Watercolor HB Card

This is a card for an aunt who is celebrating a birthday this week.

I trimmed the watercolor panel to align with the left and right hand side of the SU Marina Mist card base. Placed the ripped edge at the bottom and the clean edge along the top.

I added an SU Old Olive grosgrain ribbon wrapped around the card front and knotted it.

Watercolor Card - Congrats on Grad

This card is for my grand neice who graduated from high school.

The ceremony was June 8th which 4 days after I took possession of this place that needed so much work that I could not get away.

We are celebrating this weekend as they are in town.

The card is SU Elegant Eggplant.  The seam binding is SU Marina Mist.  I layered the 3 pieces of watercolor over and below the ribbon which was wrapped around and knotted to the front of the card.  Added a SU Word window greeting.

They are headed to college soon.

Thank You Cards - Finally Set 2

The card base is SU Taken with Teal in the A2 size in portrait orientation.

Trimmed the rough edges off this piece and ripped the bottom edge.

I saw flowers in the salt marks in this piece so I took my fine black marker and drew them in.

Added stems and leaves reaching to the bottom of the paper with additional grassy strokes.

It pays to save bits of ephemera.  The green yarn came in really handy.

The A2 card base is SU Pumpkin Pie with a watecolor panel marked with saran wrap on wet color and left to dry.

I punched 4 holes with the 1/8 inch punch. Two on the right and 2 on the left.  I taped the end of the green yarn found in the stash and was able string it through the holes and knot both ends.

I added a SU Artisan Label punchie colored with pencils and held on the yarn with a orange clip.

With the yarn still on my table I used in this card.

I trimmed the waterolor to crisp straight edges.

I layed a strip of double sided tape to the back of the watercolor piece.  Layed my pieces of green yarn then added another piece of ds tape and adhered it to the SU Dusty Durango card base.

Once adhered, I picked apart the strands of the yarn to create this wavy row of goodness.

I added an 2 inch oval punchie greeting below the yarn frill.

The A2 card base is SU Island Indigo.

I added a piece of SU ribbon in So Saffron and flagged the bottom end.  Trimmed the top edge to the top of the card.

I mounted the piece of rough edge watercolor panel over the ribbon aligned along the top.

Each card has a white quarter sheet insert with a white envelope.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It's been snowing and this day the snow was gently falling as I walked around my neighbourhood.

I found this crow in a tree just chilling.

I love how I captured the falling snow and it's large beak.  Unfortunately, the eye is not as sharp as I would have liked.

Nice dreamy shot.

These are the improvements I made to my Tumi Bag while I was at my sisters last week.

The bag is quite floppy and needed some structure.

It has enough pockets for the essentials that I carry.  

In my last purse I had a collection of things like my lip balm, my allergy eye drops, cough drops, and other things that just fell to the bottom of the center pocket.

With wanting to add structure to the bag we headed to the dollar store to see what we could find for organizers. We found these pencil cases. We built a case for them from mat board and duck tape. We added jump rings to the top so I can pull the pocket out easily. 

Now the contents are organized and the bag a solid core.

A sister and her husband came to visit this week.  They are the one who helped with carpet removal in the summer.  They wanted to see the new floor and have a visit.  Their kids were coming back from a ski trip.

I served roast chicken from the grocery store, salad, and fruit and muffins for dessert.

It's been great to have company.

I was gifted these beautiful Jianzhan tea tasting cups from China.  My nephew brought them back for me after I admired one he gave his Mom and Dad at Christmas.

Tea is my thing. Blue and yellow are my colors.  I look forward to using them when I settle in my new place as for now they are packed safely in a box for moving.

A watercolor card I made for my nephew and his wife who gave me the beautiful tea cups.

I chose watercolor paper and painted an abstract with bright yellow at the top running into ultramarine blue at the bottom.  

Once dry and pressed flat I trimmed the piece to leave a medium border and adhered it to the front of a SU Brilliant Blue card base.

I stamped the greeting with dark blue ink.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn one of my favorite authors.

Another WWII story about a woman, Mila Pavlichenko, who transforms herself from a bookish Mom of one to a sharp shooter. Based on a true story of a mother who became a soldier, found her place in the world and changed history.

When she reaches her 300th kill she is pulled from the Eastern front and is invited to the United States on a goodwill tour. She is hosted by Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. 

Danger lurks in every corner both on the battlefield and away from the fight. 

Another wonderful book.

Watercolor Art

After getting my last few watercolor pencils I gave them a whirl.

I created an abstract with foliage and other elements.

It was good to be drawing again after the long haul of Inktober 2024.

I will have to translate some of these into cards when life get back to normal and I have access to card making supplies again.

Maybe I should be trying some Christmas images.  I think I will!

Inktober 22 Abstract Leaves

Inktober 2024 Challenge

22 Abstract Leaves

I penciled my sketch then traced it with a Micron permanent black marker.

