Happy Mail

 The brushes came, These are the ones I ordered. They do come in smaller sets but, it looked like the most bang for your buck to get the 5 piece set on the day I was looking. ( their prices go up and down) 

The box contains a thing for propping up your laptop on a table to give it that correct angle and let some of the heat escape kind of a thing. I had seen them on Amazon before Christmas and have one exactly like this on my wish list that my son gave me so, seeing the "gravity" idea in the painting I linked to in the post before this I was you know buying these brushes anyways and so, I tossed one of these in for to try with painting. It is this one in the green.

 what they look like out of the package. So, I got the smallest one wet and I had this scrap of wc paper here that was handy and started doing a "tree" type shape with it. I did not get my paint on the palette wet enough but, it did give me that how loose and wiggly those bristles are sense. I totally intend to play with this some more soon. 

 

Some other things that came in the mail was an order from Frantic Stamper ( I picked up a lot of yards of May Arts ribbons that will need wound and put away) and this Elizabeths crafts design called twiggy shapes ( dies) and one of them is a heart. 

So, I cut the heart from some kraft (paper bag colored) cardstock and used one of the flat spin top brushes to get some scratches of color onto it for texture and depth. Cut, the bow from the set from this scrap of watercolor paper and started adding yellows, oranges and reds to it. 

And this is ultimately what I ended up uploading to the gallery at Splitcoaststampers for the paint what ever you like challenge we are doing this week. This painting was previously started and shared at the beginning of the month when Kia had that pair of pastel landscapes. I painted this off the first one in the series and kept thinking it needed birds on the frozen ice in the bottom-ish area. And I got this Honey Bee stamps A2 die in the mail recently so, it was also in the pile off to the side and I thought, this may work so, I cut the scene from the center of that painting, cut some layer with watercolor paper for depth for the frame, cut the bottom piece from some kraft (paper bag colored card) and then this sentiment had been previously stamped and die cut and was in the milk glass tray on the table so, it worked. After it was all glued together I did paint that tiny trio of birds flying into the scene from the top right corner and called it Done. And that's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

A Start on a Vertical Landscape

 This week the Watercoloring challenge tutorial team is painting what ever they want. and I spent some time being lost down the rabbit hole at YouTube finding new artists. I landed on this one from Rachel Parker Varner where she does a tree very loose with a very long bristled brush. She name drops a bunch of Artists names during this video and so, I watched it in bits and pieces because, I googled the other names she mentions. ( and ordered some of those brushes while I was at it, they are supposed to be here Today haha) I then seen this one from John Lovett I loved the colors and the detail with the softness, at the very end he puts on some may be white gouache and brushes it mostly away to soften those edges like doing a Vignette with your photo processing is the way my brain translated it. 

But, the very best video I stumbled across is this one from the American Watercolor Society seen here. By Thomas W. Schaller. This is so interesting and informative and just made sense to me the whole time he is painting. He is someone that I really feel like I was learning all kinds of things. but, one thing that stood out for me right in the beginning was the use of gravity for his painting and the whole paint the whole background with a curved wash. ( by the time I started mine I think I had not enough paint to it and I forgot a few colors) but, I had also started with a piece of cheap paper to just try it because, that was what the original person's video was, if you are not wrecking cheap paper as often as possible how can you know what works when and where? 

But back to the last video. He uses flat brushes to do his building shapes and I could not remember if I have flat brushes. ( I know I have a couple of either 3/4' or 1" ones for doing washes but, I didn't think I had any tiny ones. ) 

Which lead to me going to the jar and looking at the shapes of brushes I have collected since we started this watercoloring weekly challenge at SCS. (not that I started it but, I have played along since almost the beginning.) It's something my mama used to ask me all the time. Did you watercolor it? and I always said no for many years, to me it was only something "real" artists did. ( her mama's gpa was an oil painter) In the back of my mind the fact that I am coloring other peoples art ( stamped images) did not make me an artist. true story. Anyways that's a whole 'nother topic. I am trying to work on that thought and squelch it like a bug. So, I took another shot looking down so that if I were tempted to buy more brushes I could zoom in and see sizes on these.

