Vitamin C... A Daily Dose of Creativity: painting

Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts

by Kim

A couple weeks ago, I took a mini vacation and put myself in a hotel room on the Detroit River. My plan was to do some painting. Without distraction.

The view and the weather were fabulous (Belle Isle was out my window, freighters cruised by, the sunrise was awesome), the hotel was a little strange. It was in a very old building that used to be drug labs for Parke Davis. The big problem was the room was a cave. A really dark cave, that made it hard to paint.

I signed up for a self paced painting class online. I chose this artist/teacher because I really like her work, and I didn't really care that it wasn't deep, I just wanted to paint. The teacher was darling, but she taught almost completely without words. She taped herself doing a painting from beginning to end, added background music, and sped it up for us to watch.

In a way, it was good, but I wanted her to tell me why she chose some materials and a little bit about what she was doing.

So, above you see step 1, scrubbing some black on my canvas.

Step 2 was scribbling over the black with water soluble crayons. I was creating a background.

Third layer...a thin coat of paint. You can see the depth of the black underneath, but I totally lost all of the crayon doodles. I wonder if it was because I used a different kind of paint or what!?! She did not explain!

Some lighter paint over the dark colors adding more depth.

When that was dry, I drew my basic design in with a white water soluble crayon. Great idea. Usually, if I do this step, I use pencil. But the crayon can be wiped off if I choose. I don't have to worry about covering up lines, the crayon is absorbed into the paint.

When I started this, I thought I would do a riverscape with my hotel in it. Then I was not sure I wanted to keep a memory of that weird hotel for posterity. I decided on a painting of my 10 year plan for retirement. You can see my small cottage by a lake and a tree, my cool wind turbine, and my garden.

The shapes base coated.

Starting to add some details.

Details and outlining. Click the pic to see closer.

I am thinking about putting this in my tiny work cubicle as inspiration.

Maybe some day, you will come visit me in my small cottage by a lake and a tree and we will paint, sing some oldies, and tell stories about the good old days!

Meanwhile, let's use our Vitamin C!

Mailbox Refurb

by Kim

Oh how I wish I had taken a before picture of this mailbox.

Some years ago, my brother in law volunteered to put up my new mailbox. We discussed how to attach it to the post and cement the post into the ground. And I left on a business trip. When I got home, he had nailed it to the side of the porch railing. Yeah. Classy.

Worse, I left it there until it was falling off, all bent out of shape. and rusting.

Deciding to finally fix it, I pulled it off, straightened out the wonk, sanded off the rust, and sprayed it with with a primer. After that I sprayed it green. I used a big Spouncer (flat round sponge on a stick) and printed white dots all over it.

I had considered buying a new mailbox, but I really didn't have to. It looks great, for only the cost of a can of green paint, since I had all of the rest of the stuff I needed.

Use your Vitamin C!

Journals, Mosquitos, and VBS

by Kim

I have been away for 8 days in the way north of Wisconsin with a group of high schoolers from church. Our mission there was to share Jesus with children on the Chippewa and Potawatomi reservations. Not working much with kids, I did not know what to expect. I was happily surprised by the high schoolers on the trip. They had open minds and hearts, worked hard, and invested their whole selves. Pretty awesome.

Man, did they have the most brutal mosquitos I have ever seen! Or felt. And scratched. We are all covered in welts. But, pleased with the way everything else went on the trip.

And, how beautiful are the native kids????

In between Vacation Bible School and some work projects, I gave the girls blank journals so they could note what they were doing and learning. The journals were made of watercolor paper. They had permanent markers, watercolor pencils, and water brushes.

They traced stencils or drew their own designs, and watercolored them in. They really did a great job.

The most awesome part was that I saw several of them actually continuing their journals throughout the week.

A little Vitamin C added to the week!

If you have never used watercolor pencils, you can give them a try for a very small investment. I took my coupon to Michaels and found them at several different price points. I bought the value box of 24 that cost $3 with my 40% off coupon. They worked as well as the $15 box.

Just draw or color on watercolor paper. Then brush over the color with water. We used hollow brushes that are filled with water. The water makes the pencil bleed and smooth out. The color will travel a long way across the paper and give you a nice watery look. It is so easy, anyone can do it, and it looks just like you painted it.

Take your Vitamin W! (watercolor!)

Black and White Chair

by Kim

Been doing a little painting this week. I have a stack of old chairs in the garage calling to me. I painted two in this black and white motif. My inspiration came from the fabric, which I got at Jo-Ann's with a 50% off coupon! It also came in turquoise which was so gorgeous...

I started these chairs a bit differently than I always do. I spray painted them white. It took three cans (bought with coupons!). I always paint the entire chair with craft acrylics because it is so inexpensive that way. But, this week, I was interested in not spending so much time working on them. I think the less time I work on a big project that I sell, the more money I make on it. And that is the point.

