Painting holiday in the Netherlands

Last week I went on a 5 day painting holiday in the Netherlands. In the National Park 'De Wieden'. A beautiful part of the Netherlands with lots of water and beautiful landscapes. I focused on working with watercolors, but also did some sketching. As you see, I made several paintings of the same view :-).

Playing with alcohol inks

I saw an image on Pinterest of an abstract painting which inspired me to go and look for my alcohol inks again. The 2 abstracts I created have absolutely no resemblance with the image I saw, but I love how they turned out. Both are on A3 size (30x 40cms/ 11 3/4" x 16 1/2") Yupo paper, with alcohol inks and I have added some details with Promarkers. I do love the bright and intense colors of the alcohol inks (the second painting is brighter IRL, but alcohol inks do not photograph well..).

Loosing it...

Why is it so difficult to loosen up? Last week I painted 2 loose watercolors that I really happy with. And this week, it is a struggle. I choose the same subject, the daisies and I fiddled with it for days..... This has nothing to do with loosening up, but I will show you anyway.

So, I turned back to alchol inks for a while. Alcohol inks are so hard to control, you will loosen up even if you do not want to. LOL. I have painted this rooster with letting the inks flow in the background first and then following the inks in the rooster. I love how he turned out!

Loosen up!

I love painting with watercolors, but I need to loosen up! My goal for this week is to loosen up my painting, knowing when to stop and not to overwork the paintings. Lots of goals...

I have been painting flowers, as exercises to loosen up. The first one I liked right away, the size is 14.2" x 18.9" (36 x 48 cm).

The second painting is 10.6" x 13.8" (27 x 35 cm) and was a disaster at the beginning. I washed out the painting under the running tap, leaving the light background colors behind. And tried again. First I thought this was never going to work, but after a night rest (and drying), I actually do love this painting.

And I did do a third one (a landscape), but it is too horrible to show you (LOL). I washed it out and the paper is now drying again, almost ready for a new attempt.

Landscapes in alcohol ink

This week I have been working with alcohol inks again. I just love this medium. It has mind of its own and is hard to control. Just like me ;-). I created a few abstract landscapes with the inks, with no brush in sight. Just letting the inks flow on the Yupo paper and find their own way. I work on A4 size Yupo paper (8 1/4" 11 3/4")

I also have been busy for the local art show that will start in 3 weeks time. I bought new frames and I will need to frame everything I want to show. Not an easy task, did you ever see the difference between a white and black frame on an art work? It could make it or break it. The 2 pastel paintings need a black frame, I will start with those. The paintings I will take with me to the art show will stay for sale in my Etsy shop til the show. If you are interested in buying one, now is the time!

Beginners class with Alcohol Inks

This week I started with the Alcohol inks beginners class from Karen Walker. In 3 weeks she will show us lots of techniques on how to use Alcohol Ink. The first week is all about flow and texture and we have made some really cool abstract cards.

Here are a few of the cards I made