Bookmarks in Watercolors

 

 I am an avid reader. This last year I must have set a new record for myself--14 new books!! I found several new authors I like, while stepping out from cozy mysteries into some fantasies. I just finished 2 books last month by Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop and The Storyteller. Her newest book, The Mysterious Bakery of Rue de Paris, is waiting for me at the local library.

I've been trying to keep my reading down to one book at a time, but I have to admit to temporarily "losing" a book for a while, and starting a new one until I find it. So, bookmarks are important to me. I love printed books--I spend enough time in front of a screen as it is. And because of this, I have blended two past times into one by water coloring bookmarks!

Above are three of my newest bookmarks. The first is a beach scene with baby turtles crawling out to sea. A trip to Hawaii last year (and the photos I took) inspired e to paint these. The second was again inspired by my Hawaiian trip. I had sketched a scene from a lagoon we snorkeled at while my daughter borrowed my mask. It came in handy while I was thinking about the next water color to paint.

The last is a theme I've painted often, one with greenery, water and a moon. I decided to highlight the sunshine with a white Sakura pen to give it more depth, as it was a very small canvas.  Of course, what's a bookmark without a frivolous amount of ribbon sticking out the top of your book?

My New Art Journal

 I broke down and bought a new art journal, as my last one was on its last blank pages. And the new one is HUGE, 9x12! Since there are only a few pages I've used, I thought you might want to take a peek. When I get a new journal, I give it a fresh new look. The cover is simply a piece of designer paper, bordered with washi tape and just one artsy quote, "Creative minds are rarely tidy".

I decided to completely cover the inside cover with Art and Creativity quotes from Pinterest. Some of my favorites are adhered to it, along with washi tape borders. 

I started the first page at the end of January and decided I would date my pages, and occasionally write a short note on the why, what and how I felt at the time of the crime drawing. I used a small tag as my inspiration and colored it with a teal Copic.

Here I drew intersecting squares and then filled them with various designs, trying some I had not drawn before now. 

I'm not that good at creating Mandalas, probably because I don't use rulers, nor do I have a compass. After my two colliding circles were filled in, they looked lonely on the page, so I surrounded them with flowers. 

And next is the reason I wanted to "show off" my new journal (if you've read all the way down to here). The page below was inspired by Pinterest. It uses watercolors and was supposed to make these beautiful spheres of color mixing into each other. Mine didn't play nice. In fact, it was a "fail". But fails are what teach us, make a stronger and remind us that nothing in life is perfect, nor should it go exactly to our own plans. I wanted to show you my failed drawing. I decided to take pen to it and get some Zen doodling in it. It's not my fave page, of course, but not every page can be a favorite!

Keep crafting and have fun. That's why we do it, right?! 

That's One Fat Bird

Last week I bought a pad of cold-pressed, heavyweight watercolor paper that was half the size of my last pad. It's the perfect size for my watercolor art journal, and at the time it was 50% off at Michael's. So of course I had to christen it with my paints.
I found a painting of a bird on Pinterest that I loved, so I set out to make one myself. I started with the beak and carried on from there. Obviously I carried on a little too much and the little bird I started out to paint became one very fat bird! Doesn't matter, I used my fave color combo on the page and had some fun.
My fat bird reminds me of a stupid joke my dad used to tell. I like to be reminded of the things he used to say and the stories he used to tel me and my sisters, since he's no longer with us to tell them.
Here's the joke:
What does a 500 pound chicken say?
C-H-E-E-P, C-H-E-E-P 
(said in a deep bass voice).
I told you it was stupid, but when we were little, we would giggle our heads off.

Letting Go...

I had a chance to play with watercolors this morning and ended up with this hot air balloon. There's a tiny figure in the basket --that's me! I've decided to let go of my fears of showing imperfect work, of the projects that lead to improvement, of my self-imposed comparison to others' art.
It is a liberating experience! My art is mine. It is not being judged against others' unless I choose to do so. Not every piece of art is a masterpiece. Everyone started out as a novice sometime.
I feel like I am floating among the winds of creativity, with no tether to hold me down. So this is my self-expression of that feeling. This is my self-portrait of my creative soul.
The journey is going to be awesome!

