Daily Coloring

Today’s coloring assignment is from my daily calendar. There’s always something sweet about a blue bird of happiness.

Day 29--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today's coloring challenge is another extra large postcard from the postcard watercolor block discussed here.  I also wanted to discuss some new handmade watercolors that I ordered from Rachel Beth at her etsy store. Disclaimer here: I have purchased these watercolors on my own and I am not receiving any compensation for this review. To get straight to the review of the product just skip to the end of this blog post.

I have started collecting the watercolors and I am working with the ones that I have on hand. I purchased the half-pans which will be plenty for my use. This is the first time that I have used pan watercolors. Normally, I use Dr Martin's concentrate.

As you can see, 14 half pans can fit in a regular sized Altoid tin. Each pan is labeled with the color and has a small sheet magnet on the bottom of each tin. Using a small tin is the perfect way to carry your watercolors when traveling (which was one of the primary reasons I chose Rachel's shop).

When I work on a project and decide on a palette, I get a scrap of paper similar to the paper that I will be using. I then make a color sample to reference the colors used.

Today's color palette

Here is the sample color palette.

Sample palette

Rachel provides you a reference color dot of each color on the outside of each pan. She also provides you a color sheet for each set. In another post next week, I will share with you my storage system for the unused pans and why these color dots are so important.

Water color tray

When I get started, I mix colors in my tray. To get these colors, I add water to the tray and then lift color from the half-pan. If I want an undiluted color, I work directly from the half-pan with water on my brush.

The first step of any painting for me is a color sample on the actual paper that I will be using. Here, I mist the paper to remove any sizing and to get the paper to relax. I also mist the back of the paper so it is easier to manipulate. Usually I will tape down the project but today's project had no margins so I had to work on a loose piece of paper.

Paper and watercolor sample

When I work on the sample, I try to work wet on wet and let the colors blend themselves to see how saturated the diluted color is. I am a big fan of diluted colors. If I had know how well the above sample would have turned out, I would have masked out a monogram or something. Once I know how the materials work with each other, I set up my station.

Today's project

Here is my setup. The tin of half-pans are just to the left of the color tray. To begin, I outlined a stencil onto the watercolor paper with a Micron .05 black marker.

All color added

The above image are the shapes with all of the colors from this particular palette. Each color was used in some way or another.  The image below shows the differences in colors from the half-pan (undiluted), those from the color tray (diluted), and those colors that were blended (two diluted colors layered on top of each other, wet on wet). If there is no designation, then the colors fall into the third category. See below for the designations.

Pure vs Diluted vs Layered Colors

Once the colors were dried with a heat gun, I decided to add color to the background with water soluble crayons from Caran d'Ache.

Finished Project

PRODUCT REVIEW
I can't explain how pleasant of an experience that I have had when dealing with Rachel. The dedication and presentation of her product cannot be overemphasized. The colors are amazing and a dream to use. Usually when product lines are in this amount (I think she has nearly 100 color choices), many times there are so many similarities in colors that it is hard to distinguish one shade/color from another. This isn't the case here. The blues aren't interchangeable. The greens aren't either. The colors have a creamy consistency that make them easy to remove them with your brush from the pans. The colors are colorfast and blend beautifully together. More importantly, for me, is that I tend to layer colors rather than blend them. This product is perfect for that and then when they are are the page they are easy to feather into one another. Because they are so easy to layer, this product is perfect for creating shadows similar to those available with blended colored pencils. Several of the arcs above where done with this procedure: base color (often diluted), layer of shadow color (vanilla frosting), third color. Once excess moisture was removed, I feathered the colors into each other with a dry brush. In closing, I can't recommend this product any more highly. Great product, great shop, great seller/owner.

N.B. Please disregard any fault with my watercolor technique. My lack of technique should cause no adverse critique of the product.

Day22--30 Day Coloring Challenge

For today's coloring challenge, I decided to color a single page in my Art Journal. This was a quick and easy project since I had a lot going on. I forgot to take a picture before I started so I took a picture of the opposite side of the page. Each of these signatures is made up of two pages folded in half. Therefore, there are three two page spreads and two single spreads. So in essence, I decorated page 1 but decided to use page 8 as the before picture. These two were colored at the same time.

After letting the paint dry, I lettered the words and then masked them off with painter's tape since I wanted to do a modeling paste treatment on the page.

Lettering done and hidden

I mixed some modeling paste with blue and green Doc Ph Martin's watercolors. I mixed in brown to get a darker shade. I then used a brick stencil to apply the paste.

Ready for the reveal

After lifting off the tape, I outlined each brick with black Sharpie and filled in the areas between the bricks. I then distressed the bricks and mortar with a Pentel white gelli roll pen.

Top to bottom

Bottom to top

The concept behind the message and how Fear prevents us from doing things in life. Sometime fear blocks you and walls you into a certain type of living and seeing the world. Conversely, many times we can also hide behind Fear so we don't have to delve into a non-comfort zone. How many times has fear of the unknown prevented you from doing something?

Day 20--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Base page

For today's coloring challenge, I wanted to share a page in my personal art journal. The first step was to fill the page with color. In this case, I used pastel sticks in shades of blue and purple. I blended the colors with a cosmetic sponge and then set the color with fixative.

Completed Page

The second step was to add two interest with two separate stencils. First I laid down the butterfly and then laid down the flowers/petals. Originally, I did a zentangle design on the butterfly but didn't like the way it turned out. To cover it up, I tinted Golden light modeling paste with Ice Blue liquid watercolor (Dr PH Martin's). I then applied a thin layer using the stencil. I then added an additional layer that I then textured for interest.

I colored the flowers and leaves with Tombow markers. I added the quotes with a extra fine tip Sharpie is complimentary colors.

Right side detail

Left Side Detail

Day 19--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Watercolor wash and Sharpie

When the Iron Craft Challenges ceased, I was looking for an opportunities to challenge myself creatively. One of the reasons that I liked the Iron Craft Challenges was they would many times force the artists to create something out of their comfort zone. Since you were only making things for yourself, rather than to exchange, as the creator you weren't getting judged or graded. The community was a very supporting one.

I had been on swap-bot before and many times, I always gave better than I received. I didn't mind it so much because I was always looking for opportunities to create and I could always just join the swaps in which I felt comfortably participating. The problem with swap-bot is that all exchanges get rated so if you get a particularly nasty person, and there are plenty, it gets a little disheartening when you are rated down because of a perceived slight especially if they don't give you an opportunity to correct it.

For today's coloring challenge, I decided to share a postcard that I will be sending out today. The theme was a handmade postcard in Orange.

For the front, I did a watercolor wash in shades of orange. I then stenciled an image of a woman's face. This particular stencil has four women's faces so I did a series of four postcards. The top image is the front of the post card after the first treatment.

For the back of the card, I used my alcohol inks with a paisley stencil.

Back of post card

To finish the front of the card and to make it a little sturdier to send through the mail, I put a coat of gloss ModPodge to seal the colors. As you can see, the stenciled imaged lightened in color and the orange watercolor wash really pops.

Finished post card

Day 8--30 Day Coloring Challenge

For today's coloring challenge, I decided to add some basic color to my art journal. I always have difficulty staring at a blank page when starting a journaling spread. To remedy this difficulty, I simply add a color wash and then put the page away until I am ready to journal. This is a handmade journal made from cold-press watercolor paper. This was accomplished using Dr Ph Martin's Concentrated Water Colors.