Watercoloring from Dots

 This week Angie is sharing this sketchy bloom done from dots of watercolor paint and a flat brush that you can see here on YouTube. By Maremi Simplecraft. So, I had a small pile of scraps of good Arches cold press watercolor paper and I decided since both of my good flat brushes were 3/4" wide that they would work to look for a color combo that might not make mud and practice the strokes.

These are all done with Daniel Smith watercolors on cotton paper and the solid ish purply one was kind of pretty and then I grabbed the "cotton" Strathmore notebook and tried it again. 

My black pen bled way more than hers did. 

A closer look at that. so, at this point I thought maybe try some different paints, and I grabbed a 12" square sheet of Strathmore 400 Series wc paper and the Mijello Mission Gold watercolors 

 And I found this 2" flat brush I found in a jar I had not played with before and have since forgotten why I picked it up. so. this first trial I did get a little bit more of a look on the first stroke that looked a little more like what she did. 

Evidently I didn't take a photo of the third one but, after it went along with the petal type strokes I ended up dragging the brush over the whole piece and then splattering all over it. one thing about this paint and paper combo. it stained the paper where those dots rested while I was making the dots on the paper to drag through. interesting. I did want to make something with these so, I actually started die cutting some of the trials with these bitty tiny Gummiapan dies that came in the mail last week from a store in Southern California called Color Me Nordic.  and I did get a card done that I will post some time after Father's day as it does not look at all like a sketchy flower. 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.

Watercoloring Peonies with a Side Helping from the IC.

 This week Kia is hosting both the Watercolor challenge and the Inspiration Challenge and the video for the watercolor was doing loose peonies seen here on YouTube by Harriet DeWinton. And then I started watching my buds like a hawk waiting to see them open this week. so Far the pale pink and bright pink have opened but not the layered color or the reds. 

So, I took some photos so I could get an idea on the pink ish color and I have a hard time painting pinks and reds it seems like I never have the shade I want. so, this is the pale pink. ( these are 30+ year old plants) That we moved here from our first house when we bough this one 20 years ago now.

There is a hint of yellow in the stems on these and in the centers of the blooms

The brighter pink shades. So, it was days apart between when I watched the video, seen the blooms open and then stole time to paint.

So, using the pinks I have I started like so on some Arches cold press watercolor paper with Daniel Smith paints.

And I knew that the Inspiration site she had chosen was this one to "Unshattered" and their pinterest boards where I found this simple bag. And I thought OK you could do some kind of a simple grid/plaid textured background for these and skip painting the mason jar vase element. 

So I pulled out this neutral printed paper out of a Maja designs Christmas pad and then ran it through the big shot in this Tim Holtz folder to get more texture on it and then chopped it up. 

Which I finished as a square card. the base is some Stardream shimmery pink cardstock cut to 5 1/2" square and then the birthday wishes was stamped previously and diecut with a rectangle die an was out of the envelope of previously done ones in the drawer. This is an old Hampton Arts dollar bin stamp that had a trio of gift packages to the right of the sentiment and I have cut this apart and removed mine from the block so, its a cling one now. The watercolor panel was also cut down with a rectangle die and that's about it from me, I hope you are doing well. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Patti J Good designs}

 This week Julie has chosen the Patti J Good designs site and pinterest boards, and I kept having the red and white ticking fabric shapes catch my eye, I had seen Christmas trees ( like what's seen here) and Hearts... so,I was really surprised to not find any ticking fabric type printed papers in my stash. Seems like all the "country" things you can find easily at the moment lean towards Ginghams. 

I knew that to get a cluster of trees into a container I needed something skinny so, I used both sizes of the Stamp Market Holiday trees die set to get a variety of heights and then used the same print from Maja Happy Christmas twice ( the larger stripe is from a 12" sheet and the smaller scaled one is from the 6" pad size) the others are scraps that I don't know anymore who makes them.

