There are MANY types of art, but today I’m focusing on three areas of drawing and comparing what they do for me….and I’d be interested to hear what they do for you!

I’ll be using a Fluid Writer – it’s a “pen” that has a well on top and thin nib below. My old one is hidden somewhere with my Pysanky supplies – but I also remember trying it with ink after using it for the eggs, and it didn’t work so well after being heated. So….I treated myself to a new one – and found a PAIR of them – a fine AND extrafine nib! It doesn’t seem that you can order JUST the extrafine, you need to get it along with the fine, but they aren’t expensive.

You might wonder why you’d want one – should you even get one!? No one “needs” one. But what I find it helpful for is to use a little bit of an ink on a project when I don’t really want to clean out a pen to change inks; that process uses a lot of ink between washing out the old and putting enough in the pen that you can use it, then flushing that again. You can also use a glass pen but I do find those a bit scratchy – the fluid writer doesn’t have that problem.

What’s the difference? Doodling vs Sketching vs Art Journaling

In this video, I’ll show you some snippets of the three projects that follow, as I talk about my own experience with these three drawing styles. Yours may differ and I’d love to hear how they affect you!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Doodling

The benefits of doodling are vast, in my opinion!

• Relaxation. I can just turn off my brain and make lines!
• Explore style variation. When it’s just lines, it’s easy to play with lines – shape, width, interaction, crossover…..so many options. My style of drawing has begun to develop more as I’ve been doodling longer.
• No subject matter. While I might be inspired by something (a map, a flower, a line style), it’s not supposed to look like anything.
• Although…Some folks DO doodle by drawing a subject – and that’s ok too!

Sketching

Making a sketch has a different set of benefits in my mind – and sometimes the borders of doodling bleed over into sketching as well.

• Practice subject matter. Practice drawing a specific item – a landscape, trees, people.
• Practice foundations. Perspective, value, color, line – anything you put on paper is excellent practice!
• Use your brain. Sketching engages the brain and hand-eye coordination as you look at a subject and replicate it.

Art Journaling and Bible Journaling

Sometimes doodling or sketching crossover into journaling turf! I do find some people think art journaling is only 1) trying techniques and 2) using up all the junk around your studio that you haven’t found another use for.

That’s limited thinking, in my humble opinion! Art journaling can do so much more if you change your perspective….and let your mind travel while you create.

• What’s going on in your life? What challenges need a creative solution? Often getting your mind busy on other creative ventures results in another solution popping up.
• What are you grateful for? What are the things that make your life happy or successful? Pondering those things can lead to a heart that’s got a better outlook than it had before you started creating.
• What is your spiritual journey like? What have you been learning? Capturing that as a Bible journaler can be a celebration of your faith in a creative way.

Last year I taught in but also participated in the November Gratitude Junk Journal class. And I’ve been invited back this year….and jumped at the chance. Last year was soooo good for my heart and attitude!

If you’d like to join in, class starts November 1 – and you can get 20% off by using my oupon code JOY when you click HERE.

How do these types of art help you?

I’d love to know how you are changed by doodling, sketching, or journaling – how do you feel after spending time creating? What’s life like when you don’t spend time in your studio?

Supplies

• King Art Fluid Writer – 2 sizes
• Small sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Zeta
• Large sketchbook: Alvaro Castagnet – only available from him personally
• Art journal: handmade from Yasutomo Mineral Paper
• Pilot Iroshizuku Bottled Fountain Pen Ink, Kon-Peki 

In my ongoing study of 1950s era design….I’ve fallen in love with what was a ubiquitous image: an “atomic cat”! Generally they’re black – but the shapes and drawing style is just simple. But I decided to use the shape and add Christmas colors, bow ties, a sweater…..and then made a bunch of my former kitties into atomic ones in a painting for my bedroom!

Tutorial: Draw a retro (Christmas) cat

A stylized illustration like this is very easy to customize. The cat need not be recognizable as your specific cat…just include a feature or two that YOU love about your feline friend. Your cousin won’t necessarily know that’s your cat on their card, but that’s alright. They’ll just be delighted to get a card with an original drawing on it!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

The sketch

Here’s how simple the sketch is…a saucer shaped head, some eyes and ears, a long body and tail. Boom!

