Happy Easter

Up close and personal with Jake

Watercolor and collage

Collage and acrylic

acrylic and Arteza brush pens, collage, pen work

I am in the Spring mode, can you tell?

Dina Wakley did a livestream on Instagram last night. I only saw the last 30 minutes, but it was Dina at her best. She said, not for the first time, that you have to make a ton of crappy art to get to the good stuff, to improve as an artist. The livestream was from her bedroom art studio at home, and she didn't hesitate to show the mess, the stacks of art journals from over the years. There were a few quick journal flips, and you could see her style evolve as the years passed.

Perhaps it took this pandemic for that thought to finally sink in within my brain. I don't preplan any journaling at this point, and have not for over a month. I just do it. Every day. If the lack of socialization is getting to me on any particular day, and I am not in the mood, I either slap paint on pages for backgrounds and walk away, or watch art videos. Fussy cutting out butterflies or words, whatever, has become a form of meditation. The dogs are quiet, television is on in the background, and if I am busy I don't think. I am in the moment. And isn't that what it's all about?
Linda

One Day At A Time

8x8 wood panels prepped with old music and book pages

After gesso and paint applied with a brayer and the Catalyst wedge

Ditto

Then added more white paint lightly with a brayer for the area of hand lettering

Ditto

This is the wall you see as you enter the art studio room. Makes me happy!

From the Toni Burt flower class. Watercolor and pen

And this was inspired from an abstract on Pinterest by Dori Patrick. 10x10 wood panel

I have been busy all weekend long, just not in an art journal. All of the online classes and YouTube videos have converged in my brain to make the above. If I am working on art, I'm not eating. New diet. Do NOT enter the kitchen out of nerves. I always knew I was a stress eater, but the past week has seriously made that point clear. It stops today.

Saturday was snow all day, but yesterday the sun was out and we walked at a local park. It was a bit nippy in the shade, but nice in the sun. My plan is to repeat that today. Does all three of us good to get out of the house, and inhale fresh air. Not many walkers yesterday, but we went around noon.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and do something you love. This is all we have for awhile, folks. Enjoy the moments.
Linda

Time change, full moon, and Friday the 13th all in one week

She is a hot mess

New hand mask

What do you want, mom?

You are making my nose look big

Can we say spoiled? Can we?

New Toni Burt class

It has been quite some time since I did watercolor on watercolor paper. And the above gave me fits yesterday. The color would not lift off with a wet brush, as it should. This is Strathmore 400, the BEST of the Strathmore line. It is old, but that shouldn't matter. Toni talks quite a bit about paper and brushes in her supply section of the introduction to this class, and emphasizes that the quality of the paper is the most important aspect of painting with watercolor. I have watched Christy Sobolewski (Gulfsprite) paint on magazines, book text, every journal paper that exists, and not have a problem. So it is probably a matter of opinion.

My opinion is I prefer mixed media paper, or the Fabriano studio grade hot press, which has a smooth surface. This morning's project is to try this flower again with that paper.

Onward. I have so many art journaling projects I want to try, and not enough time to try them all. However, if there is a quarantine due to the coronavirus, I have plenty to do, and the supplies to do them. Food? Not enough for 2 weeks, but art supplies? You betcha!!!
Linda

Wow! I can see!

This is in a Canson Mixed Media journal that is oversized, 11x14. I was going through older artwork on Sunday, and pulled out several projects I had done last November and December from Danielle Donaldson classes online. Danielle calls the collages of scrapbook papers her stories, and lets the end result dictate what she paints. I just like making collages with colorful papers. But I did try to coordinate the colors with the painting.

The leaves and girl were drawn in graphite, painted with Daniel Smith watercolors. Perhaps there are better paints, but I am now so used to working with these I am no longer interested in trying something new.

For the record, I put together the collage first, sewing some of the pieces on my sewing machine, then affixing everything to the page with glue. For me, this is a meditative, relaxing technique that I had forgotten about. More to come, I think. Thanks for stopping by.
Linda

Hot, Humid, October???

Bins of mini pumpkins at an Apple Craft Fest on Saturday

Love the little white pumpkins

Watching the news.....

Mom was gone all afternoon

ALLLL afternoon. No mom!

New watercolors

Cathy, bless her heart, told me about this watercolor set she had researched online. The full name is Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors. They are Japanese, and kind of a cross between Daniel Smith and a good gouache. Of course I wouldn't know that unless I ordered the set of 48 and tried them, would I? I do believe this is Cathy's payback to me for all the times I have told her about new supplies.

These are in pans, not tubes, and to use them properly you will also need a watercolor palette. Wet the brush, grab some color and put into a palette cup, then add more water to get a puddle of paint to use.  The above pages are two quick sketches I did on Saturday, after the paints arrived. So here are my thoughts:

Although the paints look shiny in the pans, they dry to a very nice matte finish. It is super easy to mix colors, and to layer. I tried these on a Canson Watercolor Journal, and this paper leaves a great deal to be desired. Not a fan. Also tried on a Canson Mixed Media paper, and thought the paints did well on that. The pigment is bright, even bold if you layer twice, and you can get a nice wash if you add enough water.

We paid $39.99 for the set of 48 on Amazon. This was the best price we could find. There are smaller sets as well. You also get 2 gold metallic paints in this set. If you are looking for quality watercolors that are affordable, I honestly can recommend these paint. The variety in colors is excellent. This is all Cathy's fault. You are welcome.
Linda

Why yes, there is a story

She wanted Cinnabon. But it was too far.

