Daily Coloring

For today, I wanted to share something a little different. This is a coloring page I designed using the Americana stencil called Oopsy Daisy. The page is smaller than the actual 12 by 12 stencil. I outlined the flowers using a Sharpie fine tip black marker. I used an extra fine tip Sharpie to fill in the the positive space with coloring guidelines. I call them coloring guidelines because the same motif is used for all of the petals of the same flower. If you look at the yellow flower on the center right of the coloring page, you will see that all of the coloring lines are vertical in orientation. With busy designs, this helps a person to identify which element goes with each other.

The page was filled with color using TomBow Dual Tip Markers. This page will be the basis of a separate project. I outlined the page on one day and then let it dry completely overnight. I added color on the second day.

I would have preferred to use my Copic markers but the alcohol in the markers makes the Sharpie outlines feather.

Crayola Nature Escapes Coloring Book

I wanted to consolidate the pages from this coloring book that I have already completed so I can refer to them at a later point. If you are following along with this 2018 resolution, this is a great place to start. I started coloring this book on the Coloring Across America Tour. 

I will primarily be using my Copic Markers for this book since it is my medium of choice. I promised to evaluate the book with Prismacolor colored pencils and with Caran d'Ache water resistant wax crayons.

As a reminder, the turtle above was created using the Crayola Super Tips markers. For an extended explanation of this page, visit here.

The bees above were colored with Crayola colored pencils. For a detailed explanation of this page, please visit here.

Finally, the flamingo page was colored with crayons. For a detailed explanation of this page, please visit here.

To easily access this series of pages, you can click on the label CraoylaNatureEscapes. One of my goals of 2018 is to color all of the pages in this book.

Day Twenty One

Merry Christmas to those who observe. As you read this, I am barreling my way home to NYC on the Christmas Train. I left at 7:00 AM from New Orleans. I had to wake up at 4:00 AM to get to get to the train station by 5:00 AM.

I wanted to do  something special for Christmas so I chose this Christmas tree from the Deck the Halls Coloring Book. If you remember, I colored a page with colored pencils here and a page with markers here

I chose to work with markers again. I wish that I had extra fine tip markers or brush markers for this page. The dome tip markers made this a little sloppy. Overall, I am pleased with the colors chosen.

Thanks for following along and Merry Christmas.

Day Nineteen

Today’s coloring assignment is from a new book that I found on Amazon. It is not a holiday themed coloring book but I was attracted to the title: Best Adult Coloring Book. The coloring pages are nine inches square. Also there are some double spreads that cover two complete pages. The paper is a little smooth so I anticipate that it will do well with markers. 

I like the graphic design of the book because the illustrations have a lot of open space that you can add your own design if you choose. Also, the images aren’t over designed so there is a lot of space to color.

As you can see the Crayola markers can get streaky when a lot of space is coveted. I enjoyed coloring this page because of the big bold design. I am very interested to see how the other media do on these pages.

Tomorrow the tour continues as I travel to New Orleans.

Day Eighteen

Today’s coloring assignment is from a collection of coloring postcards called Winter Dreams. I purchased my copy from Amazon. I liked the designs although some of them are microdesigned in that there are a lot of little details that can be colored or overlooked. The paper is of a nice quality and holds ink well but probably is best suited for colored pencils. I am going to try and see how my Copic markers do when I return home. The cards are a larger postcard and measure 5 inches by 7 inches. I like the theme because it is holiday related without being in your face about it. They also can be appropriate to send for Winter Solstice and New Years.

I ultimately decided to use colored pencil after my marker fail (see and explained below). With colored pencil, the color spreads nicely on the paper. More importantly, the paper doesn’t become so saturated that colors can be layered. If you look at the bird above, the blue grey of the head was the base color of the entire bird. All of the other colors on the body were layered on top of that base color. For the tail feathers, a fuchsia color was laid down and then red was layered on top of it. I am still trying to solve the background dilemma that I face when I am presented with so much open space. I don’t know if it is the Crayola brand of pencils or my technique that I don’t like.

Well—they all can’t be masterpieces. I started today’s assignment with a different card. Because of the high quality of the paper, I was excited to try and color this set with markers. Because of the rag content of the paper, the color gets easily absorbed into the paper. While I liked the color variation acheived with the berries, when I tried to layer color on the bird it just didn’t work. The bottom layer of color gets so absorbed into the paper that when the second color is used, it simply does not blend. I will try and color blend on blending paper and then apply it to the postcard in a future attempt. I wam happy to say that the markers did not bleed onto the reverse side of the postcard.

