Watercolor

Getting Geared up for World Watercolor Month in July

/ Jodi / 72 Comments

world Watercolor month

 

I’m very excited to partner with my buddy, Charlie @ Doodlewash to announce July 2016 will be the first-ever annual World Watercolor Month!

I’m so proud of Charlie for making this happen!  Over 18,000 applications are submitted each year for “official days” to celebrate, and only 30 are added to the calendar.  Despite the odds, Charlie’s idea made the cut, and it is official! July is now and forever World Watercolor Month!

So what does it mean?  July will be a month to inspire people to paint with watercolor (watercolour, aquarelle) while raising awareness for the importance of art and creativity in the world.   Anyone can join in on the celebration – from master watercolorists to artists just starting out with watercolor!  You can play along via WordPress or on Facebook.  If you create a watercolor painting you’d like to share, simply tag your art with #WorldWatercolorMonth during the month of July!

And, best of all, in this first year of the celebration, you’ll be part of raising awareness for children in need of art supplies and art education around the globe!

MAKE A CHILD’S DREAM COME TRUE!

The Dream Zebra Foundation Logo - Donate art supplies to celebrate World Watercolor Month July 2016 worldwatercolor.com Research has shown that art education has a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and has proven to help level the learning field across socioeconomic boundaries. Unfortunately, arts education programs are too often the first to be cut when cuts are necessary, so more and more children each year are missing out on the important benefits of art classes.

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Watercolor is the #1 needed art supply! Click Here to Help!

With your help, we can reverse this trend. To make this first ever month-long global celebration of watercolor affect real change, we’ve teamed up with The Dreaming Zebra Foundation, a charity providing support so that children and young adults are given an equal opportunity to explore and develop their creativity in the arts. Click here to shop the World Watercolor Month wish list of art supplies for kids! (hosted by Dick Blick) 

The Dreaming Zebra Foundation charity for Art supplies and art education for underprivileged children
Art education has a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child.

The Dreaming Zebra Foundation is unique in that they provide an art recycling program that is free to the public. Reusable art & music supplies that would otherwise be discarded, along with new or unsold materials, are donated by individuals and businesses and matched to recipients who have requested those materials for arts education purposes in communities around the world.

Have some beginner watercolor sets you no longer use, but still have some life in them? You can also support the cause, by simply sending your reusable art supplies to:

THE DREAMING ZEBRA FOUNDATION
5331 SW MACADAM AVE., STE. 258-522
PORTLAND, OR 97239

With your help, we can raise awareness for art education worldwide and provide much needed support for kids in need. Art is an important aspect of child development and paves the way for a successful future. What would the world be without art? Together, let’s make sure we never find out!

I am personally excited to delve a little deeper with a bit more discipline into this art form that captured my heart and soul about a year ago and that I still consider myself a very new student of.  It has brought such great joy to my life – not only in the activity of creating, sharing, expressing (and even selling!), but also in the wonderful friends (like Charlie) who I have made along the way in this wonderful art journey.

I hope you will join in on the fun in any way you like – whether it be by painting and sharing, contributing, or simply by enjoying viewing what we all share at #WorldWatercolorMonth.

world-watercolor-month-july-2016-primary-logo

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Fun Flowers

/ Jodi / 55 Comments

fun flowers watercolor print template Nick

I recently made this “fun flower” watercolor painting inspired by a stamp I had seen for my BFF Jill’s birthday.

Jill loves bright colors, but is not a fan of cut flowers, because when you cut them, they die.

I thought a painting of brightly colored flowers that can’t die would be a fitting gift.

I am also thinking of another BFF today –  my friend Bubby, whose father recently passed away and whose funeral we attended this week.   And then I learned of another BFF – my longest time, dearest friend, Janet, whose Dad was hospitalized yesterday.

I hope these flowers will cheer them for even a moment in their time of grief and worry.

May these flowers brighten your day in some small way.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

#naturedoodlewash

Blue Heron with Purple Feathers

/ Jodi / 74 Comments
blue heron with purple feathers original watercolor 9x12 arches 300 lb cold press

blue heron with purple feathers – original watercolor-  9×12 arches – 300 lb cold press

Why be simply an “ordinary” Blue Heron
when you could have Purple Feathers too?

