I’ve been practicing painting squirrels. Here is my reference photo of a cute one perched on a stump at the forest’s edge. It is found on Unsplash.com and was taken by Yannick Menard
He’s so little and fuzzy. Here is how I interpreted him with my watercolors.
Completing this painting in my sketchbook was a real confidence builder for me. I think now I may be ready to paint squirrels that were photographed in our backyard.
Today I spent a leisurely afternoon following a tutorial by Kateri Ewing painting this bird. This little bluebird of happiness lived up to his reputation – he brought me happiness in the form of satisfaction with my efforts. I am happy with every detail of my work, except the cluster of blossoms in front of the bird’s left foot. That seems to be a hot mess.
On a more positive note, I highly recommend Kateri’s tutorials. She has a gentle, but enthusiastic teaching style and clearly loves water color painting. You can find the links to her classes here:
CRAFTSY | BLUPRINT | Kateri Ewing
My local library has just acquired her new book, “Watercolor is for Everyone.” I managed to be the first person to check it out. The book is in the how-to genre, specifically, how to develop a daily creative practice. I know there are a ton of this type of book on the market. But this one seemed right for me. I was in immediate need of emotional support for my creative efforts.
Kateri’s book guides the reader through a 21 day program of making intuitive, process-based art. There are no reference images, and very few technical instructions. The most important instruction she gives is that you give up on your expectation for results. Just show up everyday and paint for 15 minutes, minimum, drawing on your feelings and your imagination.
The process is definitely calming and even meditative.
Over the next few posts I will share some of my results from these lessons.
I spotted this item at Hobby Lobby, which piqued my curiosity:
It is described as a canvas pad, suitable for watercolor and other wet media. It is primed, 100% cotton. At $9.00 for 10 sheets, it’s not exactly a cheap paper. It is a soft fabric-like sheet, obviously the same sort of stuff that is stretched over wood frames used by oil and acrylic painters. Yet it promises that watercolors work as well.
I had two questions: First, does it really take paint the way standard cotton watercolor paper does? Second: Does it behave like cotton fabric? For me, that means, can I sew on it, press it and use it on an art quilt?
Today was the day to try. My current project features ducks swimming on a pond. So I got out a reference photo and started a watercolor painting.
It was weird. The paint didn’t want to soak into the canvas. Whatever primer was added made it slightly water repellent.
As I continued to paint, the canvas started to accept the paints, at least a little. My wash went down – thinly, but eventually dried just fine. Getting the colors built up on the duck took a lot of patience. Here’s what I got:
As I removed the painter tape from the edges, I noticed that the tape had not kept the paint out. So no crisp line. That’s okay, I can always cut off the margins.
Next I had to see if the paint would stay put. I wet a brush and moved it along the wash area. The paint was lifting quite a lot, and quickly. So I can’t use a painted canvas in an item that will be exposed to water.
What about heat? I took the iron to the image, pressing gently at first. With a cloth over the duck, I then pressed at a higher heat (rayon setting) and held the iron in place for several seconds.
At first, there appeared to be no effect. Eventually I noticed that the canvas had rippled in response to the heat. The paint looked fine, but I also noticed some shiny places on the ducks’ head and neck. Obviously, at least one of the paint pigments had a binder or bit of metal that melted in response to the iron.
At this point I stopped my experiments. Next time I plan to apply my needle, thread and scissors. Maybe even run it through the sewing machine.
To be continued……
I have a bag full of fabric, sketches and some small quilt blocks that have been languishing in my closet for too long. The time has come to start working in earnest on this quilt. The tipping point came when I decided to organize the blocks around a medallion center. I chose this photograph as the feature image.
After making a sketch,
……. yesterday I grabbed my last piece of white fabric and painted it a sea green color with Dye-na-flow paint. I used a “mask’ and some stones on top of the fabric while it dried in the sun to reserve a turtle-like shape.
Now I can select some fabrics to applique on top of the base fabric. Here is a selection that will be used to make the sea turtle.
Once I get the shapes cut and fused to the base fabric, I will hand paint any needed details.
This is a short post. I’m keen to keep my momentum going. More details will be revealed soon.
Another view of travel knitting, this time on the way home. While on vacation I was too busy to finish this sock. However I do have a few things fibery and artsy to share.
When visiting one of my favorite yarn/book stores, I snagged this pretty ball of Berroco Sox yarn and 1000 yards of Plymonth Encore in a heathery mahogany color.
My grandson agreed to accept a pair of socks from me, and approved of this yarn. I plan to use the Plymouth yarn to knit myself a loose cardigan for lounging around the house on cool winter nights.
I got the sketch book out during the vacation just once. Here is a view of Shell Lake.
It was so fun introducing my 2-year-old granddaughter to water color paint. First I made an assortment of paint puddles, taped down a piece of drawing paper and handed her a cotton swab. Following my example, she dabbled with lines and dots.
She also grabbed a small sponge, stroked it over the red paint then applied it to the paper. When she ran out of space on the paper, she wiped the sponge vigorously over her belly.
FYI: Red watercolor paint on a baby’s body looks very much like a bruise. Gramps had a moment of concern upon viewing her body art, which he quickly overcame after I wiped her clean.
Today marks the last day of WorldWatercolorMonth. Despite being gone for twelve days this month, I was able to complete fifteen of the 31 challenges. Here is my final one. The prompt is Pose. I chose this little cedar waxwing, who was posing for the camera by cocking his head to one side.
It’s nice to be back in my studio. I look forward to digging in to my stash of UFOs and dreaming up some interesting new projects.
Daily Fiber 