Watercolor Greeting Cards

Back last spring, when insomnia and I began our current relationship, I chose to use the early morning hours to paint (instead of complaining there were too many unproductive hours in the day). Coffee tasted better at 2 or 3 am, when I had the run of the kitchen and sweets were the only foods that remained palatable because of Ibrance.  So, coffee, cookie(s) and a paintbrush were in hand while I half-way watched reruns of Midsomer Murders. A year ago, it was rocks that I painted.

The insomnia continued, so I changed my painting target to that of wooden discs. Discs were kind of intriguing, but I could give away only so many.  And they were a real bust on Etsy, so I closed up my Etsy shop fairly soon after opening it. No wealth there.

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Back in May of 2017, I was still painting rocks, interspersed with paintings for my study and one acrylic canvas for a friend.

Next I went on to painting Christmas cards. I really enjoyed making them, and watched YouTube videos for some differing ways to mount small pieces of watercolor onto the fronts of plain white purchased note cards.

Welcome, 2018.  Now comes this year's collection of greeting cards and little miniatures of fanciful flowers and people, and even a rabbit or two.

Rabbit and this vase of flowers are matted and framed and are wall hangings:

Below are some miniatures that were used for card fronts.  

Christmas 2017 and Watercolor Cards

Christmas 2017 was the only holiday season in twenty years when I sent out cards.  And the cards I sent, over thirty, were all personally drawn and painted with watercolors.

Here are a few:

Mary Kay hosted a coffee:

 Wishing you a Good, Fulfilling 2018!

Measure Twice

After watching a YouTube tutorial by Irmgard Rawn, I decided to paint a rose in watercolors in an impressionistic manner.  Or two or three, or maybe even a whole bunch.  They turned out pretty well, so I recycled a matt, glass and frame to use as a wall hanging.

But I cut the danged watercolor paper too short to correctly fit inside the matting.

So now I will cut up all the roses on the paper and use them for note cards.  And I will start over on another painting, this time ensuring the size will correctly fit into the matt before cutting the completed watercolor.

This was 140# paper, soaked for 15 minutes prior to stretching.  The predominant color is "Opera," which gives a punch to the usual pinks.  Although Irmgard produced a magnificent piece, and mine won't compare, that is really not what painting is about.  Let's put it another way: painting is all about what makes one happy.  The roses made me happy.  And I get to try again and make even more impressionistic roses, and perhaps they will actually get framed.  We shall see.

My friend PomPom whose blog can be accessed here, talked about slicing up lemons, layering them with sugar and refrigerating them until the juices seep out sweetness.  A friend of hers from the Ukraine taught her that trick; I did just that a few minutes ago and cannot wait until this afternoon to try some in iced tea.

Happy spring, all!  Time to go play pinochle and have coffee with friends.

Hollyhocks, and Note to Self

The frisket I was using was old.  It was too thick and would not rub off the paper; ruined my hollyhock and pig picture. Kept trying. Failed.

  Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men and animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock.

~ Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 - March 08, 1887)

 Updated 7/17/12 with frisket still there:

Must try to watercolor hollyhocks again.  Get new frisket at store.