Candle

img_1378Day 17 of the Christmas countdown. This snowman candle holder is one of a set. They are actually one of my favorite Christmas decorations. I bought them probably over 10 years ago on a day trip to Mystic, Connecticut with friends.

I can’t believe I’ve been able to paint every day so far this month. Usually the holiday craziness takes over my life. For me writing that I’m going to do something holds me accountable. And having online friends who are drawing and painting along is a HUGE dose of extra motivation.

It’s not too late to join in. Even if you do just one day, it would be so fun to have you join in! Tag adventmcr when posting.

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Christmas Lights

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Day 16 in the Christmas countdown. These big lights remind me of when I was little. I remember my dad would have the strings of lights strewn across the living room, trying to find the one bad bulb that was affecting the whole string. Nowadays I think I’d chuck them and buy a new set. 😂

Join me in the Christmas countdown. Draw/paint – any medium is welcome! Tag adventmcr when posting.

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Christmas Pajamas and Cookies for Santa

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Day 15 of the Christmas countdown. It’s freezing today. I wish I had a pair of footie pajamas to keep me warm! I made a last minute change to today’s prompt because I had cookies on the list twice. Hope I didn’t mess anyone up. So I included cookies in my painting too. I was simply going to have the girl in her Christmas pjs but then decided to add cookies for Santa, which led to a tree, which led to a snowy window. These things sometimes have a mind of their own. 😄

This prompt turned out to be a fun one. You have got to see what Marion and Teri each created. Just click their names to see.

Hope everyone is staying warm tonight!

Draw/paint along! Tag adventmcr when posting.

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Snow

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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.

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Christmas Gifts

img_1178Day 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.

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Reindeer

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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.

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Gingerbread

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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.

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My house 😂

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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”

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