Today I have for you two little paintings with a little something extra. After the paint dried, I worked some embroidery stitches into the design
Two Pansies:
Two Pansies with embroidered faces.
Test paper with additional glazes added. Semi-abstract.
Same painting embroidered with fly stitch.
The second painting was extra fun. I used a variegated cotton thread by Sulky. The thread was held double.
What fun stuff are you making today?
Today I got out my lino-cutting tool to make another stamp based on a sketch. Last week I drew this monarch butterfly, referencing a free-use photograph from UnSplash.
Using tracing paper I transferred the drawing to a softcarve 4 x 6 block. It took me about an hour to carve out the image.
I did a few test prints and touched up the lines a bit. Here is the ink that I chose.
I find the types of stamping ink very confusing. Also, I paid $5 for this pad and there is hardly any ink in it. Eventually I got at least one decent print on a sheet of Canson Smooth Bristol paper.
While there are a few too many “echo lines” for my taste, I decided to carry on. Next came color. I was keen to see how easily paint would go over the permanent ink. I wasn’t terribly concerned that the black would be covered up, since watercolor paint is transparent.
I finished off by adding a little Micron pen – doing some stippling in black and drawing lines in yellow and orange to represent some of the details that I observed in the reference photograph.
I think this came out great. I will probably make several of these prints to use as greeting cards.
If any of you crafters out there in the blog-sphere have a recommendation for printing inks, please share.
About two weeks ago, we received a text message with a surprising photograph.
To the casual viewer, this may look like an ordinary, but happy day for my two loves. But this was no ordinary day for the little one. She had just received her first haircut! Gone were the messy locks, constantly hanging down over her face. Gone was the daily task of putting in the band to make the wonky ponytail. These delighted expressions and giant smiles just grabbed my heart.
I had to sketch this scene.
Sketch with lines drawn in black Ultrafine marker.
Final portrait with watercolor wash added.
I’m delighted that I was successful in capturing the emotion that I saw in the photograph. The portrait was sent along with Lu’s birthday present in yesterday’s mail. I can’t wait to hear about her reactions when she opens the box.
Flowers are a popular subject for beginning watercolor students. So far, I have not been attracted to this subject. If given a choice, I would prefer to paint an animal instead of a flower. But today I decided to go for a rose.
And not just any rose. I picked a multi-hued rose, very close up. Obviously, I was ready for a challenge.
This photograph was chosen from a free-usage website, most likely Unsplash. Unfortunately, I saved it to my folder so long ago that I can’t remember where it came from. I was attracted by the assortment of warm colors. I especially like the magenta hues, because I recently purchased a tube of quinacridone magenta.
I used my Prismacolor pencils to emphasize the veining in the petals.
I’m reasonably happy with my first effort. But in retrospect, it would have been wiser to pick a rose of one hue – a red, red rose – for my initiation into painting flowers.
Last week my order from Jerry’s Arterama arrived just in time. I had run out of watercolor paper. Here is my choice:
I was convinced to try this particular paper by a video demonstration from manufacturer. While the cotton content is only 25%, it was described as the next best thing to 100% cotton at less than half the price. If I use 1/2 a page per exercise, my daily cost for paper will be .25 cents.
So how did my first try go?
This is a gradient wash using Thalo blue. I didn’t get it as gradual as I would have liked, but I found it acceptable for my purpose. For the next one, I used a Sumi brush to manipulate the wash more while spreading it over the wet paper.
I really like this effect. The flares, or blooms, of pigment near the top of the paper suggest flowers to me. So I chose to paint poppies.
I probably spent about 45 minutes on this – 2 times longer than my allotted 15 minutes. What I like about this painting: By using a lot of water and working with the shapes left on the background wash, I achieved an impressionistic look. I was also able to make some nice shadows and highlights. What I don’t like: My brushstrokes are hesitant and a bit fussy. And the darks could be darker.
To evaluate this paper, I will need to paint on it a lot more. My initial impression is satisfaction. It didn’t buckle and it stayed wet an acceptable period of time.
Daily Fiber 