Letter “W” Is For…

WOWZA!!  The weekend is here!!

I hope your week has stacked up to be wonderful! 

I did this wacky still life of coffee cups in watercolor – paints, pencils and markers.

I have enjoyed sharing some wild fun this week on my blog!  Thank you for all your comments, I appreciate them so much! And thanks for taking a look at the blogs I shared with you.  There are waaaay more, so watch for future posts!

I have decided to take a week off from blogging to do a little Spring cleaning… Whoa!  :-0  Yes, I haven’t totally lost my mind… but I am feeling like I need to have a little time to catch up.  😉

I hope to keep creating art but will be posting only on Instagram as art_jill_kuhn

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Cheers! 🙂

Letter “F” Is For…

Fabulous food, fun and flamingos!

I find Jenna’s blog at The Painted Apron so FUNtastic! 🙂

I completed this still life recently:

And it reminded me of the colors in Jenna’s Fearless Friday, Flaming Flamingo… it does have a fiesta feel don’t you think?

I want to try creating a still life painting with Jenna’s Tablescape, Spring at the Farm.  Perhaps a French hen would be a funky addition!  😉

I also enjoy Jenna’s recipes like this one, A Rainbow Salad… It looks fresh, flavorful and color-filled! 

I hope you will join me in following Jenna’s blog for more fabulous fun!

Cheers! 🙂

Letter “C” Is For…

Letter “C” is for color!  Like this continuous still life I did over the weekend:

Each week, I’m inspired by many creative blogging friends!

This week, I’d like to share a COUPLE of them with you… CAN you CHECK out their blogs?

Sharon, is currently creating an alphabet journal – colorful, captivating and clever…  You CAN find Sharon’s cheerful blog:  Make Art Magic Happens

Cheers! 🙂

A Still Life Doodle?

One of the things I enjoy about taking online art classes is creating my own assignments from the class.

This one I made by drawing overlapping still life shapes in a 5.5 x 8.5 journal with a Micron pen.  Next, I colored the “shapes” with Prismacolor pencils.

It may look rather busy to you but it was very relaxing for me to create.

May you find JOY in the art you create!

Cheers! 🙂

Small Treasures

If you were to draw, paint or photograph ten items that YOU treasure around your home, what would they be?

For the second assignment for Lynn Whipple’s online class, The Essence of Still Life, we were to draw ten items on our table:

I had fun selecting different items – some treasures and some I just like to draw, like the pear… to complete this still life on a 10 x 10 inch wood panel.

Please check out Arlene’s blog.   She is also taking Lynn’s class.  Arlene’s art style is fabulous!   I like what she chose to draw for her still life.

I’d love to hear about what items you treasure…

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! 🙂

Your Handwriting As Art – Part 2

In yesterday’s post, I showed you some examples of using your handwriting to create collage papers.

Today, I’d like to show you an example of using your handwriting to create a completed piece of art.  (I did my art piece in my journal).

I  was inspired by a poem by Mary Oliver, titled; “Freshen The Flowers, She Said…” to create my handwriting as art from her book; Why I Wake Early:

I wrote her poem on paper in several directions with different pens and colors on watercolor paper that had previous drips of paint to create the collage paper for the vase.

For the table top, I wrote directly on the background paper.

I used scrap paper from the paint scrape technique for the flowers…  You can read more about that technique here: Scraping Paint…

I added some details with a permanent black Sharpie pen and a grey Tombow pen to create shadows.  I added highlights with a yellow Tombow marker.

Additional details were added with  a yellow Posca pen, pencil and Micron black .01 pen for foliage between the flowers.

I really like how this one turned out!  What do you think?

Cheers!  🙂

P.S. I will show you other ideas for handwriting inspiration in future posts.

Yep It’s Yupo

I wanted to try yesterday’s technique – the crayon resist on Yupo paper.  In case you aren’t familiar with Yupo, it is a plastic surface – polypropylene to be exact.  Watercolor doesn’t soak into the surface and sits on top.

I started with quick drawing using crayons and covered them with water soluble markers.  I knew if I used a damp paper towel over it, it would remove color so I chose a dry one which basically just softened the crayons and didn’t add much interest.  I decided to try watercolors on top as you can see on the drawing below on the right:

I discovered that I could add texture with a paper towel if the area was still wet.  So I stamped my background with a clean foam stamp to create more interest.

After the watercolor dried, I decided to add Neocolors – which are a water soluble crayon.

And another layer of watercolor to add some shadows and create depth:

I really like how interesting this turned out.  I want to continue to experiment in this medium.

Cheers!  🙂

An Unusual Pair

I found this Persimmon at the grocery store last week and I have been wanting to paint it.  I haven’t tasted it yet but I’ve read it tastes a little like a mango.

I decided to paint it in watercolor with this blushing pear.  They do make an unusual pair don’t you think?

I added a few watercolor pencils to finish it.

Wishing you a happy day!  🙂

Wine And Flowers

I added more color and pattern to this collage I posted on December 21st:

It is kind of fun to see the two side by side:

The first time I took the image on the left, my lighting was bad.  Good lighting really does make a difference!

I recently completed another collage:

I had fun adding patterns with color pencils to the background on this one.

I found this quote on the internet:

They are not long, the days of wine and roses.  Out of a misty dream, our path emerges for awhile, then closes, within a dream.  – Ernest Dowson

Cheers!  🙂