Day Sixteen

Today’s coloring assignment comes from the same book as yesterday’s assignment but I wanted to use markers to see how well they would perform. I was concerned that the porous nature of the paper would cause the ink to feather or bleed. Because of the rag content of the paper, it becomes very absorbant and receives a lot of ink. The colors are very vibrant though. The inks do bleed to the reverse side so I would definitely use a coloring page below the page you are coloring.

For this geometric pattern, I chose three different colors for each tree. One color was used for each row and after the third row was completed, the sequence was repeated until the tree was done.

I was very pleased with the way this page turned out. This is the last coloring page from San Antonio.  The next city is Houston where I will spend several days with family.

Day Fifteen

Today's coloring assignment comes from the train trip from Dallas to San Antonio. This is a new coloring book that I found on Amazon. it contains a variety of illustration styles but I was attracted to the geometric patterns that I found inside. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of paper. This paper has a higher rag content which makes it have a more porous surface and is therefore less slick. Because of the paper, I immediately wanted to try crayon to see if it would allow an easier blending of color.

After choosing a color palette and design motifs, I simply applied color. Similar to previous assignments I decided to apply contrasting colors to the separate elements of the snowflake: purples for the foreground and blues for the background. I purposely separated each color and assigned it to a specific element.

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with all of the blank space in the background. If I was at home, I would have created a plaid pattern with my Copic markers which allows for line variation. Similarly, I could have used Sharpie markers to the same effect.

Since I didn’t have those resources, I decided to create a different effect that I used to call the “quilt pattern.” I gridded off the background and applied colors in a random pattern. I chose a monochromatic scheme—in this case, sixteen shades of green. As I fisnished an adjoining diamond, Inwould blend that color with a previously colored block. I would continue to work in this fashion until all the diamonds were completed.

 This paper took crayon well and the color was very easy to apply and there wasn’t any waxy buildup that normally occurs with a smoother paper.

Day Twelve

Today's coloring assignment comes from the Crayola coloring book called Nature Escapes. This book has a very special place in my heart. I used the Crayola Supertips markers for this. I like the pattern because you can be as detailed as you like with applying color. I chose a color palette for repeating themes and then just filled in. Because these markers don't blend or layer well, I will very anxiously wait until I can use my Copic markers.

I am very happy with the way this turned out. Some of the colors are subtle--like the body of the turtle--and some are pretty vivid (like the shell). For the water, I chose five different shades of blue and just rotated them in sequence until the background was completed.

Day Eleven

Today's coloring assignment is the final page from the three page spread I brought along from the book Christmas Adult Coloring Book as shown above.

This page is similar to the page I did with colored pencils. It is simply a page of ornament balls with different levels of designs. It is a rather simple page to color in that you can decide how complex a color palette to use, As you can see below, I chose from two colors to eight colors for each ornament.

I am getting used to the waxy nature of the new crayons and I am  starting to wonder if the waxy texture is because they are new. The colors seem to layer better once they have been used. I am anxious to see how my Caran d'Arche non-soluble crayons work on this paper.

I am happy with the way this turned out. I think the most successful treatment was the marker page, followed the the crayon page and then the colored pencil page. I will experiment on two more pages when I return home. I am really interested to see how my Copic markers and  other crayons work.

This is a very enjoyable book and contains different styles and levels of illustrations to color. Many of the designs are not overly complicated and those that are more complex can be simplified by limiting the color palette.

By the time you read this, I will be on the train and returning to Chicago for the second half of my trip where I take the trains South.

Colored Pencils Page

Markers Page

Day Ten

Today's coloring assignment is a continuation of three pages from the Christmas Coloring Book above. Yesterday, I used colored pencils. Today, I used markers and tomorrow I plan on using crayons.

I think markers work much better on this paper. The paper is smooth so the ink doesn't feather and stays in place. There is some bleed through on the reverse but since these are single sided images that shouldn't be a problem.

If you have been following along, you know my affinity of geometric patterns and this snowflake represents exactly what I love about this type of image. You an add as much or little color as you want. You can pick a pattern and replicate across the image or just color randomly. As you can see, I treated this image as two different six sided snowflakes. The foreground starts on the north-south axis. The background is just to the right of the north axis.

I am really pleased with the way this turned out.

Day Eight

Today’s coloring assignment was another page from the Deck the Halls Coloring Book. This is similar to the page I did here .  That example was colored using alcohol inks so I wanted to see how the Crayola Super Thins would do.

Before

After

As you can see the coverage is similar to the alcohol inks and the transparency is similar as well. Because the ornaments were very detailed, I decided to apply a color wash over the entire ornament, including the black parts. There were no problems in doing so.