Swan Lake

So today I pulled out all the stops and tried my hand at a waterscape. I learned a new technique--if you really want your paint to spread in amazing ways, wet BOTH sides of the paper. Once I drew a line across the page, I tilted it back and level and got a lovely mirror image for my water scene.
I built up the trees and tried to give them more dimension. I added some white clouds in the sky. And I looked at it and went--hmm, boring. No focal point, and too much blue again! So, I continued using white paint and added the swans floating in the forefront. All I have to do now is sign it.
I like it. And I continually learn from each canvas I paint! Maybe by the time Fall semester rolls around, I won't need to take a watercolor class anymore. Maybe I'll branch out to other media. Meanwhile, I borrowed six books on watercolor painting from the library. I'm planning on spending a lot of time this weekend with my brushes!!

Pot Full of Posies

I'm getting the hang of this water coloring thing! I just finished this pot full of posies and signed my name to it! I painted the vase and shadow first on dry paper for the sharp lines, then softened them with water and a small brush.
The posies came next, then the greenery. Still need to work on dimension, but I think I'm coming along. Let me tell you, good paper and liquid watercolor paints make a big difference!
I'm keeping my paintings in a watercolor art journal that measures about 6x10, so I can get two "canvases" out of one sheet each time I paint.
I sometimes keep the paper whole so I can hang it up if it "works." What size paper do you work with? Do you keep your paintings in a journal or hang them up or what? Inquiring minds want to know!!

Watering My Crafting World

I added two more pages to my water color art journal today, and wanted to share them with you.

I created a blue green background and experimented with the paint while it was wet by pressing my finger numerous times onto the page. Since my journal is around 6x9, I cut my dry painting in half.

I used versamark ink and embossing powders and stamped a QKD image of a headphone-wearing fairy in the corner, embellishing with another stamp of musical notes. Some Washi tape, a sticker, and a floral stick complete the embellishments, while alpha stickers complete my sentiment, "Music Lifts my Soul."

For my second page, I decorated my pages completely with stamping and embossing. The stamps are from IndigoBlue, the ink is the VersaMark Dazzle ink, and I used Stampin Up Clear Glitter, white and purple embossing powders. I used green flocking powder on the flora at the bottom of the page.

I usually don't use powders often in my crafting, but I really like the way it looks on the heavyweight watercolor paper. The sentiment reads, "Live every moment, Laugh every day, Love beyond words."

I am really enjoying experimenting in water colors, and just won a certificate for free tuition for a non-credit class at the community college in town. Maybe I'll take an art class!!

Meanwhile, it's ANYTHING GOES at Art by Miran.See you there!

50 Things That Make Me Happy

Today starts a new challenge over at the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog. The theme this month is that elusive butterfly called HAPPINESS. Our guest sponsor this month is Fresh Brewed Designs. I got to play with an image called Daffodil Plants.

My project today started out as a watercolor. By the time I was finished, it turned into a mixed media piece of art. I used stencils, pigment ink, FlowerSoft, Stickles, the FBD digi image colored with Copics, and my black and white gel pens (my daughter gifted me with a "clean craft table" for Mother's day-if I had been able to find more media to throw on my painting, I would have).

Happiness means different things to different people.  I may have mentioned a few times that I love to make lists. I compiled a list of the first 50 things that make me HAPPY today. Some are trivial, some are key to my whole life; some are temporary, some I hope to have forever. All make me happy in this moment and I am thankful for them. So I used another Fresh Brewed Designs image called "Groovy" and altered a composition book in which I can write this list as well as others.

Materials used for this spiffy notebook include Gesso, homemade ModPodge, designer napkins, Stickles, pigment ink,and cardstock stickers. I even decorated a pen with washi tape and a feather "stick" from the clearance rack in the floral section to make writing my lists even more fun.

50 Things That Make Me Happy:
Purple Nail Polish                    Iced Tea
Double-Stuffed OREOs           Girls’ Night Out

Time to Craft                           Copic Markers

Grandkids                             a Tech-Savvy Hubby

A Good Book                        a Good Hair Day 

Sushi                                    a Good Nite’s Sleep

My iPod                                   Scented Candles

My Laptop                            Buttered Popcorn

Fuzzy Socks                              Sunshine

BFFs                                    a Full Tank of Gas

My Mom lives Nearby          My Gram's Still Alive

Sisters                                      Musicals

My daughters                        Kittens & puppies

My son                                  a Clean House

Rainbows                              Getting All Bills Paid

Writing Poetry                         Watercolors

Chocolate                                  Hugs

Date Night                               Christmas

Working Out                           Riding My Bike

Clean Bill of Health                A Finished Canvas

Dancing                                 Making Lists

Swedish Massage                Playing Board Games

Lying on the Beach      watching Mama Mia w/Wendy

Pizza                                     Flying First Class

Scrapbooking                          Making Lists

I had to stop here, although I could have gone on and on. What about you? Can you come up with 50 things? Is it difficult to stop at 50? What makes you happy at this moment in time? We at the Path of Positivity want to know. Show us in an art project, card or photo. Tell us in a post. Share a poem with us.
We have some lovely prizes to give away. The sponsors and prizes for this challenge are:

