M, N, O, P

My continuation of my Alphabet Journal…

Mushrooms from my imagination for the letter, “M”:

I did reference wild mushrooms online before I drew and painted these colorful ones.  It was very fun to paint these mushrooms in watercolor.  Adding salt while the paint was wet gave the perfect texture to them.  I am sure I will be painting more in my future!

Letter “N” is for handwritten notes:

This one took me a little more time to complete.  It was fun to add old postage stamps for the collage part.  Letter writing seems to be becoming a lost form of communication.

”O” is for the color, orange so why not an orange sunset:

I was playing with color, shapes and balance for the collage part.

Purple petunias from a planter were a perfect subject for the letter, “P”:

I cut strips of handpainted paper for the collage part.  I thought the colors accented the purples I used for the petunias.

I hope you are enjoying my alphabet series… I’m having so much fun!

Cheers! 🙂

Kites, Lilies And…

I am finding that working on more than one letter of the alphabet at a time is helping me stay on track for the daily watercolor and collage series challenge I have given myself for the month of July.

Working ahead also takes the pressure off…

After all, this is supposed to be FUN, right?!

I like how these kites turned out for the letter, “K”…

          I can remember kite flying when I was a child, how about you?

This is one of the parts that I am enjoying about this challenge for myself, experimenting with different ideas to achieve the end results…

Like using my gelli-printed collage papers for the clouds! 🙂

Can you guess what letter, “L” stands for?

You got it!  Lilies!

And a Ladybug!

Did you see the Green Metalic Bee on the Lily?

I discovered this bee really exists!  I probably would not have discovered it IF I hadn’t been photographing it!

Isn’t NATURE grand?! It opens the mind to all sorts of new things…

Happy Exploring!

Cheers! 🙂

Jump Ahead…

Hello Friends!

I’ve been enjoying time off from blogging and working on my Alphabet Journal.  You can read more about my project here:  Creating A Recipe Of Fun…

I am posting “an alphabetical recipe” with watercolor each day on Instagram but I have gotten a bit behind on the collage part…

Today, I decided to jump ahead to the letter, “J”:

Letter “J” is for creating art with JOY of course!

I had fun drawing this illustration, painting it in watercolor and adding an abstract collage.

I will post my letters “E” through “I” when I add collage to them.

I hope you are all well…

Cheers! 🙂

Daisy Doodles

I painted these daisies in watercolor from my imagination.  However, I wasn’t totally pleased with them so I jazzed them up with Tombow markers, white gel pen, color pencils and a black Micron pen:

I especially like the lettering, “D” is for Daisy Doodles…

I have decided to take a little blogging break this week and will be posting on Instagram instead.

Wishing you all a fabulous and creative week ahead!

Cheers! 🙂

 

Rainier Cherries

I so LOVE the blushing red and golden yellow, sweet cherries that are considered a premium type of cherry in the Pacific Northwest!  Yesterday, we received a box of them from a friend.

According to Wikipedia.com, Rainier Cherries are a cross between “bing” and “van” cultivars.  This sweet cherry was developed in 1952 at Washington State University by Harold Fogle… I did not know this! 😉

This cherry is named after Mount Rainier.  This mountain is the highest mountain in my state, located 59 miles south to south-east of Seattle.  It has a summit elevation of 14,411 feet.  Mount Rainier is of the Cascade range on the western side of Washington state… I live on the eastern side (close to the Idaho border).

I found these cherries to be a good subject to paint in watercolor for the letter, “C”:

I enjoyed creating this colorful page… the quote is one of my favorites!

Cheers! 🙂

Creating A Recipe Of Fun…

I have been thinking about how I want to participate in Charlie’s World Watercolor Month this July at Doodlewash.com

I wanted to make it fun… and discovered an idea from Danielle Donaldson’s recent book:

She suggested experimenting with watercolor by making color recipe cards.  I liked this idea and decided to make it my own.

I decided to make a 6 x 9 inch “recipe card” using a variety of watercolor papers, experiment in watercolor and collage on each card and use the alphabet to help guide me to create my recipe of fun!

I got started right away with “A” recipe…

I decided I wasn’t going to overthink my process…

So “B” fore I did, I moved on to my next letter:

I added alphabet “tabs” to the top of my first cards so I could create more than one recipe in that letter.

Part of the fun is adding notes to the back of the card, such as what inspired me:

I hope you create your own watercolor recipe of fun and participate in World Watercolor Month with me!

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. Charlie O’Shields will be giving away many freebies in July so be sure to stop by his blog for a chance to win!  #worldwatercolormonth

Just Mating?

Today’s weird birds are just married mating…

This “odd” couple was inspired by this old photograph:

I hope this post gives you a giggle today… 😃

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!!

Cheers!

Wild Horses…

I created this wild horse using a masking tape technique recently.  I scribbled copic markers inside the tape as my first layer before adding watercolor.

I hadn’t planned on creating a horse but after I removed the masking tape, he appeared! Lol! 😉   I added pan pastels and watercolor splashes to soften the image.

The masking tape was EXTRA sticky so I tried my next animal creature using washi tape.  Below is a before and after photo:

I learned this technique from Carla Sonheim. I think it would be a super fun activity to do with children.  (The washi tape was much less sticky and worked better than the masking tape for me.)

When I took this photo at the lake Saturday evening, I saw a horse head in the storm clouds afterwards:

Do you see it?  I must have had horses on my mind!

Hope your Monday starts out in a slow trot and not a fast gallop!

Cheers! 🙂

A Milestone…

I read an article from our local newspaper yesterday about a mom whose son recently graduated from high school.  No big deal, right?  Happens all the time…

Upon further reading, I learned that her son was born with a hole in his diaphragm and the doctors only gave him a 50/50 chance to survive.  While he was in the hospital Neonatal ICU, struggling for every breath, this new mother placed two fingers on his laboring chest and whispered, please.  When he exhaled, she whispered, thank you.  

In the weeks that followed as her son grew healthy and strong with no lingering complications, each breath seemed like a miracle.  This mom continued her prayer ritual of whispering, please when her son inhaled and thank you when he exhaled.  Faced with the fragility of life, each year became a milestone to celebrate with her son!

This story reminds me of taking the time to say, thank you to people who I appreciate in my life.  Sometimes it is good to recognize the milestones that are big and small…

I made the above card for a friend recently.  I was inspired by these beautiful pink roses:

I thought you might like to learn how I made it.  🙂

I discovered that sea sponges make great roses!  Just dab a damp sponge lightly in acrylic paint  and twist your wrist as you apply the paint to paper.  Adding several colors, gives it some depth.  And a few splatters of watercolor gives it pizzazz!

My lettering came from an idea in this book from Joanne Sharpe.  I used a permanent black Micron pen.

One doesn’t have to have a milestone to say, thank you; who do you know that would appreciate getting a handmade card in the mail?

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads this weekend…

Cheers! 🙂

May And June Square Projects

Perhaps you remember my watercolor circles I created in April:  My April Square Project…

After my black and white doodle, I was ready for some color!  So I decided to use my black and white doodle for April:  Finding Balance

And I moved on to May and June!

I recently did this playful watercolor from my imagination:

After cutting it up, I mixed it with my colorful circles:

And got not just one… but TWO month’s projects:

And of course I had to see how they looked next to each other:

So fun to play… wishing you a creative day!

Cheers! 🙂