Monday 2/4/19 Santa’s day out?
Tag: Draw Your Day
Thursday 1/31/19: EEM watercolor
I know technically today is Friday… I’m just a day behind posting. This is Thursday’s journal page. No, this does not have ANYTHING to do with my day. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to paint, but then I thought… I’ll just play!
I used EEM handmade watercolors (Eventually, Everything Mixes)… go check out her site! You’ll have to watch for watercolors for sale, and grab them quickly when you find new colors. I really like them. They rewet easily, have little (to no?) color shift… and they smell nice!
Sunday at the park 1/27/19
EEM watercolor again:
Saturday 1/26/19 Omar’s Carriage House
I had to finish up some loose ends with work today, and henna’d my hair (so now I’m bright orange. 🙂 Then we took my youngest son out to a really nice restaurant, Omar’s Carriage House, for his birthday. (I don’t know when they grew up, but I miss them all.)
I painted the candle my older son gave me for Christmas, because two of my EEM samples were the perfect colors, Alt-Rosa and Pikadina. Beautiful colors!
Today’s Tools:
EEM watercolor paint (Eventually, Everything Mixes), Moleskine watercolor journal (it’s well constructed, but there are other brands whose paper I prefer), W&N watercolor brush, Uniball Deluxe Micro tip pen, .5mm, (the only pen I really use for drawing in my journals, if I’m going to paint over it), Pilot colato pencil, 3mm, (and the 5mm lead and eraser linked here, pen body here, … I adore this item!! The ink is not waterproof but I still love everything (else) about it. I’ve linked it here, and I get a few cents from Amazon when people purchase anything through this link… but before you check prices through the link at Amazon , check http://www.jetpens.com. Some items were more expensive there, but some were less. The full set of 15 color refills is less at Amazon, but individual pieces were less at Jetpens.)
Thursday 1/24/19 EEM watercolor paints
Mail today!!
If you’ve been thinking about testing some handmade watercolors, check EEM’s site (Eventually, Everything Mixes) They are really nice paints, rewet easily, vivid colors, and she wraps them so prettily, and fills them generously. She sells out quickly, but keep watching and grab them when she has them. Her burnt sienna (still available, I think, at this writing, in a full pan!) is one of my favorites. A bunch of others, too, but I won’t tempt you by talking about them, since they aren’t available right now. The raw sienna monte amiata that I painted in the pan is lovely, and still available, I think, and maybe the yellow, blue, and green in the top left corner… the blue has actual sterling silver added for sparkle! She always tries something unusual. 🙂 Whatever she has available… try them!!!
Wed 1/23/19 the awesome Pilot Coleto
YES!!! I love this thing. If only the ink was waterproof, it would be PERFECT. Even the pen holding 5 refills is not uncomfortably wide.
You can choose several different pen bodies, which each hold 2-5 refills. Refill options include 3mm or 5mm mechanical pencils, an eraser, and 3-5mm gel pens in many colors. A PEN, PENCIL, AND ERASER ALL IN ONE BODY!!! WOW. HERE is the link for a pink pen body (there are other body choices) and ten color refills on Amazon, or you can purchase a set of 15 color refills, linked here.
I purchased the specific refills and pen body I wanted individually through jetpens.com. That way I could begin with just a few colors, and the pencil and eraser refills. Of course now I want all the colors!! 🙂 But I don’t NEED all the colors. (If you ARE buying all the colors, try Amazon first, as that 15-set is currently only $12, and is $18 at jetpens. 🙂
Monday, 1/21/19: Blue Fairy
Costume time! Pinocchio Day at school, Ellis would like to dress as the Blue Fairy. This was a good deal, I think it would have cost more in supplies to try to make something ourselves. But… we’ll know in a week, when it arrives, if it is anything like its photo!
Saturday 1/19: altered matchbox, and January’s Storytime
My first altered matchbox…and Storytime at work!