I sprayed them flat because I knew I would spray a glossy sealer over all. And, did you know that flat spray costs less than satin or gloss? That was a new one on me, and I like it.

Then I painted the details with craft acrylics as I normally do.

These go perfectly in my kitchen. However, there is not one square inch of open space in my kitchen, so I am taking them to The Loft in Bay City to see if she will sell them for me.
If they don't sell, I might have to bring them back to the kitchen and replace the less exciting chairs that are there now.

Love a good restyling project.
Use your Vitamin C!

My Sheep Hear My Voice....

by Kim

Chair painting. Love it!

If you have never done, give it a try! It is an inexpensive project. Pick a chair you already own or one you find at the curb, free. Craft paint is inexpensive. You really then just need a couple of nice brushes, a can of clear glaze, and an idea. A painted chair is a handmade project that will last a long time, could even be an heirloom.

Take your Vitamin C and start painting...

Cloud Punch Outs on a Journal Page

by Kim

Earlier this week, I did a collage project using my cloud punch. And, in the tutorial, I suggested you save the cloud punch outs for another project. So, here is my other project!

This is inside a journal I have been working in. It is a work in progress and what I am showing here is not the final, but the beginning of these two journal pages.

You see the cloud punch outs that I glued to the page. I also punched small daisies with my Oopsie Daisy punch, and glued them in with button centers. The frame was simply traced and colored in with marker. Michaels has some very cool laser cut wood frames down their seasonal aisle right now. Different shapes and designs. This is one of them.

So, some very simple craft techniques were used to make a clean background for whatever I will do next.

Use your Vitamin C and look at the materials you have in a different way!

Daisy Canvas Collage Tutorial

by Kim

I find it important to make time to create, just for fun...or therapy...or creative exercise. It's good for me and good for you too! So, last night, I had nothing pressing, a gentle rain was falling, the windows were open, and I sat at my table to create. It was relaxing.

You know I really like to collage. It combines some of the things that I love about designing and crafting: color, painting, layering, doodling, and tearing paper.

Here is what you need to make this project. But, you know you should substitute materials and colors if you want, to make it your own.

four 6"x6" canvases
acrylic paint: sky blue, turquoise blue, turquoise green, white, lime green
seasponge
Fiskars punches: XL oopsie daisy, XL cloud
Fiskars deckle Tear edger
Scrapbook paper: assorted green prints, 2 deep pink prints, brown print, aqua print
small piece of bubble wrap, about 4" x 6"
Mod Podge for paper
paintbrushes: large flat, small round
scraps of 140 lb watercolor paper
6 Pop Dots
white craft glue
small buttons: 6 turquoise, 1 lime green
fine point marker: black
tape
palette

I started with my favorite color palette, 3 shades of turquoise. Pour out a little puddle of each. Dip the flat brush into 2 or 3 colors at once.

Brush on to the canvas. Try to just apply the paint, not brush back and forth on it. This will give you visible striations of color.

Do all four canvases and let them dry. Arrange them in the way you want them to be in your design.

I love layered backgrounds on my collage. Clouds will be one layer. Using the cloud punch, make two strips of punched out clouds. Tape them together. Use this as a stencil. Save the punched out clouds for another project.

On your palette, pour out white and sky blue. I did not want the clouds to stand out too much, so I added blue to the white. Dip your damp (not wet) sponge into both colors. Dab on the palette to mix the colors on the sponge.

Dap the sponge over the stencil to print clouds wherever you want them.

Tear strips of green paper about 1" wide. I had three greens. Tear the strips into 1" square pieces.

Brush Mod Podge on canvas at bottom, Place paper squares over wet glue. Smooth with fingers.

Draw a vase shape on the back of brown paper. Cut out and Mod Podge on lower right canvas.

Brush turquoise blue paint on bubbles of bubble wrap.

Print randomly on left and right sides of canvases. The dots are another layer.

Also tear one 12" x 1" strip of aqua paper. Cut it in half and Mod Podge it to the left sides of canvases....about an inch from the left edge.

Put a dot of lime green paint where you want to build your three flowers. Brush lime green paint on the very edge of the tearing tool. Print a starburst of 12 spokes.

Make a starburst around each dot.

Using the daisy punch, punch out a total of 11 daisies, using both pink papers.

Wrap each petal around the skinny end of round brush. This makes the daisies dimensional.

Assemble daisies in vase with pop dots between layers. Use white glue to attach buttons as centers. Use the round bush and lime green paint to make stems on daisies that go down into the vase.

Mod Podge 5 remaining punched daisies on strip of aqua paper on left side. Glue on button centers.

Use marker to doodle a bit on your canvases. Small spirals at ends of starbursts.....