New patterned design of orchids

I have been working on some new designs, to be used for products in my RedBubble shop.

This week I have been painting orchids. This orchid is one that I already have for a long time in my windowsill. I used old sketches from one of my old journals, and added new watercolor sketches in my Moleskine watercolor journal.

I made these sketches a few months ago

And a few new sketches in my Moleskine watercolor journal

I scanned the orchid paintings into the computer and created a lovely patterned design using Photoshop. I uploaded the design to my RedBubble shop and it creates this lovely products. Products are for sale, there are many more products with this design and other. Take a look!

RedBubble orchids pillow

RedBubble tanktop with my orchids design

RedBubble dress with the orchids design with a grey background

Irisses - lovely flowers in watercolor

This months (July) challenge in the Florals and Botanical group in WetCanvas was all about the iris. I have used one reference photo for all 3 paintings. My initial plan was do paint an iris in Jean Haines' style, big, bold and loose. Well, that did not happen. But I did manage to create a pen and wash sketch in my Moleskine watercolor and 2 other completely different watercolor paintings.

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.

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 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)

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!

Another waterlily in alcohol inks

I must be in my waterlily period ;-). I have painted a few waterlilies in watercolors and this is the second one in alcohol inks. The format of the painting is A4 ( 21 x 29 cms / 8 1/4" x 11 1/2"). The painting is for sale in my Etsy shop.

More alcohol ink paintings

I just love working with alcohol inks! I am discovering more techniques and learning more about the inks and how they behave (or not...). Both paintings are done on A4 size (8 1/4" x 11 3/4") Yupo paper with Ranger alcohol inks and Promarkers for the details. Both are for sale in my Etsy shop (shopname is Kitty69).

New greeting / note cards in my Etsy shop

I have added some new sets of greeting and note cards in my Etsy shop. This time with original photographs, taken by me ;-).

My Etsy shop can be found here: http:\\www.etsy.com\shop\Kitty69. One example of a 3 card set with water lilies.

 

And more flowers in alcohol ink

This week I have been working on some more flowers in alcohol ink. I love blue flowers but had some problems with the background. It was too messy, then too dark, and now I am ok with it. Love the orange and blue combination.

More alcohol ink

Two more paintings with alcohol ink. The first one is for the Beginners course with Karen Walker. This week's subject is masking and lifting. The anemone was made with pouring the ink on the Yupo paper and lifting the ink with alcohol to create more shapes. I also used my Promarkers to get some more detail in the center.

 



 

And this painting was done on my new A4 Yupo paper that I bought in the Netherlands (Yippie!). Lots of pouring and letting the ink flow, with a few lifted details. I am not sure about the vase. I posted the picture on Facebook and everyone loved it, but I am still not sure...

Poppies in alcohol ink and flamingos in watercolor :-)

My sister came for dinner yesterday and after dessert we decided to play some more with the alcohol inks. My sister is more of a mandala/zentangle/doodle kind of person, I am more a painter. But we both love working with alcohol inks!

I made painted a few poppies. With two of them I created lovely note / greeting cards. These are for sale in my Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/Kitty69

And I painted flamingos in watercolor for the WDE (Weekend Drawing Event) on WetCanvas. I just love flamingos and the reference photo really caught my interest. The size is 9" x 12".

New ATC's for the Easter athon and WetCanvas

Yesterday the ATC Easter athon started at www.atcsforall.com. I have been making several collaged / mixed media ATC's already. Today I took out my watercolor paints and painted 2 ATC's. One (the zinnia) is for the WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event and the anemone was painted using an old reference. I love how these two turned out. I am keeping the anemone ATC for myself ;-).

Weekend Drawing Event 23 Feb 2013

Today I have been painting a reference image from the WDE (Weekend Drawing Event) on WetCanvas.com. Every week a host posts 16 images and you have 2 hours to do your thing. You can draw, sketch, paint in any kind of medium.

This week I chose the picture of some lovely flowers, lisianthus and 'painted' them with my Aquamarkers. I am still practising with the aquamarkers and I am still not sure about them. I cannot see the benefits of the markers above regular watercolor paint. But I do like the painting, the top is nicer then the lower part, but I am ok with it.

Week 3 - Life Book 2013

Yesterday I have been creating 2 pages in my mixed media journal after watching this weeks video lesson with Christy Tomlinson. The flowers are made with aluminium foil and tissue and hand painted deli paper.