Colored Pencils and Pen and Ink

Good Morning, and welcome to my blog:

Over the last few weeks I have completed several art pieces I would like to share with you.

This coloured pencil sunset scene (done on 5x7 mi-teintes paper) was originally designed by Lee Hammond - I loved it and, since it looked very straight forward, I thought I would tackle it and have it done in no time....no such luck! Although it looks easy, it took quite a few hours for me to build up the colours so they were deep and rich. I really like the finished piece, and I learned a lot about creating waves and sunsets.



Isn't this piece adorable? It is also a coloured pencil project, originally designed by Lee Hammond. This one did not take nearly as long as the sunset scene. I did it on 5x7 mi-teintes paper and only used about 6 or seven different colours - the whole project took me about 3 or 4 hours. The most challenging part of the piece was the nose area...I love this piece!



I did this Christmas ornament (original artist unknown) on a 7" wooden snowflake. I basecoated the wood with acrylic paint, inked in all the black areas, used white acrylic for the stars, and a stencil for the large star. The words were also stencilled on with white acrylic. I used Snow Writer to create the 'snow' and on the ground, to touch it off, I added some glamour dust. On the back (photo is also shown) I added some 'stencilled' words, and left plenty of room to add greetings and a signature.

This piece was done on a 3 1/2 x 5 wood oval. I don't know who the original artist was. I basecoated the wood with acrylic paint, and also used acrylics to paint the moon. The hills, trees, Santa and the reindeer were inked on. The stars were done with white acrylic paint, and I used a stencil and white acrylic for the large star. After spraying everything I added white oil paint to the hills and sprinkled glamour dust on the 'snow' and large star.

With Christmas just around the corner, most of the girls in our art sessions are busy working on Christmas ornaments. Painting on texture and using stencils are also very popular. So, over the next couple of months I will be posting all the wonderful pieces they create. Get ready to be 'wowed' with all the interesting and awsome artwork!

Thanks for visiting my blog - please check back soon!

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:

Welcome to my blog....our weekly art sessions have been going since mid September, and there are a lot of wonderful art 'masterpieces' being created. Here are a few of the finished pieces.

This piece is lovely - it is called Arctic Beauty, and the original artist is Willow Wolfe. The project is featured in PaintWorks, February, 2008, with instructions for oil paint. Sue decided to do this piece in coloured pencils (8x10 mi-teintes paper), so, she converted it and had the whole project done in less than three hours. I think she did an amazing job!

I purchased a book called 'Silhouettes' by Roberta Hall, and there are some lovely pictures in it. All the instructions are for acrylic paint, so, as usual, we have all been converting everything to pen & ink with oils. Ginette decided to do the moose on a 8x10 wood panel - she added an interesting background, and ended up with this. Great job.

This bluejay was completed by Ruth - I do not know who the original artist is. Ruth did the project on 11x14 canvas in pen & ink with oils. When she was finished she did add a few details on the bird with white acrylic paint. I think she did a great job - the colours are so vibrant.




Sue did this piece with coloured pencils on 8x10 mi-teintes paper. All she had was a photograph and had to complete the piece with absolutely no instructions. The cat ended up looking almost exactly like the one in the photo. All the other items - scarf, blanket, etc. - were a new experience for Sue, so she did some experimenting, and did a wonderful job.



This piece is also done from a photo - Monique did this in pen and ink with oils on a wooden board....I believe the location is somewhere the family has visited over the years. The whole piece was tricky since Monique had no written instructions, and, almost everything was a new technique to her.


Our art sessions are very busy now - projects are being done with pen and ink with oils, coloured pencils, oils, and some of the girls have started to work on texture. In a few weeks I will post more of these wonderful pieces.

I have started working on Christmas decorations, and should have some to share with you shortly. I am also working on texture, and, hopefully, before Christmas I will have some completed projects to post.

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather....before we know it Christmas will be here!

Please visit my blog again.

