This post has a little of this and a little of that. (I’m trying to get back into the habit of posting more often!)
Kuretake Granulating Watercolor
A while back, I wrote about the Kuretake so-called granulating watercolors, which seem to be more about color separation than granulation (though they do granulate, too).
I think I shared that I had painted shapes in the new paints with the intention of going back and adding doodles on top, but then never mentioned them again.
Here’s the first one, with the addition of black ink pen and white paint pen:
It’s not my favorite thing, and I’d draw the “flower” shapes differently another time, but it was still fun to do.
This color of paint makes me think of the American Southwest and pottery.
The next one is more pink, purple, and pale blue. I had some Dr. Ph. Martin’s Pen-White I wanted to try with a dip pen, and this was a good opportunity to do that. It’s subtle… I’ll be curious to try it on top of a darker background.
In this case, it’s probably a little too low in contrast, but I’m not sure if I’ll add anything. I don’t have anything specific in mind for this, so it’s not high on my list to spend more time on.
Koh-I-Noor Brilliant Watercolors
I wrote at (great) length about this new-to-me paint in the last blog post. Today, I wanted to try it with salt. It seemed like a good opportunity to try the reverse coloring book thing again. That’s where you paint something that’s more or less loose and open to interpretation—anything from a completely abstract collection of blobs up to something that is easily decipherable, but lacking in detail. Then you go back on top of the dried paint and interpret it as you please, using ink, color pencil, or whatever else you prefer.
I tried this a couple of times. The first attempt, I used greens and blue-greens and just put the paint down in splodges. Unfortunately, I think I waited too long to add the salt, so some parts had already dried. Maybe that’s for the best, really, as it gives some contrast.
Anyway, here’s how it looks now, before I’ve added anything on top.
I do really love the salt effects—just beautiful as they are, in my opinion! I’ll definitely be trying this again. It’s unpredictable, but it’s pretty.
For the second half of the page, I used pinks and purples. I tried to act more quickly this time, but the salt effect is actually more subtle on this one. I guess that certain colors may react more strongly than others, or maybe they were a bit too wet. There’s a sweet spot you have to find, but these inky watercolors do seem to produce the most extravagant salt textures I’ve personally been able to get, so far. (Adding salt to “real” watercolor hasn’t been as impressive for me, but I haven’t really given it as much time and effort as I could, yet.)
Subtle, but still pretty.
Return to the Sketchbook
Today I wanted to do something in the new sketchbook I’ve started, but I had nothing specific in mind. Endless Art Challenge cards to the rescue!
Space + Mint + Make It a Book Cover
I had a simple idea, which I sketched in pencil… Could have been better, but this is just for fun.
Next step was adding the watercolor. I wasn’t too precious about it, as you can see… The pencil sketch is still visible through the paint, which helps with the final details.
Details in Anilinky paint that was still on the palette and some acrylic paint pens, with outlines in black ink pen. (I didn’t notice until too late that the starry accents framing “dogs” look a little like wacky tobaccy leaves. Oops!)
I’m not sure if it translates in these photos, but the dog’s spacesuit and the planet he’s floating above are both tinted with mint green.
I had fun with this. Those inspiration cards have been great for getting over the hurdle of starting. Highly recommended. (Or make a set of them yourself!)
Just Sew You Know...
I haven’t written much about quilts in a while, because I haven’t done much sewing—but I did get the last four string-pieced blocks finished.
If you recall, I was sewing those on the treadle machine. The regular (electric-powered) sewing machine was kind of hard to get to, because I’d stacked things on all the surfaces around it. A brief tidying later, and the Juki was ready to spring back into action!
There were still a bunch of crumbs (and crumbs sewn to crumbs sewn to more crumbs) at that sewing station, so I spent a happy hour or two with those. (No photos this time.) I really need to decide what I’m doing with the blue and grey string blocks, though, so I’ll probably put away the crumbs and make the final call on the layout. If I follow my original plan, I’ll need to clear some space and do some cutting before I can start sewing the sashing. I’m not really feeling inspired by the thought of that, but once I get started, it’ll be fine!
I, um, also still have a few seams to sew before the previous quilt top is completely joined up… (Slacker!)
