Thank You, Dion!

For several months now I've been watching the artwork of Dion Dior. According to Dion's blog, she is "a mother, artist, writer, and teacher" who loves color, sparkle, and shimmer. Her journals are filled with "luscious, shimmering pages . . . treasured expressions." And that's understating her artistic creations. I love her work! And if you are friends with me, then you know that I love color, and the brighter - the better!

I so much wanted to learn how she got the brilliant colors she does! And I didn't even care that I don't know how to draw. I figured it would all come together somehow. I started watching the classes she teaches, and finally got over my fear of failure and signed up for Dion's Watercolor Pencil Workshop that she teaches online. Most of the students are already finished with the class, I am just finishing up lesson 2 of 6. Haha!

And even by the end of the second lesson, I am learning what I wanted to learn. Watercolor pencil techniques with bright, vibrant, wonderful color! I sketched out these flowers - all by myself :). Of course, Dion had a sample for us that looks very similar. You can see how I started laying down some color. Well, trust me, there were a ton of layers on these flowers before I was done. If you haven't used watercolor pencils before, the large flower above has pencil colored straight onto the paper. 

Then I used a waterbrush to 'paint' water onto the color and spread it to where I wanted it to be. These waterbrushes are pretty incredible! There is a barrel that you fill with water and attach the brush top to it. When you squeeze the barrel - water slides down onto the brush and voila! instant water coloring possibilities! Yes, you could do this the old-fashioned way with a paintbrush and a bowl of water, but this is so much easier.

I am so proud of this drawing that I am going to innudate you with photos. Sorry. Here I was going for the focus being on the one large flower, and dropping the remaining flowers into the background.

For whatever reason, I did not think to take pictures while I was painting the leaves. The flowers literally have six colors on them, while the leaves have three.

As I painted, I also flicked pencil/paint specks on the page. I find I usually end up with some accidental spots on my page, so I figured I would just make them a signature part of what I do. One thing I know I am going to do now is go back over those centers of the flowers with a black micron and pop up those printemps a little. (I might even add a little twinkling H2Os. 

I still have four more lessons to do in this class, so expect to see some more artwork coming. AND, I signed up for another one of Dion's classes - Wisdom Circles - because I am enjoying this one so much! Dion, thank you for sharing your talent! You are such an inspiration to me, I appreciate you very much!