Illustration Friday: SNAP

More journal pages...

Another month has come and gone.
I like april :o)

Little penguin for Israel

I used Hillary Lang's
wonderful Wee Bunny pattern, found here.
I just modified it a bit: I used the bunny ears as little wings.
All hand sewn and made with lotsa love for my beautiful son Israel.
They are both happy with their new softies.This week was very productive creatively
so I've decided to spend my weekend
swinging on the hammock and watch my boys play.
I'll be back monday with this week's
Illustration Friday topic: SNAP.

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!
Thank you so much for all the comments on
the Kitty-a-Day Week :o)

Le petit poulet

I made this for my son
Daniel's growing chicken collection.
It's made with wool felt and embroidery.

That's the chicken

waiting to be found by Daniel
on his school desk.You can see more pics of the chicken
and Daniel's collection at my Flickr site.

Kitty-a-day #5

"Kitty in space"
Watercolor and ink on paper.

Kitty-a-day #4

"Le chat bleu"
Watercolor & ink on paper.

Goldfish on Kraft

I did a little experiment today.
I used some kraft paper instead of my usual
watercolor paper and drew the little fishy
with a nib and my white acrylic ink,
then gave it a wash in watercolor
and this is the result.
I've always been a HUGE fan of kraft paper
and I think I'll be doing
lots more drawings on it
from now on.

Kitty-a-day #3

"Mommy & baby"
Watercolor and ink on paper

Kitty-a-day #2

"Brothers"
Watercolor & ink on paper.
Happy monday everybody :o)

Kitty-a-day Week

To celebrate my post No.200 I declare this week:
"A Kitty-A-Day" week!
...so stay tuned for daily feline treats :o)

Watercolor and ink on paper.

Illustration Friday: I SPY...

I spy...a curious kitty. Aren't they all?
Watercolor & ink on paper

Secret weapons...

So many people have asked me "how" I make my watercolors

that I've decided to make a nice and long post about it
and share it with all of you.
My "secrets" to nice & bright watercolor paintings:

::WATERCOLORS::
I buy Cotman Watercolors in a tube by Windsor & Newton.

These are the 12 colors I use
(I buy them separately, not in a set):

-Turquoise 654
-Cobalt Blue Hue 179
-Prussian Blue 538
-Indigo 322
-Permanent Rose 502
-Cadmium Red Hue 095
-Cadmium Orange 089
-Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue 119
-Yellow Ochre 744
-Burnt Umber 076
-Ivory Black 331
-Chinese White 150

::PAPER::
-Acquarello Watercolor Artistico Extra White
(extra white makes colors look brighter)
100% Cotton (Grana Satinada, Hot pressed) by Fabriano
You can buy it here.
or
Aquarelle Fontenay 100% Cotton
(Fine Grain, Cold Pressed) By Canson.

I buy these in blocks because
I like the fact that the block is glued
on 4 sides and it prevents the paper from warping
from the humidity of the watercolor.
It does warp a little but if you let it dry completely
on the block before ripping the page out
it straightens back again perfectly.

::HOW::
First, I sketch, then when I'm happy with my design
I draw it with a very sharp extra hard pencil (a 6H usually)
directly on my watercolor paper.

I keep my watercolors
on a plastic palette like the one shown above.

Then I start to color in the lines with my watercolors.
I use synthetic round pointed brushes, these are
really good.

I never took a watercolor class...
I'm pretty sure that helped me develop
my own style of painting.
I'm totally enamored with this medium.
I also paint with oils but watercolors are my favorite
and what I'm most comfortable with.

My collages are made with my own images,
usually discarted watercolors
that I cut up and paste or old journal pages.
(yes, I do actually cut them up)

Hope this helps anyone
that wants to give watercolors a try
& inspires you to get creative!
Thank you for all your lovely comments on my work,
it's really a pleasure to share it with you guys :o)
Oh!, the illo I made for this post was made with ink,
watercolors and a photo
of my trusty palette.

The Pink Room

I don't know what got into me...
I NEVER use pink,
it must be some sort of spring fever thing.
Watercolor on paper.

Pillow for J+V

Embroidery on wool & felt.
I found an excellent tutorial video
on how to do the chain stitch I used for this pillow
...in case you want to give it a try.

Click on this image to see more detail.

Psalm 1:3

More spring goodness from my 2007 calendar.

Psalm 1:3 (King James version)
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

I'm happy!

Yay for spring!
Thank you all for your lovely comments on this blog &
for putting a huge smile on my face everyday.

Freelance work

This camping birdy watercolor was made for
The Wilmington Star of North Carolina,
and appeared on this past sunday's paper edition:

They did such a beautiful job
with the design and layout of the page :)

Blue dots

Paper collage made from my own watercolors.

Little House

Inspired by this lovely image.

Illustration Friday: TOTAL

There are 44 pieces of cut old journal pages of mine
+ 25 stamped raindrops + 1 cow postage stamp + 1 piece of pink china paper
+ 1 cut out umbrella from an old watercolor painting
= a TOTAL of 72 elements that make up this collage.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Thank you so much for visiting this blog.

Wool chicken

This little wool chicken (8 x 10 x 5 inches) is going to my mom in Chile
along with the "bread bag" I posted before.

It says: "La mamá de los pollitos" wich means:
"The mother of the chicks" aka "The big kahuna" heehee.

You can find the template and "how to" here

The march pages.

Collaged journal.

Illustration Friday: WIRED part two

Ink on paper.

Illustration Friday: WIRED

Click on it to see it BIGGER.
Oil on canvas.

Made by hand with love

A little canvas tote I made for my mom,
she likes to go get her bread fresh at the bakery everyday :)
I made the tote from natural canvas
and embroidered a patch of wool that says: "La bolsa del pan", wich means "The bread bag"
The fabric label was stamped with one of my hand carved stamps.

I also made this super simple wool pillow for our living room.

Quilt

Mini quilt (25 x 25 inches) I made 4 years ago with my kids drawings.
I made some iron on transfers of their drawings
onto white canvas & then made the quilt.
I put some tabs on the top part to be able to hang it on the wall.
It was my first attempt and I haven't made another quilt since then.
These days I keep a blog with their drawings,
click here to go take a look.

Illustration Friday: HIDE

Watercolor on paper.
Based on this black & white photo
a dear friend of mine (you know who you are!) took
in Valparaiso, Chile.

Click on the photo to find the kitty ;o)