Month: September 2018

Drawing My Days

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I found this book, Draw Your Day , by Samantha Dion Baker, a couple of days ago, and I simply love it!

It’s what I’ve been doing a little on my own, but she has me looking at it in a new way. This book is light, easy to read, has a lot of pointers for (in my opinion) both a new artist and an experienced one. Basically, she simply tells her theory on journaling, why she does it, how, and what she uses. She also makes some really helpful observations about making mistakes. Things we all know inherently but need to hear repeatedly.

Some people may find it too basic, but honestly, it was worth the money ($11) to me just to be able to flip through some of her journal drawings. I love that she includes notations about the weather, and food she ate.

My style is similar to hers, and I love drawing mundane every day items. She helped me to see that drawing simple anythings or nothings has value as much as creating something special to sell or exhibit. I loved the idea I found two months ago about drawing a doodle each day about the day in my calendar, but this is even better. I’m excited to start journaling my days without feeling like I need to write things out, unless I want to. I am not committing to doing this every single day, and won’t let myself feel GUILTY when I don’t, but it is relaxing, it is great practice, and I plan to try as many evenings as realistically possible. Here is what I’ve done so far:

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I’ve included the Amazon link to the book (at the top of this post). There’s a journal as well (workbook) that she offers, but I’m using the Stillman & Birn 5×8 mixed media book… the pages are thick and luscious. I use the smaller ones and really like them. Plus…  (the real reason!!) I already had it. 🙂 If you purchase either through these links, I’ll get a few cents, and it doesn’t cost you any more… these are the best prices I could find right now… however, don’t be afraid to look around for better prices! I’d love to see some drawings, if anyone tries drawing their day? Have you looked at this book? What did you think?

A new favorite watercolor trio?

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Daniel Smith Quinacridone Lilac

Holbein Marine Blue

Holbein Aureolin

I’ve linked all of the above with the best prices currently on Amazon. (As an Amazon affiliate, if you purchase them through these links instead of searching them, I get a few cents without costing you anything extra. If you aren’t purchasing them soon, however, I suggest you check prices a little, because they do fluctuate)

I was more impressed with each of these, and with the secondary colors they produced, than I expected to be. The blue is really gorgeous. Well, all three are. They are a little more vibrant in person than in this photo.

I’m planning to use these three as my primaries in my current travel set. (Not that I travel much, but there is a local group urban sketching opportunity soon!) The browns were more difficult for me to get, and keep consistent, but I think that was me, not the paints. Once I found them, I liked them quite well. I couldn’t get a good black shade easily, but that also might be me… I did get a gray I liked. In fact, I got a nice purple tinted gray, and a nice blue gray as well. And a sort of ugly-interesting green gray I haven’t decided about.

To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about Holbein in general, but these two are nice. I found these through Dr. Oto Kano’s channel, specifically this video, listing her favorite 8 colors. (Not necessarily all for the same palette, but her favorite colors overall.) I think I also found my paint storage solution from one of her earlier videos. She used a white board, I used pegboard.

Jay Lee tutorial: painting with bottle tops!

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This is fun and simple… Gather your supplies:

watercolor paper, brush, paint, palette, water, and some random sized bottle tops.

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Dip the top into paint,

then press a tin into the page. Twist it a bit if necessary. Using water on the paintbrush, draw the paint out into the middle of the circle.

Repeat, using different sized lids, and different colors, overlapping some.

It doesn’t need to be great art to be worthwhile. It is enough for it to be relaxing.

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Wacky Wonderful Wedding Weirdness.

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I’m embarrassed by how long since my last entry!! My excuses are

  1. Busy with work
  2. My giant dog has had several dr visits, ending with scheduling TPLO surgery for him for next week. Ugh. Double ugh. Triple ugh.
  3. Threat of Hurricane Florence, including a partial mandatory evacuation in the area (not us, though!) … Flo was a no-show here, thank goodness! 
  4. A larger art project I’ve completed (which I’m about to explain), and
  5. General Laziness. ……Still… it is THREESIXFIVE art. Not, 345, or 351… 3-6-5. Truthfully, though, I have done a little something most days, just haven’t posted it.
    So let’s talk about #4. My niece (-to-be) asked me to make table markers for her wedding reception, with pretty bits in them AND some creepy crawlies, because she met my nephew (-who-already-is) at a session where she was teaching about the little crawlies (or… something cute like that) So instead of table numbers, each table with be named after some little buggy, with a drawing of it in its nymph form. (I know, “nymph” sounds so cute, doesn’t it? But trust me when I say decidedly NO) Still, it’s a cute idea, but it took me a while to get it finished (and started, even) because I was a bit out of my comfort zone and didn’t have a clear vision for the project. Well, they are finished now, so I’ll show you what I came up with. I wish I had done the large letters differently, and I wish I had drawn the bug in ink first, then painted it in, but overall they are cute and different, and hopefully she likes them.

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I’ll wager you’ve never seen wedding table markers anything like this, right??

A few of my favorites, for indiscernible reasons:

I was definitely better at them by the last one, and wish I had a temperament (or perseverance) which would allow me to do them over, start to finish. (Thankfully, I don’t, and there wasn’t time!) I loved painting all these little colored leaves and flowers. I do wish I had added more flowers! The recent Jay Lee youtube tutorials have given me lots of practice.

I think they should inform everyone which table they’ll be at, and see who arrives knowing the most facts about their table crawlie. Love me a good competition!!

Seriously, though, I won’t be able to attend the wedding because of Emmett’s surgery, so I am sincerely happy to have been able to participate in this small way.

playing with phthalo green

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Just doodling tonight, trying to see how many shades of green I can get mixing phthalo green with the other colors in my Schmincke palette. PG7 has been one of my least favorite shades of green, but everyone seems to love it so much. And… look how well it plays with others! (To be honest, I’m starting to kind of like this Schmincke one, even on its own.) I can see why it is a staple on so many palettes.  And probably will become a favorite of mine as well. Definitely in a limited palette, anyway, without the lovely convenience greens I enjoy so much. You can make pretty much any green out of this… bright, muted, deep… Although nothing granulates like Daniel Smith’s green apatite genuine, today phthalo green may have won me over.

 

 

 

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