Saturday, February 18, 2012

Adding Watercolor to Pen and Ink...fun!

Hearts and Flowers
Mixed Media
Watercolor + Ink

After spending time looking at a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, I got the urge to work with watercolor and pen and ink. I recently ordered some new Grumbacher pan watercolor paints. So I played around with a pen sketch using my Sakura Ink Drawing Pens and added some watercolor. (I love to do creative doodles!) I just purchased some Strathmore mixed media paper, so I wanted to try it out. I was given some samples last year and I really liked it. What I really liked is how it took both the pen and ink and the watercolor.  So I will be ordering more of that paper. I like that it comes in a wide range of sizes from small tablets up to large tablets. I also want to purchase more pan watercolors. The Strathmore paper held up much better than the second image shown here.
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Mixed Media Paper

The second image was done with the same pen and ink and watercolor but on a different paper.  It was done on bristol paper, which is good for pen and ink, but it did not hold up as well to the watercolor. The paper ended up wrinkling up while it was wet, which cause the paint to run in places. But I already had the pen and ink sketch on the paper and thought I would give it a try. But this just reminded me that the paper choice is very important when using a water media.  
HeartHomes by the Sea
I really had fun playing with it and will definitely buy some good watercolors and more mixed media paper.


Beth♥ 




Saturday, February 11, 2012

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Hands in Clay

Its been awhile since I've had time to work with clay, so it was nice to get back into it.  If I didn't have a full time job, I would probably have to schedule a day each week to work in each of my favorite media...clay, colored pencils, pen and ink, and acrylic paints...Because I love working with them all! I could probably get involved with other media as well, but there are only so many hours in a day.  And, for now, 8 hours a day (plus planning, meetings, etc) goes to my day job.  Fortunately, since I am an art teacher, I get to work with all of them some.  My dream job would be to have my own art studio/gallery and work to my hearts content with whatever materials I want to.
Shown here is an Art Studio HeartHome that I recently created.  I've had a few requests for Custom Clay houses with Business Signs on them. So I decided to create an Art Studio. This will be listed in my Etsy Shop soon.


Beth♥ 

My Kiln

My Little Kiln She is small but mighty. She gets the job done.  The size of my kiln does limit what I can create, but I get a lot of use o...