practice

Playing & Creating – Enjoying the Journey

/ Jodi / 55 Comments

Playing and Creating.

Some leftover paint
mixed up for a pouring project
that I played with on paper
with a goal of creating a wave…

Turned out to look
nothing like a wave,
but so many other things
magically appeared.

I see a bird
and a dolphin
or a crocodile
and a fish.

I feel movement
and life
and freedom
and joy.

Art
imitating
life

While enjoying
the special time
at life in between.

Relaxing
while playing
made something
I would never sell or hang on a wall,

but I created
and learned
how things react
and mix and mingle.

Art – like life –
isn’t always about
the destination –
but about the journey.

Play and create today.
Do something that brings you joy
in that “in between” time you get to call your own,
and enjoy the journey.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Original Watercolors, Acrylic Abstracts, and Handmade Rustic Decor available at McKinneyX2Designs.  Klaus the Mouse available on Amazon here.

Take Flight

/ Jodi / 52 Comments

Take Flight.

Take flight
above
the turquoise sea,

amidst
the pink and golden
sky.

Stretch
your wings
and soar so high,

let
freedom
guide your heart.

Embrace
the feelings
that you get

when you are
creating
art.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Just some words and feelings that came to mind when looking at this 5-minute practice painting I did one day experimenting with techniques.

What did I do?  I dropped in some granulating colors – lunar black and quinacridone gold to a wash of alizarin crimson.  I then splashed in some creamy white gouache to create a soft, but dramatic sunset sky.  I scraped in some flying sea gulls with a couple simple scrapes of a palette knife.  I blended cobalt teal with a dab of prussian blue and splashed in some more creamy white gouache.  I then splashed some drops of water from a mister bottle and dropped in just a couple flakes of sea salt.    I then walked away and waited for the magic to happen…. (the hardest part of all).

 

Watercolor Figure Painting Fun

/ Jodi / 65 Comments

painting people

 

A couple weeks ago on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I found some fun little tutorials by Bob Davies on YouTube and can’t wait to find time to try more.   Bob really has a fun technique that is super easy to watch and learn FOR FREE via YouTube on watercoloring simple figures of people.

This was really my first try of doing any type of people, and I had so much fun!  You pretty much start with an upside down triangle with a circle on the top and go from there.  How cool is that!?!  And the interesting thing is how little you really have to do to create something our mind recognizes as a person without even adding ANY facial features.

I plan to watch more of Bob Davies tutorials and recommend them to anyone starting out in watercolor.  He has short little lessons on boats and trees and landscapes and just about anything you can imagine.

It appears he is one of the co-founders of Art Tutor – an online video art school you can do at your own pace.

If you are out there somewhere reading this Bob Davies – THANK YOU for your generosity in sharing your talent.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

#WorldWatercolorMonth