TyQuilts Designs

Well, I took the plunge and have completed the cover of my journal. I used watercolors for the background,  including an iridescent gold that gives it a subtle shimmer in person. Then I dragged out my foam stamps and acrylic paint from my scrapbooking days and stamped the word autumn, roughly outlining it with pitt pen. The leaves were done with walnut ink and a stamp.  I just have to find a bit of ribbon to cover that left edge where the paint bled under the tape and it is done.

Below you will find my first assignment from Laure Ferlita’s Imaginary Visit to Autumn class that I am taking. I had to laugh at myself a bit as I was totally disconcerted by the idea of painting a white pumpkin. I had never even seen a white pumpkin before.  I got the light areas a little too dark so it reads more as a grayish green pumpkin than white, but here it is.

We have been having a Marvelous March– Sunshine, warm days and not a single bit of snow which is unheard of for us.  My Tulips are just starting to poke through the ground and the journaling prompt “Sunshine” inspired this page in my journal

I am learning so much from Laure Ferlita’s Visit to the beach class, and trying things that I would never have tried before, like this flamingo.

I am taking and imaginary visit to the beach with Laure Ferlita. This is the perfect time of year for this as February is always so cold and snowy and depressing and seems to last forever.

This painting breaks all of the rules of composition, but I am pleased with it. It has the moody intense feeling that I was going for. Done on colorfix pastel paper with pan pastels, pastels pencils and a bit of soft stick pastels adapted from a reference photo with permission.

In one of the online art groups I am a member of there was a discussion about using reference photos and how you are using someone else’s artistic vision when you do so (unless of course the photo is one you took yourself)

Happy New Year to all!

In

This is my first, crude attempt at painting with pan pastels. I have never tried the more traditional pastels, but have fallen in love with pan pastels for use in art journals etc. Since I really love the glowing, vibrant quality many pastel artists achieve, I thought I would give it a try. I wish I could find a book or better yet a class on painting with pan pastels. In the meantime, I guess I will have to look for how to’s on using regular pastels, and see if that helps me improve.

We were out on a sunday drive looking for interesting photography subjects and found this old church, then on our way home as the sun was setting came back to take the sunset photos from behind the church which is up on a hill.

This last picture was taken over the border near Hudson, WI at willow River state park. I will need to go back when the trees are green. The location was a bit challenging to get to. It looked so easy on the map, a mere three tenths of a mile each way from the parking lot…. What the map didn’t say was that it was steep downhill the whole way to reach the waterfall, and of course steep uphill to get back to the car.