Gelli-Plate Prints

Many of you know how much I LOVE to print with my Gelli-Plate!

When Carla Sonheim announced that she was going to teach a NEW online class on How to use more of your Gelli-Plate, I immediately signed up!  🙂

The class starts today, so if you want to learn more about it, check out her online class at CarlaSonheim.com

I’d been wanting to purchase the larger 9 x 12 inch size Gelli-Plate so I splurged when Dick Blick Art Supplies was having a recent sale.

I decided to do a test drive (so to speak) of my new Gelli-Plate so I made these prints using Golden fluid acrylic paints, stencils, leaves and household items:

I have A LOT more prints but these were a few of my favorites.

Which one do you like best?

Cheers! 🙂

What The?!

Bleep!!

A short blip to wish you…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!!

Cheers! 🙂

Pattern Play

One of my favorite black papers for drawing is this Strathmore Artagain paper:

It is super fun to draw on with Prismacolor pencils…

Faces and imaginary hats were my inspiration yesterday evening:

And pattern play with color!

Cheers! 🙂

Two Hands

I experimented yesterday with tracing both hands with a black Micron pen:

My right hand on top of my left hand… Then adding watercolor to both:

I used watercolor paper by Daler Rowney, Langton Prestige in rough grain for my above experiment.  I love how a pinch of salt into the wet paint gives a nice texture.

I also experimented on Arches, 140 lb hot press watercolor paper with a different paint color palette:

The smooth texture doesn’t react to the salt or the watercolor in the same way as the rough grain:

Yet, it gives my two hands a different dimension.  I plan to doodle on this one as it is much easier to draw on with ink.

I like the first painting for its simplicity and the second one for its complexity of layers.  How about you?

Cheers! 🙂

X, Y, Z And…

I made it through the alphabet for my art journal!  WHOOT!

And I completed 31 days of watercolor in July for World Watercolor Month!!

I thought you might enjoy seeing my finished alphabet pages…

An X-ray Tetra Fish for “X”:

“Y” is for Yellow:

“Z” for Zentangled zoodles… Which are zucchini noodles!

I still want to add paper collage and a few extra details to complete these pages… so stay tuned! 🙂

And I completed 5 additional watercolor pages to finish my 31 days – I will post them later this week…

I am happy to be done so I can focus on some other art projects.  Yet, I had so much fun!

I enjoyed my extra time at the lake last week... I think my highlights were swimming in the lake – three times a day, reading a super good book, painting outside daily, making paper butterflies with a friend, daily naps and cool evenings.

Wishing you a happy day doing what you love!

Cheers! 🙂

Watermelon Birds?!

Nothing beats the heat like a slice of watermelon…

These weird birds made their “appearance” for the letter, “W”:

They are wacky Watermelon birds!

I used watermelon images from my Bon Appétit magazine and painted their beaks with watercolor. A few details were added with a pencil, black micron pen and white gel pen.

Carla Sonheim is offering FREE art videos for Kid’s Art Camp this week.  Each day is a short video.  I always enjoy participating and seeing what others create.  Any age can sign up.  I encourage you to check it out at CarlaSonheim.com

These “wild” birds were from lesson one:

I hope you join in the fun… and be sure to have a slice of watermelon!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

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! 🙂

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! 🙂

Three Spring Chicks

Since Spring is supposed to be here where I live in the Pacific Northwest…

I created these three Spring Chicks:

Maybe you’d like to see my creative process for today’s weird Wednesday birds.

I started with a watercolor background and pulled out some of its colors with paint sample cards.  The name of the paint sample for yellow was “Forsythia” which gave me the idea of Spring flowers!  And since Easter was last Sunday… I thought of baby chicks!

 

I looked up baby chicks on the internet for a reference.  Then I tore scrapbook paper for their bodies, cut old painted maps for their beaks and used three of the paint sample cards for their Spring hats.  I drew their feet with pencils.

I added some pencil shading, black pen for their eyes with white highlights and Posca paint pens for dots on their hats.  I used music notes for patches of flowers.

As I was writing, Happy Spring… I misspelled the word, “Spring” so I just cut the word out of the background and added the word, “Day!” (No reason to fuss…)

I created a few “Spring” flowers with more paint sample cards to complete my piece.  And added a sprinkle of buttons:

HAPPY DAY to you, no matter the weather or season!

Cheers! 🙂

Be Still, Jill

I remember being told to be still, Jill when I was a child!  Oh, is that possible? Lol! 😉

Maybe if I was given a crayon and an assignment to draw!

I started a new online class this week with Lynn Whipple – hosted by Carla Sonheim, called, “The Essence of Still Life.”

Lynn brings such positive energy to her classes.  I know I will learn so much!

I hope you enjoyed these colorful drawings I did!

They were super fun with water soluble crayons!

Cheers! 🙂