Completed Familiar class from PAINT IN THE DARK

I used a Tom Bow marker in brown on her hair and didn't like it

So went over the hair with a heavy mix of brown gouache

I have a lot of chalk paint that I purchased at Walmart. Chalk paint doesn't have a long shelf life, so trying to use it up. Just don't care for it in a journal. Color wise it's great, I don't the feel of the pages after they dry. The first girl longing for Cinnabon has chalk paint. You're suppose to journal your internal feelings, right???

I used the original photo that Christy Sobolewski supplied for the cat in the double page spread. But I also had a close up of a friend's cat, so used that for reference as well. My intent was to give the impression of a cat, not depict a realistic painting. So. Stopping right there. The entire project was done with Daniel Smith water colors.

I traced the girl's face from a Pinterest download. Just the placement of her eyes, nose and mouth, then sketched her hair and body. Background is Caran D'Ache gouache, then stencil with Martha Stewart acrylic paint. I used Daniel Smith water colors on her face and body, and ended with gouache on her hair to cover up the Tom Bow marker that would not move. Lesson learned. The majority of the shading on her face and neck was done first with Neutral Tint. I then mixed up a flesh tone with Quin Coral and Green Gold, a Christy formula from one of her YouTube videos. I want to stress I am not giving away any secrets from a class. I know that combination of colors sounds horrible, but you can lighten it with water, and look how soft it becomes. I love it. To further darken around the eyes, I added just a touch of Neutral Tint to the flesh tone mix.

Learning something new makes me happy. Have a good one.
Linda

Technical Difficulties

a walk in the park yesterday

White witch

White witch complete

reference photo

flowers in a friend's backyard

hmmmmm

Better but still no

The above are from the PAINT IN THE DARK class with Gulfsprite. There are a total of 15 lessons, and I undoubtedly will fall out somewhere along the line, but right now I am being challenged and frustrated. This is a good thing.

I used the light box to trace the face and hair of the White Witch from a stock photo provided in class. I made up her body, and again used a reference photo for the star within the circle. This is all watercolor, all Daniel Smith, except for the metallic white in her hair, star, and the edge of the cape. That is Prima. I folded a piece of 11x15 Strathmore 300 paper in half, scoring it for a perfect fold, so I can turn this into a journal insert.

The little girl (ha ha ha) I drew freehand from the reference photos provided in class. I am happy with the drawing, but damn it! her face looks like a grown woman midget holding a doll. After taking the first photo and sending it to Cathy, we decided that I had made her face too long, and she needed rosy cheeks. So she is somewhat fixed.  But I am not happy. Going to add some shading around the girl, and call it quits on her, move on.

Ya gotta keep trying!
Linda

Edit - this is the final version of Shadow Walkers. Creepy!

I have a limited attention span

Watercolor and collage on 12x12 paper

Jake wondering why we are not at the dog park

My attention drifts from project to project, but at least in the past 2 weeks I am staying within the same genre of art: collage.

No, I have not worked in my altered book again.

No, I have not finished a stack of Booklet Bundles of Joy.

But I did do this abstract watercolor. On cheap MasterTouch 140lb paper. Because I just wanted to play, and I didn't feel like cutting down a bigger sheet of good paper. The more I use Daniel Smith watercolors, the more I learn. The quality of the paper makes a huge difference, but you can still achieve some interesting effects with layering colors. The added outlines are .05 mechanical pencil, not ink. White dots are from an acrylic paint pen.

Will do some more of these, but smaller, today. I have a multi opening frame that used to hold family pics. Thinking it needs some collage pieces. Enjoy your day.
Linda

Ready to move on

This is the last completed tags. It is #95 and I am out of ideas.

I drew this on 140 lb water color paper on Sunday

And painted it with Daniel Smith water color paints yesterday

I love the flowers. Not happy with the leaves.

I have so many classes to finish. 10 times that to start. And then someone on Instagram posts a photo that shouts "SQUIRREL", and I am off and running on another path. But the one consistency in my art is water color. I keep coming back to it now because it satisfies me.

All of the classes emphasize that a limited palette of color is best, so I used only 3 colors in this project, but varied the intensity with water and mixing those 3 together. THAT is the trick that you will come away with from a Danielle Donaldson class. And once you get the hang of mixing and adding water, it is a joy to paint. I haven't decided if this is completely finished. May add some pencil work here and there. Another Danielle feature. But going to try more flowers this week.

Enjoy your art today.
Linda

Sunshine

Day 51

Watercolor on Strathmore paper

I thought the ear hanging off the bed was just too cute. But I am his mom, sooo

Danielle Donaldson has several wreath type arrangements in a few of her classes. I saw them online, Pinterest or Instagram, and just liked the idea. So this is my take on hers. First attempt, but I want to do another one with far more leaves. I used an .05 lead mechanical pencil, Daniel Smith watercolors, then went back to add dimension with the same pencil.

Today's tag is paint, Derwent colored graphite smeared around, and one piece of card stock for the circle. The sun was bright yesterday, the dogs were at the Playground, so I sat in the studio and messed with a stack of tags. It felt good to get back in the groove.

Spring is in the air. She just needs to walk faster and arrive.
Linda