I create several shades and tones of green watercolor on my palette.

Placed the background light patches.

Painted the leaves with my greens.

Spattered the final piece with some light and dark watercolor. 

Art Show - AAC - Photography Show

I managed to get 2 pieces ready for the Allied Arts Council - Photography Show this year.

Delivered these on Saturday and they are in the gallery.

This photo was taken for one of my regular photo challenges on line at Flickr.  I love the bright colors and the abstract presentation. It challenges the brain to work out what it is.  I had several folks ask about it.

Title: Bright Edges

Size: 11.00 x 13.00 inches

Medium: Photography

Print: 08 x 10 inches

Mat: 11x13 Black mat

Frame: 11x13 Metal Champagne Satin Finish

This is the same photograph that I had prepared for the Value of Color Show in December which I glued to cradle board which had a blemish and it ruined the photo.  I has to paint over it.

I decided to print it again and frame it.

Title: The Maw

Size: 16.75 x 13.75 inches

Medium: Photography

Print: 08 x 10 inches

Mat: 11x14  White double mat with black edges

Frame: 14x16 Wood Black Low Profile 

I have named this because the plant is called Mother of Thousands and it looks like a monsters mouth.

Art Show - Senior Show - Watercolors

A bit of a different theme to my pieces for the Senior Show this year.  I usually submit photography but with a very short time line I decided to do some abstract watercolors.  

I taped down several pieces of 140lb watercolor paper to plastic boards and just applied color from my small watercolor palette.  I wanted quite a few so I could choose the best when it came to framing.

These dried over night and were completely flat when they were released from their tape the next day.

Title: Early Morning Light

Size: 11.00 x 14.00 inches

Medium: Watercolor

Mat: 11x14 Cream Double with 2 openings

Frame: 11x14 Metal Silver Brushed

The pieces were cut from one large piece to ensure that the lines in the pieces continued to flow across to the other opening.  Makes me think of sun over water.  I like that the right one is more blue than the left one.

 Title: Incoming Storm

Size: 8.25 x 10.25 inches

Medium: Watercolor

Mat: 8x10 White Archival Mat with smaller opening

Frame: 8x10 Metal Medium Grey wider profile

This piece with the very dark blue on top made me think of dark storm clouds.  The lines down on the left make me think of falling rain.  The red ground could be PEI or Arizona.

Title: Plum Hues

Size: 13.00 x 11.00 inches

Medium: Watercolor

Mat: 13x11 White Archival Single with 8x10 opening

Frame: Metal 13x11 Rose Gold / Copper 

This one is quite abstract.  It could be flowers and leaves.  The plum color matched the frame very well.  I like the way the colors mingled and created some darker hues in areas.

These have been submitted to the Senior Art Show being hosted by the Allied Arts Council at the Spruce Grove Gallery.  The reception will be held Saturday June 8th at 1pm.  If you can join us that would be wonderful.  There are over 60 entries in this show there is bound to be pieces for everyone.  

Come and enjoy the art and meet some of our artists.

Photo Cards - Abstract

I created these 2 cards with a print I produced for a art show earlier this year which just did not work.

It was a 4x10 photo print of ice broken in a puddle in the spring.

I decided to trim it to a size I could place on cards.  I then layered it with a piece of Lovely Lilac card stock.

Then this was adhered to a black A2 card base.

A white quarter sheet insert and white envelope finished the card.

It is pressing under books overnight.

This is the other half of the print.

I used the same light purple card stock layer.

I mounted this one on a Basic Grey A2 card base.

A white quarter sheet insert and white envelope finished the card.

Glad to have another 2 cards into the card box.

Art Show - AAC - Juried Member Show 2024

I dropped off these 2 pieces at the Art Gallery on Saturday morning to have them accepted or rejected for our Allied Arts Council - Juried Member Show.

Title: Tar Brush Strokes

Size: 13.00 x 17.00 inches

Medium: Photography

Print: 09 x 13 inches

Mat: 13x17 Dark grey with white second mat

Frame: 13x17 Metal Dark Grey 

This print is a triptych of 3 sections of tar brush strokes made by a tradesman at the end of the job of coating a cement parkade.  I expect the brush was 12-18 inches wide and the brush strokes covered an area of 8 x 12 feet or so. 

I chose the most dynamic sections.  I framed them with black lines and inserted it into an opening in a double mat of white and dark grey.  

                                     ________________________________________

Title: Patchwork Fields

Size: 11.00 x 14.00 inches

Medium: Mixed Media - Watercolor and Pen and Ink

Art Size: 04 x 10 inches mixed media paper

Mat: 11x14 white with a wide narrow opening

Frame: 11x14 Black Metal Frame with non glare glass

I was inspired by aerial shots of dry stone walled fields in the United Kingdom. Featuring a river running through them with a long red roofed farm building.