Saturday morning I led a storytime, reading three adorable books by Peter H Reynolds, (sold in a set called a Creatrilogy!), all about kids, art, and how much fun ANYONE can have with art… We had 15 or so kids attend, I think, or all ages, less than 1 year to about 12 years old…a good turnout. (And they are not just kids who happen to be there, now, but kids actually coming in for Storytime!) The kids really seemed to enjoy the books (I know I did). Then we did a sticker craft, using dot stickers, because one of the books is all about a little girl who paints only dots. But the best part (even better than the cookies we had) was painting. The second book was about using colors, the third about how things don’t have to look exactly perfect in our pictures. We had ordered 24 Crayola* paint sets (sold here, on Amazon), and some nice quality 100% cotton watercolor sheets (sold here on Amazon) I had worried about it being too messy, but even the younger kids were very focused and there were no problems. They made some really nice paintings. (*If you need sets of watercolor paints for a group, these crayola paints are a very good price, about $1.50 a set, but know that the brushes, while much better than the hard plastic ones from my childhood, shed something fierce. The kids didn’t care)
(Okay the older one in red is actually one of our team members, helping out 🙂
Once home, I worked on a swap I have to send out this coming week, for swap-bot.
(Swap-bot has been a great motivation for me over the 10 past years or so, inspiring me to try quite a few artistic or creative things I would not have attempted on my own, or even thought of on my own. In fact I don’t think I’d be painting or drawing at all without it, and I have met some awesome ladies there)
Anyway, I’d been putting off this altered matchbox, because I haven’t made one before. (I signed up specifically because I haven’t done one. Then kind of regretted it!) Naturally, once I began, it wasn’t difficult at all, and I enjoyed myself, and although it isn’t great, it’s fine, I think. The theme was chosen for me, Stevie Nicks’ song “Crystal”… I’m embarrassed to admit I wasn’t really familiar with the song or even really with Stevie Nicks, (another reason I procrastinated), but it was fun learning about both.
I added a few tiny shells and sea glass inside because of the line “drove me like a magnet to the sea”, the only line that really spoke to me. (I collect seagrass bits AND shells, especially heart shaped shells, so I had plenty to choose from!)
Then did my journal page. To be honest I had decided the matchbox was enough “art” for the day, then just before bed thought Wait, why am I not journaling it? So:
Now. Off to start my Sunday!
HAPPY FRIDAY! 1/18/19
Hey? Where’d the rest of the week go??
Daniel Smith Bloodstone, Uniball Deluxe Pen, Moleskine watercolor journal…
I like the journal, it is well made. But I like the paper in my other journals better. Pretty much ALL of them, really.
Thursday 1/17… a new paint trio… MIND BLOWN!!!
Still just writing the weekday name…. I’m so uninspired after I work!
I found this trio suggestion while watching a video on Meow Meow Kapow’s Youtube channel… it was suggested by Kathryn T. These three colors are actually (until now) three of my least favorite tubes!!
Daniel Smith Phthalo Green (blue shade… PG7), Daniel Smith’s Quinacridone Lilac (PR 122), and QoR’s Green Gold (PY 129) … actually DS Rich Green Gold is the suggested color, but also PY 129, and QoR is what I have.
So… here’s the thing… if you mix this GREEN, with this PINK… YOU GET BLUE. Blue, people. BLUE????!! Blue. I felt like god… not in a sacrilegious way, I know I didn’t create blue OUT OF NOTHING, and He did… but I made BLUE out of two other colors!!!! My mind is totally blown. Didn’t our elementary school teachers always tell us yellow and blue make green… red and blue make purple… AND YOU CAN’T MAKE BLUE BECAUSE IT IS PRIMARY!!!!?? Well, this isn’t actually a primary blue. It is a deep dark inky blue. But is clearly and definitely BLUE. Add more lilac and it is a drop-dead-gorgeous purple. It will never be a pale soft blue.
Still, my five year old inner self is completely astonished. I can’t decide if I am totally amazing because, even though I didn’t figure it out, I STILL MADE BLUE!! Or if I’m a complete idiot because I’m 53 years old and didn’t know this already. (and… I’ve had these paints for like a year…)
All those colors inside the Thursday letters came from those three colors. I’m so impressed with myself.
Thanks, Meow Meow Kapow, and Kathryn T, for making my day!!
ThreeSixFiveArt 