Blog Archives
“Both Sides Now” in Mixed Media
Hello Friends!
Yesterday I finally had a good day to create this fun painting! This is my rendition of Joni Mitchell and her cat singing her song “Both Sides Now.” Ha ha.
This was the first lesson in the four month long class I signed up for called Kaleidoscope 2021 hosted by Tamara Laporte. The course is focusing on color schemes. This first color scheme is an ANALOGOUS color scheme which is when colors that are next to each other on the color wheel are used, such as yellow, orange and red as in this. Tam went a little further including purple for the rocks and greenish blue for her eyes which I thought was cool. Also, she did this first lesson in her “lollipop girl” style which was great fun. This is a different version of the cover of Joni’s album “Clouds.” Apparently, she was a visual artist, too, and used her own paintings for her album covers.
You can see elements of her song in my painting which includes clouds, an ice cream castle, and rain clouds, but no snow, ha ha!
I really enjoyed creating this painting. I used 300 lb. watercolor paper, watercolors, acrylics, and Caran D’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastel crayons.
The crayons are new to me. You can either use a wet paint brush to rub on the crayon as you paint, or you can color the paper and then paint it with water. I like the Salmon and the Apricot colors for skin tones.
Have a wonderful day! 😀
Share this:
Van Gogh Journal Pages 25 & 26
Hello Friends!
Yesterday I was inspired to paint these two pages similar to a scene from The Walking Dead t.v. show. I like the parts of the theme song that shows the lone walker going through the field and the crows in the tree. So that’s what I was thinking about when I painted this. I was also thinking about Vincent’s painting called “Wheat Field with Crows.”
First, I painted the pages with Golden’s Absorbent Ground. It is a medium that when applied to any surface, enables one to paint on surfaces that are not normally made to acceptwatercolor paint. Then I also used some acrylic inks.
The second picture is the view of this journal from the side as it lies flat on a table. It’s getting pretty thick!
This was a fun spread to paint!
Have a wonderful day! 😀
Share this:
Mermaids Swimming with a Whale
Hello Friends!
This past weekend I participated in a group weekend challenge called “Katrina Koltes and Friends Magick and Art.” Katrina is the one who led the watercolor workshop called “Between the Realms” where we did the fairy paintings. I still have a few lessons left in it, but am taking my time. Most of the members are done with their fairy journals, though.
This painting was a lot of fun to do. I painted it on 300 lb. watercolor paper with watercolor paints.
I think my next project will be doing more elves. But they will be more ethereal and coming from a portal of light. Stay tuned!
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
Share this:
Frontal Portrait in Watercolor
Hello Friends!
This is a portrait that the instructor painted in oils. It was for Week 21 of Let’sfaceit2020, but I am not sure why it wasn’t a 3/4 turn portrait since that is the section we are on. I suppose it could be because she did it in oils instead of acrylics.
I don’t have oil paints, and I have never tried using them. Since I have been painting in watercolors for the last few weeks, I decided to stick with those, because it is my favorite medium!
The photo she gave us of this African American woman was challenging to work from. She had blonde highlights and her skin tone had hues of yellow and orange in it. I may try to do this one again on better paper at some point. In fact I will probably do a lot of these lessons over for the practice.
The paper I used is from a pad of Winsor & Newton Cold Pressed, 140 lb. paper. I thought I would try it figuring since I love this brand of paints I might like this paper. Well, it is a little thicker than other brands of 140 lb. paper that I have, but I don’t care for it much. It is not good for layering which I have been learning more about in Katrina Koltes’s classes. It also can’t take as much water or dabbing as my 300 lb. paper from Fabriano can.
Now I only have this week’s portrait to do to be caught up again in this class. But I have the new workshops of Katrina’s that I haven’t done yet either. And she’s such a great teacher; I am enjoying learning from her!
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
Share this:
Portrait of a Girl with her Spirit Animal
Hello Friends!Â
Yesterday, I drew and painted this portrait for my class, Let’s Face It 2020. Our instructor was Melanie Rivers, a lovely Native American artist in Canada.
Melanie works primarily in acrylics, using Golden’s Open Acrylics, which I have never tried. She says they dry slower than regular acrylics. She primarily paints portraits of women which is what she loves to do most.
In this week’s lesson she painted her portrait onto a deer skin drum which her husband made! I didn’t have one, so I used my daughter’s octagon-shaped dinner plate to trace around and cut out. The sides aren’t even, but that’s okay. I added the Spirit Animal of the Sea Turtle since I haven’t painted one in a while and I chose different colors for it which I think go nicely with her coloring.
As you may notice, I also decided to paint it in watercolors instead of acrylics since I was using 300 lb. watercolor paper and had to cut out the shape.
I have downloaded my video lessons for my next fairy painting class, Between the Realms with Katrina Koltes. However, I am just going to do the reading for the fairy session today. I need to take a break from doing art and exercise! I have been sitting too much this week!
