Baking Cupcakes

Good snowy morning!
Today I have a water colour I did (or should I say two water colours) representing a friend of mine who loves to bake cupcakes and cakes.
The above is a version which she approved from a sketch- until it was done.  She now says she likes everything in it -except- she would like the glasses changed to the heavier, half moon ones of the original.

This is the original one.  When she saw it, she asked that I increase the bust area and darken the hair.  
Now, these are water colours , not drawings, so changing the glasses means doing yet another painting.  I will do one more but, if she wants something else changed, I just cannot keep painting the same thing.
I know she asked me to do this painting but I soooo feel that once a sketch is approved, that is the version which should be the final result.  What do you think?

Quick And Easy Florals

Just thought I would do a bit of water colour practice and painted these two little floral pieces.

Both are 3" X 4"

Done on water colour paper (140 lb) with a simple little paint set.

A Cute Watercolour

Whew, it has been a l-o-n-g time since I posted.  I did not realize it was almost a month.  In that time, my hand is healing, Christmas has come and gone, and I have cleaned my studio (LOL).  And believe me, it needed it!
So here I am today, having rewarded myself for putting order in the room, with a watercolour I did today of Annie (or a representation thereof) playing soccer.

It is all ready to frame so tomorrow I am off the buy a frame that comes close to fitting.
Hope you have a great New Year!

Snowman Tags

It seems like forever since I was able to do any kind of art.  But really my surgery was not quite two weeks ago.  I am so tired of not being able to create that I gave it a go today.  I did some water color tags with snowmen on them.

The tags are cut out of water color paper (140 lb) and then I water colored the snow people. Any little snow piles are either white acrylics or moulding paste.  I drew the figures in pencil first and did not erase the lines.  I like the softening effect.  After I finished painting the tags, I outlined them in permanent pen.
Although these are not very demanding to do, they are fun and I was able to create them with very little trouble- even though I am still healing up.
Thanks for stopping by!

The prompt is Cup

Hello,  I am part of a month long facebook page of just plain fun art.  The first prompt for the month is "cup".  And here is my first piece:

I used a copy of a sunflower photo I took and decided to put it on a water coloured mug.  It is hard to see but I used green, yellow and orange for the mug  and soft yellow for the background.  I added the bubbles (but afterwards wish I had made steam instead) and to soften them,  I lightly gessoed over them.  I printed the sentiment on white paper and then modpodged them on.  The sunflower is printed from a photo, cut out and then mod podged on as well.

Gypsy 101

I have been taking yet another class - this one from Tam Laporte.  This is her Summer Gypsy class and it is great fun.

She is a mixed media piece done on water colour paper.  The paint is mainly water colour crayons with some Crayola water colours as well.  There is some collage on the background and I used gesso to soften it down.  I drew her using graphite pencil and used the pencil for shading her face.  The gold earrings are gold sharpie pen. 
I am really happy with how she turned our although next time I might disguise the collage a bit more.
Hope you like her!

More Creatures

My one imaginary creature became a collection of three water colours.  I am so happy with how they turned out.  I think I will get them framed to give to someone.
Thanks to Carla Sonheim for an awesome class!!

BABY BIRD

BABY HORSE

and now the collection:

Thanks for visiting!!

More Water Colour Fun

I am still working on my imaginary creatures and this one is a dog - of sorts.  The purpose of the exercise is to look at random markings on a page and interpret them into a creature.  I saw a dog-like creature in my water colour markings.

This guy was just plain fun to paint and I hope he gives you a smile!
Thanks again for stopping by!

Water Colour Blob Creatures

I have to tell you - I am in love with classes by Carla Sonheim.  She has the absolute best style of teaching and her classes are a joy.
I am taking an Imaginary Creatures class right now and exercise one is to paint a water colour blob critter.  
Here are the ones I did:

When I look at them, the first is a coy dog, the middle one a penguin and the third one - I just do not know.  But that is so okay with me.  In fact - I love this soft little painting for a child's room.
I cannot wait until day 2 (may even cheat later today) to see what we do next.
Thanks for visiting!

Cinderella

I drew a Cinderella the other day and decided to colour her today.  Then - what to do with her?  I painted a canvas (11X14) using watercolours (a Crayola kids' set) to create a whimsical castle.  Then I glued her on with gel medium.  I did discover one thing. DO NOT USE CHEAP CANVAS BOARDS!  All I could find was a bargain brand and when I unwrapped the 3-pack, the gesso had adhered them together.  When I seperated them, there were patches where the gesso had lifted and I could not repair them at all.  I will have to purchase some from Michael's - the ones i had were from Joanne's.

The Christmas Cat

I am having so much fun painting these little girls.  This one is in her jammies and sees a kitten for Christmas.

These characters are a great way to practice my face drawing and whimsical bodies.  I am especially happy with the softness of her face and the cute pig tails.  Also, I have never drawn a whimsical animal and I think the cat turned out sweet.

Thanks for visiting!

Another Christmas Whimsy

Hi again!
I do not know why but I LOVE whimsical characters and am immersing myself in learning how to draw them.
Here is the second of my Christmas whimsy pictures.  This one is definitely going to be my Christmas card.

I have to get some better water color crayons as I have nothing which is dark enough blue for night sky.  I also want some more colors.  I will have to order neo colors.

I really like the face on this girl.  I hope you do as well.

Thanks for visiting!

Christmas Angel

I am taking a whimsy class and this is what I did:

I am so enjoying Tamara Laporte's classes.  The end result of this course is to create Christmas cards.  I am going to use a scrapbooking program to see what I think about this as a card.
I will let you know.
Thanks for visiting!

"Joy" Journal Page

Hi,  I am taking a workshop by Laura Thykeson entitled "Embrace the Day" - journalling your emotions.
I just started last week and have some catch up to do but I wanted to show you my first page - Joy.

Anyone who knows me that my favourite colour is orange so that in itself is an indication of joy.  On the page, I tried to inbcorporate some collage, painting and stamping as well as some fabric (the heart).  A note, you cannot tell but the fish are stamped on a clear plastic sheet to add some depth.  Rather than write paragraphs, I decided just to put spot labels on.  I stamped the big sunflowers and then placed the boys' pictures in the centers.

This is a closer look at the watercoloured face (a representation of me - not a portrait).
I hope you like this page.  It was so much fun to do.

A Girl!!

I finally did it.....I painted a person.  I have been feverishly taking classes and this canvas is directly a result of the Summer Girls class I took on line by Tam.  Here she is:

She is sketched and then painted with watercolor crayons and pencils.

Here is a closeup of her head:

I am quite happy with her for my first ever person.  I think she is pretty.  I am a bit disappointed in the page though.  I should have used a smaller canvas rather than the 9X12 watercolor paper for the background.

Please let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by!

A Water Color of Sorts - Just a Beginning

Good Sunday Afternoon!
I have decided that I want to expand my horizons and explore some painting.  To that end, I am taking several courses on line.  I am taking an art journalling course by Junelle Jacobsen and the first part is about water colour.  Here is my first effort.

Part of the process is choosing a word which means something to me.  I chose "forty".  Steven and I have been married for 40 years and I am always amazed that we are happier now than we have ever been.  I wanted to show that and also bring in our love of the Caribbean and our vacations - just the two of us.  So I decided to show a couple of bright, colorful, tropical birds.
Now, this is my first ever water color and, although primitive, I am pretty sure it is a perfect addition to my journal.
I promise I will improve.  But after all, my journal is for me and I am happy I included it.
Thanks so much for visiting!