Painting trees and mountains is something new for me. I got a card in the mail with a beautiful sunset painting on it and thought it would be fun to create it in my Linden Art 5.5×8.5 inch watercolor journal.
It was certainly a learning experience. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, some of which I was able to fix while other stayed. Overall it turned out pretty good. I’m not totally thrilled with it but I do love the sunset background and this color combination. Plus I had lots of practicing to paint trees 😊
Hope this inspires you in some way today. Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!!
Share the Happy💖
“As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.” ~Vincent Van Gogh
Creating in this 6×12″ Strathmore Watercolor Journal can be challenging due to it’s size and shape. But I’m down to my last couple of pages in this journal and wanted to create a little whimsical Valentine painting and this is what I came up with.
I did a sketch first and then painted everything but wasn’t happy with it because it looked too plain. So I ended up adding splashes of color. I finished it off with a little shading using a colored pencil and pen plus glitter for sparkly magic.
Hope this inspires you in some way today. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!!
I hope your weekend is off to a good start! This is the 16×20 inch abstract painting I’ve been working on in the studio. It’s easy to overwork a painting, always thinking it needs more but I’m calling this one finished.
This painting is a stunning piece with lots of texture plus fun splashes and drips of colors. There are a lot of layers which peek through in different places making it all the more interesting. It has a very happy and uplifting vibe to it.
Now the real fun begins, I need a name for it but I’m coming up empty handed. Would love to know what you see and/or feel when you look at this painting so I can give it a title😊
Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from you!!
Share the Happy💖
“A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.” ~Salvador Dali
Sometimes I like to do a practice run in my journal before painting on a canvas. Because I do a pencil sketch first, it allows me to easily change the design before I start adding the color.
This is “Marvelous Martha,” and she was created in my Strathmore 6×12 inch watercolor journal with watercolor paints, colored pencils and pen. I’ll have to make some adjustments when I paint her with acrylics on the canvas but the overall design will be the same.
So stay tuned, more to come with Marvelous Martha…
I’m starting a new practice this year. I’m playing with different color combinations and various mediums on 9×12″ watercolor paper. After the painting is done I’ll add notes on the back of what I did, the colors and mediums I used and what I discovered about the process.
This abstract was made with watercolors, acrylic paints and inks, alcohol inks and pen. I was very happy with this color combination, it turned out pretty nice. What’s making me laugh though, is how everyone sees something totally different.
What do you see in this painting?
Have an amazing day!!
Share the Happy💖
“Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.” ~Oscar Wilde
I hope you enjoyed your holidays. I’m well rested and ready to start creating new fun and interesting art in the studio. I’m also very excited for all the good things to come in this New Year!
Yesterday, January 3, 2024 at 6:04 pm, NASA launched the SPACEX FALCON 9 OVZON-3 Rocket. I happened to be outside with my two furry girls, Rosie and Chanel when I saw the rocket to the north in the dimming night sky.
It was an incredible site!! Especially since Cape Canaveral is a 3 hour drive and approximately 200 miles from my home. The sky was fairly clear and I could see a large amount of what looked like smoke in the sky. Then the rocket separated into 2 pieces. One continued to outer space and the other piece flew in the opposite direction.
On board this launch vehicle was a communication satellite for the Sweden based Ovzon. This was the first privately funded Swedish satellite that was launched. The mission will send the Ovzon-3 satellite to a geostationary orbit which is a circular orbit above the Earth’s equator and is ideal for communication satellites.
Hopefully, by mid 2024 the satellite will be fully operational. The goal is for it to operate without relying on ground segment and therefore it will be resistant to jamming or other intrusive operations.
As you know I’m a collector of inspiring quotes and came across this quote by Marilyn Monroe which is featured on one of my watercolor art journaling pages. It’s a gentle reminder to be true to yourself and be uniquely you as only you can be!
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”~Marilyn Monroe
Don’t forget there’s still time to take advantage of the Exclusive Sale going on now my Etsy Shop, just enter code MERRY25 at checkout to receive 25% Off Original Paintings and Christmas Ornaments (Sale ends 12/15 at midnight).
I’m a collector of inspiring quotes and came across this one which I wanted to share with you. I added it to one of my abstract paintings with bold autumn colors. It’s a motivating quote that rings so true:
“Your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” ~Unknown
You can set all the goals you want but if your heart’s desire isn’t in it, if you can’t envision your dream or get discouraged after a few bumps in the road you can bet your bippy, you won’t be successful at it.
Hope this inspires you in some way today. Thanks for stopping by!!
I needed to take a little break so I made a few inchies. Creating these mini pieces of art is the perfect way to destress and unwind. And for some unknown reason, I find drawing the tiny little circles very calming😊
I like to paint a handful of inchies in advance so they’re completely dry and ready to use when I feel the need. I store them on my desk in a handmade ceramic bowl. The designs were made using a Sakura Micron Pen and of course I couldn’t resist adding some glitter✨
How do you destress and unwind?
Hope this inspires you to create art this weekend, thanks for stopping by!!
I thought I’d share with you a fun art journal layout I made a while ago. I love the fall colors in this one and cupcakes are always fun!
It was a pretty simply layout that I started with collaged pieces of printed tissue paper by Tim Holtz for the background. I lightly painted over them with pink and orange acrylic paint making sure you could still the collaged papers peeking through.
I have a large cupcake stamp that I used to create the stacked cupcakes. I added a few designs to the background using white acrylic paint and then printed the quote from my computer and added it to the page:
“The more you thank life, the more life gives you to be thankful for!”
It’s fun to see where your art ends up because when I made this I started with my cupcake stamp and it grew into a stack. There wasn’t a lot of planning involved but rather going with the flow. So when you’re journaling and leery of the blank page, just start even if you only add a few scribbles. The important thing is to start and let your creative muse take over and have fun!!
Hope this inspires you to create today, thanks for stopping by!!
Flowing Waters Art 