I am happy with the way that the markers performed. My two complaints are that the markers are not labeled with color names so you have no way of referencing a particular color. Also, the marker tubes are perfectly round and they roll everywhere—not a good thing when trying to color on a moving train.

Day Three

Today I am traveling from Chicago to Seattle. I wanted a shorter project to work on the train so I could work on several projects over the course of the ride. I found this box of holiday cards on Amazon from the ArtEclect Studio. I decided to use my Crayola Super Tips Markers because I wanted to work on technique.

First, I wanted to test to see if the markers could layer. I tried the light base/darker overlay technique but the colors just don't layer. Y can see the effects on the polka dot bow and the bells. The colors just don't blend.

Second. because the tips are domed. I wanted to see the effects of using just the tip to draw fine lines and the side of the maker to draw thicker lines. As you can see, it is very easy to get good effects by changing the pressure and the angle of the marker which is good for me since I can't live without a plaid background.

My only reservation about the card is that the paper is a little flimsy (probably about 60 lb stock). The envelopes are super thin and come in red and green. I would probably use my own envelope to give some heft to the mailing.

Day Two

Today was spent in Chicago. The train arrived at 10:45 AM and went to my hotel. Expedia inexplicably cancelled my reservation but the nice people at the Kinzie Hotel not only fixed things for me but they let me check in early. The night is dedicated to seeing some of my friends
perform in the musical Hamilton (Chicago cast). Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Seattle.

Today's coloring assignment was a loose page from one of my Michael's purchases that I have mentioned before. I used the Crayola Super Thins markers which are water based. Unfortunately, Ihaven't tried layering them yet but I do miss my alcohol style markers. But this exercise is good for me because it forces me to develop different techniques and style.

This is a Mandela style image. I like it when the artist provides some guidelines on a color palette and suggestions on how the image should be filled in. of course, these are only suggestions. I took my supplies to a Starbucks on Grand Street and took a table and started coloring. A couple of people asked me what I was doing but chose not to join in.

Owl Postcard

Owl Outline

This was made for a handmade postcard challenge. The theme was PINK and my partner liked owls. I outlined the stencil first. I used alcohol inks to provide the required pink color.

Pink--First Layer

My partner also liked blues and teals.

Pinks, Blues and Teals

And if one owl wasn't enough. I added a Charlie the Owl stencil on the back in greens, browns and pumpkin colors.

Not another owl

I hope it gets to its destination because there was a little squeak of delight when I delivered it to the post office for postage.

Have a great weekend and Veteran's Day (in the USA).

Another Envelope

Nine by Twelve inch envelope front detail

This was another quick envelope that was hand delivered. I am working on the proportions of this particular alphabet style. After lettering the envelope, I took a stencil and alcohol inks to provide color. The only problem is that the envelope was larger than the stencil. Since it was a repeating pattern, it was easy to cover the envelope in two steps. First I colored the left side of the envelope (and masked off the right side edge). I then move the stencil to the right so that it finished the pattern (and making sure that I didn't spray off the left side edge). Once the pattern was continued, I colored the background with a light blue color.

Back side envelope detail

The back of the envelope was a simple two step process. Place the stencil on top of the envelope and provide the background colors (and establishing the positive and negative space). I removed the stencil and did a general wash to to highlight the positive space.

More Mail Art

Recent Mail Art

This envelope was used for a flat envelope swap. I had to send 3-5 unused postcards to my partner. She likes pink, purples and flowers. I used flower Forever stamps for the postage.

Front side detail

Back side detail.

I used a new technique for the back of the envelope. I crosshatched the stencil shapes. I then took the original stencil and placed it back on the envelope. I used alcohol inks to add color to the shapes and the background. It was easy to follow the repeating pattern when replacing the stencil on top of the original outlines.

Mail Art

Six by Nine inch envelopes ready to go

Someone asked me the other day, how I have time to make all of the envelopes and mail art that I send. The short answer is that it really doesn't take me that long to do. The longer answer is a bit more detailed.

I don't like to have a lot of idle time on my hands because I would just waste it. So when I am in  between projects, I either organize future projects/supplies or I doodle and prepare envelopes. I take my binder full of stencils and a stack of envelopes and just start doodling/outlining different designs. I don't have a goal in mind; I simply want to get designs on white envelopes. Depending on how much time I have, I will either decorate 9 by 12 inch envelops, 6 by 9 inch envelopes or business size 10 envelopes. I only decorate the reverse (or flap side).

When it comes time to decorate an envelope for use, I hand letter the front of the envelope. If I am using the envelope for a swap, I read my partner's profile to pick a color palette. I will then letter the front and decorate it with alcohol inks to apply a background to the lettering.

