Blue Skies Smiling at Me - Watercolor

Tonight's watercolor lesson was on skies.  We also learned several techniques to lift (remove) color from our paintings.  To create clouds, dab a torn piece of tissue or paper towel on the paint while it is still wet.  For a moon or sun, use a circle stencil and a Magic Eraser (slightly damp) after the paint has dried.  To help delineate a horizon, use a slightly damp brush to lift or pick up color.  I used masking fluid to create the reflection in the water.  Our instructor used a clear candle; the wax acts as a resist against the paint. 

I've actually become pretty good at making skies.  It's when I try to add other things that I'm not as happy with the results.  In this example, I fussed too much with my trees and their reflection, and as a result some areas got overworked.  It's not as noticeable from a distance, so this is one painting that should be viewed from across the room (wink).  I do like the turquoise, cobalt blue and lavender hues in this painting.

Another thing I tried (in my sketch book) during class was painting a white birch tree using a palette knife.  The instructor gave a quick demonstration for one of the other students who had been working on a painting of white birch at home this past week, so I decided to try it myself.  This is definitely something I want to try again!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day. 

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor paper; Schmincke Horadam watercolors; paper towel; Magic Eraser; Grumbacher Miskit Liquid Frisket; miscellaneous brushers: 2 inch hake brush, small angle brush, no. 8 round; palette knife.

The Comfort of Home - Altered Envelope Mail Art

The next month is probably going to be a busy one for us, what with plans to start our bathroom renovation and to have a tree removed in the front yard.  I figured I better get certain things done in advance so they're not hanging over my head.  That includes my altered envelope for April.  Since spring makes me think of spring cleaning and birds making their nests, I chose houses as my theme.

Front of envelope

I started by making a #10 size envelope out of watercolor paper.  Using the "wet on wet" method, I added turquoise and cobalt blue watercolors, then laid on some plastic wrap until the paint was almost dry.  This creates a wonderful random pattern in the paint.

Back of envelope

On a separate piece of tissue paper, I assembled my houses from a variety of patterned papers and sheet music.  I used black and silver Pitt pens, rub-on numbers, and word stickers to embellish the houses.  The address frame and sentiments were stamped directly onto the envelope.

Closeup of back

This month just blew by, literally and figuratively!  Here's hoping that April's weather is better. Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; Schmincke Horadam watercolor paints; plastic wrap; miscellaneous patterned papers and vintage sheet music; Pitt black and silver artist pens; ocean charcoal pencil; rub-ons by 7 Gypsies; white acrylic paint; frame stamp by Hampton Art Stamps; front sentiment by Artistic Outpost; mail art letters by Lawn Fawn; Tim Holtz patterned tissue paper; Ranger archival black ink; Victorian velvet Distress Ink; Tim Holtz word stickers.

Water Reflections - Watercolor

Last week in watercolor class the lesson was on painting reflections.  The teacher painted a water scene, and then we were to create our own scene employing the same techniques.

The first technique was laying plastic wrap, horizontally and unevenly (i.e., with wrinkles), across the wet blue paint.  By holding it in place for several minutes while the paint dries, it creates waves or white caps across the water without any effort at all.  Once that dried, we painted in the pile mooring and its reflection.  I finished my painting when I got home by adding the sky (*love* how that turned out), and the sand.  However, I was not as happy with the dead tree and some rocks on the right side of my painting.  I couldn't fix them, and the painting was horribly off-balance, so  I simply cut them off.  HA!   (Not all watercolor tricks are done with the paint brush.)

Considering I haven't spent much time boating or on the shore, and was not working from a photograph, I think I was able to create a lovely water scene with a believable reflection.

Happy Monday!  Thanks for stopping by.

2013 Art Calendar Challenge - October

I wanted to try something a little different for this month's art calendar:  the entire background is a watercolor painting.  Here is what my calendar looked like before I added anything else.

And here is what it looks like now that it's completed.

The daily squares were cut from a piece of orange artist paper in a recent Stampington magazine (Somerset Memories, I believe).  After I adhered the daily squares, I used a sepia-colored Pitt artist pen and brown Gelatos (smeared with my fingers) to go back over the parts of the pumpkins that had been covered up.  I love how this detail integrated the daily squares into the painting and brought the pumpkins to the foreground again.  I used a water pen to add blue Gelatos around the month and days of the week.  The Gelatos are a recent purchase for me, so I wanted to experiment with them.

This calendar was super fun to make and it gave me so many ideas for next month as well as for other mixed media projects.  To see other art calendars for Kate Crane's challenge, please visit The Kathryn Wheel.  Kate also has a Facebook page called Art Journaling Calendar Challenge, which more people seem to be using now to post photos of their calendars.

Thanks for dropping in.  Have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies:
Strathmore Visual Journal with 140 lb watercolor paper; Schmincke pan watercolors; Pitt artist pens (black and sepia); alphabet and number stamps by Words Worth (October 2013); alpha stamps by Studio G (days of the week); number stamps by Hero Arts (dates); Ranger Archival ink (black); stormy sky and vintage photo distress ink; Faber-Castell Gelatos; scrap white cardstock from my stash; orange specialty paper from Stampington and Company.

Evolution of a Tulip: from Sketch to Watercolor to Mixed Media

Confession:  I did not sit down at my craft table a single time last week!  Maybe I needed a break after the marathon sessions working on my mom's scrapbook the week before.  Maybe I wanted to enjoy the beautiful fall weather we've been having.  At any rate, I finally sat down last night and to jump-start my creativity, I decided to play with my watercolors.  I thought about using them to create some sympathy cards that I need.  But I really just wanted to experiment, so that's what I did.

