Blog Archives
Portrait in Brush Pens
Hello Friends!
Yesterday, I decided to play around with my Faber Castell Pitt portrait-colored pens. I also used my CalliCreative Duotip colored calligraphy pens to add the red, blue, and his brown hair.
I did not intend for this to come out so bold, but I kinda like it. The portrait I drew from is pretty dark around the face, so I brightened up the background by completely changing the color of it and his clothes.
I am excited to begin my online portraiture classes tomorrow! I have SO much to learn!
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
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Alpacas in Brush Pen
Hello Friends!
This is my first attempt at drawing Alpacas! What a funny looking animal! I think I am done with butterflies for now.
I used my Arteza brush pens for this but then added water and some fine point pen. I did this for the Inspired Insiders Club that I joined in January through Miriam Schulman’s art website.
The next one we are doing is Llamas. And I haven’t done some of the other animals she’s done yet. I am glsd I can take my time!
Our kids are coming over this afternoon for a throw together dinner. George got the idea from the show “Chopped” that we used to watch with Grace! This should be fun.
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
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Fairies & Fauna Doodles
Hello Friends!
Last week I bought some fun little stencils so I tried them out on some rice paper last night.
First I penciled the stencils on the rice paper the way I wanted them arranged. Then I used some Chinese ink to outline them. Lastly I colored them in with watercolors.
It didn’t take long and was relaxing and fun. I got these stencils to draw things on the backgrounds of my mixed media pieces. So I used rice paper for these, because I am going to try using my matte medium to adhere them to a canvas as part of the collage stage.
I took a couple of days off from drawing and painting to do other things, and now I am sitting outside on a cool Friday morning listening to the mourning doves and all of the other various birds that live here at the fish hatchery. And I think I will do some Yoga in the fresh air!
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
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Painting Your Intuition
Hello Friends!
On Thursday I did a short watercolor painting session in the Sketchbook Revival Facebook group I am in. So many awesome artists are sharing their ideas and giving things away! It’s amazing! I haven’t done every session, because we have limited wi-fi, but it is fun!
This lesson was presented by Angela Fehr. She is from British Columbia. She said, “The most important thing you bring to your art is YOU.” I like that and it is so true.
The colors she used were ones I do not have, but I used Winsor & Newton’s colors of: Thalo Yellow Green, Thalo Green (Blue Shade,) Thalo Blue, and Turquoise Blue. These particular colors remind me of the ocean, so don’t be surprised if this painting gets some other media added to it!
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
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Cat & Chicks
Hello Friends!
The other night I decided to get my Chinese brushes and ink out to play! So I tried painting the back of a cat and the little chicks it might be looking at.
My first chick came out a bit dark. Painting with ink is definitely a challenge!
I have finished my pen and ink drawing of a leafy sea dragon and am about to do a watercolor of it also. I will be submitting these to the publisher in Monday, hopefully. I need to get them scanned to send in an email. I still don’t know for sure yet whether they will use either one, but just in case, I probably shouldn’t post them.
I hope everyone is having a great Saturday! I am getting ready to paint the watercolor of the leafy sea dragon and hopefully finish my eagle watercolor.
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
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Pandas and Bamboo!
Hello Friends,
I haven’t gotten to the cat painting yet, but last night I quickly sketched these goofy pandas and bamboo while I watched t.v. Yesterday I was feeling better, but not quite up to par enough to start a more serious project. So hopefully, today or tomorrow for sure.
I got out my Chinese paint brushes and ink and a piece of heavy watercolor paper last night to do these. But my little panda turned out too dark. So this morning I added a little white acrylic paint. However, now he looks like he’s in the shade! Ha, ha!! That’s okay. I guess if I added a lot more bamboo above him, it would fit.
This morning I worked on my leafy sea dragon article for my last assignment. I also went through the children’s marketing guide looking for magazines I could submit it to. It is frustrating when trying to fit a topic and word length with different magazines’ criteria. But that’s part of what I’ve been learning to do.
I am actually hoping my instructor will recommend that I can take another class called “Beyond the Basics.” I can’t take it unless she does. It is mostly writing articles for magazines and is more like working with an editor. The instructor takes on the roll of an editor working with a serious writer. My assignment is due in three weeks. So if she recommends me for the other course, I probably won’t start it until October when our daughter leaves for Australia.
I hope everyone is having a great week! I am feeling so much better today. So I am going to exercise now.
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂
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Leafy Sea Dragon-Chinese Ink/Brush
Hello Friends,Â
Just a quick sketch today of a leafy sea dragon. I did this with my Chinese brush and ink. It felt really good to draw this afternoon!
My husband and I had a great time with a couple we had lunch with on Saturday. They are from Louisiana and he was out here on business. His wife came with him so I went with George to meet them. I loved their accents so much! We had a great time and a wonderful lunch.
BUT! Sunday morning I came down with a bug and was sick until Monday night. No fun! I don’t think it was the food, though. I got a lot of reading done and watched a funny movie. But I think what helped the most was the Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup! Seriously! I woke up this morning feeling all better!
