Soothing Blue Watercolors

Today I have selected some of my watercolor paintings in soothing blues to share with you.

Hope your day is wonderful!

This loose floral with gray blue flowers is very calming.
It’s just simple and delicate. I really like that.

Playing with the gray blue here with a single flower. I love the lost edges and the pale petals in back.

A little abstract landscape with some soothing blues in the distance. I love the bright flowers in the foreground. I’m always inspired by o_aquarelles on Instagram. The ease with which she paints beautiful landscapes always makes me want to pick up my brush and paint away!

Limited palette leaves. Playing with a plastic card, brush, and watercolor pencil. The little lines with pencil add a touch of detail that wakes up this painting.

As I was putting together this post I was looking back through some recent paintings. The single flower and landscape jumped out at me. I’m always amazed at how much more I appreciate some of my paintings later on. As for the landscape above, I’m loving it now.

I hope you are inspired to create art and have fun. Until next time, share a smile and sprinkle kindness everywhere.

Patty Anne 💙

Join me on Instagram @pattyanneart

Inspired by Nature

I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite photos. I love the beautiful colors and patterns found in nature.

I hope you enjoy. 💚

The patterns here are so amazing. It looks like leaves painted on leaves. I took this photo a number of years ago and still remember my excitement when I walked past these beautiful leaves.

A look into the center of this plant and you can see tiny ribbons unfolding in all directions.

Lily of the Valley in my garden always delights me every year. I love the delicate white bells against the larger green leaves that seem to swirl about on the page.

Another beauty taken a few years ago. Oh how I love these colors!

This landscape photo was taken from the car last week. I looked out to see this gorgeous sky and was able to quickly take a few photos with my phone before we drove by.

Until next time, take good care of yourself and enjoy the beauty that is around you.

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram @pattyanneart

Calming leaves in my sketchbook

Today I have a few pages in my little watercolor sketchbook to share with you.

I’ve been painting leaves using a plastic card and brush. I just can’t seem to get enough of this. 💙

I like simplifying my color choices. Here I used just three colors.

I push paint around with the plastic card and use the watercolor brush to wet the paper and smooth out any areas that need it. A damp brush helps encourage the paint to move around a bit.

I am so in love with these colors. I decided to let the paint to bleed out a little on opposite corners. It needed a little something extra and that worked well.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do something you love. Many thanks for all of the kind words and condolences on my last post. It was very much appreciated.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on.

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

You can find me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Saving space for the focal point

My painting started out as simple vines and buds.

I left space for more flowers to be added later. I should have taken more photos but I’m glad I have this one to share.

I strengthened the buds with darker color and loose shapes. I love how the pretty purple flowers and leaves at the bottom guide your eye up into the painting.

There was enough space for a large flower at the top. It worked out well and became the focal point that this painting needed. The center of the flower turned out really nice. The little bit of dark color that bled into the petals from the center really makes my heart sing. The best part was that I didn’t overwork it. Yay!

It’s important to remember that showing up and having fun really makes a difference. Some paintings will work out better than others. While I may showcase some of my favorite paintings here, I have many that aren’t successful. I do my best to keep in mind that each painting is a step forward and an opportunity to learn and grow.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Layering watercolor leaves

I painted some pretty leaves and have some in progress photos to share with you. The lighting is not great but it will give you an idea of how this painting came together.

Hope you have a wonderful day! 💚

9 x 12 inch Fluid watercolor paper

The first layer starts off with pale blue leaves that will become the background.

Then I added some pale green leaves after the first layer dried.

As I continue adding more leaves, I am building up with darker color. Using a large round brush (#12) and big carefree strokes I’m able to stay loose as I paint.

I continued using soft colors adding more blue and brown in the last few branches. I think it looks really nice with my gray couch in the photo above. I painted this late last year and am finally getting around to writing this post. 😊 Where does the time go?

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Until next time, share a smile and stay excellent!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Silent Sunday – Lovely Leaves

Inner Light – 9 x 12 inch watercolor painting

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Making watercolor gift tags

I have a fun watercolor project to share with you today, watercolor gift tags! Handmade gift tags make the perfect addition to any gift.

Hope you are having a wonderful day! 💚

It all starts with a simple design and very small painting. Below I have a few examples.

I divide up the watercolor paper using a pencil and ruler. Then paint some simple designs making sure to leave room at the top and bottom for some lettering.

After the mini paintings dried, I added a little ink detail to each of them using a gold and white pen. I thought the tags with leaves would look better if the leaves were outlined so I used a pen with a very small tip and gave that a try.

Adding lettering is always difficult for me. I decided to use some tape as a guide to help me keep the lettering straight. With a pencil I lightly added the message and then used my gold pen to trace over it. Later I gently erased any pencil marks left behind.

I used a hole punch and added some rustic string to finish them off. A pretty ribbon would look nice too. On a couple of them I got a little fancy and changed the shape of the tag at the top with a little snip of the scissors. I really like how they turned out.

There’s so much you can do with these little tags. I hope you have fun and get creative. I can’t want to use my tags on gifts for loved ones.

I hope you are inspired to create art and have fun. If you make some gift tags, please share with me on Instagram, @pattyanneart. I would love to see your designs.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Visit my Society6 shop

Fall inspired watercolor painting

I have a quick post today with a fall inspired watercolor.

Hope your day is wonderful. 🧡

9 x 12 inch – Fall time

I love this time of year and painting leaves just makes me happy.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love.

Until next time, share a smile and shine on.

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Visit my shop on Society6

Going back to the sea

I painted the base for an undersea sketch last month. I finally got around to adding more life to it with some ink sketching. Hope you enjoy seeing my progress.

Sometimes I need to leave a painting on my desk for a while and return to it later when the time is right.

This is a close up view as I started my sketch. I usually work on the ink detail over a few evenings. That way I’m not rushed and can enjoy the process. It also gives me an opportunity to step back and make decisions about where go next.

At this point, it was starting to feel more complete but not quite there yet.

Undersea – watercolor and ink sketch on 7 x 10 inch mixed media paper

After adding more leaves and other details below, I decided to call it finished. I wish I had used my larger mixed media sketchbook. Hopefully I’ll remember that next time. 😊

I’m getting excited about #Inktober2021 just around the corner. I purchased a new sketchbook and will be participating when I can. Hope you will be joining in too.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. We all need more of that. Until next time, share a smile and shine on!

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Visit my shop on Society6

Painting watercolor leaves

I love to paint leaves. There is something so relaxing and enjoyable about painting simple leaves.

Happy Sunday, friends! 💚

This painting was done using a large flat brush and a cut up credit card. A little experimentation and fun!

I wet the paper with clean water making leaf shapes using the large flat brush. Then I dipped my plastic card into the watercolor paint and moved the card across the paper to create some nice leaf shapes.

My watercolors used are from Daniel Smith:
Undersea Green
Prussian Blue

A little close up view here. I love how the colors move across the paper when it hits the water. The swirls and blending on the paper is kind of magical. 🙂

It seems when I just paint and play without worry, nice things happen.

I hope you are inspired to create art and do more of what you love. Until next time, share a smile and shine on.

🌸 Patty Anne 🌸

Join me on Instagram at pattyanneart

Visit my new shop on Society6