My First Acrylic Painting, 8 by 10 sunset couple on Canvas Panel

 My First Time 

My first time doing an acrylic painting on a canvas panel, #Aham Art

Monte Marte Acrylic Paint on Dollar Store Canvas Panel

I am sooooo happy with the way this came out.  It is my first time painting with acrylics on a canvas panel.  

I used Monte Marte paint, and a dollar store panel.  I gessoed the panel the night before, and then today followed a great tutorial by Aham Art, which you can find here:A Romantic Couple in the Sunset by Aham Art

I started with the background, which was a yellow to orange-red Ombre for the sky, and a more orange to red ombre for the water.  Then I added the clouds and the sun and some ripples on the water, and darkened the skyline.  If I could do it over, I would do the sun before the clouds, but that's not how it was in the tutorial. I watched the tutorial several times but felt a bit anxious painting because I'd never done this before. My only experience is with the little ornaments I did for Christmas.

I seriously thought about stopping here, because I liked how it looked and was afraid I might ruin it if I kept going.

I next added the black at the bottom and the tree trunk.  Again I thought about stopping at that step because I was worried about adding the leaves.  I also added more yellow to the sky and the sun and to the lake.  Finally I did the leaves.  They were easy, once I found the right brush (I tried 10 different brushes on a tester before choosing one, lol).   Again, I considered stopping here as I liked how it looked and have never painted figures before. I was worried about painting the silhouette of the man and woman so I drew it with a chalk pencil first, then painted it in.  The finished image is at the top of the page, and I'm so happy with it, for my first try.

Here's my little art area.  I have my laptop next to me, an air conditioner under my table, and a very slanty roof that I kept hitting my head on, but I love it, lol.

Beautiful Candles and Poinsettia Diamond Painting for my Parents' Diamond Anniversary (tomorrow)

 Tomorrow is my Parent's 60th Anniversary

So I did this diamond painting for them...60 is diamonds.

Diamond painting for my parents diamond anniversary, 60 years

It took me forever to finish this because I also did a large Christmas diamond painting for them, plus a coaster set, and several keychains, ornaments, and cards.  My shoulder and back are killing me, but I'm done in time, woohoo.

I know it's a Christmas pic, but they had a Christmas season wedding (Dec. 29th), and red candles are special in our house. Mom always puts one big red candle on birthday cakes, anniversary cakes, etc., it's tradition. I'm telling her each of the candles in this pic represents 20 years, for a total of 60.

I'm really pleased with how it came out, and it looks much better in person. Super vibrant and sparkly.  I did bling it up a lot with some AB drills in the highlighted areas, and I did the flames with rhinestone drills.

I bought this diamond painting at Michael's last year and didn't have a chance to finish it then; I'm so glad as it was perfect for my parents anniversary.

I have a few even bigger diamond paintings that I thought about doing for them but with all of the Christmas arts and crafts, I just didn't have time. 

Anyway,I think they will like this. I love it.

Today's Art, Merry Christmas, 2022

 Merry Christmas!

Procreate Art, from following  James Julier Art Tutorials

Wow, where does the time go? HOW is it already Christmas day?  I thought I started early enough with my Christmas prep, but here were are, Christmas Day and I still have ONE more thing to finish.  Not gonna happen, lol.  Oh well; I did enough.

I am so behind on posting here because I've been painting and drawing and crocheting and diamond painting up a storm.    I made loads of decorations and gifts and had a lovely time doing it.

There were so many Christmas art tutorials that I wanted to follow, but I only had time to do this one, today, lol.  I also made some hand painted ornaments and can blog about them later this week after the last gift is opened.

We had  blizzard here, for the past two and a half days and we've gotten so much fresh snow that it took my poor Dad 3 hours to clear out the driveway today, and it was cleared yesterday.  My Mom even helped for an hour. I feel so bad that I can't help with that sort of thing but I've never been able to do that because of my severe asthma.  Every year I offer to pay to have someone come do snow removal and every year they just get mad and say no.   One year I did hire someone anyway, as a Christmas present and that did not go over well and the poor guy refunded my money after trying to do the driveway for 2 weeks.  My parents either beat him to it or they stood outside criticizing him, lol.  It was funny, but sad too.

Anyway, we finally opened our stockings and Smokey (my parrot) opened her gifts.  My Dad  is on the phone with our family in Austria right now, so when he's done we'll open our gifts and I'll be back with photos.  It will only be the 3 of us for dinner, and possibly our neighbor, if she can't get to her brother's house. THe roads are bad.  Our cousin was supposed to come to dinner but she can't get out of her driveway.  So much snow, and it's still snowing!  