The key is to keep the painting loose; just shapes. If there’s a wonky edge or if color bleeds, you can draw over it, but when adding the lines, make them enough of a NON traced, NON perfect outline that it’s clear you meant to. (If you only do it in one spot, it’ll look like you just made a mistake.) This is an illustrative style, and I’m here for it! 🙂

I did the same thing large – an 11″ x 15″ painting of three of the cats I’ve had over the years! Oliver, the tall grey boy, was always quite dapper….a respectable boy who acted quite dignified. If he ever oopsed and fell off a chair or something he’d recover with a prance to tell you that you didn’t see what you just saw. LOL

Punchinello passed last fall, and he was my snuggly boy. And if you’ve had cats you know that’s not always common! But that was his game, finding me sitting down and getting between me and a book, a drawing, or my phone – for a petting session. (Until he was done, then he would vehemently let me know it’s over. ha!)

Tsuki is the one who passed just recently….my chubby girl who lived to an extremely old age. She’s seen a lot around here, she was good friends with my last golden retriever Ciara, so I hope Ciara greeted her over at that rainbow bridge.

Clean and Simple Trees class

If this cat looks doable to you, then the Clean and Simple Trees class is entirely doable! (and if not, the trees might show you the cat’s not hard once you get the hang of it!)

Class is underway already but you can join in anytime – learn to make trees in a variety of styles, then see if you can adapt a simple cat like this one to the same styles taught in class! Head over to the Artventure community (free to join) and tap on COURSES in the menu. The trees class is only $7.99, and lots of folks are already enjoying it – and getting their Christmas cards done!

Try a retro cat in any medium!

Use the sketch to create a cat in whatever medium you like. Coloring shapes is simple to do, then add pen. Just make sure if you use colored pencil that the pen can draw atop any waxy buildup that you might get if you use heavy coverage. Otherwise with most mediums you can use any pen at all!

Supplies

• CARD:
  • Arches Cold Press Pads:  BLICK  • Amazon
  • Daniel Smith colors:  
    • Quinacridone Rose 
    • New Gamboge
    • Sap Green
  • Brushes:
    • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8:  BLICK • AMZ
    • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #4
  • Fountain pens: 
    
    • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen EF
    • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen F
    • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen M
• PAINTING:
  • Saunders Waterford Cold Press sheets
  • House of Hoffman Palette 
  • Daniel Smith Watercolors
    • Yellow Ochre
    • Phthalo Blue Turquoise
    • Cobalt Blue
    • Payne’s Blue Gray
    • Alvaro’s Caliente Grey
  • Grafix Art Board https://amzn.to/2RxPc0w
  • Artist tape 3/4″ https://amzn.to/3rF90MT
  • Brushes:
  • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Brush – Round 8
  • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Brush – Round 10
  • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Brush – Round 4
  • Fountain pens: 
    • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen EF
    • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen F
    • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen M

Clean and simple is quite popular among cardmakers at this upcoming time of year…with a lot of cards to make and other projects vying for attention, getting beautiful cards made that express your love for your recipients can be tough if each one takes a long time! So I’ve got a potential solution to get a bunch of yours done quickly – and the awesome part? You likely already have all the supplies you need! 

Tutorial: Clean and simple Christmas tree cards

This is the first lesson in the CAS Trees class over at Artventure (click on Courses in the menu over there) ….. more on the class in a minute, but enjoy the simplicity of this pretty tree first:

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

A word about black pens

For all versions, pretty much any pens you have should work since the line work goes on TOP of the color. If you’re not adding extra color after, it won’t matter if it bleeds or not, the pen should stay put.

That said, some pens on some papers on top of some mediums CAN give you a little surprise. What you’re used to at a particular thickness may feather out a little once it’s on top of color or on a new paper. Always test out a little bit on a scrap so you know what you’re getting.

For fountain pens, I like a TWSBI Eco; for projects like this usually the Medium nib is best (but I keep a Fine and Extra Fine in the studio just in case.)  Don’t overlook the Sharpie Ultra Fine that’s sitting in the kitchen pencil cup though! Or a Copic Multiliner works great too.

Water-based markers

Watercolor markers can be a challenge to blend in large areas so this tree with its stripes is a simple one to get a blend in each line, just using a brush to push the color back to the shadow side. For supplies – any water-soluble markers will work here, even kids Crayola!

SUPPLIES: My favorite crafty set is Sketchmarker Aqua, and fo2r fine art: Faber Castell Albrecht Durer (Blick AMZ) (these dont fade in the light). I recommend CansonXL (Blick AMZ)  for paper with these pens, it moves the color nicely even for beginners! A good crafty brush would be a Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8:(Blick AMZ) and.or Round #4 (Blick)

Traditional Watercolor

While I say “traditional” watercolor that doesn’t mean it’s got to be fine art watercolor. Kids watercolor paints could do well here too – though they might not be as pigmented as fine art paints. But a pastel watercolor tree can be gorgeous, so don’t overlook supplies you have on hand! You’ll create stripes with a midtone, drop a dark on the left side for the shadow, then use a damp brush to push the color leftward to create that highlight.

