60s music – Sunshyne Art & Design

Unblocked Finally! Yay!

I hate being creatively blocked! Sometimes the trigger is obvious, sometimes it just hits out of the blue….like this last few weeks. So frustrating when that happens! It feels like I forget how to paint, or create anything, for that matter. It makes me grumpy, and sad… *sigh*

Finally, on this last Monday, it was gorgeous outside, and I had free time, so I decided to just sit down with my alcohol inks, bound and determined to end the stupid block… and I produced four alcohol ink pieces! Alcohol inks to the rescue this time, so it seems. 🙂 Because they are so free in their ways, they were a good kickstart. I just put on some groovy tunes, sat out on my sunny patio, threw some color on my substrates, used some stencils, and went where it wanted to take me.

The results….

“Jovia” 2017 alcohol inks on ceramic tile

Because of this lovely start, I have another in mind. So my creative wheels are again turning! Yay! 😀

My groovy 60s playlist at 8tracks.com….. 🙂

Dreamy Watercolor Delicacy

Watercolor painting is not what I would call my forte. I have never taken painting with them too seriously, but I love to dabble in that medium from time to time. For me, they are just intuitive and delicate little studies…in color, shape, & mark making. Relaxing, to say the least. I can get completely lost, like I do when I am in “the zone” with my acrylics, but it is a different feeling…more like floating on another plane of existence, I suppose. lol

There is some delicacy with acrylics, like when I do extreme detail, but it is also different. With watercolors, for me, it is a very dreamy-like delicacy. My colors(not always, however) tend to be softer. The water takes care of that, although they can be strong as well, and that is one of the things I love about it. Depending on the wetness of the paper, the color can be as strong as I want, or as barely there as I want, while all still maintaining a sort of softness, that I can’t get with acrylics. I also love to play with masking fluid, salt, and other effects, to take it to unexpected new places, whereby then I try to see shapes, or whatever. I never know where it will take me, and that is part of the appeal of doing abstracts in any medium! 🙂

I LOVE my “water brush”! Except for the smallest detail work, or when I need a separate clean brush for wetting the paper with clean water, as I go, I pretty much just use it alone. It is VERY convenient to have that water reservoir! No dipping in water required! It came with my particular watercolor set, and I had no idea it would be so wonderful! 😀 Also, it has held its tip point remarkably well for being almost 4 years old! Sometimes, like today, I hold it in my right hand to lay down the color, while in the other hand, I have a brush for keeping the paper wet, or to blend as I go. I was thinking today, as I did this, how it felt kind of like playing an instrument. I know…I’m a little weird. 😛

I tend to like lots of delicate themes, as well…flowers, hearts, swirls, circles, and squiggles. My favourite tool for going back to add them, after the paint has dried, is a wonderful illustration pen with a double point. One end is a bendy, paintbrush like nib, and the other end is a very pointy, but stable nib. I can get super delicate black lines with it….perfect for doing dreamy little doodles, and the smallest of details! I learned early though, that it has to go on last, and can’t get wet(unless I want it to for whatever effect), or it just runs black all over the place!

I have a special table away from my other painting area, where I like to sit and play with my watercolors. I have my tea, and usually 60s “hippie music”, haha, or soft rock playing. Both inspire me….

It is also my sewing area, as once in a while I feel the urge to quilt. Yes…many interests, not enough time!! It is a clean area compared to my painting area, and the art desk where I make my jewelry. I don’t use my OTT light over there, just soft desk lamp lighting. The white, natural light of the OTT lights is a must for my acrylic painting, and I have two, since the room I paint in does not get enough natural light through its one window. For my watercolors, though, I am not as concerned with it. I like the softer , warmer feel of the “yellow” light, as it helps set the mood for the particular subject matter I like to do with the watercolors. Funny that they actually turn out! 😛

Anyway, I’ve been watercolor painting, here and there, over the last few weeks….late at night, sometimes in the afternoon…between trying to come up with inspiration to do another acrylic, and trying to just relax my sometimes chaotic mind! I bought a small watercolor sketchbook of sorts, and do it on a small scale, without ripping the pages out, or even sizing the paper. Maybe one day I will feel so inclined to take watercolors more seriously, and do larger pieces with a plan in mind, but for now, it is just a little side trip… a happy, delicate, and dreamy little escape….. 🙂

doodle-flowers — flower doodles on background

Festival

“Festival”. The name very much suits my newest little abstract. I switched to canvas for this one, so it has a nice natural texture to it, as well as being busy and fun, and… well….festive! 🙂

I started out with just the base colors. I was going for bright(what else is new? hahaha), sunny, and happy. So yellows, red, and magenta mixed with deep yellow to make a nice deep orange, fit that bill…

festival-start1

I had a sketch in mind, so was just going for an interesting background for the bottom layer…and a whimsical treed landscape for the final piece. I did fun stuff….like drips, different little brushstrokes with more bright colors, and scratching through layers to add visual interest….in about the spots where I was going to put the trees. Soaking acrylic down when it is wet, and just letting it sit, creates some interesting, often unexpected effects…especially on canvas, where it pools and blends, and the colors look “melted” together….mixing playfully with each other. Love that! 🙂

festival-start-2

Anyway, as is my usual, I ended up with a pretty little abstract as my “background”, then had that seemingly endless debate with myself over whether or not I actually wanted to paint over it! haha Especially when I posted it, and it looked so good on a phone case and other stuff!

So, it sat there for a day…I was busy and had to stop for a while…which is ok, since it is usually good to let it dry really good in case I want to “fix” my top layers in any way. If the paint is not completely dry underneath, and I use water to “erase” any fresh marks or painted areas I want to change, the under paint will just come off with it, and completely ruin the bottom layer. Gotta love acrylics for this “erasure with water” ability, I must add!

Anyway…. I sat here staring at it, getting completely attached to it as it was. Having this “color joy” come over me whenever I looked at it. 🙂 Plus, I could not get my transfer paper to work on it with my sketch, and my other fallback transfer method….white chalk…was never going to show up in all that busyness! I then tried black conte, and covered the back of my vellum sketch with it, turned it over, and couldn’t see my sketch because I had only done it in pencil, and not ink. Nearly completely invisible, so I couldn’t see the lines to trace! Argh! Except then, I realized that maybe it was not meant to be…that maybe this was not the background I needed for this sketch. That this little painting was destined to just stay a happy little abstract, colouring my days! 🙂 Check out that cute little heart… 😉