Playing with my Muse and Color

Introducing Pixie Star!  She showed up to help me along in my creative endeavors....

Ooh!
 Pixie Star loves being surrounded by color!

Pixee Star and I have been playing around with my color palette.  Those of you who know me, know that I am obsessed with color and watercolor is my favorite medium.  In preparing for my All About Color class that I am teaching in my Bend, Oregon Studio, I took a closer look at the yellows on my palette.  My goal was to have the warmest yellow and the coolest yellow available.  I am happy to announce that I found a cooler yellow than I already had!  It is the Daniel Smith Lemon Yellow.  It is bright, fresh, and semi-transparent.  Next I will try using it in triad and tetrad mixes.  If I come up with something great, I will let you know!
Here are some photos from my Color Class.  There is some serious color study going on!

Fun Art Journal Page, Part 2

For one of the first time's in my life, I am snow bound!  The high for the day is 11 degrees and snow is falling constantly.  What a great day to do some art but first I made chicken soup from scratch and a new found yummy cardamon cookie recipe.  Now I had time to enjoy finishing my Fun Art Journal Page.

Out my back door....

Finishing my art page:  After all the colors have dried and edges are finished, (see part 1)  I added the words "The journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step".  This is a quote from Lao Tzu.  I love this quote because it means that great things start from humble beginnings.

I wish that I could say I can do calligraphy because I think it is so beautiful.  The one time I tried it though, I realized quickly that I don't have the patience to learn it.  In one of my art classes several years ago, one of my art students (Cindy was that you?) turned me on to Pilot Parallel Calligraphy Pens!  I will bring them to the class I am teaching at the Art & Soul Retreat in Portland, Art for the Soul.  

They come in 4 different nib sizes and lots of great colors of ink!  

 I used the Parallel Pen to write the quote on my journal page.  I hope you have fun trying this out!

A Fun Art Journal Page, Part One

I want to share with you a step-by-step page prep for your creative art journal.  This is one of the many techniques that I will be teaching at the Portland Art and Soul Retreat 2017!  This techniques uses watercolor and mixed media.

Here is a list of supplies you need to create this page.

• Your art journal (it doesn't have to be watercolor paper - I used a Moleskin notebook)
• Watercolors, watercolor brush, palette and water
• Mixed media embellishments such as oil sharpie pens, 
• Twinkling H2O such as Solar Gold 
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain
• A water mister
• Permanent pen

Start by painting 2 pages in your journal with analogous watercolors (colors next to each other on the color wheel).  I used Indian yellow and French Vermilion.  Mist the paints lightly to help them blend together.  Sprinkle and splatter a third color such as Cobalt blue teal.  Let this dry.

Paint the Twinkling H2O Solar Gold along the edges of the pages.  Add the distress stain along the edges too, blending and letting them mix. Use colors that will enhance the edges.