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
Share this:
Portrait of a Girl in Pencil
Hello Friends!
Last week we had two mini lessons in the Let’sfaceit2020 portrait group. There were two different teachers. One did a mixed media piece which I didn’t do. Lisa Filion did this piece on her iPhone with the app she teaches with. And, of course hers was in color, but I wanted to draw mine in pencil to keep in the practice of using graphite!
I drew the initial shapes with hard, light pencils. Then I used softer, darker pencils for the shading so I wouldn’t make my arm ache. That way, the pencils do more of the work, so to speak! I worked on it for several hours today, just getting lost in the drawing, which I absolutely love doing!
I am not doing this week’s acrylic portrait for now. The artist who did our watercolor portraits, Katrina Koltes, is starting to teach a different workshop called “Between the Realms” tomorrow which is all about fairies! We will be painting mostly in watercolors and using watercolor pencils to paint fairies in nature. We are even going to make magic wands with crystals, stones, and sticks! I can hardly wait to start!
This is part of what she said about the projects we will be doing. “There are 25+ videos in my workshop, including painting and craft sessions, guided meditations, spiritual projects, stories, and documentaries.”
It sounds so fun and interesting! I have always wanted to learn about the history of fairies (they are real, ya know!) 😉
I will have to go to town tomorrow to download all of the videos as I’m pretty sure we get them all at once so we can work at our own pace. It’s going to be so fun! Katrina is such a sweet lady.
Well, I hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
Share this:
“Snapshot” in Acrylics Finished
Hello Friends!
This morning I finally finished this painting! The instructor was Amy Beeman again. I began to struggle with the shirt last night, because I was having a hard time getting the color of it the way I wanted it. In the photo she is wearing a beige blouse, but since I painted her camera case a purplish shade, I wanted to use a complementary color for her shirt. The camera was pretty difficult to do, too.
Also, transferring an 8×10 photo to an 11×14 canvas using the grid method is still challenging for me, but I am enjoying practicing it now. I have learned that it is better than trying to use graphite transfer paper to get the image onto the canvas! Sometimes it leaves the outline too dark.
I have fallen a little behind, because I haven’t done last week’s painting yet, but it is a mini lesson that hopefully won’t take very long. It is also a ghostly looking lady so it shouId be interesting.
I really want to start this week’s portrait which is going to be a warrior woman in watercolor! The teacher is Katrina Koltes again. I really love her art.
I hope everyone is staying well! We are all doing fine here.
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
Share this:
Self-Portrait from My Younger Days!
Hello Friends!
I have a picture of myself that my husband took of me many years ago. He caught me by surprise, but I turned around with a mischevious grin! It is one of the few pictures I have liked of myself, so I wanted it to be my first self-portrait.
The background in the original picture is a white wall, and I had a dark green shirt on. But I decided to change the colors to brighten up the painting.
I used acrylic inks and watercolors for this one on 300 lb. watercolor paper. It is a 7″x10″ piece of scrap paper I had left over from something else.
Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
Share this:
“Bella” My Friend, Michelle’s, Cat
Hello Friends!
Meet Bella! She is going to be travelling to my friend’s house who lives in Canada!
I was planning to do this painting for her for a birthday present a few months ago. Then I let life get in the way. She has the patience of Job!
Michelle sent me a picture of Bella on Facebook and I printed it out to work from. I painted her with watercolors.
I always have enjoyed painting animals. Those of us who have pets know they become our children! Anyway, this was fun. Bella has a coat of many colors! And I am sure she’s a sweety with a loving owner like Michelle.
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 😀
P.S. Tomorrow I am going to post something I received in a huge box on Saturday from my dear friend, Jill Weatherholt! It’s pretty awesome.
Share this:
Toy Box Fishes
Hello Friends,
Remember my Toy Box Whale? https://patsyscreativecorner.com/2018/04/08/toy-box-whale/ This new piece is titled “Toy Box Fish!” I am doing all of these pieces in acrylics which is really a challenge for me.
I’ll share the backstory which some of you may not know. A few months ago I took apart our son’s wooden toy box. I didn’t want to give it away or throw away the wood. Plus I wanted to save the front of it which has a teddy bear with his name painted on it. I did that when he was about three years old. I wanted to keep that part so when I took the toy box apart, I decided to paint ocean scenes on the other four parts.
This is part number two. I created this scene which has a Moorish Idol fish, some little pink and purple fish I doodled, and a seahorse which is trying to camouflage itself. I have three more pieces to do. One is the other side of the toy box which is the same shape as this piece. The other two sides are longer shorter than this one.
When I finish all of them I am planning to hang these in our son’s old room which I want to decorate into an “ocean room.”
So this is what I have been working on since Wednesday. I have also been drawing another shark. I want to paint a large seahorse in watercolors, too. But I do have a writing assignment I need to finish by the 30th. Yes, I have sort of put it aside for a bit because I “needed” to paint! I am sure my artist friends will understand this need.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂
Patsy's Creative Corner 