 The Containers I have I decided this wooden toolbox die from Impression Obsession would hold a cluster of these tall trees and still show off their stripe patterns so, I cut it with some scrap ( I've had this 20 years I think) crackled wood print and then cut it twice so that the bar at the top I could wrap one around the behind the trees at the top for some depth. The sentiment here is from the Lili of the Valley Grungy Christmas sentiments set, the trees were painted with watercolors and I used a stardream gelly roll pen on the stars. The ribbon here is unknown and the base is some textured bazzill that finished out at 5" square. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Dirty Dozen { June Christmas Challenge Prompt}

 I have been shuffling through my drawers of old Santa Stamps just because, the art on those old stamps is so inspiring to see and it makes me smile.

I decided I wanted to start trying to color one of the old Santa stamps for this month's challenge. And so, this one (Stamps Happen Santa with Tree) was stamped with some Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink on some smooth Arches hot press watercolor paper and then I started in adding layers of watercolor paints. ( mostly Daniel Smith and some Windsor & Newton.) 

I did end up trimming that panel down with a Crealies Cross stitched rectangle die and I only taped it on one side so, it wiggled in the bigshot and out came more scraps and vintage lace to cover up one side of the panel. The sentiment here is from the Lili of the Valley Grungy Christmas sentiments was stamped and painted and inked and has a bit of stickles glitter glue on it from hmmm sometime last winter. I have a little envelope of them I did when the stamps arrived last year. it has a foam pop dot under the right side so it sits level. The stripe printed paper is from Authentique and the base is some textured Bazzill. This one finished out at 6" square in real life. All the brown on the edges are from a Distress Oxide vintage photo pad and my foam circle decided it no longer wants to stay stuck to the tool handle so, it plopped on one side and then I had to you know increase the brown on the edges more to even it out a little. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us and get some Christmas done ahead of time you can find the prompt here in the special forums set aside for Fan Club Members. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Chickens

 It's my turn to host the watercoloring challenge and I happened across this deceptively simple Chicken one seen here on YouTube by Patrick Visser Watercolor. and so, I had a scrap of Arches on hand and sketched a hen. The best tip he has in the sketching part is to make the head smaller than you would think it should be. And so, on this first panel I knew the hens were odd looking and best guess is the head is too big and the necks are too short. so they are kind of stumpy looking. 

Feeling that way, that the colors in the video were not even close to my own chickens and the fact that they were kinda short and round-ish. I grabbed a list pad while breakfast was cooking and tried it again, the whole make the necks longer and heads smaller.

Like so, I wanted them to look like they were having a conversation and that one of them should be saying something interesting or amusing. And our ladies tend to cluster together they all have that fear of missing out really bad. 

first layers of paints. These gals started out more golden then red-ish. 

I kept adding more paints to them as they dried and I got the chick in the center a little over worked.

And I decided I really should have them have a smart funny sentiment and I hemmed and hawed about that too long to decided and finally grabbed one. using a Misti to add it. but, I wanted it a little off set to the right but, I spun my Misti to be sideways since this paper was cut almost in an Slimline shape and then. 

It just looks odd to me now, and I am thinking about cutting the card down to an A6 or A2 size. this is currently an A7. and its a little too far to the left of the center for me. 

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 { Miss Jophiel}

 This week Amy has chosen the Miss Jophiel site & pinterest boards where I found this pin where the gown had Green Leaf trim. And I knew I had this spool of Satin leaf trim from May Arts and decided to just roll with it.

I stamped this gal ( 49 & Market - Gabi's Haute Couture ) with Versafine Morning Mist ink on some Arches cold press watercolor paper. and I did paint her with some Daniel Smith watercolors. I cut this down with an Our Daily Bread Designs stitched rectangle die and found this sheet of leaf print paper from one of the Hobby Lobby pads in a little pile of things I had gotten out recently and rejected so, I am not certain which pad its from) The textured green base is from Bazzill and this one is 6" square in real life. The trim is on this with a few mini glue dots under some of the leaves. ( some are floating) 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.