I’m participating in the Index-Card-a-Day challenge, and World Watercolor Month. I completed six cards this week.

ICAD Day 40’s prompt was gradient. I’ve never painted a gradient before. I watched a how-to video that seemed counter-intuitive to me. (I meant to include it in this post, but I can’t find it again.) Anyway, it started with a saturated section on top and then dipping your brush in water and drawing the pigment down, tilting your board so that gravity works with you, and repeating the dipping and drawing. I would have thought that you start with a wash and then build up the pigment little by little with layering. Anyhow, it was more challenging than I would have thought. Here are four tries:

Day 41’s prompt was cinnamon or spice, which made me think of my favorite tea, Constant Comment. When I was teaching, as soon as I got to school in the morning, I’d go brew a cup of tea in my favorite mug.

Here is my watercolor version:

Day 42’s prompt was knot, so I tried some Celtic knots:

On Day 44 I didn’t like the prompt, so I did another try of my character, Fenton, the fairy prince. I think this is my best portrait of him so far. It’s also my favorite card this week.

All my Fentons still look like different people. I’m not yet able to draw him consistently.

Amy Cowen, an artist who I follow on Instagram, draws a face almost every day. I think that’s what I’m going to have to do. Maybe I’ll do it for ICAD next year.

On Day 45 I went off-prompt and did a Zentangle string instead. First I painted a wet-on-wet swirl design as a background, then when it dried, I drew on top of it. The patterns used are stoic, orlique, quipple, and wadical. This was my most-liked card on my Instagram page this week.

Day 47 I went off-prompt again and painted a platypus:

I’m participating in the Index-Card-a-Day challenge, and World Watercolor Month. I completed six cards this week.

The ICAD Day 33 prompt was periwinkle. As of this writing, it has the most “likes” this week on my Instagram page.

Day 34’s prompt was board game:

Day 35 was lantern:

Day 37 was hydrangea:

World Watercolor Month prompt for Day 8 was fall. I chose to experiment with wet-on-wet in fall colors.

WWM Day 9 prompt was fruit. I copied this little project from 15-Minute Watercolor Masterpieces by Anna Koliadych. I think this is my favorite this week:

Did you post projects for an art challenge this week? Feel free to add a link to the comments below so we all can see!

I’ve been participating in the Index-Card-a-Day challenge, and as of July 1, I’m doing double duty with World Watercolor Month. I only managed five cards this week.

Day 25’s prompt was bougainvillea, which flourishes in my area. I used this as a reference photo:

But I knew I’d never be able to paint it, so I decided to aim for something a little more impressionistic. I used watercolor pencils.

The prompt for Day 27 was souvenir. Colored pencils.

The prompt for Day 29 was citrus. I used this as a reference photo:

My card turned out a bit more primitive looking. This card got the most likes this week on my Instagram page.

The Day 1 prompt for World Watercolor Month was rejoice, which reminded me of this Bible verse. To add to the celebration aspect, I wanted to add confetti, so I did some paint spatter. Unfortunately, it looks more like a condiment accident.

ICAD Day 32’s prompt was earrings. I have a very creative friend who makes beautiful earrings, so I made a portrait of her. I wonder if she will recognize herself. I painted this from a picture she recently posted on Instagram.

Only five little paintings this week for the Index-Card-a-Day challenge and World Watercolor Month.

Day 50. This one is my favorite this week. The Day 20 prompt for World Watercolor Month was building, so I looked through my Architecture board on Pinterest for a pretty building to paint:

Day 51. The Day 21 prompt for World Watercolor Month was patterns:

On Day 52 I watched a tutorial:

Day 53:

On Day 54 I watched another watercolor pencil tutorial, but I’m not thrilled with my rendition. I did, however, try a new (to me) technique: using the pencils to create a “palette.”

There are only a few days left for the two challenges. I’ll wrap up next Saturday.

I am participating in the Index-Card-a-Day challenge and World Watercolor Month. I am making small watercolors every day in July.

I watched a video tutorial Angela Fehr posted for World Watercolor Month, which inspired me to try an abstract painting for Day 36:

The prompt for Day 37 was botanical. I attempted to try to paint an impression of these roses that I photographed at Mesa Community College’s rose garden:

On Day 38 I watched a tutorial for drawing a watermelon with watercolor pencils. My past attempts with watercolor pencils were very unsatisfactory. Even though I’d read articles on how to use them, it’s not the same as looking over someone’s shoulder and listening to the artist describe what she’s doing. Apparently, I’d not been pressing hard enough to leave enough pigment on the paper, and I’d only dribbled the water on instead of scrubbing the water with the brush. What a difference!

Every July I get frustrated with what an unpredictable surface index cards are for watercolor. The cards curl up and wrinkle where the water pools. I thought I could get around it by “preparing” the cards by taping them to a hardboard, spraying them with water, and letting them dry before painting. It didn’t work.

So I switched over to watercolor postcards. I’m justifying to myself that they count for ICAD because they’re 4 x 6 inches, the size of a large index card.

Since video tutorials have been working out well for me, I watched another one, which inspired the rest of the cards for the week.

Day 39:

Day 40:

Day 41:

Day 42:

My favorite painting for the week is the watermelon. I think it looks real. I’m excited that it’s a step forward for me, that now I know better how to use the watercolor pencils.

The tree tutorial didn’t help me as much as the others, because even though I could see what the artist was doing, hearing an explanation would have clarified it for me. I need words + the visual.

It’s not too late to jump in and participate–there are still two and a half weeks left, time enough to make 19 little artworks if you start today. It’s fun! No pressure.