RedBubble shop (kittyvdheuvel)

Since a few weeks I have a shop on RedBubble. RedBubble is a print on demand shop, where customers can buy lots of products (t-shirts, posters, prints, mugs, pillows, clocks, phonecases, etc.) with the designs that artists all over the world have created.

I have been uploading lots of my older paintings, drawings and illustrations. And I am very happy that some of my designs have been purchased by customers from all over the world. Really exciting!!

My best selling design is my dancing puffin watercolor illustration, I have a single puffin and a 3 puffins design, both sell well. This is an example of the pillow:

And another bestseller is my watercolor illustration of this sweet dog:

And I also sold 2 wall tapestries of this alcohol ink landscape painting:

I am so thrilled that people appreciate my work, and I think I might go and order some Christmas gifts myself :-). I do love how my mixed media collages show on the different products!

My shopname is kittyvdheuvel, just type it in the search box and you can take a look yourself!

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..).

Yippie I won!

My colorful alcohol ink rooster won in the category Prettiest Texture in the Big Bold Beautiful Birds contest in the Alcohol Ink Artists group on Facebook. I am so happy :-). If you are not yet a member; please consider joining, we are a group of Alcohol Ink Artists sharing lovely images and techniques!

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!

Painting with watercolors and inks

Today I have been painting with watercolors and alcohol inks. This watercolor is painted using a reference photo posted by Ann Bentley on Paint My Photo http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/photo/cherries1-1. I am also painting this image with alcohol inks. I will show you the result when I am done.

With alcohol inks I painted an image I took when I was in South Africa a few years ago. My sister and I visited Addo Elephant Park and had an amazing day. We spotted so many elephants, zebra's and many other animals. The size of the painting is 11 3/4" x 8 1/4" (A4 - 20 x 30 cm).

New video on Youtube - how to paint with alcohol inks

I just uploaded a new video on YouTube on how to create a lovely painting with alcohol inks. I used the painting of the magnolia in bloom (the one I showed you a few blog posts ago) in the video.

Please check it out and like, love and share!

My how to article on the Alcohol Ink Artist blog!

Today my first article on the Alcohol Ink Artist blog was published! I am showing how to make some beautiful colorful anemones with a different masking technique.

Do you also want to know how you can make these lovely flowers? Click here to go to the website.

In an alcohol ink mood....

As you know, I am in Karen Walker's alcohol ink landscape class. Watching the video's and the instructions gets my creativity flowing.

The first 5" x 7"' paintings I did as excercise for the course, the cityscape is a 'happy accident'. I was flowing the ink for a Tuscan landscape, but the blue pushed the other colors away. Leaving a very dark strip of color on the paper. I tried to move it around with a coffee stirrer, and made this marks. I thought it looked like a landscape, and when I turned the painting around, I love it even more. I am going to leave it as it is. The next painting is a Tuscan landscape with a magical tree. Flowed background with minor details and a detailed tree in the front.

And I also painted some anemones. I have ordered some more ink (Ranger has some lovely new colors) and I ordered a larger (A3) size YUPO paper. I have one excercise from last week (a waterfall) and one from this week I want to paint on large format. To be continued...

More landscapes in alcohol inks

As week 2 of my Landscape in alcohol inks course progresses I was going thru my pile of pictures. I love taking pictures but I not use them very often in my work. But this is going to change! Even though the picture is not exactly what you are looking for, you can paint whatever you like. As I am showing here below, the reference image is taken by me in Pacific Grove in California last year. The tree is dark and dooming, but I turned it into a lovely Spring tree, making the painting more colorful. You should try it yourself! Get you imagination going and use only the things you like from your pictures.

Alcohol ink creations video

My Facebook and Alcohol ink friend Joann Wheeler has created a video on YouTube showing lovely paintings in alcohol inks. Two of my paintings are included! Please check out the Alcohol Ink Art team (search for AIART team) on Etsy for more alcohol ink creations!

Alcohol ink course

This month I am taking Karen Walker's landscape class in alcohol inks. She has some marvelous classes with lots of video's, encouragement and inspiration! If you are interested in following one of her classes please  click here.

This week the focus is on Forest and Water and so far I have finished one painting. This one is from the Tropical Waterfall exercise, using an image shared by Robyn Lovelock on PaintMyPhoto http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/photo/waterfall-8.

I am now moving on to the next exercise on reflections. I have printed an image I took from a very Dutch landscape about a year ago, when I was on a painting holiday in National Park De Wieden in the Netherlands. I am very curious how it turns out in alcohol inks. To be continued....

