Greeting Card Idea

 From an old sketchbook, here's an idea for greetings done on watercolor backgrounds:

Happy Birthday

 

Spiral Roses

 

Watercolour Gridlines

Still working on clearing out my studio, I'm looking at old journals to see what I might want to revisit.  I haven't done these watercolour grid lines in awhile!

And Cars Too

Trucks Again?

I was looking at old truck drawings yesterday and the experience made me want to draw another. This first one isn't any less wonky than the old ones!,

First Snowdrop Sighting of 2023

 

The first snowdrop sighting is always a highlight of January.  I commemorated this year's first sighting in an older teeny tiny journal I found on the shelf.  I made this journal in one of Joanne Sharpe's classes and I added a little collage before painting the snowdrops.  Lots of fun!

Teeny Tiny Landscape Journal

I attended a live Watercolors Made Simple workshop and and was captivated by what Nicki was doing over the Christmas holidays.  She wanted to do something a little different and turned to making small watercolor journals.  They were beautiful and inspiring, so I decided  to do the same.

One of my favorite watercolor techniques is wet-on-wet landscapes, so I'm devoting an entire journal to doing them.

This one was inspired by this week's photo from the Creighton Online Spiritual Retreat I'm doing right now.  I can see there might be a lot of sunset paintings in this journal.

 

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

 

Silver Boughs

 

I've never had a silver Christmas tree, but some people do enjoy them!

Christmas Cards

 

I've been playing around with Christmas cards lately.  I say "playing around" because I've been experimenting with designs.

These two  in pots came from a Cee Cee Creations YouTube video.

This next one is my favorite so far; I made a few of these.

Watercolour Sketchbooks Made Simple BOTANICALS

 

I started a new class with Life I Design called Watercolour Sketchbooks Made Simple BOTANICALS. I'm using my Paul Rubens landscape watercolour sketchbook - 8" x 5.5". 

Lesson One was Payne's Grey Florals.  A monochrome spread is perfect for days when I don't want to think too much but want to slop paint around.

Lesson Two was Loose Dried Florals.   I added some Neocolor crayons to the watercolour.  I often pick up things on my walk to capture in my sketchbook.

Next we painted leaves, mixing our own greens, some of them right on the page.  This time we sketched our leaves first; I used some watercolour pencils here too.

I'm having fun so far, and that's the main thing, right?

Painting With Joy

 

After a brief summer hiatus, Painting With Joy is back.  It proved to be what I needed to end my own hiatus!

We painted Van Gogh's sunflowers yesterday, and I really enjoyed it.  I used watercolor, Neocolor crayons and watercolor pencils in my 9 x 9 Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook.

Sketching in the Garden

I did this sketch back in June and found it today.  Much of the summer was too hot for me and I didn't do much drawing or painting at all.  Reading was my summertime pastime this year.

Matisse - Vase of Amaryllis, 1941

 

I'm almost finished my Traveler's Notebook journal.  There might be room for one more Matisse!

Les Coucous Tapis Bleu et Rose, 1911

 

I moved from my largest to my smallest sketchbook with this Matisse.  (This is in my Traveler's Notebook.) 

Les Tulippes

 

I'm still enjoying painting with Matisse, although here I changed the composition slightly from the original.  I also replaced oil pastels with watercolor crayons; I don't like the transfer of the oil pastels to the adjacent page when the book is closed.  This one is in my A4 Royal Talens sketchbook. 

Painting with Matisse

 

I'm doing these Matisse copies in every sketchbook I have going.  (The Goldfish is in my A4 Royal Talens.)

I'm especially enjoying replicating Matisse's use of patterns, in my own way of course; I could never accurately reproduce Matisse.

Painting With Joy (and Matisse)

 

At Sketchbook Revival this year I was introduced to a wonderful artist Joy Ting Charde (@joycharde).  I am taking a Creativebug Daily Practice she offers and have attended one of her "Paint With Joy" Zoom sessions.

On Zoom, we drew and painted works by Matisse.  Joy is very loose and fun and I love that she uses multiple mediums - watercolor, oil pastel, watercolor pencils and pencil crayons.

Our homework assignment is to paint more Matisse works...more to come. 😀 

Palette Cleanse

 

I cleaned out my watercolor palette by making circle shapes in my sketchbook.  I turned it into a bouquet of flowers by adding a little pencil crayon.

Happy Mother's Day!