UPDATE: Sold on May 28 2024

                                          ____________________________________

I returned at 3:00 pm to find that both pieces had been accepted into the show.  Looking forward to the reception.

Art Project - Inktober 2023

#9

I decided to participate in the Inktober 2023 challenge.  They published a daily prompt list which I did not have time to follow.

I have been inclined to try this medium for a while and when the I was made aware that there was a Flickr Group I could join, I did.

I have some permanent fine tip markers. I used 90lb watercolor paper for my first few pieces because that is what I had on hand.  I pulled out what supplies I had and got started. 

#1

I used a Ultra Fine Point Sharpie marker for this piece on the light weight watercolor paper.

I was always inclined to want to paint afterwards which why I used watercolor paper.

I laid out my wavy river lines then marked up the vertical and horizontal lines on either side.

I added dimension with the color.

I knew I had tools I had used in the 1980s for calligraphy so I pulled those out. Turns out I had Speedball holders and quite a few calligraphy nibs most of which had a reservoir. I had picked up a small metal box of dip nibs recently so I pulled those out and cleaned them.   There were a couple of straight dip nibs so I put one in a holder and tried it out.  I did have several bottles of Daley Rowney FW Acrylic Inks in my stash as well.

#2

This is my next piece which was a straight steel dip pen nib and DR FW Purple Lake acrylic ink.

I was able to achieve quite fine lines, tiny dots and marks. Filling in the darker spaces was a bit challenging and the paper was not smooth enough.

The watercolor paper tended to lose bits of paper fiber that would get stuck in the nib.

Composition quickly becomes a challenge and I was just making marks at this point.  I had check out a few videos on line.

#3

This one used blue acrylic ink. 

I used smooth 110lb white card stock I use for card making for this piece.  That worked better with next to no issues with the paper surface.

Still using the Macleans Best Ever No.2 steel dip nib and a black dip pen holder. 

It was not a very good composition.    I chose just a small corner that I thought worked out pretty well.

#4

The pen and nib were getting more comfortable and I dug more colors to play with.

This is a dark green in the same brand as before and the red is a calligraphy ink.

The grasses I managed to make some very thin and other a bit thicker.

The composition when drawing something actual instead of abstract worked out better.

#5

Here the drawing was a bit challenging.  I did make a light pencil to start with which I erased once the piece was dry.

More new colors was kind of fun.  

I was wanting to fill a shape with patterns - not realistic but artsy.

Other than the wing I am happy with this one.

After doing some checking on line for direction on a good nib for a dip pen I decided to visit my local art supply store - Delta Art and Drafting Supplies.  

The Zebra G nib was recommended on line so I purchased one of those at under $3. I was looking for a black ink which I could then watercolor on top. 

The Daler Rowney FW Acrylic ink was recommended on sale about $7. I had to leave it dry completely before watercoloring over it.

Now, I wanted a paper I could use.  After considering that I am a beginner and a $70 pad of paper was out of the question I settled on a Canson pad for fluid mixed media.  The pad was also on sale for just about $9.  I went home with supplies for about twenty dollars which I hoped would help advance my art pursuits.

I also found on line a video that recommended a container of alcohol to clean your nib as you were drawing. I chose an old film container as it seals tight.  I use put in enough to the depth of my nib.

I selected one of the dip pen holders I had in my stash.  I have no idea when I acquired this vintage Eagle Pencil Company - made in Canada holder.  It has been well used but still in good shape. 

That is the Zebra G Nib installed ready to go.

#6

Here's my first piece with the new tools and supplies.  The paper is very nice.  

I divided the page into 4 pieces with score lines which would make a manageable amount of space to fill.

I looked at several owl line drawings on line and composed one of my own using aspects of the ones I had found.

I am happy with this drawing.

And here it is watercolored.

I painted a light wash over the whole piece then added color to the owl.

I love the yellow eyes and dark wings.  Of course, the color is just out of my head.

I mixed all my colors mostly and used some black gouache to darken some of my colors.

#7

Here's my next composition.  I drew a meadow with a tree, flowers and a little mushroom.  The original was rectangular but with more flowers on the right hand side so I just cropped it to square.  I had to lose a bit of the tree to keep the mushroom which of course was necessary.

It was then painted. Again an overall light wash so I don't have a white background. Blue to the top and green to the bottom.

#8

Here's just an abstract where I drew lines then filled in the spaces with pattern.

I found this one quite dark as all the patterns are quite heavy.

It has been fun to work on these projects, learn something new, be inspired to draw and get the right tools and supplies to have some success at it.

I will make more projects and look forward to Inktober in 2024.

You will find number 9 at the top of the post. This is a smaller version of the owl for the Macro Monday challenge I do every week.  The theme was spooky but the limitations are that the piece photographed can only be 3 inches.  I scaled down my first one which was about 4 inches tall down to 3 inches.  I did not capture the ink drawing before I painted it.  I was on a deadline and missed a step.  That is how it goes.  Then photographed the painting with dramatic light and I think it did Spooky really well.

