More chameleons this week, I’ve decided to put one on a card.
I thought the chameleons could use some friendly little frogs and set about sketching out some ideas in my sketchbook.
Happy frog drawings
The backgrounds were all started off by splattering watercolour onto the paper randomly in various shades of green and yellow then sprinkling on a little salt. Foliage is not my strong point so it’s a good starting point for the trees and an impression of leaves.
Green chameleon background
I painted this image a couple of times trying different colours or ideas, I liked parts of both paintings but tried it one more time (maybe this is some sort of perfectionism?) anyway I liked the last one so that will be the one to make into the card. The others will probably be glued into my sketchbook for future reference.
Chameleon tests
Hopefully the teenage boy it’s intended for will enjoy it.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x
In my quest to draw better squirrels I now have many sketches and since I had some cards to make this week I’ve been putting my new found skills to work.
We all like to make each other cards for celebrations, they are fun to make and it always seems a little more personal.
Above a birthday card with a little squirrel reaching down for cake (as you do).
Below checking out the lay of the land on a tuft.
Squirrel on a tuft
I’ve been attempting simple backgrounds so they have places to live also they are not floating around on a white background.
I like the effect of the trees in the top image, they turned out much better than I thought they would.
The image below is a little over worked, less fiddling needed hehehe.
Some things I need to work on but on the whole they are OK.
Who knows, maybe some of this practice is paying off.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x
I have made a few cards recently, for various occasions. These are the few I remembered to take pictures of as most of the time I forget until I’ve given it away.
(above) A Fathers day painted with watercolour and brush pen. Some little frogs sitting on a log. The background is actually a bit more green than this image shows. I like the expression on their faces they make me smile.
I love ewe. I like a play on words and so does the other half. I used three colours to paint it, burnt sienna, cerulean blue and paynes grey. Interesting how many colours it takes to paint a white sheep.
This was made for our wedding anniversary (36 years!) time goes by so quickly.
Sheep card, I love ewe.
Three brown mice. This was an idea from my Inktober drawings you can see it here. The background was Moonglow by Daniel Smith, it splits and divides into various colours of purple and mauve. I think I also splashed a little water over the top for some added texture. It’s interesting but I’m not sure it’s the best colour for a background.
Three brown mice
Jellyfishes. Li Ching Heng makes some very good tutorials on instagram, I loved all of the tiny fish plants and details she had used in this one and I really wanted to try it.
I used some shiny mica paints on the jellyfish and some of the plants so it is quite sparkly in places. loved the way it turned out and once it was finished I thought it would make a nice card.
A jellyfish birthday card.
I like sending my little artworks out into the world and maybe they bring a little pleasure into someone’s day.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun
I have a birthday card to make; I decided to paint a fox. Most people like foxes and I think she will too.
It’s quite a while since I’ve drawn any foxes so first step to find some images and have a practice.
After a few ropey pencil drawings (not shown) I did the thumbnail exercise from last week thinking maybe it would generate some ideas.
I just made some splots of ink with a brush pen then tried to find the foxy shapes. They are tiny, less than an inch, It worked better than I thought it would.
Fox thumbnails
Next to find a position for foxy. There are three on this page that I liked The singing fox was favourite here.
Fox gouache sketches
The next page has some smaller poses, I picked the one in the bottom left I thought it was cute and I’d had an idea how to use it.
Smaller fox gouache sketches
First try. (top of the post)I like most of this, its a bit sparse and the birdies didn’t work very well and the I wanted to change the colours.
Below is the finished card. I lightened the background colour (I used sparkly mica paint for the sky, it doesn’t show up.) and used a darker colour for the fox. I also switched up the birdies (I like them more now) and added a mountain and twiggy tree.
To make the card I cut a round aperture in the front and glued the painting behind, it’s not mounted but it does look a bit more finished.
Finished fox card
There are things I like and dislike about both of them, perfectionism is not always a good thing.
Now all I have to do is find some way of delivering it, it may be a knock and run birthday this year hehehe.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x
NB: I missed a day. Working from home, the week and week-ends all run into each other. Maybe my brain is finally dribbling out of my ears eeep!
It was the youngest younglings birthday this week, I decided to make him a card.
We all like to make birthday cards for each other; it’s a bit more personal and a whole lot better than the over priced cards in the shops.
I always struggle with guys cards so with much head scratching I thought he might like a giraffe.
I sketched out a few in my sketch book; I concentrated on the heads as drawing the whole giraffe was a little daunting.
Giraffe drawn with a brush pen
I drew them with a brush pen a fountain pen or painted them with watercolour. The paper of the sketch book was a little damaged by the excessive amounts of water and over working but it was enough to give a general idea of what I wanted.
Watercolour sketch of a giraffe
I picked the one I liked best and traced it onto watercolour paper, maybe you can tell which one I’d chosen. I made the neck a little longer; it is a giraffe after all. The background was a rather pretty blue for the sky but as usual it didn’t scan.