More Spring in alcohol inks!

This week I have been on a roll! I created 5 alcohol ink paintings in total. All in the Spring time theme. I do love Spring.

This morning I finished an alcohol ink painting of the magnolia in bloom. I started it yesterday. And this afternoon I tried working with the Pinata inks. I love the vibrant colors. The ink is also easier to handle, it doesn't flow as wild as the Rangers does. Certainly a good buy!

Magnolia - 7"x 11" (18 x 28 cm)

Daffodils - 6 3/4" x 8 1/4" (17 x 21 cm)

Poppy in alcohol inks

While waiting for my new supply of alcohol inks and Yupo paper, I created this lovely poppy. The size of the painting is 7" x 7". I started with orange ink to create the poppy, followed with yellow ink to create the individual petals of the flower. A blob of denim and eggplant in the middle. The background is made with several greens and stream, washed down with solution. The background was tooooo bright :-) but now it looks perfect.

For sale in my Etsy shop!

Spring is in the air!

I has been a while since I posted on my blog. I have been busy! Not only with my day-to-day job but also with creativity. In March I though a workshop Mixed Media Canvas at the Volksuniversiteit in Soest (Netherlands). 10 ladies created a beautiful canvas to take home with them. I love how these canvasses all start out the same and with the use of the same techniques, they all end up completely different!

Next season I will be teaching 2 workshops at the Volksuniversiteit Soest, a 2-evening workshop on How to start an art journal and a 2-evening workshop on How to create a portret in mixed media. When the site is ready for registration, I will let you know!

And then, after some busy weeks, I went on a marvelous trip to Andalusia (Southern Spain) for a week. So much inspiration, beautiful things and great people. I am back to work again, but must say I have some problems adjusting... ;-).

This week I ordered a few more bottles of alcohol ink, some new colors and a new brand, Pinata. I am happy to say they are now available in the Netherlands as well, at the same shop I order my Yupo paper. But I could not wait.... so I started to create some daffodils, spring is in the air!

Happy New Year!

First of all; a Happy New Year to all of you! May all your dreams come true this year.

Today is the last day of the local art show, this afternoon at 4pm the paintings that did not sell will come back home with me and I will (re)post them in my Etsy shop. So far I sold 6 paintings, 2 alcohol ink paintings of blue and red poppies, 1 mixed media collage painting, 1 pastel and 2 monoprints. A very good result to start the new year! The new owners of my paintings will pick them up this afternoon, I am looking forward to meet them ;-)

Did you see the new layout of the Unruly PaperArts blog? Check it out! I love the new layout!!!
Unruly blog

And I have been making a few more ATC's for the Post Christmas athon on ATCsforall.

Art show opening night and my article on Unruly PaperArts

Yesterday was the opening night of the local annual art show. I had a lovely time and already sold 2 alcohol ink paintings!

And today my new article is on the Unruly PaperArts blog. On how to create some lovely vintage Christmas tags. Check it out here

Getting ready for the local art show

It has been a few weeks since I posted anything on my blog. I was so busy with work, life and getting ready for the annual local art show. The show starts this Wednesday and my sister will help me on Tuesday evening with getting things ready. I have selected all the work I want to take with me, and all the art work is matted and framed and ready to be hanged.

The mixed media paintings are framed in a 40 x 50 cm frame. I love how they turned out, they look so much nicer and professional in a frame.

The pastel drawings are also done.

And this is one of the boxes I am taking with me. I have the 2 mixed media paintings, 14 30 x 40 cm frames with pastels, alcohol ink paintings and monoprints. And in the bag are 4 23 x 23 cm poppy paintings in alcohol ink. I hope the show goes well. I will post some pictures from the opening night on Wednesday!

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!

Halloween ATC's.....

This weekend I am playing in the Halloween a-thon at ATCsforall. I have made 4 ATC's so far, all with alcohol ink backgrounds. The images are drawn with my Pitt pens (love them...).

Did you do anything scary last night?

Painting in alcohol inks

Last year I was part of a local art show during the last 2 weeks of the year. This year I have enrolled again and hopefully I will get the chance to participate again. Last year I showed a lot of Mixed Media Paintings and this year I want to show alcohol ink paintings and watercolor and pen paintings . Fingers crossed that they will pick me again ;-).

In preparation for the show I created a new alcohol ink painting on Yupo paper. The size of the painting is A4, 20 x 29 cms, about 8" x 11". It will look great when it is matted and framed!