Day 14 of the Christmas countdown. Here in NY the forecast is for a couple of bitter cold days. I would much prefer some snow! I’ve been using my gouache paints to create the night sky and the snow. It’s thicker than watercolor. See yesterday’s sky here.
Marion painted an adorable snow scene here. Check out Teri’s snowy scene on Instagram.
Draw/paint along with us. Tag adventmcr when posting.
Day 13 of the Christmas Countdown. Santa’s helpers are packing the sleigh. Paint/draw along with me! Use the tag adventmcr when posting. Marion is back with a sleigh in action! See it here.
Day 10. Lots of gifts under the tree today as we celebrated Christmas early at our house with the cousins. On this side of the family my 3 kids have 17 cousins! It’s a party!
Take a look at Marion’s drawing here. It’s so fun to do my interpretation of the prompt and then see Marion’s. My paintings are “nouns” and her’s are “verbs.” Take a look and see if you know what I mean.
Join us! Tag adventmcr when posting.
Day 9 of the Christmas countdown. I started my painting this morning with a pencil sketch of 8 reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh. First I painted the night sky, then I added shapes for the reindeer that looked like blobs. But I wasn’t giving up – even when my 11 old said, “Want some advice? Don’t post that.” I added ink details, then I gave up, and started drawing one reindeer. It’s so much easier to add detail and work at something when you are working big.
For the night sky I used the same technique as my first attempt. Salt. If you’ve never used salt with watercolor before – you sprinkle the salt on the painting when it’s wet. The salt absorbs some of the paint causing this cool crystal like effect. When the paint is completely dry, brush the salt off.
Marion has been drawing along with me. Here is her reindeer. On Instagram Teri is painting along. See her reindeer here. If you’d like to join in, tag adventmcr when posting.
Day 8. It’s a tradition in our house to decorate gingerbread houses. My kids love it – mostly for the candy. They give me a hard time for trying to out do their decorating. What they don’t know is that I aspire to make a gingerbread house that’s a replica of our house. But every year December is too crazy to even think of starting a project like that! Hmmm, maybe over the summer.
Here’s our setup this year.
My house 😂
Marion has been drawing along with me. See her gingerbread post here.
It’s not too late to join in the creative countdown. Tag your post “adventmcr”
Day 6 in the Christmas countdown. I was excited about this prompt because so far this Christmas season, for me, has been all about the Nutcracker. I had my first enamel pin made, based on an illustration from my Nutcracker pattern design. That little pin has inspired me to learn about the history of the Nutcracker, and explore other unique Nutcracker products. And when a friend mentioned a local college was putting on a production of the Nutcracker, I took the family (with pins on of course).
My Nutcracker pin:
Currently shipping only in the continental U.S.
My nutcracker pattern. Available as gift wrap, fabric, and wallpaper through Spoonflower.
If you’d like to join me in the creative Christmas countdown here are the prompts. All mediums are welcome! Tag “adventmcr ” when posting. Marion has been drawing with me. See her nutcracker here. See Moxiefitblues on Instagram here. She even included the nuts!
Day 5 in the Christmas countdown. We actually don’t hang our stockings on the mantle. Before we had a fireplace, we hung them on the banister. The first year with the new fireplace I was so excited to hang them from the mantle. The stocking holders were very heavy and when one of the kids – they were all little at the time – pulled on it, it fell and made a huge divot in the wood floor. I was glad it didn’t hit him in the head. So the stockings went back to the banister. The stairs were looking pretty empty anyway.
Since my prompt was stockings – I wish I had made them more ornate. I spent most of my time on the areas around them. Something for me to think about with the other prompts.
Marion’s day 5 Christmas drawing can be seen here. I’m really enjoying how different our approaches to the same prompts are. Her drawing is usually up before mine but I resist the urge to peek until I am done!
It’s not too late to join in on the creative Christmas countdown. All mediums are welcome. Tag “adventmcr” when posting, so we can all see!
Day 4 in my creative countdown to Christmas. Last month when I was painting in watercolor everyday, following the World Watercolor Group’s November prompts, I focused on adding shadows. I tried to not always use black. Instead I mixed the compliment of the color with the color of the object. As the month went along the “darks” were always on my mind while painting.
One of the things I admire about Charlie of doodlewash and founder of World Watercolor Group, are his highlights. So many of his objects look so shiny. I asked him for advice on achieving this. He said,
“it’s all about pushing the contrast. I sketch every little shape I see in the reflections and then paint them, pushing the darks as much as possible to make the whites seem whiter. Any chance to put nearly black next to white also increases the contrast. With glass you have to be a little subtler or it will start to look like metal, but if you’re painting metal…just go for it! The more contrast the better! And many of the shapes are not intuitive…draw exactly what you see, not what you’d expect it to be.”
I think it is really good advice, but putting into practice with my ornament was easier said than done! The ornament was reflecting everything in the room. But I’ll be thinking about the darks and the lights as I work this month.
Jill wrote a poem about how special ornaments are. I totally agree. As I unwrap each ornament I remember who it is from or what special interest or time in our lives for me, my husband, or one of the kids it represents, or a family trip we took.
Marion’s scandinavian felted ornaments are so precious. The stitching is drawn so well, the ornaments look real!
On Instagram moxiefitblues posted a beautiful box of ornaments. See them here.
Here’s my prompt list is you’d like to draw/paint along. Tag your posts #adventmcr.
mycreativeresolution.com 