To start, I got online and found this How to Draw a Tulip video on YouTube.  I love tulips and for years they were my signature flower.  I watched the video and told myself, "You can do that."  (We all need encouragement, right?  Even if it's from within our own heads!)  So while watching the video a second time, I lightly sketched a tulip on drawing paper.  (Unfortunately, I forgot to make a scan of my pencil drawing before proceeding to the next step.)

Then, like in the video, I went over my pencil drawing with a Sharpie, modifying and refining the various shapes. Once I was happy with that, I transferred my sketch to watercolor paper using a pencil and transfer paper.  I just guessed how to do this, vaguely remembering doing something like this when I was a kid, and miraculously it worked!  (And, once again, I forgot to take a scan of this step.)

Since I had done a transfer, my tulip was now a reverse image of the original sketch.  Using watercolors, I painted my tulip.  Overall I thought it was okay, but a little blah.  So I pulled out a fine point black artist pen and added further refinements and shading.

And here, in less than an hour believe it or not, is my tulip!  I am super pleased with how it turned out.  It's much better than I expected.  And then I decided to quit for the night, as I want time to think about how I want to finish this.  I can't simply have a tulip floating in mid-air, but I'm not sure how I want to ground it or frame it.  So for now, I will leave it alone until another day.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great Monday!

Supplies:
Strathmore 80 lb drawing paper; Staedtler Mars Lumograph 6B pencil; Sharpie fine point black marker; Strathmore tracing paper; 140 lb watercolor paper; Prismacolor 2H pencil; Winsor and Newton travel watercolor set; Cotman no. 5 round watercolor brush (it came with the travel watercolors); Faber-Castell fine point PITT artist pen in black.

Trio of Pears - Watercolor

I'm taking another stab at learning to watercolor paint by taking a class offered through our city parks and recreation department.  And of course, the first lesson in the class is the one that is the hardest for me:  value!  Value refers to the relative darkness and lightness of a color.  It's those contrasts that give an image shape and which create depth and distance.  My problem is keeping the light values.

After a practice exercise in atmospheric perspective (which I don't think I did very well), we had a little over an hour to paint whatever we wanted based on a photo or sketch of our choice.  I wanted to keep it simple so I had found a photograph online of three pairs against a white background.  And here's my rendering of said pears.

I lost some of the highlights on the two pears on the left, but overall I'm pretty pleased with this first painting.  At least you could tell they were pears, right?

Have a fabulous day!

2013 Art Calendar Challenge - September

Since I had so much fun making cucumbers for last month's calendar, I decided this month to try my hand at painting tomatoes.  Our garden is just exploding with delicious red and yellow tomatoes; we're eating them every day (sometimes for lunch and dinner both!).  This time I used tube watercolors and paint brushes, rather than watercolor pencils and a water pen.  I find working with the brushes more challenging and I need the practice, as I've signed up for a watercolor class that starts next week.

This calendar began with a vibrant background of turquoise and chartreuse spray inks that I chose to compliment the tomatoes.  I used some store-bought as well as homemade stencils (leftover die-cut items from another project), and toned down some of the color by stenciling white acrylic paint through punchinella.  The chickenwire stamp adds additional, garden-related interest (we've had to use it to keep the rabbits away from certain flowers and hostas).

Happy Labor Day to my American followers!  I hope you're enjoying the long weekend.

Supplies:
Strathmore 9x12 Visual Journal with 140 lb watercolor paper; white gesso; assorted vintage papers and sheet music; Heidi Swapp stencils; Heidi Swapp chartreuse spray ink; Dylusions vibrant turquoise spray ink; punchinella (sequin waste); titanium white acrylic paint; Ranger black archival ink; chickenwire stamp from Oxford Impressions; large alphabet stamps by Wordsworth; small alphabet stamps by Studio G (Michaels); date stamper by Smash; salty coean, barn door, and rusty hinge Distress Inks; Schmincke Horadam Aquarelle watercolors; assorted watercolor brushes; Pitt sepia artist pen; Derwent ocean deep charcoal pencil; patterned papers from Stampington and Company; Golden regular gel medium (matte).

Blue Vase Still Life - Watercolor

I'm currently taking a watercolor class and it's been quite a challenge for me.  I'm used to the multiple layering of mixed media collage and the ability to easily cover up something I don't like.  I'm having to learn to be not so heavy-handed.

I painted this "made-up" still life and for a first effort, am happy with it.  I'm really pleased with the vase but you can probably tell which flower turned into a monster. (You can laugh about it; I did!)  I bought some  carnations yesterday to help me with a second version.

I hope you're having a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by.

Midnight Snow Watercolor ATC

Back in March I attended a few watercolor classes.  Then things got busy and I haven't painted anything since.  I've regretted that, so I decided to pull out the watercolors and just mess around a little.  It's the only way I'm going to learn.

Because I don't have a lot of time for art today, I decided to recreate my first watercolor painting as an ATC-sized card.  For a first effort I'm pleased, but I couldn't get my margarita salt to work this time and I think I need an even smaller brush if I'm going to work in this size.  It is definitely a challenge!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Supplies: 
Watercolor ATC base; Payne's Gray tube watercolor paint; white gouache.

My First Watercolor Painting

Ever get the itch to try something new?  Well, I decided I want to learn how to paint with watercolors.  Through a local artists' group, I found a woman who offers weekly classes in all mediums.  I spent my first class practicing flat and graduated washes, and this week, in my second class, I completed an entire painting!

The original painting is 21 x 7 inches, so this picture shows just one half of it.  It's a winter scene using a lovely color called Payne's Gray (I would call it "midnight blue").  The snow crystals in the background were created by sprinkling margarita salt on the wet paint.  You mean there's another use for margarita salt?  I'll have to stock up.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous day.