H, I And Pattern Play

I realized that I hadn’t shared my letters, “H” and “I” from my watercolor Alphabet Journal that I did in July on my blog.

I added the collage portion to these letters last weekend.  I think this page is extra happy:

And you all know how much “I” love flowers!

Last night, I had only a few minutes to paint before dinner so I created this experiment in watercolor:

Watercolor pattern play is relaxing and fun!  I encourage you to give it a try!

Cheers! 🙂

 

Autumn’s Display

Fall was in the air this last weekend at the lake!

I always like when the wild rose hips turn a blushing reddish-orange:

I did a pencil sketch of them in my journal:

I enjoyed taking these photos of Autumn’s Display to share with you:

 

I hope they brighten your Monday!

Cheers! 🙂

 

Drawing Quirky Characters…

I discovered this online class over the weekend at JeanneOliver.com – Quirky Characters with Lucy Cooke…

And I haven’t been able to stop drawing… a very good thing! 🙂

Here are my beginning drawings in my sketchbook on Friday:

I wanted to loosen up and create more quirkiness in my drawings…

So I decided to start my faces with something familiar…a little paper collage:

Experimenting with different drawing materials helped me relax too.  I also like how Lucy gives different ways to start a drawing of a face:

I started the ones above with watercolor hair and then used water soluble Faber Castell graphite pencils to add the details.

It was super fun to give little “stories” to my characters as I did with my collage ones.

I did the sketches below with a .7mm pencil, blending stump and a little color pencil where mentioned:

I think I have come a long way in my pencil sketches in just 3 days!  I think that Lucy Cooke is such a good teacher.

This class is teaching me so much and I’d highly recommend it if you’d always dreamed of drawing faces that are playful and fun!  It is one of the more reasonable online classes I’ve taken in price yet it doesn’t disappoint in content either.

Cheers to quirky drawing! 🙂

A Bouquet Of Flowers…

I hand picked these flowers just for you!

As I thought YOU needed a little smile today!

Cheers! 🙂

A New Art Journal

I LOVE starting a new art journal…  Just think of the possibilities!! 😃

A friend I met in the beginning of my WordPress journey – Laura @createarteveryday – who is now posting only on Instagram, told me about this journal from Ranger/Dina Wakley:

I purchased the 8×10 inch size journal at Amazon.  It has about 3-4 different surfaces in it, one of them being burlap which I have never journaled on… I’m curious to see what happens with it!

Laura says that Dina Wakley has several mixed media art videos available on YouTube using this journal.  I look forward to checking them out!  🙂

My first page, I started with a stencil of my hand…

And before I knew it, the wheels of my imagination started turning…

I added color with Ink Tense Blocks, Neocolors, Ecoline watercolor (the pink swirls of color), Gesso on the hand and for the flowers, fluid acrylics and stencils finishing with a black Micron pen and white gel pen.  Basically, a little of this and that!  Lol! 😉

It is busy and colorful and FUN!!

I look forward to exploring MORE mixed media with this new art journal!

Cheers! 🙂

My Hand…

Do you remember tracing around your hand when you were in elementary school?

This is how my hand doodle started with a simple tracing…

Next, I started adding flowers and dots and swirl patterns and before I knew it, I had created this:

If I was to read my hand, I’d say that a new doodle series may be in my future! 😉

Happy Creating with your hands!

Cheers! 🙂

Trees, Unicorns And Vino…

Continuing with my Alphabet watercolor and collage series for the month of July…

Letter, “T” is for trees:

Do you see a couple of birds in my tree?  😉

”U” never know when a unicorn will show up!

Especially when under a sun umbrella! 

And no, I wasn’t sampling the vino…

Just drawing with my eyes closed!  (Yes, my eyes were open for the painting, lettering and I did cheat a little and add a few extra lines to the wine bottles with my eyes open…)

I have decided to spend a few extra days enjoying the lake this week.  Temps will be in the high 80’s and low 90’s…

Summer is so short here that it is nice to enjoy when the weather is good!

There is something about the water that is so soothing…

Cheers to summer! 🙂

A June Bird…

You have heard of a June Bug, right?

Well, why not a June bird!

I decided to try a little something different for today’s weird bird and collage over a watercolor tree I had previously painted in an art journal.

I “repurposed” the word, June from an old wall calendar in several languages and used a page from a weekly paper calendar… I don’t buy weekly calendar’s anymore since I use my cell phone but I still like to buy monthly calendars each year for the inspiring artwork.  How about you?

Hope your June is taking flight for a fabulous month!

Cheers! 🙂

 

A Whole New World

I recently purchased two synthetic “Dagger” watercolor brushes from Dick Blick.

I learned about these brushes from my blogging friend and talented artist, Patty Anne. Please check out her beautiful watercolors on her blog:  Patty Anne Art

I had never heard of this brush and loved the results that Patty Anne got with her roses.

I started by just experimenting with the 3/8 brush by “testing the waters” so to speak…

I found it extremely relaxing not painting anything specific and just experiment with the brush and color.  I created this on 300 lb watercolor paper:

Afterwards, I outlined the shapes in a black Micron pen and added a few houses.  It looks like a whole new world to me!

This last weekend, I created this abstract in my small watercolor sketchbook:

It was super fun to add details with a black Micron pen and gel pens in different colors. What do you see?

I encourage you to experiment with different materials in your art!  You may discover a whole new world to explore!!

Cheers! 🙂

Bachelorette Betty

Which “one-liner” bachelor will Betty choose?

Betty is tall and blonde, weighs the size of a peanut and lives to sky-dive from a plane in all 50 states wearing only a bikini…

Meet Mike…  Bachelor #1

Mike pumps iron in the gym 7 days a week… still lives with his mother and likes to ride a unicycle.

Meet Richard… Bachelor #2

Richard is very theatrical and hopes to be an actor one day.   Perhaps you have seen him in the Nursery Rhyme Production, Little Boy Blue? 

And last but certainly not least…

Meet Stan… Bachelor #3

Stan tends to blush easily especially when he eats jalapeños peppers…

Stan is a chef in a well-known restaurant, likes to swim naked with dolphins and rides a Harley Motorcyle.

Which bachelor will Bachelorette Betty choose?!

I look forward to your answers!

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. I drew the one-liner faces, painted them in watercolor and then wrote my stories…. Just a little silliness to give you a smile!