Joan

Pen and Ink on Texture

Hi:
I have completed a couple of new (and different) projects that I want to show you - both are done on 'textured' backgrounds, and I used pen and ink with oils to complete the pieces. The projects can be found in 'Trendy Textures', a book by Tracy Moreau and Doxie Keller. The book has some lovely projects in it, and, I believe all are painted on a textured surface. All the instructions in the book are for acrylic paints, but, since I am not an acrylic painter, I converted everything to pen and ink with oils. I did not have any trouble at all, and I am very happy with the results of both pieces.

This piece is called 'Chianti' and was designed by Tracy Moreau - since it was my first attempt using Texture Crackle, I applied the texture sparingly...next time I will use quite a bit more. The other 'new' products I worked with were Texture Glass and a Stencil. Absolutely everything on this piece was done with pen & ink and oils. If I were to do this project again the only change I would make would be to make my background behind the glass darker - so the white of the glass would stand out more. I had a lot of fun doing this piece.

This piece is called 'Karen's Orchids' and was designed by Tracy Moreau - this time I was not afraid to use the Texture Crackle and I applied lots - you can see from the picture that the background is quite a bit rougher than the above picture. I used oils for most of this pic, but I did cheat a little and basecoated the vase and strip down the right side with acrylic paint. The design on the front of the vase was done with a stencil and Texture Crackle, so it is raised - I really like this technique. The stenciling on the right hand strip is just flat.

I LOVE working with Texture and stencils, so, I will be posting more projects in the future.

My Art sessions start the week of September 19, so, by October I should have some wonderful new artwork to show you by the girls in the sessions.

I have added a new section to my blog called 'Artwork for Sale'. In this section art done by myself and some of the girls in my art sessions will be listed for sale. If you are interested in purchasing any of the art you can contact the artist to make arrangements. New art will be added on a regular basis, and once our fall art sessions get underway, I hope to be adding more artwork in that section.

Thanks for visiting my blog - please check back in a few weeks.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer - I did, but, enough of the sun, eating, drinking, boating, etc......I am ready to grab my paint brush and get back to work. I am actually looking forward to getting into a rountine and working on some new projects.

Here are a few projects that were completed by the girls in the spring art sessions.

Meet Noella, Normand and Evelyn - Linda's cats. Linda used coloured pencils for this project, and it was done on 11x14 mi-teintes paper. She worked from individual photos of each cat. I think she did a remarkable job - everything about the cats, including the eyes, looks almost identical to the original photos.


This picture is lovely - don't know who the original artist was. Nancy used coloured pencils to complete this project, and she did a wonderful job - the folds in the dress and the skin tones turned out perfect, and I love the colour of the dress. This project was done on 11x14 mi-teintes paper.

Sue found a picture of this farm and decided to adapt it to coloured pencils. I don't know who the original artist was. It only took Sue a few hours to complete this and I think it turned out great. The colours she chose for everything are just perfect.

This is a picture of Linda's granddaughter, Marie Pier, and was taken from a photograph. Linda did this project in coloured pencil. The skin tones turned out great, as did the colours on the little jumpsuit and hat. I wondered how she was going to do the greenery and flowers (it is almost impossible with coloured pencils to put very light colours over dark) - but she managed to do a very good job!


That's it for now. I will be posting another blog within the next week or two with information about our fall art sessions, which start soon. I have also finished a couple of very interesting projects using texture, texture glass and stencils, which turned out great (at least, in my opinion, they did!!) - I will post them soon.

Thanks for visiting my blog and have a great day.

Joan

Pen & Ink with Oils

Hi and welcome to my blog:

I hope everyone is having a great summer. I am spending a lot of time at my cottage, and it is so beautiful here. In my spare time, I am tackling some different painting projects - I am working with textured paintings, and, it is interesting, to say the least! I do have a couple of pen & ink projects to share with you.

This one is a silhouette piece designed by Bonnie Seaman, and can be found in her book 'Landscapes'. I did this piece on a 17x8 piece of wood. I prepped it first, put the pattern on, then filled in all the black areas with ink....I worked with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens (disposable) for all the inking work. All the buildings, windmill, etc. were outlined with a superfine pen - this pen was also used for the grass and weeds around the pond, then I filled in all the solid areas with a 'brush' pen. For the bushes and trees I used a scumbler and fan brush respectively to pounce ink on. Just a note about the inking - you will probably have to ink two coats for full, thick coverage. The sky and pond were simply swiped on using combinations of red, orange, yellow and purple oil paint.