It’s #DrawABirdDay!  Why not?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

#NatureDoodlewash

Lilac Love

/ Jodi / 58 Comments
lilac love watercolor painting arches 300 lb cold press 10 x 14 diaxozine violet

lilac love watercolor painting arches 300 lb cold press 10 x 14 diaxozine violet

The purple lilacs around here are done for the season,
but the white lilac tree in my yard is crazy full of tiny white flowers
that are filling the entire yard with such an amazing fragrance!

While my poor son is sneezing like crazy from all the pollen in the air right now,
I don’t dare pick and bring a bouquet into the house as much as I’d love to….

But I was inspired to paint some lilacs (purple is more fun!)
with that sensational scent wafting through my brain down to my fingertips
as I dripped and dropped and splashed and splattered Dioxazine Violet.

Can you almost smell them?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

I’m joining my friend Charlie with these sweet smelling flowers for his #NatureDoodlewash challenge.

Sunny Sunflower

/ Jodi / 91 Comments

sunflower2

I found some time to splash in puddles this long holiday weekend….  Puddles of paint that is, because the sun was a shinin’ most of the weekend!

I watched a video on painting sunflowers done by Joanne Thomas, who is a queen of loose splashy watercolor.  I’ve really admired her style ever since I started watercolor painting about a year ago, so I decided to give her sunflower a try.

I painted it on a 10 x 14 sheet of Arches 300 lb cold press.  I put it in a matted frame to see what it would look like.  Such a difference it makes when you mat and frame a painting – eh?

Sunny Sunflower Original Watercolor 10 x 14 Arches 300 lb Cold Press

Sunny sunflowers is going in our McKinneyx2Designs Etsy Shop – the original painting, prints and greeting cards.

Sunny Sunflower All

Fluttering my “artist” wings, and enjoying the sunny, sunshiny summertime weather!

Sunny Sunflower Greeting Card Set

Happy Tuesday and short work week for many of us.

Cherish the moments.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

My Watercolor Journey

/ Jodi / 63 Comments

Capture

 

I really enjoyed watching a watercolor blending and shadowing tutorial recently on ArtistNetwork.TV by Sterling Edwards.  For someone who never studied art or even took a high school art class, what a great way to learn this is!

After experimenting and playing with watercolor for a about a year so far now, I still have so much to learn, and I learn something new every time I watch a video, read a blog or book, or chat with other artists.  (Charlie O – did you catch that?  I said “other” artists 🙂 )

At the recommendation of my artist blogging buddy, Laura @ CreateArtEveryday, I checked out ArtistNetwork.TV mainly with the goal of watching some great abstract pastel videos by Debora Stewart (and wowza – did she ever blow me away!).  I was then compelled to check out some watercolor videos when I came across a great exercise in color blending and shadowing called Color Techniques for Expressive Watercolors by Sterling Edwards.

In the above exercise, I did a quick sketch of the two old barn-type buildings on a 10″ x 12″ sheet of Arches 140 lb Cold Press Paper.  Then, in about 20 minutes using only four colors of watercolor paint, (Raw Sienna, Windsor Violet, Azo Yellow, and Cobalt Blue), I  blended these colors to create many shades of colors (a yellow and purple to make brown, various combos of yellows and blue to make greens, dropping in purple onto the newly created brown to create depth!) and shadowy neutrals for this simple scene.

I feel like you can really see the light and life in this painting.  It’s certainly not perfect and was only meant to be a practice, but I rather like how it turned out and really learned a lot about blending, creating neutrals, working with a flat brush, and the all important white space.

If you are looking for a way to self-learn, I surely recommend ArtistNetwork.TV.  I watched the tutorial one evening and did the painting the next.  I can’t wait to find time to watch and learn more!  Does anyone else wish there were more hours in the day to do all the fun things we want to do?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Tiny Glow Watercolor

/ Jodi / 83 Comments
tiny glow yellow lily original watercolor

Tiny Glow yellow lily original watercolor – 6″ x 8″ matted to 8×10

My sweet artist blogging friend, Sharon Mann gave me a friendly challenge to paint my recent Tiny Glow Yellow Lily I got for Mother’s Day from my son, Jake.

