E, F and G

I have been adding collage to finish some of my watercolor alphabet journal pages from the month of July.

I thought you might enjoy seeing them – before and after collage photos:

Letter “E” is for eyes:

For the collaged “hair,” I colored Swedish tracing paper with Derwent Ink Tense Blocks, added water to blend the colors and let dry.  I then sewed them to my paper with a light gray thread.  Her eyes were a little more sultry than I intended!  😉

Letter “F” is for Fridays, frogs, flowers and ferns:

I stapled my handpainted collage papers to my watercolor paper.  I then covered the staples by gluing a circle over them.  The black letter “f” is a sticker.

Letter “G” is for mixing greens:

I attached the collage paper with a flower brad, glued a paper scrap with a square on top and added the “good” fortune:  You will hear good news today!

I hope to finish letters, “H” and “I” next week!

Happy Friday! Cheers! 🙂

Rocking It…

OK, I agree, my title is a bit punny for one of the last five watercolors I did in July:

Next, I decided to expand my horizons (so to speak) and painted this landscape:

Not a subject I normally paint, so I was pleased with it… below is my reference photo I used from a photo I took of a nearby creek:

We recently had a full moon that inspired these summer stars:

I enjoyed playing with a dagger brush and different color combinations for them.

Time was short so I experimented to create this fantastic feather:

I used a straw to blow wet pools of watercolor paint and gold acrylic ink to give it some pizazz!  The collaged letter, “F” I created from one of my leftover watercolor circles from a previous project.

I ended my last painting for July with this door and quote:

I was ready to close the “door” on this project and start something new!

Thank you ALL for your encouragement on this month’s project, as always, I appreciate your kind comments and likes of support… it means so much to me!

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!

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! 🙂

Life Is Like A Rainbow…

Letter, “Q” is for quotes:

“Life is like a rainbow…you need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.” – Author Unknown

”R” is for really RED:

I haven’t done one of these watercolor and ink abstracts in awhile.  It was fun to do one in mostly one color, RED!  I added a little Payne’s Gray for contrast.

A paint sample card and a paper, “R” for my collage portion.

Sunny, summer sunflowers for “S” was super fun:

I like how this one turned out!  I wrote on washi tape with a ball point pen for the words and cut my letter from my handpainted paper stash for the collage.

Wishing you a happy Weekend!

Cheers! 🙂

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! 🙂

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! 🙂