And I thought OK, there are some smaller almost flat brushes here. ( they say they are spin top ones on the handle but, I think I may be able to use them like he did for dry brushing texture shapes type of a thought) which lead me to looking at my paint drawer. I took 90% of the cheap paints out, the colors are not me, too bright and too opaque and I do not find joy using them. I kept some of the prima sets and some of the shimmer sets but, the ones I started with are all in my re-gift them box.

 And I found all these dot cards in there. So, after this was shot I spent some time actually wetting them so I could see the colors better than what they came in like. not dramatically different but, a little bit. I am debating adding Naples Yellow and possibly Indian Yellow to my pile but, really yellow is not my favorite color to play with it's either hard to see or garishly bright. and I shy away from bold bright colors. 

And I started running out of time to actually PAINT something so, I started with this Artist Loft paper cut to A7 taped to a board so I could use the gravity idea. and I did a curved wash of colors all the way down it. I did have the board in my hand a lot and I think I had not quite enough paint and water but, I did do this. 

 The colors are barely there. but, I started with a yellow and then went to a coral, a red, a purple and then cobalt blue. so, I don't see the colors that well and I just decided to keep going as it was a little wet and it was propped up on the palette for a tiny bit of gravity.

 I don't very often do too many vertical scenes and I like painting trees so, I started with that in the middle of the sheet. the cheap paper was mostly leaning dry when I did that. 

And I dragged some of the blue down under the trees thinking snow. that there needs to be more life in it. maybe even a snowman haha. but, about this time I found out that my husbands hunting buddy was found in his home and this is as far as I got yesterday. His family does not live in this state and they rely on my husband to do all the things. 

 So, I don't have a "thing" to post in the gallery and I may be off line the next few days. We will see how it goes. its still part of that one day at a time deal. Last week was the anniversary of my mama's passing and There is not a day that goes by where I don't think she would have loved this when I see something or think some fairly snarky thought. If you read all that sorry, I know I ramble. I hope you are doing well and Thanks for stopping by. 

So, I could not sleep and I came upstairs to see what it looked like, ( it's still shy of 6 am here and the sun does not come up for a while) 

And this is what I found. When I tape paper ( it can be Arches Cotton, it can be cheap paper it does not matter) If I use this gorilla "delicate surface" masking tape to tape it to a piece of stiff chipboard. it will curl as it dries. So, I don't know if its the board or the tape but, I do not have good luck with these things not curling. I am still thinking about what to add to this scene next. Just thought I would add this is as something to remember to look for. supplies that maybe work better for taping the paper down. 
 

 

 

 

Inspired by {Quilted Chicken}

 This week Denise is sharing the Quilted Chicken site for Inspiration and I came across this snowman pillow that I loved the textures on. But, I kept looking I tend to find two things so that I have time to let them sit in the back of my mind before I pick one ( usually at the last minute) to create. And so, I laughingly decided that this button card with the buttons arranged as a wreath ( which is very very cool) all the button cards I have the buttons are in grid formations) I decided this would make such a beautiful card.

 I die cut a bunch of paper buttons with various dies and wove strings and cords through the holes and none of them looked right on floral printed papers. I spent hours on this ha ha. and finally started over again this morning when we got home. and I did what you see below.

The base is some kraft paper bag colored card cut to A2 with this sheet of I am not sure who makes this printed paper anymore that has subtle leafy prints to it. I found this sentiment in a new to me Unity Stamp set called Gretchen Girl and stamped that on some Neenah cardstock and cut that out with a Tim Holtz label die and just added a couple of the diecut paper buttons along with one tiny real button. And it does not look much like the IC shot I seen but, that's why they call it an Inspired by challenge. That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. 
 

Watercoloring a Loose Black Capped Chickadee

 This week Linda is sharing this video Called Easy watercolor Chickadee from Robin Makes Stuff seen here on YouTube. 

I love watching birds and so far I am skeptical about my own ability to get the scale and body correct shapes to paint them but, I did watch the video and gave it a whirl. It was in the back of my mind that I probably have a bird perched like this stamp. but, it would also probably be smaller and have much more detail to it. So, I forged ahead. 

 I did use a water soluble pencil for the sketch and some Artist Loft watercolor paper.

 Right after I started adding a layer of paint to the background hubs informed me that my presence was required for a home depot run. So, this is what I came back to.