I’ve been experimenting with some abstract techniques that I used for this painting which I’m showing here in it’s original format above, printed on cards below, and the scanned print lastly.

tiny glow yellow lily photo of cards

Tiny Glow yellow lily watercolor print greeting cards

I painted a random background wash first using Naples Yellow and a bit of New Gamboge.  After it dried, I lightly and loosely drew the lily on top.  I then negatively painted around the lily with Winsor Violet and splashed some more in the background.  Lastly I used some Green Gold to add a bit of shadowing to the flower and for the stems and a touch of Burnt Umber for the little pods.

tiny glow yellow lily print 2

Tiny Glow yellow lily watercolor print

Check out Sharon’s MASTERPIECES here!  She is a REAL artist and her lily truly glows!  I love it!

And the best part is, we’ve agreed to exchange, so she is sending me one of hers, and I am sending her one of mine.

We all have our own styles and levels of ability and experience, but what a joy it is to share here through WordPress with so many wonderful artistic blogger friends.  They have encouraged me and taught me so much in my journey into watercolor this past year.  I am so grateful for them!

Wishing you all moments to cherish and the opportunity to glow today.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

A Birthday Cake Card for Colleen

/ Jodi / 55 Comments
birthday cake abstract impressionistic birthday card

Abstract Impressionistic Watercolor Birthday Cake Card

Yesterday was our dear daughter-in-law, Colleen’s birthday, so along with the Sprinkle Cake I made for her, I thought I’d paint an abstract, impressionistic sprinkle birthday cake card in watercolor.

I’m not sure which one I had more fun doing… baking the cake or painting the card.

Hubby noticed my cake was a bit crooked, and it was a bit wonky…  that’s how you know it’s homemade – right?!  Well – I guess it’s an impressionistic cake too!

Not matter what – I enjoyed doing both because they were for a special young lady who I love a lot!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Painting Punta Cana

/ Jodi / 72 Comments
Punta Cana Ocean Beach Palm Tree Watercolor 10x14

Punta Cana Ocean Beach Palm Tree Watercolor 10×14

I found some time the other evening to splash with some Cobalt Teal and Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber, Quinacridone Gold and Green Gold watercolor to try to recreate the wonderful feeling of being on our recent little “rum-away” to Punta Cana.

“Landscapes” are a challenge to me.  After a couple of attempts at this first one, I decided to just splash these colors into an abstract.

Punta Cana Ocean Abstract Watercolor 10x14

Punta Cana Ocean Abstract Watercolor 10×14

I then tried turning my 10×14 portrait page to landscape and creating a scene with a few trees recalling how we discussed how amazing that some of them were still alive bending and swaying in the breeze.  There was one like the one below right in front of  “our spot on the beach” where lots of people stopped to lean on and pose for photos.

Punta Cana Ocean Beach Palm Trees Watercolor 10x14

Punta Cana Ocean Beach Palm Trees Watercolor 10×14

All of these paintings were done on 10 x 14″ sheets of Arches 300 lb cold pressed watercolor paper.

Hoping they help you to “feel” the ocean breeze!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Very Variegated Violet

/ Jodi / 53 Comments

Purple violet watercolor tulips

Who knew shades of violet could vary so greatly?!

Before we went away on vacation last week, I had some fun playing with purple in this super loose vase of violet tulips.   I have done tulips in shades of reds and oranges  in this style, but was excited to try purple.

I decided to mix Winsor Violet (WN*) and Quinacridone Violet (MG**) – two VERY different violets –  and touch in some Quinacridone Gold (WN), because I always so love how it moves!

I used Green Gold (WN) for the foliage and a touch of Cobalt Teal (MG) for drama.  I shook it, and I splashed on it.

This large 10 x 13 in. painting is done on 300 lb. Arches Cold Press Paper.

I wasn’t sure if I liked it when I finished it, so I just set it aside.

I don’t know whether it is the “curing” of the paint or the “stepping away” that changes a painting so often, but…. when I came home after a week away and looked at it again, I decided I rather liked it.

It’s loose.

It’s kind of wild.

It’s unique and distinctive and venturesome.

It’s Very Variegated Violet!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

*WN – Winsor Newton Professional Grade Watercolor Paint
**MG – M. Graham Watercolor Paint