Giraffe birthday card
He liked his card and the cake I’d made in a rough shape of a giraffe (nailed it hehehe) he knew what it was without me having to tell him so I call that a win.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x
This week I needed to make a card, I wanted to make something wintry, not snowflakes they’re too Christmassy and I don’t want her to think it’s a left over Christmas card so I’ve been searching for something to fit.
In October (inktober) I drew dome dancing cranes in white ink on toned paper, and thought they would be just right.
I could have cut the inktober drawing down but I wanted to try something different.
I tried out a few colours and sketches in my sketch book to see which I preferred. I also found some fun sparkly paint in a local store, it’s meant for kids so light and colour-fastness are unknown but it’s for a card and they don’t last forever so I figured it would be OK. See the sparkly colours, gold, silver, pink, blue, happy paints.
Dancing cranes sketch page, the papers wrinkly and the drawings a bit scrappy but the ok for testing colours.
There are several designs to play with, I picked my favourite and painted my card (see top image). I took the photo outside to catch the shine but the light wasn’t good the colours are turquoise blue and viridian and don’t show well up in pictures.
These two birdies below are likely to appear on the next card I make in some form, I’ll have to post that one at a later date though, after I’ve given it away.
Dancing cranes
After painting the card I wondered if a darker colour would make the birds show up better and did another test adding darker Prussian blue into the mix with interesting results, something to consider next time maybe
Red crowned cranes
Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x
It was number one sons Birthday this week so I painted him a card. Llama llama duck based on a silly YouTube video we saw ages ago. It’s hard to think of things for guys cards so I just go with any idea I can think of, even silly ones.
The bird at the front is a supposed to be a duck not a goose (art fails *sad face*) I think the neck got longer each time I drew it but it’s really a duck, honest.
It’s watercolour on student grade 300 gsm watercolour paper; I usually paint on the right hand side of the paper then fold the paper down the middle to make a card.
It made him smile so my work is done hehehe.
I’ve been decorating so not much arting going on this week.
On Tuesday the weather was so beautiful, we didn’t want to stay indoors so we drove over to Ness Gardens (the local botanical gardens) they have a lovely snowdrop walk (sadly fading now) and the daffodils and spring flowers all coming into their own.
The camellias are blooming so we stopped for a few minutes to draw a few blooms. A lovely way to spend an afternoon.
A camellia watercolour sketch
Then back home to the decorating,
Thanks for taking the time to stop by today. Till next time, have fun x
This week I have been drawing orchids, lots of orchids. We have two orchid plants in our house, mine is the pink striped one and the other is white with slightly bigger flowers belonging to my daughter. We are extremely happy with ourselves because amazingly they are still alive after over a year, whoot!
The pink one started to flower last week and I drew one or two sketches of it. This week the white orchid is flowering, it has grown four flower spikes so far so there will be lots of drawing opportunities available in the future.
The drawing above and the one directly below were both drawn with a fountain pen and brown ink, the ink was then brushed out with a water brush to create the shadows. I really like the way the tones and shadows stand out on the first one,
A drawing of a white orchid in brown ink. I love the colour of this ink.
The next two are drawn the way I usually draw things in general, with a pentel brush pen. I know it makes them look a bit cartoon-y but I like the effect. I also wanted to use these drawings as a pattern for watercolour and thought it would show better though the light box and paper. It did.
A sketch of white orchid flower buds
The shadows didn’t show up too well on the scan of the flowers, to be honest I’m not sure they were strong enough to start with, something for me to experiment with later.
A sketch of a white orchid spray.
I painted a green background on this one trying to push the white flowers forward, I had wanted to try to paint it without the heavy lines but the shadows again were not strong enough. This is all useful information to take into future drawings.
Some white orchids on a green background
This one was more an experiment with the paper than the drawing. I like the effect of the blue background and I will try this again. The paint was applied with a 1” synthetic brush in a criss-cross pattern.
white orchid on a blue crisscross blue background
All of these drawings were done in my sketch book which contains a coated cartridge paper so an even wash is not possible. It turned out quite well and isn’t any where near as much work as the green background in the image above.
This quick sketch was drawn on brown packing paper, I wanted a toned surface and this was all I had. It’s drawn with a fountain pen and brown ink then painted with watercolour (Chinese white for the petals)
An orchid sketched on brown paper
Finally watercolour paper (phew!) This is always fascinating to me, the water was added and the paint allowed to travel out along the water.
I like the colour and the way this turned out, again the shadows are not strong enough. I could have fixed it maybe but the next day it had been made into a birthday card and was winging its way to its new home.
Its recipient said she liked it and that’s what really matters.
Blue orchid birthday card
I love playing and working in my sketchbook, It’s nice to make pretty pictures but my sketchbook is the place I experiment, make mistakes, learn from the things that worked as well as the things that didn’t. If all my drawings were perfect there would be no need to practice and for me that is where the fun lies.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by today. Till next time, have fun x
Chameleon card
Sunnyfae 