Path of Positivity Challenge Midway Post: Admiration

There are plenty of examples I could pick for the theme of Admiration but today just want to pick two groups of people, the first is anyone with the ability to paint! I love the paintings of the natural world and among my favourites are the floral ones of Van Gogh and Monet. I think it is the rich colours they both use and the beauty of the settings. I cannot draw yet alone paint which is one reason why I love stamping, someone else has done the lines and I just have to colour it in! In honour of all those wonderful painters I decided to dust off my neglected watercolours and paint this lovely image from A Day For Daisies.

Originally I would have used this card for my sister in law who has a birthday coming up at the beginning of June and loved poppies. She is a member of another group of people whom I admire, people who know what to do with needle and thread. As well as making clothes she was a great quilter and over the years we have been blessed to receive quite a few of her wonderful creations, from Advent Calendar Wall Hangings when the girls where little to Quillows. Sadly she passed away a few weeks ago after a long and courageous battle with cancer.

I am not sure that I will be an any hurry to get the paint out again but I have been inspired by a number of resent happenings to find a needle and thread and look again at my stash of material bits so watch this space!

Materials used: 

A Day For Daisies - Fairy Flowers 

watercolour paper

watercolour paints

stitched frame die

gold line peel-offs

5" x 7" card blank

The image and the sentiment are printed onto the watercolour paper together, I altered the line art of the image to a grey colour before printing. 

The background is done by giving the card a very quick and light wash of blue then splatting it with the same blue with some more pigment in to make the colour deeper.

               (Vincent Van Gogh: Vase With Poppies)

   

Don't forget the Path of Positivity Challenge has another two weeks to run so there is still plenty of time to join in. The theme is optional but it would be lovely to hear about the people that you admire and to see your artwork. All the details of how to enter and the link up can be found at the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog. If you need a bit more incentive then A Day For Daisies and Scribbles Designs are both sponsoring this challenge and offering prizes for winners.

Thank you for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
A Bit More Time To Craft #92 - Anything Goes 
Allsorts Challenge #520/1 - Birthday 
Artistic Inspiratons #215 - Anything Goes 
Creative Inspirations #May - Flowers and Showers 

Playing at being artistic

Ike's World Facebook Progressive challenge has a lovely panda this month. Thanks to the teaching talent of Alyce at Kit and Clowder I was able to colour the image using tips and techniques from her All About Animals class. If you want to improve your colouring skills whether using markers or pencils I would recommend taking a look at Kit and Clowder.  Anyway back to the issue at hand, having coloured my panda I loved it so much that I did not want to make it into a card. So instead I had a rare brainwave and created a double spread in my very seldom used art journal. My aim was to document the process of colouring the image and the inspirations I used. As it is an art journal entry I had a dabble with water colours and pencils as well as the Copic colouring of the main feature.







Materials used:Ike's Art - Panda (free from Facebook Page)
X-Press It cardblack card
printer paper
That Special Touch Mica Mask - Leafy 6x6
Distress ink pads - shabby shutters, mowed lawn
Copic pens:
fur - C0, C01, C03, C05, C07, C09
paw pads and claws - W05, W07, W09
bamboo stems - Y26, YR23, YR24, YR27
bamboo leaves - YG21, YG23, G21, G94, G99
grass - G21, G94, G99
sky - B000, B00, B12

Copic pen 0.3mm

Sakura white gelly roll pen

watercolour palette

Polychromo pencils:
bamboo stems - 185, 109, 183, 169
bamboo leaves - 171 +101, 170 + 101, 167, 174
sky - 145 +101, 146 + 101

On the left hand side I painted the bamboo and sky with watercolour paints and then stenciled on the leaves with distress inks. The right hand side is coloured with Polychromos.

On the left side I have put little print outs of the pictures I used from the internet to help with getting the colours and shading for the bamboo and panda along with some colour blend and drawing practices. The right side is just the pencil coloured background and the panda image.

I usually avoid drawing at all costs because I am not very good at it but even I managed a bit of bamboo and some leaves and they don't look too bad, at least not as bad as some of my past drawing attempts!

I know that in the future I shall look at that page and wonder how on earth I managed to do it!

Thank you for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
Ike's Art Facebook Progressive #4
Inspiration Destination #153 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #369 - Anything Goes
A Snowflakes Promise #52 - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Anything Goes
Creates and Makes #22 - Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread #70 - Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations #203 - Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Colour Inspiration Link Up #35
Crafting From The Heart #212 - Anything Goes
PIP Challenge #1825 - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #210 - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft #70 - Anything Goes