2022 Photo Calendar - Black and White Abstract

I have been working on 2022 Calendars.  I have created a Black and White Abstract one this year.

It features various shots I took this year converted to black and white.  I wanted images that were graphic and not necessarily readily recognized.

You can just slip this one into your holder from last year.  It has a good sized calendar with the holidays bolded.  By slipping the current month up you can see the upcoming month as well. 

I am happy with the way this one turned out.

Are you a planner?  

Do you want to see a date in the upcoming month?

Is your calendar stored in the black metal holder?

This calendar can deliver.   Just slide the current month up about a third of the way up to reveal the next month dates.

This idea came from one of my calendar users who has had one of these on his desk for nearly a decade.

Thanks for the tip!

Allied Arts Council - 2021 On Line Seniors Show

Our Seniors Show is going ahead on-line as we are still under COVID restrictions.

These are the 3 pieces I submitted for this show.

Title: Distant Hills
Size: 8.00 x 8.00 inches
Signed Photography Print
Mats: n/a
Frame: n/a
Print: 8x8 inches

 

This was created using the technique of in-camera motion.  I took some of my background fabrics and hung them in my small studio.  Set up my lights to capture the reflective surfaces and them moved the camera by hand.  It means taking a lot of shots, hoping a few will be good ones.  

 

 

 

They all received some level of post processing to bring out the texture and pattern in the photograph.

 

Title: Darkness to Light
Size: 11.00 x 14.00 inches
Signed Photography Print
Mats: n/a
Frame: n/a
Print: 11x14 inches

 

This is another in-camera motion image with a filter applied to increase the contrast in the image.

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Leaves
Size: 8.00 x 8.00 inches
Signed Photography Print
Mats: n/a
Frame: n/a
Print: 08x08 inches 

I set out to capture an abstract image from Hosta leaves on my morning walk.  There were several plants and I tool a lot of shots.

This one worked quite well.

The awards and reception will be announced on Friday, May 28th, so I will update this post should I be win an award.

I am happy with getting an Honorable Mention in this art show!

It's always nice to know that my art has connected with the viewers.

You can check out the full show here!

Allied Arts Council - Tantalizing Textures Show

This show was moved to on-line at the last minute because of the placement of further COVID 19 restrictions.

Title: Bright Sunflower
Size: 8.00 x 8.00 inches
Signed Photography Print
Mats: n/a
Frame: n/a
Print: 8x8 inches

This is a very abstract photo which started life as an image of a dried sunflower I took at the community garden.  I applied a solarize filter which gave it these wonderful colors. 

 

Title: Outskirts
Size: 8.00 x 12.00 inches
Signed Photography Print
Mats: n/a
Frame: n/a
Print: 8x12 inches

Another abstract image which started as a frozen puddle in the parking lot.  After processing I saw a town with the roads leading out from it in several directions.

 

 

Title: A River Runs Through
Size: 8.00 x 10.00 inches
Signed Photography Print
Mats: n/a
Frame: n/a
Print: 8x10 inches

This was condensation on glass i found on an early August morning.  I did add definition to the lines.  In my eyes it became a river.

Allied Arts Council - Juried Member Show

It's that time again!  Our Juried Member Show is being hosted on-line and we hope to have the gallery open to patrons as well.  We will see.  It was reviewed on Wednesday and winners selected.

These are the pieces I have prepared and submitted for this show.  The Zoom reception is tonight where we will learn which pieces have placed.

 

 

Title: Streaming
Size: 14.00 x 14.00 inches
Mats: Double archival mats in white
Frame: Black wood
Print: 8x8 inches

This is a black and white abstract.  It has beautiful texture and layers in the image.  It was converted to B&W and had some textured filter applied in post production.

I chose the title Streaming because it applies be it water, traffic, on-line, conversations and much more.

What do you see?

 

Title: Fabulous Fungi
Size: 12.00 x 16.00 inches
Mats: Single archival white mat
Frame: Black wood
Print: 8x10 inches 

These are Ink Cap Mushrooms which I found in the park. 

I loved how the morning sun was highlighting their gills and black edges. 

Of course, our wonderful summer blue sky is showing through in places.

Taken at a very low angle.

Title: Follow Your Heart
Size: 16.00 x 16.00 inches
Mats: Double archival with grey and white mats
Frame: Black wood
Print: 16x16 inches 

I just love this heart stone.  I placed several stones in front getting bigger as they reach the heart.

It has a great bokeh background which makes the heart the focal point.

So many of us this year have and to re-evaluate our priorities and pare down our expectations.

I encourage you to follow your heart so the important wins out.

 

I will update the post should any of these be selected for prizes.