This month I worked in watercolor, and used digital collage to add patterns & texture details to each piece. I concentrated on florals and experimented with abstracts.
I used the Angora Opaque Watercolor, Skin Tone set. Some are opaque (gouache), some are transparent watercolor. They are highly pigmented, with rich hues and easy workability. They are non toxic, with an excellent lightfast rating. Crafted in Germany.
To be honest, my goal was to use up the set, so I could justify buying a new one. 😂
Angora Palette, Skin Tones.
It’s easy to see what colors I use, and which ones I haven’t.
Anglora Watercolor Skin Tone Swatches.
Looking through my blog gallery for these images, I see that I purchased this in May of last year, so they’ve lasted a long time. Worth the investment. Good to know!
Talens Angora Opaque Watercolor Pan Set, Inclusive Skin Tones
I really struggled with abstracts this month. I found videos by Denise Love. Some of her shorts, and I really like her intuitive style. I posted ten abstracts. But for each of those, I painted three to five others before I had something I could work with. I will keep trying though. 😂
Below are a few close-ups to see more details. You can see them all in more detail on my Instagram profile.
I apologize for falling behind on posting here on the blog. I fell behind early in the month, and it took awhile to get back in the flow. I really appreciate having you follow along, and sharing your insights and ideas. Thank you!
Tomorrow I will share the collage of all the art created this month, as well as my favorites. And soon after, the group art gallery.
Whoa! Am I behind in sharing! I have 3 posts in the works. But I have been struggling to keep up with the 30 day challenge. Busy days, and very little time to sit and paint. Staying up late has not been the solution it usually is. I have painted just about as many horrible abstracts, as you see paintings here. Working in pairs or threes, hoping for at least one good something to post for the day. Still ticking, though. 😉
Here they are. The month so far. All a combination of watercolor, digital collage, poetry, or music. Patterns, and sometimes pen. Below are close ups. You may still have to zoom in to see finer details. You can see them individually on Instagram.
Doodle Bugs was our Spoonflower assignment this week. I am not a fan of bugs in general. I wouldn’t choose to draw them. I do admire bugs that other artists create. And I have to admit, I was surprised at how many colorful, pretty bugs there are. I had a hard time narrowing it down.
The brief called for hand drawn or painted bugs. My Talens Angora watercolor palette came to mind. Warm desert tones. (Their skin tone collection.) And I decided on Moths. There are so many pretty ones. Some are neon pink and yellow. There were lots of yellows, in the images I researched. And warm earthy rusts and salmons.
I created the bodies and details using the pen tool in Photoshop. I wanted nice crisp lines. I painted blobs, trying to get some bleeds and blooms. I wasn’t as successful with that, but I did end up with a few that were usable. I trimmed them digitally to fit the moth bodies.
I have never considered painting a butterfly. Always felt it was beyond my abilities. But I surprised myself. I am learning to think in pen tool. Haha. 🙂 No way would I be able to draw them by hand though.
I am really happy with how this turned out. Happy with the hues. Happy with my little taught-me-so-much doodle bugs. 😉 Voting is open until next Tuesday, the 25th.
Last week I received notice that Spoonflower was making changes in the challenge voting. They have already changed the main challenge page, and WOW! I am looking forward to seeing what changes they made on the voting page. Fingers crossed.
I just read in a Facebook Spoonflower group, that the voting is messy and takes you through 21 pages. BUT, it does allow you to exit and come back to it. It saves your votes, but shows the designs in random order. So you may see some designs more than once, if you re enter. Sounds like they need to work out some glitches.
It will take people using it, for them to gather info for improvements. And if you do consider voting, I am very interested in hearing your opinions, so I can pass them on to Spoonflower.
They did mention, that there would be two columns instead of one, on the phone app. That is a huge change. And will help make voting a little faster. They will also be verifying that designs meet the requirements, and are repeating designs. One key to voting on the phone, is to open the page, and give it a few seconds to load the images.
WOO WHO!!!
Spoonflower calculates the counts now! Awesome! I don’t have to search through the entries now, to find my placement. Thank you Spoonflower! 🙂
Rugged Line placement in the Miniature Dollhouse Wallpaper challenge.
Woo Whoo! 176!! That is the top 10.45 %. (If the online calculator is correct. LOL)
You can see the top 65, here. I would have needed only 30 more votes to make the top 65. WOWzers! 🙂 This simple design is one of my favorites. So nice that so many others like it too. 🙂
Sending out a huge cup of appreciation, to all of you who voted & to those of you taking the time to vote this week. 🙂 And to all of my followers. I am so grateful. 🙂
