I thought I’d try to kick off 2025 the right way and get at least a quick post in to mark the first day of the new year. There were a few things I hadn’t yet photographed of scanned for yesterday’s post, and I’ve also decided to start a new challenge for January (and maybe even beyond)—so let’s get right to it!
Watercolor/Mixed Media Doodles
Let’s start with the ugliest one first. (Well, sorry, but it’s true.) I think I was just wanting to try some neon watercolors that are part of a “special effects” set I own. I don’t tend to use neons a lot; I haven’t been a huge fan since elementary school, probably. They can be effective, but they’re not where I tend to gravitate. So I thought I’d cover a page in a wash of neon pinks, orange, and yellow, then go back and doodle over it, reverse coloring book style.
This type of thing could probably be nice, done the right way, but my flower doodles were particularly uninspired this time. Eh, it was something to do. I added a few touches of marker to add a little more contrast, but it’s still not remotely a favorite.
Maybe neon would be more effective used more sparingly in contrast with non-neon colors, rather than in such an “in your face”, all neon all the time fashion. Something to try, sometime.
This next one was loosely based on something from Diane Antone’s YouTube channel. I like this better, but it’s still not quite there for me. I think part of the problem is that there’s too much white in the background. It would look better with grey, maybe…
Scanned image, followed by photo. The metallic paint really doesn’t scan very well at all.
A long while back, I posted an in-progress photo of this potted cactus doodle. Based on Diane Antone, based on something from the Painting Calm book. I finally decided to add the finishing touches in ink and white acrylic marker. I like it pretty well.
Belated Christmas Tree Doodles
I tried out a technique I saw on YouTube, back when I was trying to come up with ideas for a few Christmas cards. The technique didn’t quite work as it was supposed to. (I need to try again; the spritz of water on the page has to be just right, so it takes some practice.)
I was left with several decidedly “meh” Christmas trees, but I thought they could be a good place to play around with mixed media (mostly markers and paint pens, with a little white gouache, water soluble crayon, watercolor pencil, and metallic ink). Low stakes, since they weren’t much to start with—and if they turned out well enough, maybe I could use them for something, next Christmas.
This first one is mostly silver paint pen, which looks just white in this photo… It’s a bit more interesting in person, thanks to the shine and sparkle of the metallics.
Water soluble crayon in the background, markers on top of the watercolor tree, with white gouache at the edges and ground… and metallic ink and watercolor for ornaments.
Watercolor pencil for the sky/background, markers on top of the original watercolor of the tree, finished off with acrylic paint pens for ornaments:
White gouache snowflakes and green markers on the tree… Then I painted a base layer of white gouache for the ornaments, topped with a little watercolor pencil to lightly tone them:
Marker on top of the trees… Then acrylic paint pen/marker on the trees for lights/ornaments and a stylized aurora borealis effect in the background. I also added watery white gouache and a little more watercolor to the Northern lights, in an attempt to get them to look a bit better…
I’m not 100% satisfied with the background, but it’s fine. Much better than it was to start with, anyway!
I think that’s all the Christmas-y stuff I made this year. There wasn’t a lot, but now I’m not in the mood for it, so I doubt I’ll do more unless something changes. I believe in listening to Christmas music any time you feel like it, and the same thing goes for Christmas arts and crafts—so there’s a chance. (But let’s face it: I’m much more likely to be painting autumn-themed things in spring and summer than something Christmasy.)
3 Materials Challenge
This evening, I was wandering around the Internet, wasting time, when I came across something some illustrators on Instagram had organized—a “Three Material Challenge”. I haven’t had time to read much about it, but the basic idea is to create a sketch using only three art materials. And that doesn’t mean pulling out all your color pencils and counting them as one item! No, each individual pencil, pen, crayon, marker, or whatever is one of your three materials.
The idea is to push yourself creatively, whether that’s using up less-loved materials, experimenting with new media, using old materials in different, less familiar ways, or just simplifying the process. By eliminating the glut of options at your disposal, you can free yourself up from indecision and get right down to creating.
The little I did read indicated that for some of these artists, there are other elements of the challenge, such as a 30-minute time limit and drawing from life/making observational sketches. The half-hour limit makes sense, because the idea is to do this every day for a certain length of time (a week, a month, 100 days), and I think you need to keep it fairly short to make it manageable and less tempting to give up. However, I’ve never really done “drawing from life”… This might be the perfect time to change that, but I think I’m giving myself permission to work from photos, too, this time.
So, I might come back next time and change the parameters of my specific challenge, but here’s the basic idea for now:
For every day in January, I’ll try to sketch/doodle something in a small sketchbook, limiting myself to three materials per sketch. I’ll try to keep them simple, relatively loose, and brief. I’m going for playfulness with little concern for realism and will try not to judge myself too harshly.
Since I didn’t have much time to get my first day’s sketch done (and it was already dark), I needed something in the house. Frodo was lying on the couch, so I took him for my subject. My sketch… Well, I said I wasn’t going to judge too harshly. Maybe the best approach is to present these sketches without comment, except to state what materials I used and anything relevant to the subject matter… Not sure I can stick to that, honestly!
Today, I decided to grab a cheapo color pencil in brown (which I probably should’ve sharpened first!! and maybe it’s not so cheapo… it’s from an old line that doesn’t seem to be around these days, but they seem like student quality…), a cheapo brush marker in orange, and a relatively cheapo water-soluble crayon in pink (sensing a theme here?):
I’m excited to see where this challenge might take me, this month! If I enjoy it, I may extend it for the full 100 days.
