ACEO- Art Cards & Fun Little Watercolors

Red Cherry

 Hueneme Pier and Channel Islands

California Poppies

I have been having better luck with these tiny ACEO watercolors than with larger ones lately.  Art Cards Editions and Originals- they seem to be very popular on Etsy. I guess that means there are plenty of people collecting them.  As an artist, I like that they are just fun to paint since they are so small (2.5 X 3.5") and I can work on quite a few at a time.  They are a great way to practice and get some painting time in.  I love painting on large sheets of paper, but sometimes just want to work small- in those cases, postcards and ACEO are the way to go!

First Thursday ArtSplash on Etsy

Tomorrow, October 7, it is time again for First Thursday ArtSplash on Etsy! The first Thursday of each month is ArtSplash- a perfect time to go over and check out the wonderful variety of fine art available in shops on Etsy. There are many artists involved and it showcases original fine art. You will find oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings as well as drawings, pen and ink, and mixed media- just about anything that can be classified as fine art. Just go to http://artsplashonetsy.blogspot.com or click on the ArtSplash button in the side bar, and take a look.

My vineyard watercolor was put on pause yesterday due to an unexpected soldering problem. I recently changed to a new bottle of flux in soldering my silver art charms. There are many variables to look at when trying to figure out exactly what is causing my problem. The solder? Doubtful. The flux? Also doubtful. The foil? No. The flux brush? Maybe- it is a new and different brush. The method of cleaning flux residue off my charms? Very possible- I used to just wipe them with a damp cloth (for many years) and, lately I have been using the same (ammonia free) glass cleaner I use to clean my solder lines on my stained glass windows. The flux is a different brand, and the glass cleaner is also different. For whatever reason, a few of my charms have had flux making a return appearance even after cleaning and much polishing. I am guessing that something about this new flux makes it harder to remove and it isn't completely gone even when I think it is. I will now start using the flux remover that for years I didn't see a need for- and until recently had no real need for. I have charms and ornaments that I soldered 10 years ago and never had a problem with. Now, I will have to use the process of elimination to find out why I am suddenly having a flux issue. Fortunately, super-fine steel wool takes care of the problem. So, no watercolors today- just soldering and looking for answers.

Can't wait to get back to my vineyard painting!

Thanks for looking,

Sheryl

Wine Cork Series Watercolors- Finished!

I finished the wine cork watercolors and will soon be listing them on Etsy. I think I might make a set of cards with various wine corks, too. I still need to scan the watercolors to make prints.

These were so much fun to paint- they are simple subjects, but so unique and they have so much detail to add. I love to get caught up painting the small details.

I am painting on 130 lb. rough surface paper this time- I tend to use different papers depending on what I am painting and this time I really wanted the texture to show. I use almost all Windsor & Newton watercolors. For the corks, I started with Raw Sienna and Burnt Umber washes to get the base colors of the corks and used Payne's Gray for shadows. My darkest details are mostly less diluted versions of Burnt Umber and Payne's Gray. The wine stains on the cork ends are a mix of Thalo Red (Alizurin Crimson works also) with Ultramarine Blue to get a nice wine shade of purple. My favorite part of painting these corks ( and most paintings) was adding the final details and tweaking the shadows and highlights. While I do leave my lightest areas when adding washes, I do sometimes go back with white gouache or acrylic to get stronger highlights. At the end, I am also adding in my darkest darks in the shadow areas.

I will show the finished Zinfandel bottle next time-

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl

Using Art as a Teaching Tool

Literacyhead is an online magazine that uses art to help with teaching reading and writing. I just found out about it a few weeks ago when they asked about using one of my paintings in an upcoming issue. That upcoming issue is now! The site, Literacyhead.com, is really a good looking website and I am so happy to have my painting "Fire Island Deer" be included! I love that art can be used to teach- and they have some beautiful artwork on the site. They have used the art of many Etsy artists, so there is a lot of variety. Variety in painting subjects, as well as painting styles. Anyway, it looks like a wonderful resource for teachers, and I am excited to be a small part of it! I have included the link so you can take a look if you'd like.

http://www.literacyhead.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3499:write-starts&catid=355

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl

DoubleTake- stitching together partial scans of larger watercolors

For quite a while, I have been painting smaller watercolors so that it would be easy to scan them and make my own prints. My scanner bed isn't big enough for the larger watercolor papers, and I wasn't completely happy with the stitching process in Photoshop.

I found a program called DoubleTake which may not be new, but is new to me. It is SO easy- just drag and drop the scans into the window and with zero to minimal adjustment, they are one! Now, I am not limited on watercolor size, for those times I want to make a print. I usually do make prints of my work, even if I don't want to list them on Etsy, then I have a copy for myself if I sell or give away the original.