Wish I could say I was going off an actual photo, but that is not the case.  However, I have my own liberties that make this unique to me.   

This went through a lot of mental anguish that isn't my purpose of enjoying watercolor.  The background tree line is a little too scrubbed, which bothered me a lot.  The large tree was giving me a ride and I finally just stopped and did my own thing.

Well hey, I think it's okay!!!  Trust in yourself!!!

​
Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

Now that I'm back in Florida for a few months, I'm happy to have more time to paint and to play at Paint Party Friday.

I'd like to share a story about this painting as it has to do with inspiration being right in front of one's nose, but it took something else to help come to that realization.

​My favorite place to hang in Florida is on my lanai that overlooks a pond and woods.  I've always wanted to paint what I love looking at, but the vastness of the dense trees have stopped me from trying.  Believe me, I've spent many hours looking at that beautiful scene in front of me willing myself to create something.

The other day and for some (unknown) reason,  I started looking at just one tree (the pine tree), then I saw another tree (the palm tree) and suddenly I was sketching 3 single trees in my little notebook!  It's not even a sketch book, it's just a spiral bound handy dandy notebook I use to keep everything in one place.

​Here's my sketch:

​So, from there, my creative wheels began turning into the thought that I could, indeed, paint from this sketch, and so I did...

Once I added the doodled heron and duck, I decided (after much inner dialogue), to doodle the rest of the painting.  I like to say I "Peter Sheeler'd it!"

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

It is amazing to me how my painting changes when I'm in New York!  I slip easily back into landscapes, colors, florals and scenes that invoke all things Upstate New York.  As the weather begins to turn to end of summer hinting of fall around the corner, it's kind of like automatically cooking comfort foods instead of grilling.  No beaches, herons, tropical anything as when I'm in Florida.  It's an interesting difference!

I had no idea I'd have time to paint, but apparently, after my warm up painting exercises the other day, I just wanted to bust out and paint something larger.  As I've mentioned in a previous post, I have hooks on my walls with no paintings 'cuz they went to Florida!  Apparently the "call of the hook" is working!  This is a fun 9x12 size painting for my New York walls and is what I call an original interpretation from the book A Paintbox of Ideas Vol. 2 by Susan Scheewe.

I had some time yesterday to paint for Paint Party Friday and I was basically warming up which resulted in creating 3 pieces!  Two are keepers and the third went into a scrap pile that I later used for diecutting.  See my post HERE of  the "fail" and how it turned into a sweet card instead.

"Blob" flowers or unidentified floral objects (UFO's) are probably my most favorite floral card to paint.  This one is a 5x7 size and painted on Strathmore paper using Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor.  I used a Micron pen to doodle, gold paint splatters (Peerless), sentiment (Cornish Heritage Farms), Versafine Onyx Black ink.  Now that I'm back in New York for a bit, I'm getting an autumn vibe from this card!

Thanks for Stopping By!

XOXO

LYN

It's been a long while since I posted to Paint Party Friday and I feel like I found a lost friend!  While I'm in Florida for a few months, I was surprised that I wasn't cranking out any watercolor paintings other than in card size.  I'm happy to say that I broke through that wall, and painted last night.  It felt so good!!!  Maybe I'm done with my block or whatever that was...

I have an absolute panic about horizon lines being ramrod straight so I began the painting by taping off the horizon line so I could paint the sky first. That was really the hardest part for me.  Once dry, I removed the tape and worked down with the water and sand.  The rest was fun painting and then doodling.

​I found a new site about watercooler challenges!  Of course my favorite technique is to create "blob" flowers or UFO's (Unidentified Floral Objects).  One day (soon) I will create a video about creating blob flowers.  For this card, I used a wet brush and created flower blob areas and then I dropped in watercolor in several layers.  The leaves were painted and the little curly cues on the stems were added to fill in areas and create a touch of whimsy.  I have a wedding to attend in August and it feels good to have a special card made well before the event.

