Colored Pencils and Pen and Ink,

Hi, HAPPY NEW YEAR, and welcome to my blog:

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I certainly did, but, as usual, I ate, drank and partied more than I should have...but, I did have a wonderful time! Now, all the decorations have been put away, the tree has been taken down, all the sweet snacks have disappeared from the fridge, and I am settling back into a normal routine. Quite frankly, I am ready to have an organized, calm life again.

Prior to Christmas I finished some ornaments, and I would like to share them with you.

The first two pictures include Icy, Flake, Chill and Noel. The other character in this group is Believe, and he is posted in my November 30 post. These characters were designed by Jamie Mills-Price, and can be found in her book 'Christmastime 6', along with a lot of other wonderful projects. These ornaments are done on wooden cutouts. I did all my basecoating with acrylics and also a lot of the decorative dots, bows, leaves, etc. All the black areas - the hats, penquins, etc. are filled in with a Faber Castell brush pen, and the rest of the pieces are done in oils (all the shading, hi-lighting, etc.) I painted the backs of all the pieces and added snowflake stencils. These ornaments were a lot of fun to do, but, there is a lot more work than what meets the eye!

I found this little angel - I don't know who the original artist is - and I decided to make her into an ornament and use coloured pencils. So I started with a wooden heart, glued mi-teintes paper on, traced my pattern, then did all the work with coloured pencils. When I was done, I found some acrylic paint that matched the colour of the mi-teintes paper, painted the back of the ornament, and added white snowflakes (I used a stencil for this). This is the first ornament I have done with coloured pencils, and I am sure I will be doing more.

I think this ornament is funny - all the snowmen hamming it up in the woods. With the exception of the ornaments on the tree, everything is done in pen and ink with oils. It is a very quick project to do - did not use a pattern...just starting inking in trees and snowmen. The 'snow' is applied with sno writer, and the glitter is glamour dust. A very fast (and silly) project.

One of my granddaughters is right into Strawberry Shortcake and the other is crazy about Minnie and Daisy. So I decided to do them each an ornament as part of their Christmas presents. The ornaments are wooden cutouts. I sealed and basecoated the mittens, traced and inked the pattern, then used oils to rouge the colour on - I used acrylics for the Christmas tree decorations. To finish them off I used white oil paint for the 'snow', then sprinkled glamour dust on all the snow. I am pretty happy with the way they turned out - my grandkids loved them!

This year I will be holding winter art sessions on Monday evening and Thursday morning beginning the week of January 9 and running until late February. So, over the next few months I will have lots of new artwork to show you.

I have a few ideas about new projects I plan to work on, and, after taking a Christmas break, I must admit I am anxious to get started on some new pieces.

Thanks for visiting my blog, and please check back in a few weeks

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi and welcome to my blog:

'Tis the Season - so I have put together some of the Christmas projects the girls in our art sessions have completed. I still have more Christmas pieces to post, and I will post them over the next month or so.


'Believe' is a Christmas ornament designed by Jamie Mills-Price - it is part of a 5 piece set, which also includes, Chill, Noel, Icy and Flake. Sue did this ornament on wood with acrylic paint - lately Sue has been working with pen and ink with oils and coloured pencils, so it was a switch for her to work with acrylics. It turned out great - I love it!


This is a pen and ink with oils project called Let it Snow - it was designed by Mary Owens. Colleen did this on 11x14 canvas and followed Mary's instructions. This is Colleen's first experience with pen and ink with oils, and I think she did a great job...she must have enjoyed it, as she has started another M. Owens project.





I had to post Vanna in Velvet - although it is not a Christmas piece, she certainly looks dressed up enough for Christmas. This is a coloured pencil project and was designed by Tina Sue Norris. Bev did this with coloured pencils on 8x10 mi-teintes sand coloured paper - it was Bev's first time working with the pencils. She followed all the instructions, added some bling bling to the hat, and it turned out wonderful!



Marie found this project in a book by Bonnie Seaman...the instructions were for oil paint. Marie decided to do the pattern on a sleigh she had - unfortunately, my picture does not show the bottom part of the sleigh with the black runners. After basecoating the sleigh Marie sanded it in order to get the lovely painting surface she had. Marie used a combination of acrylics and oils to complete the piece - she is thinking of nestling it inside a wreath - I'm sure it will look lovely.



Ruth did the Snowman and Mouse design on a porcelain oval, which had been etched. The oval was about 3 x 4. I don't know who the original designer of this piece was. Ruth did it in pen & ink with oils, and finished it off with some 'snow' and glitter. Looks great!






Lauren just started coming to our art sessions a few weeks ago, and this is the first project she did. The piece is called Gerbera Daisies and was designed by Mary Owens. Lauren did it in pen and ink with oils on 11x14 canvas...it turned out wonderful. Since completing this piece Lauren has done two more pen and ink pieces, which I will post soon.

Our fall art sessions have now ended, but I still have lots of wonderful artwork to post - pen and ink with oils, coloured pencils, pen and ink on texture, as well as oils on texture - I will be posting these projects over the next few months.

Starting in January I plan to hold 'winter' art sessions, and will be posting more on this in a few weeks.

Thanks for visiting my blog.


Joan

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