If you plan to do any silhouettes using this technique I have some advice. As stated above, I did all my inking first then added the paint - well, in the process of applying the paint (a couple of coats) I obviously got paint on my inked areas, and had to go in an erase all the paint. So, if I ever do a similar project, I will trace my pattern, outline all my inked areas, apply all my paint....then, after spraying, I will ink in all my solid areas and then pounce on all my bushes and trees.

The project took more time than I expected, but I am very happy with the result.

This piece is done in a more traditional pen & ink manner. The original design is by Bonnie Seaman and can be found in her book 'Country's Edge'. I have included the pen & ink drawing before any paint was added, along with the completed piece. You may recall that in my last post, this same pattern was included (painted by Ginette, one of the girls in our art sessions). I have used different colours than Ginette did, and it gives the piece an entirely different look . I did use Ginette's method of doing the background. I like this piece, and I had fun doing it!











My weekly art sessions will be starting in a September, and I will be posting information about that shortly. I have been working on some different art projects and I am looking forward to showing those pieces to the girls in my art sessions.

That's it for now - thanks for visiting my blog.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful weather. I am in the process of finishing a couple of art projects, then I will be packing all my supplies up and moving over to my cottage. The following 'masterpieces' were completed by some of the girls in our spring art sessions - this time there is quite a variety - pen & ink with oil rouging, coloured pencils and acrylics.

This is a coloured pencil piece done by Sue on 11x14 mi-teintes paper. I do not know who the original artist was. Sue has a wonderful talent for just working away on things with absolutely no pattern or instructions. Such was the case with this project. Sue just jumped in and coloured pencils started flying out of her case. The colours in the picture turned out wonderful.

This piece was done by Monique on a 11x14 wood plaque and is called 'Snowy Trails'. It was done using pen & ink with oil rouging and was designed by Mary Owens. This particular piece has been very popular over the last few years. All the background trees and the evergreen in the foreground are done using a fan brush, and it only takes minutes to complete them all. The white 'snow' is simply the white canvas showing through, and the snow on the tree is just dabbed on with white acrylic. It is a fun piece to do, and I think Monique did a great job.

I love these flowers. Nancy did the projects with acrylic paint on large (maybe 20 x 20) canvas, and they were just so 'in your face' paintings. They were so bright, colourful and bold - most of the pieces done in our art session are much more subdued, so it was wonderful to have these big, bold pictures! I don't know who the original artist was. Great job.



















Renee designed this piece - her daughter asked for a pen & ink piece with a dragonfly, frog, fence, etc., so Renee looked through a number of books, found all the things requested, and placed them in a picture. I think Renee enjoyed doing the piece, but, when she was done she did state that she was going to stick to patterns for the next while! I think the project turned out very well for an original design!


This colourful piece was done by Ginette. The original design was by Shirley Koenig, and can be found in her book titled 'Country's Edge'. Shirley's instructions are either acrylics or oils, but Ginette converted everything to pen & ink with oils. In the original project (by S. Koenig) the background was quite dark, and Ginette wanted hers to be dark also (if you have worked with the pen & ink with oil rouging technique, you know that most backgrounds are simply white with splashes of colour matching those in the picture). So, Ginette experimented with the oils and came up with this wonderful mottled background. It looks great!

Thats it for now - I still have a few pictures done by the girls in our art sessions, and I will post them soon. In the meantime, I have completed a couple of pen & ink projects that I will post in a few weeks. And, I have lined up several interesting projects (I am going to try working with texture, and also some silhouette pieces) that I will be working on at my cottage over the summer. So, in September I should have some new (and hopefully different) projects ready to post.

Our fall art sessions will be starting in late September, and I will post further information about that at the end of the summer.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope everyone has a great summer.

Joan