Tag Archives: Watercolor

Sep1

Creative Juice #57

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Creative Juice #57

Just in time for the weekend—thirteen articles to tickle your creative impulses:

Aug25

Creative Juice #56

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Creative Juice #56

This very special edition of Creative Juice features posts from My OBT, one of my very favorite blogs. Every day, Donna shares something beautiful—or not so beautiful. I include at least one of her posts in CJ each week, but I have so many in reserve I thought I’d bless you with a whole bunch today. If you enjoy them, you might want to subscribe to My OBT so you never miss a single one.

Aug18

Creative Juice #55

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Creative Juice #55

Fill up on these amazing glimpses of genius.

  1. More modern quilts.
  2. Rope art.
  3. Almost as good as being in a watercolor workshop.
  4. Taking paper flowers to a highly-refined level.
  5. What do you believe in?
  6. Sweet little rats.
  7. When I was a student in Pittsburgh, I visited Heinz Chapel and loved the blue light streaming in through the stained glass windows. Here’s a mosque in Iran whose windows cast a kaleidoscopic effect.
  8. I’ve read nine of these one-sitting books. Only 91 more to go…
  9. Pigeons wouldn’t be nearly so annoying if you could get them to wear crocheted duds.
  10. Gorgeous astrophotography.
  11. A gallery that features art of 60+year-old artists.
  12. A husband and wife who create snow globes together.
Aug4

Creative Juice #53

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Creative Juice #53

Twelve creative articles for you to enjoy! May they inspire you on your artistic journey.

  1. Living in that uncomfortable place where you want to just create, but you have to pay bills.
  2. John Singer Sargent’s visual harmony.
  3. Photography: Princess Diana being a mom.
  4. Sculpture from garbage.
  5. How to paint heather. (Click the picture—it’s a video.)
  6. Good reading list. I’ve read at least seven of these. Disliked one, though.
  7. Gorgeous photographs. I just wish there were captions listing the locations they were taken.
  8. Watch these quilting videos, and enter this quilt giveaway today!
  9. You can never have too much summer.
  10. Thinking of visiting San Francisco? This will change your mind. Maybe.
  11. Minimalism in photography.
  12. An artist’s allegiance to watercolor.
Aug1

#dyicad2017 Days 55-61

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#dyicad2017 Days 55-61

The Daisy Yellow Index-Card-a-Day Challenge and World Watercolor Month are over. I’m so glad that I participated. I’d love to say I’ll continue making a drawing or a painting every day, but I know I won’t. However, maybe I’ll at least work on an artistic project every other day. (That was my goal for this year–make art on even-numbered days, and write a poem on odd-numbered days. Maybe I can actually do that for the next five months. We’ll see.)

Here are my cards from the last week:

Day 55, using World Watercolor Month prompt for Day 25, Cherry, Lemon & Turquoise, I dropped those colors on a wet watercolor postcard, and this happened:

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Day 56, I responded to  The Daily Post prompt, Tea:

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Day 57’s prompt was Spring. I interpreted it with a zentangle pattern, Msst, which reminds me of Spanish moss:

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For Day 58, I took World Watercolor Month’s prompt of Lollipops:

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Day 59’s prompt was Autumn. I thought of the project we were assigned every November in elementary school, to draw or color a cornucopia:

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For Day 60’s prompt, Winter, I offer a pine branch and cone, one of the few watercolors I did without sketching it out first:

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For Day 61, I went with World Watercolor Month’s prompt, Things with Wings. I used a photograph I took last year when I went to Butterfly Wonderland with my brother, my daughter Erin, and her husband as a reference. I think this is my favorite card this week:

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I missed three days, so I ended up with 58 mini-masterpieces for the two months:

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All photos and artwork © by ARHuelsenbeck.

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Jul25

#dyicad2017 Days 48-54

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#dyicad2017 Days 48-54

In June and July, I am participating in Daisy Yellow’s Index-Card-a-Day challenge, in which we create a little something on an index card every day–61 mini-masterpieces. And July is World Watercolor Month, so my July cards will feature watercolor. I will be posting my projects every Tuesday.

Day 48’s prompt was intersection. I practiced lots of intersections with a basketweave Zentangle pattern.

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On Day 49 I went with the Week 7 theme of garden and got in touch with my inner Monet.

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Day 50’s prompt was sun.

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Day 51’s prompt was gate. This is my favorite card of the week.

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On Day 52 I chose to use the World Watercolor Month prompt for Day 22, colors of summer. This is a Zentangle pattern called Goldilocks.

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For the last two days, I went rogue (off-prompt). Below is a Zentangle pattern called B-horn. I don’t know the significance of the name. To me it looks like knotty wood.

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This is a Zentangle pattern called Ditto.

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I’m having so much fun with these challenges, and you can, too. Only 7 more days–you don’t even have to make up the days you missed. Click the links in the first paragraph for more details.

Jul18

#dyicad2017 Days 41-47

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#dyicad2017 Days 41-47

In June and July, I am participating in Daisy Yellow’s Index-Card-a-Day challenge, in which we create a little something on an index card every day–61 mini-masterpieces. And July is World Watercolor Month, so my July cards will feature watercolor. I will be posting my projects every Tuesday.

Day 41’s prompt was roots, and I thought I’d try my hand at a greenman. He looks more like a monkey. Oh, well.