• Ten digital images from Creative Bug Digitals for the person out of the top seven who receives the most votes during voting week.
• Three digital images from Ike's World for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.
• Three digital images from Fresh Brewed Designs, our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
• One digital designer paper from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment.
• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles as well.

New Beginnings

I got a chance to play with my water colors today, and I had fun! I found a good deal on liquid water colors so my new painting has vibrant colors. I mixed my water colors with stickers, stamping and acrylic paint, so I guess you would call this a mixed media project, but I'm happy with how my girl turned out. Most of my water colors have been background pieces, or splotches on which I drew outlines with black ink to give the colors focus. This is the first time I painted "a picture" with water colors.
But like the title of my piece, every day is a new beginning, and I thi9nk I'll begin tomorrow with some more painting!!
Happy crafting, everyone!

Coloring My World One Art Journal Page at a Time

Time to show off another water colored background page from my art journal.  I use just the kids' watercolor paint sets from Crayola for my pages, but I am painting more and more and can definitely see an investment into those expensive little tubes of watercolors coming to a future near me soon! LOL

Here, I wet a page from a vintage women's magazine and loaded my brush full of color, sometimes letting it drip down (or up) the page. When it dried, I added flowers and leaves to the corner.  I wanted another nice sentiment or quote, so I rummaged through my rubber stamps and found this one about friendship. After stamping it with CTMH ink, I punched two sides of it and popped it onto cardstock before adding it to my water color background.  I added the line of jewels 'cause I like some sparkle.

I also made a watercolor background using a paper doily.  While visiting Seattle this week (and the University with my daughter),

I got to play in my Zentangling notebook. So I tangled a flower and cut it out to place on my paper doily. I had very little choice of colors with which to play with my tangle, but I still like the idea of my water colored paper doily being the background for my blossom.

Whatever craft you create, whatever medium you use, always remember to have fun!!  My motto is "Love what you do; Do what you love."

2014 New Technique Learned: Watercolors

One of my 2014 Crafting goals is to challenge myself more. Well, a PDA group I am in, Journal Mania Discussions, is doing just that.  The first challenge it issued was to make our own art journals, which wasn't a challenge for me. but the second challenge was!
I had never used water colors before, so this new media was an unknown.  And as I experiment in it, I find that control is the last thing that an artist has with water colors. You never know what and where the water will take you!
So, I have been practicing my newest passion. I use $1 paints from WalMart and those kids' brushes you can get at the dollar store that come 12 in a pack.
I am not showing my first horrid experiments, as I don't want to scare anyone away from my blog. But practice makes, well, there is no perfection in art, so I'll say it makes for better backgrounds. I've only dabbled in making water color backgrounds...so far.

I think I am loving the green, blue and pink mixes I get, so my covers, inside and out, sport that color combo. I used alpha stickers to title my journal, although I ran out of a couple "Rs" and "Os."
I like green, blue and yellow combos the best, though, and even tried painting on a paper doily, and made it into one of my water color journal pages.   My journal is roughly 5x5 inches. Sometimes a larger "canvas" can be overwhelming.
So here are a couple more pages that I water colored, trying to get different looks going. Every time I think I know what the page will look like, water, that tricky devil, takes me by surprise.

Here's another page I'll show you.  I tried to make a more colorful one resembling a rainbow, but kept dropping paint on the other colors until I finally said "okay, let the drops fall where they may!" I don't like it as much, but it's a learning journal. Hee hee!
So now I have a bound water color journal full of backgrounds for the next step. I haven't decided whether to draw some zentangles and let the colors I already painted decorate my finished projects, or if I should add more color to them after I draw the tangles. What do you think?
Whatever your art media is, always leave some time for a new technique. You never know when you will find yourself in another wild passion! Get carried away--it's worth it!