Happy Thanksgiving! My Fall mantle has become a mini gallery of some of my favorite Fall projects: sunflowers, Fall leaf, watercolor and ink leaves and the “give Thanks” Thanksgiving sign. I think tomorrow I need to start on some Winter/Christmas projects!
Enjoy your day with family and friends!
Eileen
I’ve been playing around with the idea of giving whimsical house (or door) paintings as hostess gifts (either framed or made into ornaments). I’ve come a long way this year, in terms of my confidence as an artist, but there is something scary about giving my artwork as a gift! Regardless of whether or not I’ll get up the nerve – I’ve started painting. The house is my brother and sister-in-law’s. I definitely want to try another version!
Here are my steps:
I love the days where I can start off being creative. When I say start off, I mean after the 2 hours of – waking up the kids, making lunches, and getting the 3 of them to 3 different schools! Now that I am working from home, on most days I start “work” as soon as I get back from the last drop off. Even if I try to be creative later in the day, it is not the same as starting the day that way. There is a different vibe to the day. When I start off painting or sketching I feel so much more inspired. And I love the light in the kitchen in the morning.
Below are my steps to creating my sunflower. You can see the final piece here on instagram – and by the way don’t you want to follow me on instagram too? I have a sad and lonely little account with only 11 followers!
I came across these crows in the Target parking lot. With the bright blue sky, the orange trees, and the crows flying around, it was beautiful, so I snapped a few pictures. Ironic that it was in a parking lot! My husband said a flock of crows is actually called a “murder.”
My Steps:
I started by drawing, in ink, a few of the crows. I added the sky and the shape of the trees in watercolor.
When that dried, I added a few more crows.
I realized the sky wasn’t blue enough, so I added a richer layer of blue. I also added more oranges and browns in more definitive leaf shapes.
I drew the outlines of the leaves in ink. I added more orange and brown to give the trees more depth. I tried to cover up and soften the line that the second layer of blue sky had created between the sky and the trees.
I’m not sure what made me start this Winter scene the day after Halloween. I guess I was thinking about the weather to come! I was inspired by my “ready to fall” painting, which started out as an ink drawing of a tree.
My steps:
I drew a few simple tree shapes. Then I painted the sky and ground around them. On a whim, I salted the sky section to give it that frosted look. (If you’ve never used salt before it is a cool technique. Salt your painting when it is still wet. The salt absorbs some of the paint. Wait until it is completely dry and then brush off the salt.) I was happy with the effect. It reminds me of frost on a window. I added white to the trees and a few splatters of white for snow.
One last spooky sketch and a hint as to what I dressed up as this year. Enjoy your trick or treating!
I’ve been playing around with this project – practicing the lettering in my sketchbook, playing with fonts on the computer. I even scanned my watercolor background and printed it with type I set up on the computer. I don’t usually do this. I create on the computer enough as a Graphic Designer and when I signed up for that first drawing class 7? 8? years ago, the point was to use anything but the computer. I like the lettering in my sketchbook the best. It’s ironic because that was my first try at it. Maybe I’ll scan it in and print that on the watercolor background. 🙂
I took the reference photo for this painting in our yard. I really worked this painting! I kept going back in and adding color. Good thing I’m using watercolor paper these days!
Finally I remembered to tape my paper to a board (a palette did the trick) to keep the paper smooth and prevent the paint from pooling. I made sure to add paint to the “white” petals, because they aren’t truly white. Then, I added the base color of the background.
When that was mostly dry I painted in some details. BTW in the end, I preferred this painting upside down from the way I painted it. So the painting is flipped from here out.
I added some outlines and details in ink. But felt the empty area needed to be darker. I had to add color several times to get it dark enough. Then, I thought it looked weird. Like the Montauk daisies were floating. Even my nine year old son said, “Maybe you need to add some leaves in there.” I drew some leaves in ink and then lifted the dark color where the leaves were. I added a little bit of green to those new leaves. I like the result and how those leaves are subtle. [See final painting in the first photo.]
If you have never “lifted” watercolor paint before, it is easy. Using a wet brush, you touch the area you want to lift the paint from. Wipe the brush on a paper towel (you’ll see the color come off onto it) and rewet the brush and repeat until you’ve achieved your desired effect. 🙂
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