I did re wet around the edges of the birds body to add more paint to the background and then gave it a wash of yellow ocher and then let that dry.
 

 Started mixing some greys for the other feather areas.

 Just kept tossing more paint on it, mostly adding slightly shades darker of greys to have some variation in the feathers. 

While the body was drying I started adding some paint to the branch. 

I did add more paint to the background around the branch and under the bird. and that kind of snowballed into more splatters and more paint pretty much across the bottom right triangle of the scene. I flicked out some stray tiny feathers for "fluff" and started adding some white gouache over the grey paint to add to the cheeks and chest but, it dried to a pale gray is muddy look.

I had totally gotten the shapes of the white feather areas wrong so by this point I was on my second layer of White Gouache across his cheek and chest. I also added in some black for the eye leaving that white ring for detail. And this is where he sits at the moment. I am debating about if I will have some daylight after work today to add a little more to him or not. I wish the background had more color as well and I think as for as a practice painting goes this is not that bad. It's only going to get better from here yes? 

 

Well, I could not resist adding more paint to the bird and the shadows under the belly and legs..

 Which ended up leading to some hard edges on my "fluffy" bird.

This last show was taken with a DSLR not my iPhone so, its interesting how the colors change. Its not quite this dark in real life but, it is not as pale as the phone shoots it so, that is interesting. I did try to remove a little of the paint from the top of the head like a highlight which kind of looks strange now that its dry but, I figure this was just a learning bird anyways so, there is that. And that being said that's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Inspired by {Factory Direct Crafts}

 This week Kia is sharing the Factory Direct Crafts store as the inspiration challenge at SCS They also have pinterest boards collected here. And I came across these bitty heart buttons and thought, I think I probably have something like that and I came across these, along with the stars from one of the Jars of vintage canning jars on the wall. I don't save packaging of these but, best guess is they came from Joanns and probably were something like James dress it up buttons? ( something like that ) 

 So, I don't really care much for the look of buttons without some thing in the holes so, I did spend some time trying to thread Some really old Karen Foster scrappers floss ( white ) into the holes of the shiny red button which I kept cutting it to a very sharp point and just finally tugged it through enough to make it gather on one side of the hole because, it was you guessed it too thick for that hole. ( it went through the more prim thin button's with better ease) I just trimmed it off and used a ( too big ) glue dot to hold it on. I am considering pulling it off this morning and using a smaller glue dot because, I can see it peeking out the edges of the button. 

I have these little dishes on the table of tiny little tags I previously die cut from scraps so they are handy and get used because, I can see and reach them rather than remember to dig in a drawer for them. The red tag is most likely cut from Simon Says Stamp school house red cardstock and the white one is Neenah solar white. they are just tied together with some red lawn fawn hemp string. The For You is I think a really old Stampin' Up sentiment and I just used some versafine to stamp it on the tag under the button that I had already glued down. ( its one of those I unmounted it a few years back stamps and I don't remember which set it came out of anymore sorry) I kind of really like how cute this is being such a tiny tag and I just may make a few more while the buttons are still out and about as well. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Watercoloring a Simple landscape

 This week Kia is sharing this video tutorial that starts out with purple skies by Emma Jane Lefebvre called Basic watercolour landscape tutorial - Anyone can do this... and I spend a little while trying to mix a pale purple for the sky and or just messing with my purple paints in general of which there are not many, added pinks to them, tried adding blues. One curious thing she mentions to use the least amount of paint possible with a large wet brush so, when I tried that you cannot see the purple in the skies anymore at this point. 

 I also have a hard time with pastel colors in general I think they are hard to see I guess. So, I  did end up adding in more natural colors and greys to this as I went a long.

 By this point, I could not really remember how she did her tree line and mine started to look like a muddy mess to me so, I got it wet, wiped it off and tried it again. ( more than once) and so eventually I just stopped messing with the tree line. I am not entirely sure what colors she used for her frozen marsh parts and I wish I knew because, that was my favorite color in her painting but, I have a feeling it may not be a color that is in the DS line. I did also spend some time wetting and swatching the paint palettes I started with and some are entirely too bright for my tastes and I have boxed all those paints up to give them away. I am going through a "life is too short to mess with things that do not bring you joy" type thoughts so, It's OK because, I do enjoy my DS paints and no, I do not have all the colors and I can generally find something to mix that will work "good enough" with what I want to do.

