Crazy Cool Art Technique: White Acrylic and Watercolor

I hope your weekend was filled with relaxation and fun!  My weekend involved getting our home organized for the big upcoming sale and playing with Little I.  She is smiling and cooing like crazy which makes her so much fun!  I definitely took a million pictures of her doing the same thing over and over.  I am a little camera happy I think:)

Anyways....back to business!  I wanted to show you a cool mixed media technique that you might enjoy trying.  For those of you new to mixed media, it is basically when you use more than one type of art media.  Today we will be using watercolors and white acrylic paint.

First gather your supplies:

1.  Various watercolor media such as watercolor paints, watercolor colored pencils and watercolor crayons.

2.  Find a picture to draw from or draw from your imagination!

3.  White paper...does not have to be watercolor paper!

4.  Paint brushes

5.  White Acrylic paint

6.  Pencil

Once you have gathered all of your supplies you should draw out your basic shapes of your artwork with a pencil on your white paper.  Next begin to apply white acrylic paint to your sketch.  Try not to paint over your pencil lines or else you won't be able to see your drawing!

Here is my huge container of white acrylic...notice all of the colors mixed inside?!  Guess I am not so great about cleaning off my brush:)

Try these techniques using white acrylic:

1.  Swirls of thick white paint

2.  Scratch into the white paint to create textures ( I just used the tip of a mechanical pencil.)

Once your acrylic paint is dry you can start to add watercolor paint!

Just paint right on top of your dried white acrylic and be amazed at how the textures you created with the acrylic paint really pop out once color is added!

For finishing touches I like to add watercolor crayons or colored pencils.

And voila:

Coffee Talk: My Cleveland Cottage

Hello!  Happy Friday:)  Hope you have had a lovely week.  I just wanted to invite you to have a cup of coffee with me in my kitchen.

Here, I made you a latte!

I only wish that I had some sweet treats to share!  I can't seem to keep any in the house longer than a couple of days!  Anything with chocolate is a huge weakness for me!

So tell me about your weekend plans.  The husband and I are trying to get our house ready to sell so we have some major organizing ahead of us.  I am such a pack rat and keep anything with even a trace of being sentimental.  Hopefully I can part with some of my belongings in order to contribute to the organization process!

I really am going to  miss our Cleveland cottage.  It is such a cute little place that fits the husband, little "I" and myself perfectly.  We have lived here for almost 5 years and probably will not find anything like it again.  

On the plus side we are moving back to our hometown where our family lives.  So excited!  Family is so important!

Well I hope you have a LOVELY weekend relaxing and enjoying your time off.  

Happy Music

Good morning!  At least it is morning as I write this.  Right now I am drinking my second cup of coffee.  It is delicious.  Coffee is my absolute favorite!  It is so warm, wakes me up and tastes excellent with chocolate!  Too bad I have already finished off all of my dark chocolate supply or else I might be having chocolate for breakfast (again!)

Today it is going to be 62 degrees here in Ohio!  I am soooo excited!  I am planning on running outside as soon as the husband gets up and can watch little "I.". One song that I constantly play on my ipod as I run that puts me in the best of moods is "What I Wouldn't Do" by  A Fine Frenzy.   It is just the happiest song ever!  Give it a listen and see how your mood lifts!  What songs make you happy whenever you hear them?

Well I hope you have a fantastic day!  I am off to get the husband up!

Sketchbook Sparker: Draw from a Magazine

If you are ever stuck for ideas on what to draw, try this brainstorming technique: 

Supplies:

1. At least 1 magazine with LOTS of pictures ( Old Domino magazines, Elle Decor, Lucky, Smithsonian, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart are some of my favs)

2. A sketchbook or pieces of paper

3. A pen (I like a black ball point pen)

4. Colored pencils, markers, watercolors, ink, etc.

Next complete these easy steps:

1.   Flip through the magazine.

2.  As you flip through, look for ANY images, fonts, colors that appeal to you.

3.  Using your pen begin to draw them on your sketchbook page.  Remember you are brainstorming so it doesn't matter how amazing your drawings are.  

4.  Begin to form a composition with your drawings.  You can do this by making the images interact, overlap, combining, etc.  There are no rules!  You will be amazed by what ideas come to you:)

5.  When you have filled your sketchbook page,  begin to add color or shade with your pen.

6.  When you are finished you will find that you have created a very interesting sketch!

7.  You can extend this idea by creating an artwork such as a finished painting or drawing from a section of your sketch.

Here is my magazine sketch from February's Good Housekeeping Magazine:

I used a black pen, watercolor colored pencils and chart pak markers.

Sometimes I just don't know what to draw and I find that images from magazines can be helpful:)  I hope this inspires you if you ever hit a creative block!

Well have a lovely day!  It was 50 here today in Ohio!  Yay!  It was so sunny and beautiful and really made me happy! 

