Adventures in Art, Product Design, Home Decor, Cooking, and Gardening
I hope everyone enjoyed the long holiday weekend. It went by way too fast and I didn’t accomplish everything that I had planned to do. But I managed to squeeze in a brief painting session this afternoon. Fall is the perfect time to plant tulips, and these Angelique tulips would look fabulous in my spring garden. Now all I need to do is find the time and energy to plant some before winter sets in.
After several starts and stops–and a holiday in between–I finally finished the painting that I started during my family watercolor fest. As per our challenge, I plan on adding ink details, but I like this painting so much as is that I wanted to share it with my readers–and save a copy for myself. Here’s a close-up view:
My niece, Karen, also painted rainbow tulips then tried her hand at stippling with a micron pen, choosing colors to match each flower. She painted the cloudy background without the use of masking fluid, which can be tricky, but she did a fabulous job.
I’m still completing my painting since I spent more time as a host, helper, photographer, and instructor during our family paint-a-thon than I actually did painting. I’ll be posting my painting next.
My daughter went wild with color and decided to paint each petal a different color. How fun is this? She added texture using micron pens in colors that closely matched the paint color and chose to keep the background white so as not to compete with all the vibrant colors and fun texture.
Coming up next: my niece’s painting. I still haven’t completed my painting. Looks like I’ll be having another late-night painting session or two.
This past weekend I hosted a family summer watercolor fest. My sister, niece, daughter, and I had a great time painting, chatting, singing Taylor Swift’s annoying song, “we are never-ever-ever getting back together” over and over again, and snacking on caramel macchiatos and homemade brownie cupcakes. The cupcakes were amazing; I’ll be posting the recipe next.
For this painting session we thought it would be fun to paint the same painting and compare our individual results. We took this challenge a step further and decided to add texture with pen and ink on top of the completed paintings. We were inspired by the work of artist Cindy Dauer and her Slumbering Herd. If you’re not familiar with Cindy’s work, check out her blog, The Slumbering Herd, and prepare to be delighted.
Here, I applied liquid frisket to mask out the tulips, leaves, and stems while I painted the cloudy background.
This is my niece, Karen’s painting in progress. It’s upside down in this view because I was sitting across from her when I snapped the photo.
This is my sister’s work in progress. She chose colors that closely resembled those in the reference photo, but then went crazy with ink and texture. You won’t believe how many looks she was able to achieve with this painting. I’ll be showing photos of the completed paintings next.
This Winsor Newton watercolor chart came in handy when we were choosing the color schemes for our paintings or trying to match a color in a reference photo. If you ever have an opportunity to host or join a painting party, I highly recommend them. They’re lots of fun and a great learning experience.
This painting, which is based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” showcases my favorite Winsor Newton paint colors–permanent rose, Winsor blue green shade, Winsor yellow deep, green gold, and alazarin crimson.
My daughter painted these cheerful orange tulips during our joint painting session earlier this evening. How fabulous are they? I love the color scheme and the series of lines and dots drawn in micron pen that she used to shade the flowers and leaves. This painting was based on a photo I found on Paint My Photo.
Here’s a photo of her painting before the addition of the details in micron pen:
She wanted me to ask my readers if the painting was better with or without the micron pen details. I say it’s better with the dots and lines. What say you all?
Tulips are my favorite flower to paint. They’re simple but elegant, they come in a variety of colors, and the leaves offer a lot of opportunities to play with a range of blues, greens, and yellows. I wasn’t sure if the pastel background would work with this painting, but I think I pulled it off. This painting is based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor.”
Here’s a close-up view:
And speaking of orange, here’s my completed tulip painting. I plan on featuring it–and the orange poppies my daughter painted–on my upcoming tangerine tango redecorating series. I may drop in a background at a later date, but for now I’m calling it done. I like the simplicity of this painting and intensity of the colors. This painting was based on a tutorial from the book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” by Fiona Peart. Watercolors on cold pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.
I love the lighting in this photo and the close-up view that shows the texture of the paper. This painting is a departure from my typical cool color scheme. I used only four paint colors (permanent rose, winsor blue, cadmium yellow deep, and indigo) by Winsor Newton. Watercolors on cold pressed Artistico paper by Fabriano.