Watercolor and Ink
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Rose Drawing with a Watercolor Background
This week, we celebrate that special someone in our lives with hearts and chocolate and flowers. Some people love Valentine’s Day, and some people love to hate Valentine’s Day. Personally, I’ll take any day that involves a fun time with my family, good food and makes someone feel special. We celebrate our family on Valentine’s Day. I like things pretty simple and usually say that flowers are nicer outside and growing rather than in a vase wilting (unless they’re free from my garden, of course). I’m probably more of a special heart-felt (but completely true) message kind-of girl. Though a good salted caramel dipped in dark chocolate never hurt anybody!…
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How to Draw a Winterberry Card with Thank You Script
A hand painted winter card with thank you script will make your card memorable. The Christmas season is long gone, but some of you are still writing thank you notes for the gifts you received or to the people who impact your life. Holidays help us remember to stop and think, to take time to say how we appreciate other people ... family, friends, co-workers, clients. It’s the middle of winter here. Hardened snow crusts over the ground. Trees stand tall and bare. Grass waits under the snow in muted colors. Everything is on hold, resting. And yet, it’s in this sleeping time that winterberries show off the most. Their…
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Watercolor Supplies for Beginners
You have an interest in learning to paint with watercolors, but when you look at the art stores online or in person, you find yourself getting lost in the sheer volume of options. What do you need to begin? You don’t want the watercolor set in the kids craft area, but the professional sets feel like a huge commitment. And why are there so many different brands? How different can they possibly be? Today, I’ll give you a list of basic watercolor supplies to set you up as you begin experimenting, and I’ll try to separate the needs from the wants. You can start dabbling with watercolor and have good…
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Thanksgiving Drawings for Name Cards
With Thanksgiving fast approaching (gasp … next week!), I know that some of you are getting ready for time with family and friends. Decorations, recipes, and little ways to make gatherings special are dancing through your heads. Today I have a tutorial to help those ideas turn into action. We’ll take some Thanksgiving drawings and add watercolor to make name cards for your food celebrations.
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Acorn Drawing
Today is a good day for an acorn drawing ... with a smattering of watercolor, of course! Fall is a bittersweet time of year. The growing season, the warm season slowly ends. And although I'm almost ready to hibernate by then, it still means the long, dark winter looms. We say goodbye to the color and warmth and hello to the cold, bland, endless months. Both seasons have their good points. Fall has its colors and smells like honey. It tastes like apple pie and pumpkin lattes. Winter has its cozy sweaters, warm fires, and promise of spring. I must say, though, I am particularly fond of fall. So, while…
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Maple Leaf Drawing
This time of year inspires me to draw leaves, maple leaf drawings, oak leaves, birch, poplar, sumac. Their shapes and colors enthrall me, and I find myself stopping to pick them up (or jump on the really crunchy ones) on my runs and as I walk to the mailbox. One of my favorite trees is a maple tree in town. Its colors range from red (almost pink actually) through orange, yellow and green … all at the same time. Sometimes on the same leaf. Amazing. As I world around me is painted, I’m inspired to paint and draw as well. So I came up with a quick and easy maple…
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Pumpkin Drawing with a Flourish
Fall reminds me of pumpkins and pumpkin drawing. It feels like fall at our house. Sure, there’s a touch of summer lingering, but fall is in the air. The mornings are colder, fall sports have started and the fields around us are starting to show their harvest colors. And I’ve picked my pumpkins for the year. The ones growing in my garden (the ones we eat), not the ones I decorate with. There’s just something about fall that I love to draw and paint. Maybe it’s my way of holding on to the color before the dull browns of winter set in. Or maybe I just enjoy this season and…
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Watercolor Background for Lettering
Watercolor backgrounds add depth and character to your lettering projects. Personally, I have a thing for black ink on white paper, and the majority of the time that satisfies my lettering craving. But when I add a little bit of color, the feel of the project changes completely, and I fall in love with the result all over again. Today, I’ll show you how I like to use the wet on wet watercolor technique to create a watercolor background for your lettering.
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Tulip Drawing with a Loose Watercolor Blend Technique
Tulip drawing. Who can resist tulips? Or flowers in general? When the weather turns warm, I throw the windows open, cut whatever flowers bloom and let the outside in. When I stop to paint, the same thing happens, the outside comes inside in the form of flowers. I gravitate to painting them just like the weather gravitates to warmth. Today, I want to share with you another way to use one of those Watercolor Techniques we learned about several posts ago. I called it the multi-colored splot technique. It’s very wet, allows for blooming (some people avoid blooming, but I love it), and it can add a lovely looseness to…
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Watercolor Trillium Tutorial – Blow Painting with a Straw
One of the first flowers I think of in spring is the Trillium. I enjoy looking for their unique sets of three leaves during hikes in the woods near our home. I keep an eye out for other three-leaved plants, too (poison ivy), but with less thrill when sighted. Trillium bloom in white, yellow or burgundy, but it’s rare that I actually get to see one blooming. Today, I’ll show you one of the watercolor techniques that we talked about last week on a calligraphy drawn trillium. You could use any of the techniques for this project, but I decided to try the blown paint watercolor technique for this tutorial.