After the front is dry, I then color the back of the envelope with markers and then I have a completed envelope. I usually have a stash of 10 to 15 envelopes shelved in the studio just waiting to be used. If I in a bind or don't feel motivated to color, I will use one of my recycled paper envelopes. I have these lying about in dozens just waiting to be used.

Business envelopes ready to color

More business envelopes

Day 28--30 Day Coloring Challenge

For today's coloring challenge, I wanted to complete the Women in Orange series and my experimentation with masking fluid. This is similar to yesterday's masking technique in that the same areas were masked. You can see the original color wash in the open areas (the areas under the crosshatched areas). In today's postcard, the red box wasn't added until after the top color wash was added. Different today was the application of the masking fluid. Yesterday's masking fluid was painted in the open areas. Today, the masking fluid was applied with a credit card over the stencil. Because some of the fluid gets under the stencil you can see a more distressed effect when the dried masked areas are removed.

Also, yesterday, the top color wash was only added within the red box. Today, I applied the second color wash over the entire card. I added the crosshatching and the red box after the card had dried.

Similarly, I wanted to do something different on the reverse of the card.

As you can see, I was a little heavy handed with the Sharpie marker when making the box and the marker bled through to the back side. I decided to glue a second piece of scrap paper to cover the bleed through and to give the card an extra heft.

I have been trying to come up with alternatives to alcohol inks for use of the reverse side. For today, I used a stencil and used pastel colors to fill the card. Although a strong dark pen would work, I was afraid that any writing would be hard to read.

Pastel Copic markers

I needed to make the card a little more translucent so I used my Zyron machine to apply a piece of vellum to the card. This would provide a smooth surface for writing and would mute the design/colors underneath. I have to say that this turned out better than I expected.

BTW, the mottled look of the markers was intentional. I wanted a watercolor effect with some of the white base paper showing through. I thought the mottled effect would be amplified by the vellum.

Markers with vellum overlay

Tomorrow is a different project and product.

Day 27--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today's coloring challenge is the third in the series of Women in Orange. I am still experimenting with masking fluid and watercolors. Today's session including masking all of the negative space and then adding a water color wash to just the lines in the stencil.

The first step was to apply the general color wash to the post card. The second step was to outline the image with a red extra fine tip Sharpie. The third step was to apply the border with an extra wide chisel tip red Sharpie. The next step was to apply the masking fluid to the open areas of the stencil thereby leaving the thick border lines available for the second color wash. The final step was to apply the top color wash only to the area within the boxed area. If you look closely you will see that the thick lines within the red Sharpie marker lines are a reddish solid color to contrast with the reds, yellows and orange colors of the background.

I also wanted to do something different on the reverse of the card. I wanted to play with stencils and shadows. I didn't want to do another alcohol ink treatment but I needed something that was translucent enough so that writing can be read on the card. I found a fun geometric stencil that I outlined in a black Micron .01 pen. I then used shades of grey to color in the arrows. I designated the address area by a zigzag line in grey.

Day 25--30 Day Coloring Challenge

As we close out the coloring challenge this week, I am deciding to so some smaller projects and maybe one last full size coloring page from one of my coloring book collections. Today, I wanted to test a new product that I found at a local art store. It is Canson watercolor cold press paper in a 6 inch by 9 inch block.

Watercolor blocks are usually sheets of paper that are glued together. You paint on them and they warp less because they are attached to all of the other sheets. When you are done, you separate the top sheet from the rest by slipping a sharp edge directly between the top sheet and the rest of the block. I usually buy Arches cold pressed 140 lb 20 sheet blocks in larger sizes, either 14 in by 20 in or 18 in by 24 in. I like coloring the full sheet with one color palette and then cutting it in smaller pieces and adjust/augment a smaller piece.

I decided to use Copic markers to see how the color worked on the paper. I used a stencil and an extra fine tip Sharpie to outline basic figures.

Basic figures

The Sharpie didn't feather and stayed color fast on the paper. I will have to say that both sides of this paper are fairly smooth or without tooth. Most watercolor blocks usually have one side that is smoother than the other.

I will have so say that the color feathers a little bit on this this paper so it is easier to color to the line rather than one the line. Also, the alcohol in the Copic markers darkens and saturates the permanent Sharpie outlines. So, while the markers are steadfast, the Sharpies in combination with the paper and alcohol of the Copics will feather.

I still haven't decided what to do with the reverse side. I will probably just make this an over sized postcard. I might use alcohol inks on the reverse or do a collage or image transfer.