Enchanting Woods

Temperatures are cooling and it’s getting dark sooner here, but despite that, Autumn is still my favorite season. That also means Halloween is coming up, and although I don’t go for all the scary, gory decorations or movies, there are still fun ways to celebrate.

Enchanting Woods

Even though this tutorial by Lindsay Weirich was taught with oil pastels, I tried it with soft pastels and enjoyed the process very much. Rather than haunted woods, I like to think these woods are enchanted with all the delightful things we can imagine. Hope you are doing well, and thanks for reading!

Bagged Produce

Now for something a little different – This painting was done with Prismacolor colored pencils as I followed a lesson by Lindsay Weirich, aka The Frugal Crafter. Over the years I have learned so much from her blog and videos.

Bagged Produce

I’ve never worked on black paper before but really had fun with this one. Can you believe tomorrow is July 1? Summer is flying by!

Lessons in Pastels

In yet another attempt to loosen up my watercolors, I gave pastels a try. It is more difficult to get fine details with pastels, at least for me, so I signed up for a couple of excellent online classes.

Wave in Soft Pastels

Flowers in Soft and Hard Pastels

Sunset in Soft Pastels

These three paintings (yes, they are still called paintings even though paint was not used!) were lessons taught by Lindsay Weirich, aka The Frugal Crafter. I love her easy teaching approach, and even though I did not have all the colors she used in her demonstrations, they turned out pretty well for a newbie. I like that I could upload my projects into her teaching platform and ask questions, and in her critique she had kind words to say about my efforts (and I now have a list of colors I want to buy). Actually, her videos have helped tremendously with my watercolor skills in the past, too, and she’s the reason I wanted to learn more!

Blue Pitcher in Soft Pastels

This last one was a tutorial taught by Art Tutor. They also have a platform to upload student work, but I have neglected to do so just yet. I enjoy getting critiques from the instructors because it is an important tool in learning!

I’m almost finished with a watercolor I have been working on for the past month. Watch for it next week! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Orchid and Magnolia Cards

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend at a crafty retreat with some talented ladies, which is always so relaxing, renewing, and productive.  However, we missed our friend Traci and hope she can join us on our next trip – hope you are feeling better, Traci!

Sometimes when I get home from these weekends I have a difficult time transitioning back into things because half of my supplies are still packed up, and I don’t know which direction to go – should I set up my work space for papercrafting or watercolor painting?  Before unpacking I decided to clean up my entire craft corner and in the process came across quite a few things I haven’t shared here yet, including these two cards.

The watercolor flower paintings on the fronts are totally CASEd from Pinterest (I believe one is a tutorial from The Frugal Crafter), and I remember being so excited when I finished them because they turned out so well. If I remember correctly they are the mixture of some Daniel Smith watercolors and Derwent Inktense pencils. Leave it to me to stick them in a dark corner of the craft desk and lose track of them. 🙂

I’ve also been keeping a nature/travel sketchbook the last couple of months and am deciding whether or not to share some of those drawings and paintings here.  I have to say that I really like working in my little sketchbook and get lost in the process of really “seeing” things I’d never noticed before.

Hope you all have a great weekend and take time to “see” the little things, some of which are quite remarkable.  Hugs!

Birthday Chipmunk

No, I didn’t get a chipmunk for my birthday, but I sort of gave one.  My sister-in-law, Julie, loves these little critters so I thought I’d try to paint one for her birthday.  I painted one last year but it was a little scrawny; however, it was the best I could do at that time as a new watercolorist.

Thanks to Lindsay Weirich, aka The Frugal Crafter, I’ve been introduced to a website called Paint My Photo.  Generous photographers upload their photos to the site, thereby giving permission to others to use their images as reference photos for artwork, royalty and copyright free.  Thank you, Joan, at PMP for allowing me to use your photo!

Birthday Chipmunk

I hope the Joan feels this painting did justice to her chipmunk.  During the painting process I learned that there are a zillion shades of brown that can be mixed (or so it seems), so I must mix an adequate amount the first time so as to not run out (actually, that is watercolor 101 – it’s hard to remember everything!).  Hope you had a great birthday, Julie!

Warm Winter Wishes

So much snow today (and all week). Think warm! That is all 🙂

This was painted from a lesson taught by The Frugal Crafter. It can be found at Mygrafico.com.

Coastal Landscape and The Frugal Crafter

This watercolor picture was painted by following a tutorial created by The Frugal Crafter, aka Lindsay Weirich. This talented lady from Maine knows just about everything when it comes to crafting of any type, and I have learned a lot by watching her tutorials on her YouTube channel.

Coastal Landscape, Tutorial by The Frugal Crafter

She also has some watercolor tutorials available for download from www.mygrafico.com (search for Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff), and these are nice because they have step-by-step instructions that can be printed out. The lessons are well illustrated and easy to follow – perfect for a beginner! If you want to check out Lindsay’s blog , here is a link: https://thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com/  Thanks, Lindsay, for sharing your knowledge and inspiring me to actually put the paint on the paper!

Have a great week and stay warm!