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Category Archives: art
S is for Little Folded Sketchbook: A-to-Z Challenge
Cathy Johnson is a wonderful source of classes and inspiration. She is part of the Artist Journal Workshop: “28 ARTISTS & JOURNALISTS their work and words, interviews, blogs, images, hints, tips, websites and more…” And product reviews. Saved me money! … Continue reading
Posted in art, class, journal, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged art journal, Cathy Johnson, folding journal
4 Comments
R is for Repurposing: A-to-A Challenge
I stumbled on this and after starting, thought, why not do it as a mini class? A friend sent me a fridge magnet, and while I was popping it onto our fridge, I realized we had a couple of old … Continue reading
Posted in acrylic, art, class, collage, creativity, handmade paper, painting, process
Tagged craft, fish, Golden Acrylic Paints, horse, magnets, Pitt pens, recycle, repurpose, upcycle
8 Comments
Q is for Quinacridone: A-to-Z Challenge
“You’ll not see nothing like the mighty ‘Quins’!” I hear Bob Dylan’s tune as I gush about the family of paint colors called quinacridone (kwin awk’ ri doan). I first encountered them in Golden Acrylics. They became a staple in … Continue reading
Prayer Flags in the Wind
Originally posted on zenkatwrites. Prayer flags begin as we do, bright colors, full of the promise, like wishes on a dandelion. People notice them, cheered by their vibrancy. They oh-so-quickly fade, and begin to tatter here and there. Many people … Continue reading
Posted in art, journal, memory, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged birds, prayer flags, squirrel
15 Comments
Ode to My Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Box
Originally posted on Still Life with Tortillas:
Ode to My Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Box I love you my rainbow in a box of endless possibilities, your twenty-four parched jewels panting in their tiny pans, waiting for the quenching strokes…
Posted in art
3 Comments
N is for Nicolaides: A-to-Z Challenge
Continuing on with the technique I learned from Gwenn Seemel, I am still very uncomfortable and yet excited by it. I get lost in it. It allows me to SEE better –through my fingers attached to a pen — or to … Continue reading
Posted in art, drawing, painting, process, sketchbook
Tagged alala, crow, drawing, Natural Way to Draw, Nicolaides, Pitt pens, sketching, Tombow pens
4 Comments
L is for Lines: A-to-Z-Challenge
Not the lines a guy gives you at a bar. Not the ones in the script you read for when you thought you wanted to be a movie star. Doodles are lines. Cartoons are linear. Architects communicate with line drawings. … Continue reading
In the Garden: Memory
(I can see the difference in my second nasturtium, much looser. . . and I like this background.) I was feeling blue. I was also so disappointed because Daniel Smith did not get my paints to me for our time … Continue reading
Posted in art, color, drawing, journal, memory, painting, watercolor
Tagged art journal, frogs, garden, husband, journal, nasturtiums
2 Comments
J is for Art Journal: A-to-Z Challenge
I had to make a change. Running and working in our business means I don’t have the time to set up for painting at an easel and painting with acrylics, which in my case means canvases and 4 oz tubs … Continue reading
Posted in art, creativity, drawing, journal, painting, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged art journal, journal
12 Comments
F is for Favorite Artists: A-to-Z Challenge
A friend (and favorite artist) published a blog post the other day relating how her style evolved. It has a lot to do with artists who influenced her. I know several of my favorite artists influenced my tendency to one … Continue reading
Posted in art, creativity, painting, process, series
Tagged David Hockney, Marc Chagall, Marc Rothko, Monet, repetition, repetitve
6 Comments
D is for Drawing Pens: A-to-Z Challenge
My favorite drawing pens are Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens, shown right as the top three pens with their caps off. I love them because they are wonderfully waterproofed India ink, and work best of all the pens on shellacked … Continue reading
Posted in art, creativity, drawing, journal, painting, process, shellac, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged Cocoiro pens, drawing pens, painting with pens, Pitt pens, Tombow pens
19 Comments
C is for Color: A to Z Challenge
Omigoddess I love color. I became a painter for many reasons but chief among them is the use of all that delicious glistening wet color. My current favorites, and I do have favorites in pure colors, are ALL the quinacridones, … Continue reading
B is for Brush Pens! A-to-A Challenge
I am just learning to use brush pens, as I move to smaller formats and water colors to work my artistic ways. Brush pens are these super devices where the water is carried in tube which attaches to the watercolor … Continue reading
Posted in art, creativity, journal, painting, process, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged brush pens, Neocolor II, watercolor pencils
5 Comments
A is fo Asphaltum, A-to-Z Challenge
I discovered asphaltum when I was conserving/restoring two dozen pieces of Mason Monterey furniture for the National Park Service. Being a painter who up until that time primarily used acrylics, I had never heard of it before. Asphaltum (also called … Continue reading
Posted in art, oil paint, painting
Tagged asphaltum, bitumen, conservation, MPF Conservation, oil paint, paint
10 Comments
Working With Watercolors in My Journal: Paint Party Friday
I know that the best way to get over fear-of-watercolor-mistakes is to make a lot of them. So I finally dove into my journals, coloring sketches and moving graphite with water. the sketch above was partly made on-site; then colored … Continue reading
Posted in art, creativity, drawing, graphite, journal, painting, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged Blacksmith, Cherry Grove Forge, Jamison Square, Portland Oregon
9 Comments
Process: Struggling with Watercolors
I was able to carve out a day to play with my new watercolors from Daniel Smith. Having good watercolors makes a huge difference in my finished product, the viability and brilliance of the colors and the way they lay … Continue reading
Posted in art, color, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged California missions, Daniel Smith watercolors, San Gabriel Mission
6 Comments
Garuda Sketch: Paint Party Friday
Paint Party Friday’s post this week is about Mitchell’s Garuda statue. Mitchell went to a friend’s home and they were drumming. The drumming was meant to further visions, for which Mitchell had no experience. He achieved a trance-like state, closed … Continue reading
Posted in art, drawing, painting, sketchbook, watercolor
Tagged bronze statue, buddha, buddhist, Garuda, hindu, nepal, paint party friday, vedic
7 Comments
Paint Party Friday #1, As I am New to This Party
Been sick with the flu(?) cold(?) god/dess knows — but it has been a LONG time! To entertain myself I have painted on shellacked paper with India ink. Always in love with the sunny images of Mexico, and seen them … Continue reading
Posted in art, painting, shellac
Tagged india ink, Mexicali, moon, paint party friday, shellacking, sun
12 Comments
D.Katie Powell Art 