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Day 42’s prompt was onomatopoeia. I decided to go all comic book:

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The next three days I went off prompt. On Day 43 I tried another half-mandala. It’s my favorite card this week:

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On Day 44, I practiced a zentangle pattern, Crux:

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On Day 45, I tried zentangle pattern Quare. It reminded me of an asymmetrical quilt block, so I painted it like an old-fashioned scrap quilt.

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Day 46’s prompt was love:

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And the prompt for World Watercolor Month for Day 17 was running wild. My first thought was to paint a tiger.

Tigers are hard. I painted a toucan instead.

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I’m having so much fun with these challenges, and you can, too. It’s not too late to join! You don’t even have to make up the days you missed. Click the links in the first paragraph for more details.

Jul11

#dyicad2017 Days 34-40

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#dyicad2017 Days 34-40

In June and July, I am participating in Daisy Yellow’s Index-Card-a-Day challenge, in which we create a little something on an index card every day–61 mini-masterpieces. And July is World Watercolor Month, so my July cards will feature watercolor. I will be posting my projects every Tuesday.

For Day 34 I used the Daily Post prompt, sail. I am also using this card for World Watercolor Month’s Day 5 prompt, summer sky.

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Day 35’s prompt was fav kind of apple. My favorite apple is a pink lady:

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Day 36’s prompt was perfume. I think garlic is one of the best fragrances ever. When you smell garlic, it means something delicious is cooking.

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I’m off prompt for Day 37. I was itching to do some Zentangle. The design below is called bumpkenz.

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Day 38’s prompt was charcoal.

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Day 39’s prompt was ampersand. This card is sloppier than I would like; I should have used a smaller brush.

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I’m off prompt again on Day 40. You had to know I’d eventually draw a unicorn.

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I’m having so much fun with these challenges, and you can, too. It’s not too late to join! You don’t even have to make up the days you missed. Click the links in the first paragraph for more details.

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Jul4

#dyicad2017 Days 27-33

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#dyicad2017 Days 27-33

Happy birthday, U.S. of A.! And if you’re taking time out of your busy holiday to visit ARHtistic License, thank you for stopping by.

In June and July, I am participating in Daisy Yellow’s Index-Card-a-Day challenge, in which we create a little something on an index card every day–61 mini-masterpieces. And July is World Watercolor Month, so my July cards will feature watercolor. I will be posting my projects every Tuesday.

Day 27’s prompt was farm, which is, of course, the perfect excuse to practice some zentangle:

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Somehow Day 28 just passed me by.

Day 29’s prompt was polka dots. Again, another excuse to practice zentangle. (Plus, I got a new zentangle book and I wanted to try out some designs.) I really like Fracas.

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On Day 30, I chose to use The Daily Post‘s prompt, snack.

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On Day 31, I started constructing a grid for a zentangle pattern, and then I realized I did it incorrectly. Man! Yet, it still kind of fits the prompt, wallpaper. Too bad I forgot it was the first day of World Watercolor Month; I could have done something different with it.

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Day 32’s prompt was dessert. 

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And Day 33’s prompt was Orange. This might be my favorite card this week.

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It’s not too late to join these challenges. You don’t even have to make up the days you missed. Click the links in the first paragraph for more details.

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Jun29

Guest Post: Playing With Resist and Watercolors by Alice Hendon

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Guest Post: Playing With Resist and Watercolors by Alice Hendon

A great big ARHtistic License thank you to Alice Hendon for this fabulous idea. I’ve ordered my resist pen, and I can’t wait to try this. Check out Alice’s other work at The Creator’s Leaf.

Zentangle All Around recently had a prompt to think outside the box. Try something you’ve not done before. A product, a technique, anything that breaks the block we artists all feel at one time or another. Christine called the prompt: Break the Block!
Months ago I bought a Prima product called Watercolor Resist Pen. A bottle of liquid that allows you to mask off an area so you can have contrast when you watercolor. It has a needle tip on it and you just squeeze. I used a piece of mixed media paper and made scrolls and loops using the resist pen. Then I put it somewhere safe from Aurora to dry overnight.
The next day, I used a small watercolor set also from Prima and watercolored my paper. I slopped on a lot of water to start with – then added the color. It was cool to watch how the color moved to the borders of the resist and sat there. I was curious about the amount of water I added. I really thought it would seep under the edges of the resist lines.
Here is what it looked like dry. I did not use a heat gun to dry this. I wasn’t sure how the resist would react with the heat, so I just stuck it back in the safe spot and waited. I really love how the colors mixed with each other. Notice – when the color bumped up to the resist lines, as it dried the resist pushed the color back in on itself. And made those cool little wiggly edges all around. I love it!
Yesterday, I started peeling off the resist. It pulled up in a little rubbery strip, kind of like rubber cement did when we were kids. Notice that the color did not seep under the resist like I thought it might. It left a good crisp, clear line.
And the white line left behind looks exactly like the resist line did. All the little blobs and blunders I made – not thinking ahead of time where I wanted to go – all still show up. But that’s ok. I like it! Next, I will take this sheet and start tangling it up!
Resist and frisket are the same things. And I truly believe rubber cement would do the same thing. Just remember with it – the fumes are killer for headaches. We don’t even have any in our house just for that very reason.
Just have fun and play some today.