Wow, I haven’t blogged since July! (ok, so yes, I was away for most of August on vacation and a spiritual retreat far far away, and then reintegrating into life in Sept and most of October…. ) So thanks to Karen Friedland for shaking me out of my blog no-zone!
I love journaling prompts! And with art prompts, even better. So when I was invited to join in on a blog hop and play with a brand new deck of art prompts that talented artist Karen just released, called Art Sparks – well, it was a no-brainer for me. The cards themselves are beautiful, and on the back of each is a different painting Karen’s created. On the fronts, there is a different art prompt on each card. Some of the prompts even have links to guided meditation-type prompts via audio clips – what a neat idea! And there is a 10% off coupon good until November 30th. Use the code ARTSPARKSINTRO.
(and read on… there will even be a GIVEWAY or two!)
For the blog hop, Karen asked me, (along with other 9 other awesome artists), to pick a card and document what we create from it. I suppose I might be nervous having my post be on day one, along with Karen herself, but heck… I’m going to have fun with this!
My mission, er – prompt, on Card #5 was to draw a picture of something that is normally small in size, and make it so big that it even spills over the sides of my page. And to notice how the object looks different when sized up… well that’s a challenge I’m definitely game for! So here goes…..
While away on pilgrimage to western Scotland this past August, I got to do some walking at a location I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, Camusdarach Beach, just a few miles south of Mallaig. On my walk I found this teeny tiny shell to bring home. So small is it, that I needed some help from Ms. Photoshop to zoom in… so here’s what I’m going to play with:
I knew that from the colors and patterns on the shell I wanted to use watercolor, so I grabbed one of my watercolor journals from The Journey Within (artjournaling and bookmaking year e-course), along with some Yarka pan watercolor paints, Derwent Inktense Pencils, brushes, white pens, black fineliner pen and a white Prismacolor pencil.
(you can click on any image above or below to see it larger)
First thing I did was to make a very LOOSE sketch of the shape of the shell much larger onto my journal page with a thin mechanical pencil….
Initially I thought I wanted to use the Inktense pencils for most of the color, but I had better mixing opportunities with the Yarka set in front of me for the colors I wanted. I next began to layout what I saw where the most obvious parts of the shell, the light center and the orangish areas on the ribs…
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Adding in the Watercolor into the darker ribs and the lighter center
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Filling in more of the orange and brown tones
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Adding in some of the greys
I continued to fill in colors and then add in some interest and defining lines, shadows and highlights using a White Gelly Roll pen, a White acrylic marker, a black fineliner pen, and an Inktense Charcoal Grey for the outer shadow effects.
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Filling in, adding holes, slight shading
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Using Inktense charcoal grey and painting out shadows, definitions
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Adding white lines and highlights with white acrylic marker
I finished it off with some white pencil to blend in some of the highlight areas better.
Now that I’ve had a chance to look through all of the photos, I might have actually stopped after I added in some of the greys. I may even do a series based off of this. Or maybe even tangle up a version of the image! If I do, I’ll be sure to link it here.
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Final tweaks with black pen
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A quick review with shell next to it
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The pens, pencils
finished!
I definitely want to play with the other card prompts soon, especially the ones with sound files to listen to! And they will definitely go into my “I don’t know what to make next” arsenal when I’m feeling stuck or just need a jump start.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what the rest of the blog hop participants create with the cards they choose, and want to give a big THANK YOU to Karen Friedlander for inviting me to participate!
Now to the GIVEAWAYS: (both drawings to be held on Nov 7 at 6pm EST)
Art Sparks Creative Project Deck
GIVEAWAY #1:
Win an Art Sparks Deck of your very own!
Follow me on Facebook or Instagram & leave a comment on one of those pages AND below to be entered!
Winner chosen Nov 7: name to be announced
Dyed Coasters and Cards for Tangling
GIVEAWAY #2:
Win a pack of 5 hand-dyed color coasters or artist trading cards to use for Zentangle-inspired art or just drawing/painting!
Sign up for the TangleVermont newsletter to be entered and then let me know in the comments below!
Winner chosen Nov 7th: Congrats Martha!
Finally, follow the other awesome artists participating in Karen’s blog hop for more giveaways throughout the week:
Karen Friedland‘s Art Sparks Blog Hop Page for Oct. 31
Up tomorrow on the blog hop: Jeri Bellini and Yva Lovee Barbour
Full Schedule and links:
And about that knotwork… here are some recent drawings I’ve been working on. I’ll be offering a beginning Celtic Knotwork series that kicks off in February in Bellows Falls.
