Hello, my name is Sandy Steen Bartholomew,
and I'm a doodle addict. New Hampshire

Sandy Steen Bartholomew is an author, illustrator, cartoonist, mixed-media artist, and a Certified Zentangle® Teacher. She runs an Etsy store (Bumblebat) and a studio in her converted barn (Beez Ink). She is inspired by juicy, jewel-tones and rusty-crusty, peeling, earth-covered things. Magic and mystery, bits and pieces, and weird little creatures. Sandy lives with her two kids and a cat in their colorful, mixed-media house in Warner, NH.

I specialize in childrens illustration, comics, doodling, illustration, sketchnotes.

You can also find me on:

Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Uploads

Everyday with Aspergers is a storm of overwhelm - some good, some bad, and some painful. This was an "intuitive" painting with tons of layers, and no preplanning (what?!). I used acrylic paints, post markers, and pencils - I think it shows the exhaustion and overstimulation really well.

I wanted it to look like the chalkboard menus in quirky cafes. I drew the image with a Blackwing pencil, scanned it into Photoshop, inverted, then applied the colors.

Gouache painting for a jigsaw puzzle.

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I drew one of my toys, (almost!) every day for a year. They were all done on 6"x6" card stock with alcohol based markers. I researched every one to try and find the company, etc. These are a few of the Disney characters in my collection.

"Caps for Sale" reimagined. Zentangle pattern = Btl Joos

Acrylic inks, colored pencils, Posca markers

Feeling anxious and flight-y... abstract background in acrylic inks to contrast with jewel-like dragonfly. Inks, Posca markers, Micron pens (for wings), Prismacolor colored pencils.

The word prompt was "Teeth" and I used the Zentangle pattern "Itch" for the scales on the dragon. This picture sums up the (bad?) advice given to us Anxiety ridden folks - "Focus on one thing at a time." Yeh, how's that working for you?

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I was inspired to post some of my own Robot drawings. Three are done in ink and alcohol markers. One is chalk and Fire Alarm on chalkboard. ;-D

I was so impressed by the confidence of that one puff of a dandelion growing right up in the peonies... I thought it deserved a painting. I used acrylic inks and Posca markers. Note: for some reason, every image is showing fluorescent greens? My file doesn't look like that, sorry.

I really really really need to learn how to relax. Rest. Reset. I used acrylic inks and Posca markers.

Happy Halloween! (Ah! I'm not ready!) For Inktober this year, I reimagined drawings from previous years, as paintings. I used acrylic inks and Posca markers.

Inktober52 - #37 FRAGILE with the Zentangle "Stature" used as columns on the wall. Ink and marker.

With apologies to Monty Python. The word prompt was "Dungeon".

Back and Front covers from my new comic, FISH. I imagined, sketched, and inked 24 pages in 24 hours for 24 Hour Comics Day. I then colored it, scanned and did the layouts in the following days. Took a week total. Started it Saturday morning nd I sent it off to the printer the following Saturday!

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I'm working on getting a service dog and set up a website, an Instagram, and a fundraiser. This comic was my quick explanation of WHY I need a dog. There's a full color version, the pencil sketch, the inked comic, and a cute sticker of Theo, my service dog.

Satellite - I’m feeling rather isolated and lonely.

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Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Uploads