 I look at this and think "oh, it needs" like crane birds walking through the bottom half and maybe  more color to the freeze dried grass / weed stems and so, I've decided to leave it as is because, if I keep tossing paint at it, its not going to look much like the "simple" fun video she had stated it would be. I wish I had used more paint in the sky, its pretty much not there for my eye as I look at this the more it dries. 

 

And the not there sky bugged me enough that I dried brushed more purples and pinks to that sky. Which then makes me want to add more color to the frozen marsh area so, I am going to walk away from this now for real. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this video here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Melted Heart

 There is an encore of the colors thrown down a week ago at SCS this week. (Navy, White & Silver) and I had seen that on the day the last watercolor challenge went live I think and I had a little pile of these things (papers) on the table and I started pushing them around thinking to do something "different" than the snowflake card I had done the week before. But, I didn't really get anywhere with it besides liking the papers I piled up. 

And then on Thursday the challenge for the "ways to use it" was do use something new or do something as a new beginning type of a theme. And so, I have all these dies, that are new that were calculated impulse buys and or things I shipped home to me from my mama studio. And these tag dies with the scalloped stitched edges are new ones from Unity Stamps that I bought when they had their pre black friday sale? something like that. The snowman tag is actually printed paper, and I have all these pads of papers with little word blocks or art on them and I did over the last couple of months take a few of those sheets out of the pads and cut them up thinking to use them the way they were printed as I like the art on them and I had the idea "easy project" type of a thought. So, it was in one of those shallow containers on the table and I could see the face of him peeking out and thought OK you could do a snowman card. And then with the reds and greens on him I figured that was too many other colors to squeak it by for a color challenge but, I do like how this turned out. The small sentiments on the silver tags are really old ones from Stampendous cut out with scissors and inked on the edges with some DOX scorched timber. The nail head in the tag hole of the snowman printed paper is actually pretty flat and the then two small brushed silver tags have actual mini brads in their centers. The largest printed paper tag has just a knot of sheer silver ribbon through it. I did dove tail cut the ends of the ribbons for drama but, its a fragile ribbon and it is already starting to shred from that. The domed piece is just a scrap of cheap watercolor paper that has a scrap of Navy linen cardstock wrapped around it for interest. And I thought when all the pieces were arranged that is a sort of "new" design for me, I tend to do a large image and fairly flat so, the whole lots of bits and pieces is interesting I guess. I am also thinking that this could go as either a "love" card or a Thank you card with the whole melted heart sentiment. ( that is a Spellbinders letterpress one that has a die that came with the stamps.) That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well & thanks for stopping by. 
 

Inspired by { Urban wear outsiders }

 This week Julie is sharing the Urban Wear Outsiders site and I came across this Gingerbread "Ugly" sweater and I knew I had some "gingerbread papers" from a recollections pad this season at Micheals and then I seen that I had this Tim Holtz sweater I had stamped and colored a bit a while back on the table in the container I have holding such things in hopes of seeing them means using them ha ha. So, I added some white gel pen to the sweater and some DOX scorched timber on the edges. 

I flipped over the gingerbread paper to pick up the sweater texture and cut it with a Scalloped die from the Ton and inked the edges of that with the same Scorched Timber, I stamped the sentiment ( Woodware Christmas Distressed Labels set) with Pinecone Versafine ink onto a scrap of green that picked up the colors in the sweater and inked its edges with same ink.

 I found a piece of Kraft colored cardstock to use as the base and ran the top half of it through the big shot with a Darice embossing folder with some scallops and framing that is kinda "Doodled" looking. And I decided this was enough, that doing it as CAS was interesting. That's about it from me, it made for Christmas card #2 created since the New Year yesterday afternoon and puts me at halfway through what I signed up for at SCS with a goal of doing 4 Christmas cards a month. I figure 1/4 of that goal will be used up on the Dirty Dozen Christmas card samples so, really I only need 3 different things, and I tend to lean towards Christmas card when doing challenges already so, I think it will be OK. and if not, there really are no stamping police. This is just a stash building thing. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.