Here is a small gallery of the paintings I did in response to World Watercolor Month daily prompts. In viewing the images, you will notice that I discovered my orange paint this week.
I’m happy today, also, because I received a delivery of art supplies, including white opaque paint, better known as Gouache. Next week I will see what it can do.
Have a good week-end.
My attempt to work quickly. This image is based of a photograph by Janet Weightreed. It is taken at Crickhowell, Wales.
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About a week ago, my friend Kathy suggested we visit a church garage sale because she knew there would be yarn. After perusing the options, I chose these.
There were two skeins of the green Vanna’s Choice and one of the cream color Bernat cotton blend. $1 each. I had been looking for some bulky yarn to use in making this funky toddler coat.
Pretty cute. It is offered by Megan Jones of littlenutmegproductions.com.
Since the green did not have enough yardage to complete the size 2T version, I plan to use the Bernat yarn for cuffs and collar. Here is what I have knit so far:
Does this color combination suggest anything to you? To me, it looks like the beginnings of a Christmas elf costume.
While I’m not sure how I feel about that, I will continue knitting. It amuses me to think of my granddaughter as an elf.
So far, the hardest part was pleating the lower edge. The rest of the coat will be knit up with a raglan sleeve-yoke construction. The collar is picked up and knit down from the neckline. I should be able to finish within the next week.
It’s been a quiet week-end here at the studio. I have definitely been absorbed by painting.
Today I have two images to share. The prompt for July 3rd was Playful. I chose to paint some dolphins in a pool with their toys.
This is technically a mixed-media painting. I started out by scribbling on the white paper with white crayon to create a wax resist. I also used a little white gel pen, to see if it would resist the paint. And finally, I brushed on the traditional drawing gum resist. The frothy effect is the crayon. The white ring in the lower right corner is the gel pen, and the white marks on the dolphins’ heads is the gum. After applying the paint, I came back with black micron pen to add detail to the dolphins.
This was a fun and fairly quick painting. I like that it looks like a storybook illustration.
The prompt for July 4th was the word Quiet. Immediately I thought about a sleeping baby. If the baby is sleeping, momma tells everyone to Be Quiet! But then, I thought about sleeping owls. They also nap during daylight hours.
I found a good photograph of two sleepy owls, and made this sketch of it:
I really liked the sketch and was excited to render the image in water color. This was to be a traditional painting, with nothing but watercolor paints on top of a few pencil marks.
It took me all afternoon, because I had to wait for each wash to dry thoroughly before continuing. I reserved the white of the owls’ feathers with drawing gum resist. Completing the painting was satisfying, although some areas are not quite as I had intended them to be.
While the pose I rendered is exactly like the photograph, there is a some mystery about the image. Can you see the wing of the little owl on the left? It is tucked by its side. And yet, something that seems to be a wing is lying on top of the tucked-in wing. After thinking about this, there’s only one logical conclusion: The larger owl has its right wing wrapped around the smaller owl.
What do you think? Do owls give hugs? Or did the internet photographer doctor up the photo?
Fresh socks off my needles and blocked
This is a stash-buster project, made from Cascade Heritage sock yarn.
The pattern is called Firefly. It features a two by two right twist cable that is inserted in a staggered fashion. I love how it looks and how much stretch it provides to the sock cuff.
I highly recommend the pattern, in fact I recommend the book where the pattern appears. It is by Clara Parkes.
The Knitter’s Book of Socks: The Yarn Lover’s Ultimate Guide to Creating Socks That Fit Well, Feel Great, and Last a Lifetime
I borrowed it from the library, but it is available on Amazon.
Daily Fiber 