A Couple of Cards

Posted on by under painting

I have been cropping most of my watercolor experiments and making them into one of a kind cards. Here are a couple that I completed today.

If you look carefully at the centers of the daisies, you will see little circles. That was done by adding a little bit of dish soap to blue watercolor paint and blowing bubbles in the paint. Then the bubbles are put onto the card. They shrink down into little circles of bubbles and as they dry, they leave a cool pattern. It reminded me of the centers of flowers so I turned them into daisies. I painted the background or negative space around the flowers in several layers.

This started out as a bigger painting that was 9″ x 12″. It wasn’t very good so I cut out the best bit, toned down the colors slightly and it looks better in a small format. I was experimenting with various ways to paint pine trees. I used different bits of fabric in the paint and then pulled them off after the paint dried. I will have to try this again on a sky that isn’t so over the top and vibrant.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Loosening Up

Posted on by under painting

I am still working on loosening up with the watercolors but it has been an uphill battle. I have a really hard time with things not looking like expected. And most of these are pretty lackluster. But I will show you anyways and hopefully, you won’t laugh.

I saw my first Glacier Lily this week on my hikes up behind my house. It’s so wonderful to see signs of spring and this is one of the first wildflowers that blooms in Montana.

This was created while using up leftover paint. It’s definitely lacking any excitement. I could work back into this again and I might, but then I tend to over work things so it might just stay like it is.

These two were done after watching a couple of YouTube videos about painting loose flowers. I think the roses are more effective than the poppies. But I like the greenery on the poppies. It is hard to figure out what to paint when and to get the timing right. But I learn something every time I paint something so all is not lost 🙂

Revamped Cards

Posted on by under collage, mixed media

I made these cards quite a while ago with scrap paper and poured acrylic skins. I put them in the store for sale and they haven’t sold. There has been minimal interest in them. So it was time to revamp and see if I could improve them.

So I looked in my notebooks where I put quotes that I like. I found enough quotes and then printed them out.

I then cut them out and pasted them to the already made card.

This one I had to redo because I misspelled happiness.

I hope that with these quotes, people will like the cards better.

People seem to like items/cards with words on them.

At least they have a “focal point” now.

Of course it would help if I could spell. Picasso on the card is wrong. Sigh. I have printed out another piece of paper with the correct spelling and will paste it over the first one. Now I’ll take these back to the store and see what happens.

Watercolor Experiments Continue

Posted on by under mixed media, painting

I am still experimenting with watercolors and seeing if I can create more abstract landscapes. I am still working small and about half of the experiments end up being acceptable. Some are still pretty ugly but I am learning. Definitely, less is more. And I have to learn when to stop. Less is more.

Here are three that were not as I had envisioned. But they’re OK.

These three are better. The one in the middle is an eco print that has been enhanced with watercolor and acrylics.

These two are my favorite ones from today. These are more abstract and not as overworked. I will be turning most of these into greeting cards as they are all small (5″ x 7″ range). Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend.

Paint Party

Posted on by under mixed media, painting

Our group got together last week and did some of the experimental painting techniques that I have been trying out.

Everybody got right to work and created some “master pieces”.

These are the pieces as they are drying. Everybody, even with experimental kind of methods, has a different look to their work. Next time we meet, we are going to work further into some of these pieces to finish them. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.

Here is one of mine after I worked into it. The piece on the left is what I started with after letting the watercolors dry. The piece on the left is after working into the painting to give it a bit more definition in places. It’s fun to figure out what needs to be added and when to stop. That’s probably the hardest part for me 🙂