very soon...hint..there are rodents involved.✨🐿✨#childrensbookillustration #watercolor #paperart #newchapter

Shh...Roberta the Felimoth is resting. Made with t

Shh...Roberta the Felimoth is resting. Made with the markers @bad_bad_kitty_show got me for my birthday. Here’s to 42! 🎉🌟😻🦋#birthday #newmarkers #moth #cat #mcfawncats #fantasticalcreatures

Bryn canters off. Made with the #elegantwriterpen

Bryn canters off. Made with the #elegantwriterpen , an extremely unusual tool that writes in black ink, but when touched with water it splits into the colors you see here. I picked up this technique by watching a YouTube tutorial by Karlyn Holman and was amazed to see how a single little calligraphy pen could create images like this. #artexperiment #watercolorpainting #elegantwriterart #horseart #equineart

You’re somebunny in this bunniverse. ✨🌎🌌

You’re somebunny in this bunniverse. ✨🌎🌌🐇 #celestialbeing #rabbitart #markerart #mixedmedia #bunnyart #inspo

Lyric the Big Horn Sheep 🐑 suns himself on one

Lyric the Big Horn Sheep 🐑 suns himself on one of the last snowy days. I made him using a mix of markers and watercolors. He actually stands very well on his own, so I had a lot of fun posing him on various rocks and trees. See my stories for more from our photoshoot ✨📸✨#bighornsheep #markerart #watercolors #drawningoftheday

A few critters I drew this week with a COPIC pen a

A few critters I drew this week with a COPIC pen and some alcohol markers—just playing. Being sick—and then the months of rehab, diet changes etc to get well—have interrupted all my plans, including for my art. But there is something to be said for detours, even unplanned ones. Before getting sick, I was driven by anxiety and a sense of inadequacy. I thought I was “well,” because I was outwardly okay. Being forced to slow down and take care of myself made it clear how problematic my thinking had become. As I get better, my next step is to make sure that the choices I make in my life are driven by joy and not fear. Like these little random critters 🤩#creativeprocess #chronicillness #doodlesofinstagram #monsterdrawing #rehabilitation

River the Tiger escaped from the Passages North ba

River the Tiger escaped from the Passages North back cover to remind you to submit to the Elinor Benedict Poetry Prize and the Ray Ventre Memorial Nonfiction Prize by April 15! Winning authors will receive a $1000 prize and publication in the print issue of Passages North. See the Passages North website for full details ✨🐅✨ #tigerart #mixedmedia #literarycontest #passagesnorth #markerart #paperart #colorpop

Clarice the magical elk/deer breaks through. Isn’t the ice beautiful? I felt a flicker of joy when I saw she could stand in this melting shattering puddle. I’ve had such a difficult couple months with my mental and physical health, and signs of healing are slow and far between. The fact that this bit of paper in a puddle could still enchant me...I’m going to hold onto that. #paperart #watercolor #copicmarkers #enchanted #magicalcreatures #depression #livingwithanxiety #chronicillnesslife

I finally felt good enough to stop by school and p

I finally felt good enough to stop by school and pick up the latest issue of Passages North! I’m honored to have my cover art appear and I’m floored at the lovely writing in this gorgeous volume! Thanks as always to Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Howard @jferhow and Managing Editor Audrey Bauman @haylin42 for collaborating with me on the design. My tigers are very happy with their new home 🐅🐅❤️ @passagesnorth #litmag #coverartwork #passagesnorth #tigerart #bookcover #litmagsofinstagram

I haven’t posted in a while because I wanted to

I haven’t posted in a while because I wanted to wait until I felt better. I thought I’d post these horses I drew on scratch paper as part of a series: “stuff I drew while I was sick”. But I’m still not well...and if I wait until I am it looks like I’ll have months of backlogged drawings...so here’s something from when I first started getting symptoms, when working in rainbow scratch paper was easier that getting out the markers or the paint. I had no idea then how much of a struggle I would have getting my health back. I’m getting better, but I keep having flare ups that take days to recover from. I’m struggling so much with the sense that I’m taking too long to get better, that I’ll never be better, that every flare up is permanent. I’ve decided to force myself to draw and post, because drawing reminds me that things can look bad and then turn out okay, that a problem can become something beautiful, and that drawing & healing are both long games...neither horse I drew here is perfect, but they both represent increments of improvement. I’m trying to look for the increments in my healing rather than the leaps. #horseart #healing #creativeprocess #chronicillness

Happy Valentines’ Day from Mica and Dawn! I’m

Happy Valentines’ Day from Mica and Dawn! I’m a little hesitant to post these watercolor images since I’m still a beginner and it shows. But @sailordn bought me these paints and has always inspired me to try new things, through both his encouragement and example. He started improv, comedy and acting when he was 50ish, and he’s as amazing as someone who’s been at it their whole lives. I feel honored to have him as a life and creative partner & look forward to many more years of creative arguments and laughter. (PS do you see the ❤️ in this image?) #valentinesday2021 #valentine #bemine #unicorns🦄 #unicornart #missionwatercolors

Patch the Ant readies his boat for spring sailing.

Patch the Ant readies his boat for spring sailing. I’ve had a rough month with being sick (notcovid), but I’m finally—albeit slowly—coming back. Feeling good enough to draw was one of the first signs I was getting better. I’ve been learning watercolor and this is an all-watercolor mini-painting. I like the thought of a little wooden boat cleaving through grass with Patch as captain. #watercolorpainting #stuartsemplepalette #bugart #comebackstronger #missionwatercolors #antart #ants

Bing and Kite greet each other on a snowy day. To

Bing and Kite greet each other on a snowy day. To avoid doom/stress scrolling, I set myself a new task: draw animals I don’t know well without googling any reference pics. Let them turn out inaccurate and silly, that’s the fun of it. This is what my brain thought a platypus looked like 🤣What unusual animals should I try next? #illustrationartists #scbwiillustrators #platypus #duckart #duckbill #markerart #inaccurateart #imaginationvsreality #shinhantouchmarkers #prismatic

Seasons Greetings from Rudolf the Rednose Snaildee

Seasons Greetings from Rudolf the Rednose Snaildeer! #seasonsgreetings #happyholidays #wintery #snailart #rudolph #rudolphtherednosedreindeer #markerart #papercrafts #snowflakes❄️

I drew Dotti the Otter on a day I received a reje

I drew Dotti the Otter on a day I received a rejection from an artistic opportunity. Just like the crow from a few posts back, Dotti ended up looking cheerful even though I felt anything but when I drew her. I think it’s interesting that my visual art seems less an outlet for my emotions than a counterbalance. Or perhaps it’s just because ✨otters✨ They are seriously fascinating. Did you know they have skin pockets in their arm pits where they carry food and rocks (to crack open mollusks)? I carry my wallet in my armpit often so I relate. Follow @friendsseaotters for more delightful otter facts (plus great videos and captions) and opportunities to help endangered otters and their habitats. #seaotter #scbwiillustrators #scbwimichigan #wildlifeconservation #seamammals #marinemammals #rejectionisredirection

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