The Painted Pen

  Watercolor Mother’s Day Card Tutorial Today, I’ll share a watercolor Mother’s Day card tutorial with you. With Mother’s Day, memories of the sweet influence of so many wonderful women crowd my mind, some are mothers, some are not, some are here and some have passed on.   For those who are here, a card seems appropriate to remind them of my care. For those who have passed on, I’ll take some quiet moments to remember the joy they brought to my life. Among the millions of store bought cards, I rarely find one that I want. The quote doesn’t fit or the look isn’t my style. So I dreamed…

  This project is part of a study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each week will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles with each.   Hand Lettered A and Watercolor Azalea Has A come and gone already? That time-disappearing speed must mean I’m having fun. I hope you are too. And already I see there will be some letter styles I continue until the end of the alphabet and some that I drop off after a few letters. Feel free to do the same as you study your letters and objects.…

Mix a Color Wheel May snuck up on me. I wanted to keep studying style, even repeating the exercises over and over with new objects and letters. So, I will with a continued style study. You can find the introduction here. Sometimes I feel constrained by time. It places boundaries on me that I don’t always like. In saying that, give me a time? I tend to be early. Sometimes too early. But there are times when time just feels like it wants to tie me down. I can feel that way when I’m working on projects here. Because I frame ideas and projects by the length of the month.…

This project is part of a study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each week will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles with each.  For the Love of Styles Last month, I had so much fun thinking of different styles to paint that I didn’t want it to end. So, as a challenge to myself and because I have the interest, I decided to continue processing in the study format. I plan to continue looking at a single something (object, animal, flower, scene, word, etc) and look at it through several different,…

  Analyzing Style Earlier in the week, I posted my promised verbal style project, Your Style in Letters. If you didn’t see it, you can check it out here. The visual style project using Trillium is here. I will refer them below. Now that you’ve spent a little time looking at, thinking about, and playing with style, take a little time to think through what you learned about yourself and your art. Jot it down so you can refer back to it later to see how you change and grow … and to see how it affects your art. Pieces of Learning I’ll share a little about what I am…

Six Barriers to Finding Your Style, Your Voice, Yourself When I sat down to think about style and how it affects my life, I couldn’t stop thinking about the barriers that have influenced my search. For many years, these obstacles kept me from pursuing things I enjoyed, but now I realize that only I lose out on life when I don’t do what I enjoy. And really … that enjoyment flows over into the lives of those around me too. When I’m content, they can tell. I’m much more pleasant company. Here are several of the barriers I’ve encountered. Maybe some of them will resonate with you and help you…

Trillium Style Study You can follow along with my project exactly, if you want to, but I encourage you to step into your own exploration. If you mimic my project, you will still learn techniques and looks to add to your exploration, but you will stimulate your own creativity less along the way. Because exploration is a process, neither method is right or wrong, just learn from what you do. And Make It Yours when the time is right. 1. Gather pieces of your style, make a collage if you like. The pieces can be pictures, colors, works from your favorite artists, stories, movies, and anything else that you feel…

  Developing Your Style This month, I’m investing in exploring and developing style. Writers call it voice. It’s the part of what you create that identifies it as your work. Take handwriting for an example. We all write differently, and when people we know see our handwriting, they know it’s ours before they read who signed the letter. Developing your style can feel daunting. Defining style and voice in creative works seems impossible at times. Writers, artists, and designers all wrestle with the concept in their work. It’s easy to identify style in someone else, but how do you find it in your own work? Do you need to have…