Anyway, wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Today's art: Poppy in Alcohol Marker & Pencil Crayon: My 1st Time using Alcohol Markers

 My First Time using Alcohol Markers

Poppy done in Alcohol Marker and Pencil Crayon

I bought a set of Bianyu Alcohol Markers off Amazon.ca on sale for $36.99 for a set of 72 markers complete with carrying case and blender.

Bianyu Markers

The above pic is from Amazon and this is exactly what I used.

I have never used Alcohol Markers before and was worried about the smell, but unless you stick them directly under your nose and sniff, they weren't strong and I didn't even notice any smell for the entire time I was drawing/coloring (about 2 hours). 

I used this photo by James Lee as a reference photo, found on unsplash, which has royalty free photos. You can find it here: poppy reference photo.

I sort of followed this tutorial by The Frugal Crafter, Lindsay Weirich, on Youtube. You can find it here: Poppy tutorial

I say sort of because Lindsay is a real artist and she's really good and I am just learning, so I wasn't able to follow exactly. For one, I need more practice with sketching lol.  I really like her tutorials though; she's really good.

Today's Digital Art: Poppy Field with Procreate on the Ipad

 Procreate is still my favorite way to make art

Poppy Field on Ipad #JamesJulierArtTutorials

I am so happy with the way this poppy field digital painting came out!  James Julier makes the most wonderful tutorials for realistic landscapes.  I can only follow the tutorials if I don't have a headache, and thankfully today I woke up headache free so was able to jump right in.  

As always, these paintings look so much better on my Ipad than they do on FB or Instagram or even my computer.  

If you want to give this tutorial a try, you can find it: here

Today's Art: Translucent Layered Poppies in Watercolor

 Watercolor Poppies

Watercolor Poppies with Winsor & Newton Cotman #Emma Jane Lefebre

Winsor & Newton Cotman & Canson XL Watercolor Paper

I found a fun tutorial on Youtube, by Emma Jane Lefebre, and was able to follow along to make these pretty translucent poppies.

It was not as easy as Emma makes it look but she is a pro and I am a newb, lol. It's hard to figure out how much water to use; too much and you get a runny mess; not enough and you're dry brushing, lol.

I had fun though, and am very happy with my first attempt at translucent poppies.  I should have waited until tomorrow to take photos as it's almost midnight and quite dark, so they photos don't look as nice as the real painting.  

If you want to try the tutorial, you can find it: here

Ipad Art: Halloween

 I still love my Ipad

Halloween Art on Ipad with Procreate following a Watercolor Tutorial, lol.

I found a tutorial on Youtube for a cute halloween watercolor, but I had a headache and didn't want to deal with water and brushes and mess.  So I grabbed my trusty Ipad and just looked at the finished product on Youtube and ignored the tutorial and did it on Procreate. I'd still like to try the tutorial with watercolors but Halloween is over now, so maybe next year.  I used Gouache brushes to make this, and am happy with how it turned out.  

Today's Art: Watercolor and Derwent Inktense, Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween!

First time using watercolor in over 18 years

I am so happy with the way this painting/illustration came out!  I used my new Winsor & Newton Cotman Field set for the background, and Derwent Inktense ink pencils for the foreground.  I also used a white gel pen for the eyes and stars and signature.  It was a lot of fun, but wow, does it ever take longer than using procreate.  I waited for the first background layer to dry naturally, but then after I added more color, I used a blow dryer to dry the second layer. So funny to need water and blow dryers to make art, lol.  

I had a lot of fun and I followed a tutorial by Draw with David, on Youtube to make this. You can find it here: Halloween Cat with Spooky Tree

Today's Art: Procreate Halloween JackO'Lanterns

Hanging Jack'O'Lanterns

Made with Procreate

I found this cute tutorial for a watercolor illustration and decided to try it on procreate first, lol.  Here it is; I really like it.

You can find the tutorial here: de Winton Paper Co

 Dad's 83rd Birthday

Here are some pics taken on my Dad's 83rd birthday.  We started the day with a special brunch Mom made Dad's favorites; pancakes, eggs, bacon, and toast.  Then we went for a nature walk. That was followed by Chinese takeout, and a small party at our house with pizza.  Mom also made Dad his cake and apple strudel.  It was a lovely day and Dad was so happy.

Dad's 83rd Birthday Walk

Mom

Mom, Dad, and Judy

Chinese takeout for supper

Lucy & Judy

Pam, Andie, and Michelle

Kelly, Pa, Andie, Michelle, and Jonnie

Dad's birthday cake.  The big candle is tradition, lol.

Pam, Kelly, & Michelle

Group photo; our first birthday party since covid started.

Group photo with me (behind Dad)

Dad saying "What the heck is this?"  LOL

Dad loved his Austria cookbook