After splattering with the darker blue, I also splattered with gold paint for a little bit of elegance.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Everlasting Happiness Sentiment (Alt&New)
Papers:  Strathmore Watercolor Paper, Bazzill background panel
Accessories:  Alt&New Watercolor Pallet, Versafine Onyx Black, Craftsmart Classic Gold Acrylic Paint, Sequins (my stash)

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

LYN

I realized when this card was finished it took me less than 30 minutes to create!  I couldn't believe it!  How'd that happen?  I have to agonize and torment myself over designing a card, especially with watercolor, don't I???  Banging out a card just doesn't happen, but surprise, surprise!

This design was inspired from a Pinterest pin I linked on E-News #218 where I first saw the background and loved it and couldn't wait to have time to play.  Turns out, I didn't have much time at all, which worked in my favor with this card.  Oddly, I didn't feel stressed either, which often hinders the creative process.

To begin, I cut watercolor paper (Strathmore) slightly larger than 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches to allow room to trim it down.  Next, I worked with my Kuretaki Gamsai Tambi paints and began adding color with a wet on dry paper.  As I laid down streaks of color, I came back in with a clean wet brush to move color without diluting too much as well as to purposely leave white space.   The "pre-judgement" was beginning to creep in at this point, but I ignored those thoughts and kept going.

I used only 4 colors for this card and since the paint colors are all in Japanese, I will describe them:  yellow, green, blue (light and a little darker).  Since yellow and blue make green, I knew this combo would work.  I also referred to my Color Wheel 101 post HERE for assistance in choosing colors.  For the second paint layer, it was pure coincidence that the section of darker blue landed where it did as it was perfectly aligned to cover the bird's body!

After one layer was down, I heat set.  I spritzed water over the dry layer and blotted over the entire panel with a paper towel to reveal the white splotched areas.  I repeated a second layer of paint, dried and added water splotches and blotted.

All that was left was to add the stamped images that I found in my stash by Stampendous (discontinued) that worked great to complete this card.  Obviously, any image will work.  Use The Misti to insure perfect impressions.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope this 30-minute card inspires you today!  I'm linking this to the Paint Party Friday Week 50, Year 7 site.

xoxo

LYN

Now that I've penned the card, I guess I could have left it as is, but I just don't have the confidence like I do when designing stamped cards.  So, for now, I go with my trusty Copic pen.

I'm completely happy with the finished card!  I ended up splattering with Memories Mists Bright Gold (Superior). Sentiment is Hope (Concord & 9th) inked with Black Jack (Catherine Pooler Designs) using the Misti tool.  Paper (Strathmore).

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

LYN

With the first day of summer this week, I felt compelled to create a summer themed 12x12 'garage art' canvas to replace my spring piece.  This literally hangs in my garage entryway to the kitchen!  What a hoot, right?

Gosh there's such a story with this piece!  Don't you love the process sometimes more than the result?  I love working through roadblocks, pushing through the feeling something "looks like sh..t," and thinking I should Gesso over it and start fresh.  This is the result of that feeling.  What saved me was doing a wash behind the florals because I messed up some areas of the backgroud color.  I mean, this is a crazy process that almost freaked me out, but I just said I can do this and stayed with it!!!!

Share Happy is actually a book I saw in Dunedin, Florida.  I fell in love with the message and I'm happy to share this with you!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

LYN

I can't believe I've been away from watercolor and Paint Party Friday for so long!  Although I've already posted this piece on my e-news, by posting it here will help get my painting mojo going again.  

This painting began as an exercise in freestyle painting unidentified floral objects in 3 different size circles.  It began one way and ended up in a total different direction.  For awhile I felt I was totally overworking it, but I'm not one to give up and trash what I start, especially when the piece is fairly large.  So, I kept going and this is the finished result.  I've since taken it to Hobby Lobby and we decided to just frame it with a really nice wood frame that plays off the circle flowers with no matting.   Can't wait to pick it up and hang it.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

LYN