Cup of tea and macroons

Nothing like a cup of hot tea with macaroons.

 

 

Afternoon tea...

 

I like making journals on a specific subjects...in this case on "Afternoon Tea". 

 

The size of this journal is 7"L x 4"W and has 4 sheets of handmade watercolor paper, giving me 16 pages to paint anything related to afternoon tea.

 

One the inside cover I included a color swatch of my current watercolor set...which is a Sennelier  1/2 pan Travel set.   Sennelier watercolors are reformulated with an increased honey content which gives each watercolor incomparable brilliance and luminosity while acting as a preservative to extend the paints longevity, according to Sennelier. 

 

So far I like the color saturation and the dry time.

 

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Daffodil

 

Not to long ago I bought one of those Tim Holtz distress marker sprayers.  What's so cool about this sprayer is that you can use any type of marker with it.  Basically the marker tip is positioned at the bottom of the sprayer.  You squeeze the bulb and a fine mist sprays out.

 

So with my watercolor painting, I picked one of my markers and sprayed a couple of mists around the watercolor paper.  While the mist was still wet, I got a damp watercolor brush and moved the mist around to create an even background for my watercolor.  Once that was dry, I used a extra fine Sharpie to draw out my daffodil. Next I just started adding color until I was happy with the results.  I finished off the painting with some shading marks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little scrap piece of paper...

Whenever I make my own watercolor journals, I always seem to have a lot of scrap pieces of watercolor paper left over.  So instead of tossing those scraps,I would save them for  small little paintings.  Most pieces of watercolor paper are 3.5" x 5.5".

 

So this guy was created with one of those pieces.

 

 

 

Experimenting with 1/2" flat brush

Usually when I paint, I work with a #8 round watercolor brush and then add details with a #1 round.  To mix things up, I thought I would experiment with a 1/2" flat watercolor brush.  It was OK, but I do think I have better control with my #8 round watercolor brush.  But that's the whole idea of experimenting?  I know what I'm comfortable with and what works for me.

 

 

 

A zebra

There is nothing that I like doing better than playing with my watercolors.  I've been painting up a storm.   I really like painting on handmade watercolor paper, that I probably should order some more soon.

 

A view of the ocean

I miss living by the ocean, but the ocean is only 2 hours away.  So that's where I went this weekend...to the ocean to smell the fresh sea breeze and soak up the sun.

 

 

 

 

Face of Chloe

It's been several years since my beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has been gone.  Every so often I come across a photo of her, so I thought I'd capture her intense look she'd give when she wanted a cookie.

 

 

 

Orchid study

Working on orchid study.  Going slow as I try to capture each line.

 

 

 

Flower patterns

I've been thoroughly enjoying creating in my sketchbook journal.  Using handmade watercolor paper has really spoiled me and I'm not sure I can paint on anything else.  This painting was working on flower patterns.

 

 

 

Abstract Cat

 

I've been busy doing color charts, so when it came time to clean my brush, I used the paint on a watercolor page.   After the paint dried, I did a quick sketch of a cat. 

 

 

A kitty in the yard

Yesterday I got a new Schmincke watercolor set from

http://www.wetpaintart.com

 

This set normally sells for $208.06 and is now on sale at Wet Paint Art for $61.95.  It was too good of sale to pass up.  Not that I need another watercolor metal set, but it comes with 12 half pans with color and 12 empty half pans.  I thought I'd fill the other 12 pans with some Daniel Smith watercolors.

So I used my new set of paints to paint this watercolor in my sketchbook.

 

A Brown Kiwi

 

I've never heard of a Brown Kiwi bird before, so I had to do a google search to see what color these birds are.  And they are actually brown.  I used  blue tone paper, but probably a cream color would of been better.

 

 

Peony

 I've been working in my sketchbook everyday.  Each day it's something new.  Right now I'm in the section of my journal that is filled with 300lb handmade paper.  It is so thick that the paper just sucks the paint, so I'm able to work wet on wet with a lot of pigment in my paint brush.  Also I've discovered that using a water brush works great on this paper too.

Impression of a lady

Today I worked in my sketchbookery journal on handmade 300lb watercolor paper.  The paper is so wonderful to paint on.  The paper absorbs the paint really well and the texture on the paper adds to the overall watercolor.  I used Prang student grade watercolors to test them out on this good paper, and they did really well.  It was a good test, but I'll stick to my Daniel Smith watercolors when I use this handmade paper.  I need to go order more from Dick Blick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oranges from the yard

I pulled some oranges from my yard and decided to paint them on toned paper.  I used my Prang student grade watercolors and I was rather surprised how well they worked on toned paper.  I did have to use some gouache in a few spots, but overall I'm please with the way this came out.

 

 

 

 

Animal Farm

 

As week 4 of Sketchbookery class comes to an end, I realized that my pages don't have to be perfect; that I did my best at that moment in time when I sketched; and I now look at everything I see as a potential drawing.  Sketching with my fountain pen really makes me look at what I'm about to draw and how each overlapping line can effect the outcome of my sketch.

 

I've learned so much from just watching Mary Ann Moss draw and paint.

 

 

 

 Sheep from a local ranch.

 

Collage page with gesso over it.     Giraffe drawn with paint brush.

A couple of Frenchies

 

I keep on sketching and painting in my sketchbook that I made for my Sketchbookery class.  This is a page from that journal.

 

Ever since my trip to Italy 2 years ago and meeting "Penny" the French bull dog in a local Florence shop, I've been smitten with them ever since.  I would like to own one someday, so in the meantime I paint them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I see you" said Rocky to the cat

 Another page in my sketch book (Sketchbookery class). I'm having fun just sketching and painting and not worrying about the out come.  It's rather freeing to let go of everything being perfect.

Designing, sketching, and painting a look inside my sketchbook

This is the 3rd week of class of Sketchbookery with Mary Ann Moss.  I'm totally loving the class along with all the great videos and ideas.  I'm finding myself looking forward to creating in my sketchbook.  From designing the page, sketching things that interest me, adding embellishments, and finally lettering.  I've even pulled out all my different watercolor palettes to test out colors that I haven't used in a long time.

 

Here is a look inside my sketchbook for the week.