Spring Inspired Sketches

Hello!  Today it is sunny and almost 40 degrees here in Ohio!  Really gets me excited for SPRING!  So I decided to do some sketches that are spring-related.

I want to do a series with kites I think...they are so cool.  I am not the best kite flyer though:(

Here are some spring-inspired doodles...I love to doodle:)

Don't you just love to doodle?  It is so therapeutic and it really doesn't matter what the end result looks like.  Sometimes when I am stuck for an idea I like to doodle and see what comes out on the paper:) 

Well I am off to enjoy the sunshine even if it is still pretty cold out.  I think I will go on a run outside or maybe just make some more coffee and sit in my sunny kitchen and doodle some more:) 

Happy Love Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope everyone is able to spend time with the people you love today:)  Little "I"'s Valentine present to me was sleeping until 6:30!  A whole night of sleeping!  Hooray!  

It is a little warmer here today but we still have lots of snow on the ground.

We are supposed to get 50 degree temperatures by the end of the week!  Yay!  I can FINALLY take Little "I" out on a walk!  I have been dreaming about doing that for a while. I definitely have some cabin fever!  Well I am off to celebrate the day, hope you have a lovely one!

Art Pen Pal Gift

Two days ago I received a package in the mail from my art pen pal.  It was by far the funniest thing she has ever sent me.

It is a packing tape sculpture of a bunny with peeps inside!  Packing tape sculptures are super easy to make.  Click here for a great step- by- step tutorial.  I really want my art club at school to make a bunch of packing tape sculptures for our spring art show.  The only thing is packing tape can be kind of pricey.  

Anyways...how are you doing?  I am doing pretty well.  Right now "I" is napping so I am trying to write a quick blog post!  I have slowly gotten her on a schedule so that is good:)  

I have been trying to get some art done but it is a slow process.  Here are two backgrounds I have created.  I still don't know what I will be putting on them yet.

I have been looking around my house lately for things that inspire me (especially since I cannot go outside...it is like 16 degrees out!)

Here are two things that have inspired me lately that I am going to try and incorporate into an artwork.

These two pears in my kitchen

These lovely silver twigs in my kitchen.

I think it is important to surround yourself with inspirational items.   I was thinking of doing a pear series...we shall see!  Well have a lovely weekend!

Alfresco-Inspired Art

I am obsessed with cafe scenes.  Eating alfresco is such a fun summertime treat!  Since it is super cold and snowy here in Ohio, I figured a nice alfresco scene would make me feel a little happier.  Here is my latest artwork.  I was able to do this while little "I" took naps this past week.

This artwork is about 8 x 10 and was done with acrylic and hand-painted paper on a wooden panel.  I hope to add it to my etsy store soon!  

Being a Mom and Artist

I always took art for granted.  I always knew I could do it whenever I wanted.  Even if I didn't do something creative for myself, I was an art teacher so I helped my students with their art everyday.  When I had a baby, things changed.  I was not able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  It helped me become less selfish.  However, I started to go into withdrawal without my daily art fixes.  Whenever "I" would sleep I would do a quick sketch (hence the revival of my 10 minute sketches which I still have trouble getting done!)  I finally figured out a way to get in an extra hour of art a day.  It is short and sometimes gets interrupted, but at least it is better than nothing!
There is this great interview with one of my favorite bloggers and artists,  Rosa Murillo   in which she talks about having children and working art into her life.  I loved how in the interview she says she is a mother first and then an artist.  She says that she is the most important teacher for her kids and I couldn't agree more!  I am so excited to share with little "I" all of my experiences I have had with art and to do creative projects together with her!  Rosa talks about how her and her children do lots of art together and it just made me so excited for when "I" is old enough to do art:)
For all of you artists and mothers out there, how did you fit art into your lives again after having a baby? What tricks and techniques did you do?  

Birthday Cake

Today is the husband's birthday.  He is turning the big 3-0.  We are EXACTLY 6 months apart so I am halfway to the big birthday.  To celebrate, I got a lovely ice cream cake.  Of course I took pictures because it was so pretty....and delicious!

.

Turning 30 means he is officially a grown up.  This means that I am almost a grown up!  I don't know how I feel about that!  The husband didn't want to do anything too crazy for his birthday.  We hung out with little I and ate cake all day long:)  Right now I am "watching" the Super Bowl.  Actually I am just watching the commercials.  So far I am not too impressed but the night is young!

By the way, notice that I am blogging again?!  The husband fixed my computer however everything was still lost:(  At least I can get online, I thought I was going to go crazy without internet access.  It is amazing how much I have come to rely on the internet.  Craziness.  I will continue with my 10 minute sketches but in reality I might only be able to do only 1 every other day or so.  Little I requires all of my attention:)

Have a great Sunday!