So I went to the post office and mailed a package and letters to our son in the backcountry. He is doing well. I sent him some snacks and more notebook paper and envelopes. He has been so good about writing to us and all of his friends. We are so proud of him.
The next project I am planning to work on is a watercolor of a friend’s cat. I just haven’t had a chance to get to it yet. I hope everyone is having a good week.
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂
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ART BOOKS: WHAT A SCORE!
Hello Friends!
Yesterday was a great day! First I stopped by my friend Linda’s house and we had a nice visit. She also gave me some advice and encouragement about writing and publishing…along with a few zucchinis out of her garden and a lemon from her tree! The lemon is so sweet, too! (If you’re reading this, Linda B., thanks again!)
Then I went straight to Mod Pizza and had a mini pizza and salad with my friend, Jen. We got to visit for a few hours happily chatting the afternoon away. (If you’re reading this, thanks, Jen!)
Lastly, I went to take some books back to the library. I decided to look in their little bookstore and look at these art books I found!! I think they cleaned some out of the art section of the library. And that’s not even what I was browsing for! You never know what you’ll find until you look, though. 😉
The best part is that these are over-sized books, except for one, and I got all five books for $10!! It was a steal. I love reading about artists, especially these great ones: Norman Rockwell, Rembrandt, Ce`zanne, and the post-impressionists.
So here are pictures of all the books I got! TWO books on one of my very favorite artists…
This is the outer cover of the book on Rembrandt.
And the book slides inside the cover which is cool!
And lastly, Cezanne and the post-impressionists!
So now, in addition to everything else I’m doing I will be reading about these great artists and eventually share about them here. I know I can find anything on the internet these days, but I still LOVE reading books!! That is one thing that will never change about me.
In the meantime, I began working on a painting of a seahorse yesterday afternoon. And it is a bright color! I don’t know when I will finish it, because I need to work on my story for my class and work out today. So that’s about it for now. I hope everyone is having a great week so far.
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂
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Great White Shark: Stage 2
Hello Friends!
Here is Stage 2 of my Great White Shark! I can’t decide if I want to do the background all black or maybe try ocean colors. I’m not real fond of colored pencil even though I have done some colored pencil work. But it is hard on my arm. I suppose it doesn’t have to be super dark. What do you think? Nevertheless, I am not quite done with the shark. As you can see, its fins fade out of the picture because it is in deep waters, so I only have a little work left to do on those. And the background will bring out all the light that is supposed to be on the top of the shark. That’s why you can’t see all of it here.
Yesterday I turned in my 8th assignment for my writing class. Today I am starting on the reading for Assignment 9. I have to wait to get my assignment back before I can start on the next one because I have to pick whether to write another article or another fictional story. As much as I like writing fiction, I am leaning towards writing an article about the Leafy Sea Dragon! That was the subject I submitted to her on my article outline. (I have a feeling she may want me to do the same thing.)
Today our daughter left for her first spike in the CCC. She will be gone until next Wednesday. So I have my car back for a week! That means I can drive with A/C and a great stereo! My husband’s truck has neither. It has a stereo, but the speakers are awful. (He knows how I feel so I don’t have to apologize to him. Ha, ha!)
I already have plans for lunch with a friend on Monday. It’s time to make more plans! 😉
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂
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SHARK! Watercolor
Hello Friends,
Meet Sandy the Great White Shark! This is what (or who) I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks on and off. I tried drawing it once, but ended up throwing that one away. Then I tried again, and was satisfied with how it turned out. So I traced it onto watercolor paper and painted it yesterday.
I did not use watercolor pencils this time. I used my paints from the tube which is actually so much more fun, because I get to mix colors, etc. I have missed painting this way, but just haven’t had the time to do all I want yet because of this writing class. And the jellyfish I tried to paint last night turned out HORRIBLE! So it is in the trash. It was just a small one, but I will keep trying, Sheila! 😉
I am still planning to paint sea creatures in acrylics on the rest of my son’s toy box pieces…eventually. And repaint his room…eventually. So I have lots of projects lined up for the summer, but they will probably take longer than that to get done. I may take a break from the writing class for a couple of weeks. The good thing about this class is even though I work toward deadlines to get the assignments done, I can ask for time off which I haven’t done yet. But this is the time of year I love painting the most! I have been itching to get back to my Chinese brush painting as well which is always on my mind.
I hope everyone is having a beautiful spring season. I know our son is! He left on Sunday for King’s Canyon National Park and won’t be back until the end of September! His dad drove him there and spent the night talking with corps. members and some people he knows. He took great pictures of everything and is working on them for his blog.
I sent our son his first package the other day which he should get next week. The mail only goes out to them by mule, I think, once a week on Mondays. I sent him a book of stamps, a box of envelopes, a spiral notebook and pens, because he forgot to get that stuff so he can write to us.
Our daughter’s crew will start going out on eight-day trips (called spikes) next month. So she will have a schedule of being gone eight days and home for six days. That will be fun to have her here every other week. We will get to spend more time together this summer.
Well, that’s all the news I have for now. I wish I could post more often these days, but I don’t think that’s going to happen until I am done with this class!
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂
Patsy's Creative Corner 