Today I have a blue hydrangea to share that I painted with a limited palette.
Hope your day is wonderful, friends! 💙
9 x 12 inch – Blue Hydrangea watercolor
Daniel Smith watercolors used: Prussian Blue Undersea Green
A limited palette seems to free up my mind while I am painting. I love that it also pushes me to use colors in a way that I might not have tried before.
This painting was done using cut up credit cards. I haven’t given up on my brushes but lately this is my jam! 😉
I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love.
Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!
My pink Azaleas just make my heart sing. That color is amazing! 💗 #colorcrush
Happy Thursday, friends! 🌸
The green gold leaves look so pretty next to the bright pink.
Now on to my sketchbook for some play time.
Daniel Smith watercolors used: Quinacridone Magenta Prussian Blue Undersea Green (just for the tiny stems)
I decided to experiment by painting my flowers using a cut up credit card. I’ve been using a plastic card on landscapes and thought I’d give it a go with flowers.
I wet part part of the paper with clean water. Just trying for playful strokes by pulling and pushing around the paint on the paper. I really wasn’t sure if this would be a success or a big fail. Color mixing happened right on the paper. At times I dipped the card into thick paint and other times a watery mix.
Using a plastic card can be unpredictable but I found it was also quite exciting. My flowers ended up rather loose and artsy. Yay, I like that.
I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!
Today I’m going to show you how my little bird painting came together.
It started with some cute templates that I made. When I’m painting birds I like to block out the bird shapes first.
I like being able to physically move the templates around and place the birds in different positions to find the best placement before I make any pencil marks on the page.
For this painting I decided to overlap two birds on the left facing the bird on the right. These little guys are sharing a special moment… 😉
The watercolor technique used here was wet on wet. Which is simply wetting the paper first with clean water and then dropping in wet paint. The magic happens when the paint mixes and mingles on the paper.
I worked my way across the paper starting with the bird on the left working on one bird shape at a time using the wet on wet technique. Each bird will be similar but not exactly the same and hopefully this would keep me from dragging my wrist through wet paint.
The next step was adding a little ink detail with a small waterproof pen. At this point I noticed that I needed a few more darks on the wings and so I added a little more paint there to finish the birds.
The last step was adding a background and a few details to the branches. Since the birds are the focal point, I tried to keep the branches rather soft without too much detail.
I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Keep playing and having fun. Until next time, share a smile and sprinkle kindness everywhere.
I have a beach painting to share with you today. I would love to be at the beach and am looking forward to traveling again very soon.
This painting was inspired by watercolor artist, Lois Davidson. I’ve enjoyed many of her YouTube watercolor tutorials online.
Lately I’ve been taping off the edges of my watercolor paper before I start painting. I really like the nice border it creates around the painting. Although in my photo here it appears that part of the right edge got cut off. 😉
Above is the first layer of watercolor after it dried. I was quite happy with the base. Watercolor always dries lighter than you might expect. The soft soothing colors worked well here.
Adding some nice dark grasses and detail in the foreground created some depth and warmth. I love how the little birds in the sky add some life to the painting.
One thing I’ve learned it that you should keep on playing and practicing. Although I don’t like how the water turned out in this one. The sky is just dreamy and I am in love with it.
While every painting might not be a success, that’s ok. I’m having fun and learning from each one. Paint on my friends!
Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!
I decided to try out the wax resist technique and have some interesting results to share with you.
Happy Sunday, friends! 🌼
In each of these little paintings I used a birthday candle to make marks on dry watercolor paper before painting. You can see the tiny candle that I used in the lower left landscape near the bottom.
The waxed area resists the paint and you are left with the visible white of the paper showing through. It worked well on a few of my mini paintings.
Watercolor Notes: -After making marks on the paper it’s hard to see where the wax is and how much coverage you actually have. It’s a bit of a risk but was fun to try. -The wax will remain on the paper and does not wipe off. Once it’s down, you can’t go back. -There were a few tiny wax bits left behind on top of the paper after I finished drawing/mark making with the candle. I just brushed them off the paper before I started to paint.
After playing for a while I decided to try using the technique on a bigger painting. A happy sunflower sounded like fun. 😁
Mom’s Sunflower – 9 x 12 inch watercolor
In the center of the flower I used the little candle to make some markings on the paper. The bright white area is where the wax went down. In some places I ended up with a light coverage but I think it’s rather nice.
I am super happy with my bright and splashy sunflower.
I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!
I’ve been watching more tutorials and trying different techniques. I just love how this painting turned out. I may have done a happy dance when I finished. 😉
Hope your day is wonderful! 💙
California Dreaming – 12 x 16 inch Saunders watercolor
I used a 1 inch flat brush, a credit card slice/wedge, and a mini spray bottle.
The spray bottle was used a few times when my paper started to dry too quickly.
The credit card slice was used to gently scrape off some of the paint on the mountains when the paint was slightly damp. The scraping technique works best when the paint is damp and not too wet. I also dipped the edge of the credit card in paint to add some nice straight lines here and there.
I usually paint the sky first but this time it was painted last. After finishing with the mountains and water in the foreground, I wet the sky area and dropped in lots of paint on the right side. Tilting the paper then helped the paint move about in the sky. A damp brush also helped encourage the paint in the sky to fall downward a bit.
I think the key to keeping a painting fresh is to be brave, have fun, and don’t fuss with it.
I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!
October has arrived and so #Inktober2020 has begun. I will be trying to increase my sketching this month. Hopefully I will be able to sketch at least 30 minutes a day. I have a very busy month ahead but think this is a reasonable goal to set.
Happy Sunday, friends! 🧡
A quick little underwater sketch with day 1 prompt, “fish”. It was fun to play with different patterns on the fish and have some of them only in partial view. I found myself counting and trying to find all of them later. I’m going to have to sketch a few more of these and maybe add some bright color… Just love how one idea leads to another.
and this sketch of flowers, no detail and no real plan. Just Pen to paper and letting things happen and not overthinking anything.
Ink leaves – pattern and color play sketch. I used both Sepia and Rust colored Micron pens for this one. (Sepia .01, .005, and Rust .05)
I will continue to play in my sketchbook this month and hope to have more to share sometime later. It’s a busy month ahead with my son getting married soon.
I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Art is for everyone, hope you join in on the #Inktober sketching fun.
Until next time, share a smile and shine on!
🌸🌼 Patty Anne 🌼 🌸
I’m on Instagram at @pattyanneart, follow along to see more of my work and whether I can ever pass the 450 followers mark 😁 (not sure it’s possible since it hasn’t really changed in the last year). It used to bother me but now I find it rather amusing.
I’ve been wanting to learn more about painting with gouache. After watching a Skillshare class by Kate Cooke, I was inspired to paint this little bird.
I decided to practice a little watercolor version first. Once I get better acquainted with gouache I’ll be sure to share my adventures with you.
Happy Sunday, friends! 💚
watercolor bird painting
I just love how this little guy turned out. Oh those sweet little legs.
Which then inspired more birds…so here we go!
bird sketching practice
A few quick sketches working on shapes and not worrying about detail.
It’s always good to warm up and play. I really need to do more of this. Just fill the page and have fun.
watercolor bird sketch
Tip: A little planning and sketching before any paint hits the paper is really important. By sketching first I can make sure the shapes are as desired and that all elements fit nicely on the page.
Chickadee practice and color mixing
This little guy was painted in a separate sketchbook to get ready for my larger painting above. I mixed up a variety of neutral colors and tested them out on my paper.
I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Art is for everyone. Just play and have fun…be good to yourself.
Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!
🌸 Patty Anne 🌸
You can see more of my work on Instagram @pattyanneart
