AlteredWhimsey

2011-10-01T08:10:00.003-05:00

Finally I got to play with paint and wet stuff this weekend. I did manage to get this little flamingo done from a photo I took at the Fort Worth Zoo last year. I figured he would be quite a simple fun bird to work out but he was really difficult and I spent almost 2 hours on him! In the mean time I have been finishing up some quilting as seen in the Goldfish Slice of Life tapestry quilt and the Sea Slice of Life. Both over and sister website windyglenquilting.blogspot.com

I cleaned off my table yesterday and now there should be some space for my water, brushes and inks! Lots of ideas to try out as the weekend is now here.

The Illustrated Dog, did you say Tatoo?

2011-08-16T16:49:00.000-05:00

My Torn Edge Watercolor Papers I hand make are really adding some interest to these little fanciful dogs. I actually paint over the background with more watercolors creating more and more layers till I achieve the look I am after. At that time I let them dry and add some india ink and white gel pen for fun and effect. I don't paint a whole sheet of watercolor paper and then tear it into 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch sizes, but I tear first and then paint each one individual. You can find sets for sale at Timeless Dog Studio at etsy.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/timelessdog

Giraffe

2011-08-14T08:28:00.000-05:00

I got to visit Global Wildlife last year in
Louisiana which is like a safari. We
were fortunate to get a private tour and
I fell in love with the giraffe. I have lots
of photos of them but unfortunately
I had the wrong camera lens and
needed something with shorter
distance, so many of my shots are
not that great. I keep going through my
photos and trying to paint and play
with ideas I have seen with the
animals. This little one is from a
reference picture.

I am still plugging away with my
journals but not writing in them
since I feel I need to finish the art
on the pages before adding words. I do not think most people go that way
with journals. I just love these little ATC cards and might see if I can find some photo
corners and use them in a journal and write about the experience and the
photo. I can not part with many of my cards for some reason, I guess
its because I am just beginning my watercolor adventure. Enjoy!

ATC Whimsey Trading Cards

2011-08-12T12:41:00.000-05:00

Thought I would show off some
of the very very cool watercolor
torn edges papers I make with
some of my whimsical art.
Dragonflies & Leafy Seadragons

Green Goddess Lily

2011-07-23T09:26:00.000-05:00

This was so difficult and it looks like it would be easy with all the big shapes to work with. Billy Showell http://www.billyshowell.co.uk/
has a wonderful way to teach watercolor. Working in just small sections with plain water and layers of wet paint you build and take away for highlights and shadows. So many layers! Finally toward the end you add more deeper colors and smaller detail. The Cat I did in my last post was a very loose technique and this was more confined. One of the books I have is called Vegetable Portraits and I think I might practice on a bunch of grapes or things with veins so I can get a better feel for how the paint moves. I suppose If I were using hot pressed paper vs cold pressed paper I might get better results ! What the heck is Hot pressed! I feel like I am hot pressed in this miserable heat wave .

Cat Portrait a first!

2011-07-20T15:38:00.000-05:00

I think the heat and summer daze of cooped up have taken a tole on my whimsey. It appears I am leaning right now to learning watercolor. It is after all my favorite medium! On www.WetCanvas.com there are great tutorials and one was for this cat portrait. It shows the 4 colors and shades used to create the cat. I do not have these colors so got out my sheet of samples to try and match as close as I could to make the right shades, and drew out my sketch in light pencil. The first thing was to make the eye! I should make a whole page of just eyes, they are pretty much fun but scary!

Next I wet areas of the paper with plain water and then dropped in some color and let it blend and mix. Just the ears first and nose area, where shaded parts and pinks were found. I did mask out some whiskers.

Here I have almost finished the cat. I added more shades and more washes and glazes letting it dry between each layer and finally added a light background and some blue shading to the cat.

This cat is on a paper that is 6 inches by 10 and is now dried and finished. Its my first animal I have ever done. Things I would do next time, lighter pencil outline, try not to hurry and take more care with the flow of water and color. I am happy with it though and proud to show it off as my very first real watercolor!

Incognito on the Torn Edges Background Paper

2011-07-04T05:28:00.000-05:00

This little guy is from a photo I took at the Dallas Zoo some years ago and I have done him in watercolors over the Torn Edges Background Papers I have made. He blends in his environment so well. I just love how these background papers work with the watercolor and acrylic. Enjoy! To see more of the Torn Papers check down a couple later posts.

Torn Edges Watercolor Background Papers

2011-07-02T09:08:00.000-05:00

I am really excited to talk about a my watercolor backgrounds which I am doing in advance of drawing and painting. I began to play around with the idea of layers again and fussing with backgrounds and decided to just paint my whole ATC card ahead of time, let it dry and then paint my art over it. You can erase the pencil off the water color paper too so its just incredible to work with paper that has so many colors and textures to enhance your art. Anyway here is my little Winter Mouse painted in watercolor over the watercolor background. I did add a bit of acrylic berries on the twigs and finished with pen.

Now here is what has come of this little experiment. Torn Edges Watercolor Backgrounds. One of a kind ATC's hand painted my myself which will come in sets of 8 different backgrounds in their own ATC protective sleeves. You can find them at my etsy shop soon. http://www.etsy.com/shop/timelessdog $6 for a set of 8 on lovely watercolor paper with torn edges all the way around. Its almost hard to paint on them they are so pretty. The little ATC below called Hunting was also done on a pre painted watercolor background. I hope you get a chance to try these out with your art which works beautiful with all zen thangles, acrylic, watercolor and mixed media, college.

What a Deal!

2011-06-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

What Art Supplies entered my house last week! These two little books from a dollar store were just a dollar each but the inside pages are plain and sturdy! The square one is 5 inches square and both have right at 25 pages to work with. The fronts are OK for now until I add something else to my liking and insert a little image in the square area.

The problem was still putting something inside them that I liked to journal on. Most stuff I like is requires to much water and wetness for these pages to hold up and then I create a mess. I just can't buy those expensive books to practice on. THEN I discovered "Glue Books". I know it sounds pretty

odd, but while the look really appeals to me I thought if I could just later this a bit and create some writing area rather than just lovely collages of gorgeous old art and words arranged and glued on paper, I might have something! I am so darn pleased that I gave it a whirl! I used both pages to make a spread so I can enjoy one theme across both pages and the places with type and things that seem to much for my taste I just do a light wash of gesso to blend it. Now I have done a few pages, they dried fast and I can actually write something on them...that is of course the hold up. Maybe I am scared once I begin writing I can't quit and will need many many more journals!

Art Doll Goddess Fairy's

2011-06-22T16:51:00.000-05:00

Its been a couple years since I made these wonderful little fairy goddess's and with an abundance of quilting stash I thought it would be fitting to honor some of the very cool fabrics of past projects in some great whimsey. They speak to my inner child and while these are very small photos to view you can see nice large ones over at the Timeless Dog Studio with descriptions of them, the beads and construction.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/timelessdog

My husband is quite sure I have lost a marble or two! Enjoy!

OK, I am adding more Mushrooms

2011-06-15T12:09:00.000-05:00

Mediums I used for these and previous Mushrooms are water color, water color pencils, water soluble crayons, markers, gel pens, acrylics, oil pastels and prisma pencils. Enjoy! Posting these ATC's for trade over at atcsforall.com Hummm, on preview the 2nd mushroom card is not showing up the right size..but belive me its 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches!