The Artist's Play Room challenge this week was monochromatics. Any color - our choice - in variations from light to dark. This is what I made today.
I haven't done a tutorial in awhile, so here are the steps I followed to make my monochromatic offering this week. I started out with a sheet of 9" x 12" Strathmore Bristol smooth surface, 100 lb. paper. I also used Dylusions Ink Sprays in Funky Fuchsia, Bubblegum Pink, and a mix of White Linen with 8 drops of Bubblegum Pink.
To get started, I took a Ranger spritz water bottle and misted the paper lightly.
While the water was still damp, I spritzed the three colors of ink spray onto various sections of the paper. To get the feathered effect I got with the pink section to the right, I held my ink spray bottle to the side of the paper and spritzed it across the paper instead of straight on to the paper. As the ink hit the page, it feathered and spread in the water.
Let the ink sit in the water for 10-15 seconds, and you will notice the colors start to blend and spread.
You can keep adding color as you need to. If you have white spaces that could use a little help, spritz more water onto those white areas and watch the colors start to spread even more.
If you get too much water buildup, roll a section of paper towels back and forth across your page. This will blot up excess water and color. It may also lay down some awesome texture, depending on what your paper towels look it.
Here is a closeup of some of the details.
Keep working the water, ink, and paper towels until you get the effect you want.
More detail. If you want to hurry up the drying process, feel free to use a heat gun.
Wanting to incorporate other elements into my monochromatic theme, I used some stencils from Joggles.com, a couple daubers, and some Memento ink pads. I placed the stencil where I wanted it to be on my layout, held it in place with my hand, and then dabbed stamp pad ink (rose bud) onto the stencil flowers.
I wanted my flowers to have some depth, so I used a wild plum Memento ink pad and a smaller dauber, dabbing darker ink around the lower portions of the petals. I used another Joggles stencil to make the sun.
Once I got my inks the way I wanted them, I heat set them with a heat gun. I don't know that this is absolutely necessary, but I am used to doing it.
Next I used this cool little supply that came in the mail last week. Punchanella, I got it from the Paper Studio. It is the remnant leftovers from sequins. Pretty awesome! I laid it in place across a lower corner and used the wild plum ink to dab some wonderful dots across my page.
I love the way it looks! And it is so easy to do!
This is what I had up to this point.
I also used a stamp at the lower left corner to add a sentiment. Adding linework was a lot of fun! Patterns I used included: grass border, tidal, leau, printemps, phicops, mooka, fescu, and dandelions. I added a few butterflies via stamps and was done. I love the bright colors! This was so easy, anyone could make it. You don't have to use the ink sprays if you don't already own them. (Although, if you ever try them you won't want to use any other ink.) Ranger color wash sprays would work and most Michael's carry them. You could do something similar with watercolors also.
If you have a minute, head on over to Jenn McLean's page Just Add Water, Silly and check out everyone's artwork for this week's challenge. You could even add some of your own!
Yesterday was a pretty scary day here in Maryland. Plenty of rain and wind and snow and did i mention rain? Courtesy of Hurricane Sandy, now known as Superstorm Sandy - the worst storm in the history of the United States. Kali and I rode out the storm in Maryland as we waited to hear if she would be able to take her entrance exam for the pastry college today. And while I waited - I watercolored.
I began by drawing my outline. I left my circle template in Florida (can't believe I did that!), so I scouted the hotel room for circles to trace. The smaller, inner circle is from a hotel water glass :) and the larger, outer circle was made by tracing the lid of the ice bucket :). You gotta do what you gotta do! Then I divided the area into sections.
Tangling was the easy part. Then I stippled the heck out of the center. I did something similar once before - except that turned out to be a flower. This looks more like a math project gone wrong. OR a fun math project!
The project I was working on for my class called for a prismatic approach, so I drew a string in and around my sections and background . . .
. . . and began laying color. The thought was to make my focal point stand out from the background by my color choices. Of course I used my Derwent Inktense Pencils. The only way to go with watercolor. Well, not really, but it's my preferred way because the colors you get are so bright and vivid and intense. A waterbrush and pencils. Easy peasy.
For the most part, I tried to separate the colors where the string line made divides. Didn't always accomplish that, but I tried.
I figured the central focal part would be the hardest, so I did all of that first. I went with variations of purple, pink, and blue because I really like the way those colors look together. I have actually had my hair all these colors - one at a time, not all at once, although I'm not totally unfond of the idea.
Then I picked out yellows and greens to do the contrasting background. Once this was dry, I went back to my copic multiliner and added the penwork shading. All shading and detail work was done with this multiliner. It's always a challenge for me to figure out shading on color - the black penwork is the way to go! This was a fun project, not hard to do, and I was very satisfied with the results. I am not one to be able to draw awesome pictures of flowers and ladies and animals and landscapes, but I can tangle me up a bunch of artwork! Throw some bright color on there and I am one happy lady sitting in the midst of one scary, scary, scary hurricane! (And I still have the heater set on 82, trying to warm up! Florida, oh how I miss you!)
I was looking back through books, getting my artwork ready to head to Rhode Island tomorrow morning, and I came across these two pages in my smash journal. I haven't posted these before. I drew these back at the very beginning - this was one of the first drawings I did using zentangle patterns.
Some of the patterns I used are florz, keeko, shattuck, a variation of diagonals, tidal, and cheesecloth.
The color came from Pitt Artists Pens. This was before I learned about Derwent intense pencils - haha! cause I would have totally used those if I had them then!
And speaking of Rhode Island, I am leaving in the morning. I will be back home next Thursday. I don't know if will be able to post while I'm gone, so if you don't see anything new here for a few days - that is why. I hope to see you here when I get back!
Last week I posted about some watercolor fun I was having. I took one of those tiles and drew this sunflower. Lots of things going on in my life right now - kind of stressful. There is a lot of things I need to be doing and not enough time to complete them all. Last night I was just feeling the stress a little too much, so I stopped everything so I could draw. Used several new patterns - found a couple I really like. If you aren't familiar with it, this art style is called zentangle.
I found out about zentangle in April - just 4 months ago. I love it! Since then I have drawn everything you see on this blog - with the exception of 2 or 3 posts attributed to other artists. I've established a facebook page for The Creator's Leaf, and set up this blog. I've been trying to streamline things, looking ahead towards branding, and wanted some changes. My friend Cindy (who is incredibly awesome!) is re-constructing my blog, making it more streamlined, more pulled together.
Saturday I fly to Rhode Island where I will be attending training from the founders of Zentangle. When I come home I will be a certified zentangle trainer - a CZT. Kind of nervous about the training - I won't know a soul there. But it should be loads of fun and I hope to learn alot! So expect some new things soon. Some newness on our horizon. For sure! And a big thank you! to those of you who follow this blog, or follow The Creator's Leaf on facebook, you are truly appreciated!
