The Warm End of the Paintbox

Here's a little watercolor in red, orange and yellow. No plan to it other than to relax and get a brush in my hands again.

The next thing I did was to hack it up and make it into note cards. It's interesting to see it cropped and take more notice of what's going on in different areas of the painting and it will entertain the people that I write too as well.

I added this little sticker to create a little planet and make my friend laugh. 

Envelope corners

I love to decorate my letters and often draw or paint a little something on the envelope to match the stamps or address labels I've got to make things more fun.

This sunflower  didn't match anything. I just like to grow, draw and paint them whenever I get a chance to...in just about any medium and on any surface that comes my way. I keep looking out the window at the snow and dreaming of the day I can get out and plant more sunflowers.

Making Your Own Calendar, Mine's Got iris

 There are many places where you can make your own calendar. Mine are on Zazzle but there are lots of other options available.

 The first thing I discovered was that I didn't have 13 watercolors of Iris (12 for the inside and one for the cover) so I sat down to take a couple of days and paint a few which did me good on a number of levels. I highly recommend it (but then painting is my answer to everything) you might want to give it a try and see if it helps keep your mind off your troubles too, it's been proven to help relieve all sorts of pain. It feels great when it goes well and it helps you blow off steam if it's going badly. Either way, you win.

 I'm beginning to enjoy the stained glass look you get when you layer waterproof ink on top of watercolor. This one was done on the corner of an envelope and Yes, I did mail it along with the previous watercolor. I'm still doing all of my watercolors on note cards made of heavy duty watercolor paper so that I can share them with my family and friends as well as using them to design fun products we can all use. I find it more satisfying than a gallery show and still aspire to be a Dixie cup or Kleenex box so everyone can enjoy the work I've been doing.

I spent a little more time on this one doing some shading and trying to indicate the curves of the petals but without live ones to work with or the ability to adjust my lighting there wasn't much I could do along those lines. That's OK, I'll give it another try next season. As always I wish you happy painting and brighter days ahead.

Deja Vu and petunias too

I couldn't let the garden season pass without making one more attempt at capturing this years petunias on a note card and envelope. Yes, I'd already given last weeks away...and yes I scanned it first to see how it would work on products at zazzle. I figure that way the widest number of people possible get a chance to see, use or enjoy it. I find that more gratifying (and useful) than doing a gallery show. Yes, that's weird but so am I and it makes me happy...it makes lots of people happy, and isn't that the whole point?

A couple of watercolors in the mail

I did some watercolors on the last 2 envelopes that went with the last photo cards I had made. Then of course I had fun playing with the images from a couple of old paintings and designing some shoes with them. I started cleaning up the house and was headed back to work on that big painting but as I write this I realized that I can't resist trying one more product idea so I'll wrap this up and get back to it.

Changing Seasons in Watercolor

We haven't had our first snowfall yet but in this part of the country it won't be long now so working on this card and envelope set this morning put me in the mood for a cup of hot cider and the scent of cinnamon in the air. I'm happy to report that the teapot painting (a few posts back) sold today as well as the last daffodil and the maple leaf card and envelope so I've got big hopes as I post this card set for sale too. Wish me luck! It's too bad that by the time someone wanted to buy daffodil drawings there was only one left yet I don't regret giving most of them away. It's just nice to know they were appreciated and that we're all looking forward to next years garden.

Fall Leaves in Watercolor

Here's a card and envelope I painted a couple of hours ago. It's my first attempt with this subject so I'm looking forward to a bit of practice in this area as I make a few cards for favorite family members and friends between now and Thanksgiving. Yes, I'll put up pictures of those as well.

As promised

I painted this card and envelope in watercolors just a few hours ago based on that photo of the flowers in my garden yesterday.