SUPPLIES: I’ve used Daniel Smith watercolors here: Cobalt Teal Blue with Indanthrone. And a little Quin Rose for the pot! But there are so many colors to use! Try a pink tree or a purple one, or go traditional with greens. Anything will do! For paper I love Arches Cold Press, but with areas this small, the inexpensive CansonXL (Blick AMZ)  will also do; there’s no fancy edges to worry about, and the XL might be easier for your pen work.

Copic markers

Copic users, you can join in this fun too – just pick a set of three blending colors, a light, medium, and dark, and create some stripes! 

SUPPLIES: I used three Copic Markers – BG47 BG13 BG000 Copic and an RV14 for th epot.  Use your favorite paper to color on, I like me some Neenah Cardstock, Solar White.

Colored Pencil

Your pencils can come out to play with these trees, too! A dark, medium and light in whatever combo you want …I was trying to mimic the colors in the other versions and didn’t have a single pencil group that would work so tried a more bluish dark, a greenish midtone, and bluish light color (sorry I forgot to write down color names!) since I was blending with gamsol. The three then kinda average out to an overall bluegreen color.

SUPPLIES: I recommend either Prismacolor (Blick AMZ) or Polychromos (Blick AMZ) Pencils; colored pencil is one medium where the cheaper pencils just aren’t able to put out enough pigment. My favorite paper to use with pencil is Stonehenge (Blick AMZ) …it’s got the best tooth I’ve found that pulls enough pigment off the pencil tips, and works great with blending stumps and Gamsol Blending solution.

A new little type of class!

As you may well know, I offer almost 100 classes at art-classes….those range from the basics in each medium (Jumpstart classes) to intermediate smaller courses (mini classes) and all sorts of advanced ones too. But….each one is a deeper class, thought out over months and prepared to convey specific techniques and ideas. 

But….I also wanted a way to teach students to just PLAY.

This year I’ve given myself the space to play. A week on each theme, and creating social media content on that theme, has helped me take time to explore an idea and push it….and I think that’s a super valuable exercise! And I think I may have a way to help YOU do the same kind of thing in a special, smaller, “snackable” class.

These will have shorter videos, a concentrated subject, and explore a variety of techniques around that smaller idea. A few weeks back I offered a free Watercolor Pencil Leaves class, and wanted to see how popular that might be. So many people signed up! Yay! So now ….it’s time for a new class in that genre….

Clean and Simple Trees class

With the holidays approaching, trees are a perfect topic for a CAS class….trees are such a focal point for Christmas cards, they can hold their own as a solo image! And with so many techniques in so many mediums, there’s a ton to play with. As students work through the 6 lessons, more ideas should start popping up (and more are added in class!) for other subjects that would be easily rendered in that style! 

To sign up for this $7.99 class, pop over to the Artventure community and look in the Courses tab. I’m hoping by the time you read this, that the class is available on web, android, and iOs but Apple’s been slow at approving things so far! If it’s not listed as an option in your Courses tab, then you’d need to go to the web version (https://artventure.mn.co/) and access it there until Apple gets its act together.

Supplies

• BLACK PENS:
  • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen EF
  • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen F
  • TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen M
  • Sharpie Ultra Fine
  • Copic Multiliner
• COPIC:
  • Copic Markers 
  • Copic Hex Chart 
  • Neenah Cardstock, Solar White 250pk
• PENCIL:
  • Prismacolor pencils 
  • Prismacolor Hex Chart
  • Stonehenge Drawing Paper: AMZ –  BLICK 
  • Blending stumps 
  • Gamsol Blending solution
• WATER-BASED MARKERS:
  • Sketchmarker Aqua Animals set
  • Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Markers  Blick – AMZ
  • Canson XL Paper: BLICK – AMZ
• WATERCOLOR:
  • Nickel Azo
  • New Gamboge
  • Anthraquinoid Scarlet
  • Cobalt Teal Blue
  • Indanthrone Blue
  • Green Apatite
  • Sap Green
  • Perylene Green
  • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8:  BLICK – AMZ 
  • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #4 
  • Arches Cold Press Pads:  BLICK –  Amazon

Who knew there was a holiday all about sending mail – and that I was EARLY to celebrate it!? Last weekend I spent exorbitant hours making cards and writing them out – and I got 100 done! I procrastinated at the putting-stamps-on and going-to-the-post-office, but….I finally got everything dropped in the box yesterday! It felt so good to know there will be 100 people going to their mailbox and not finding ONLY bills. YAY!

But that’s led me to realizing WE MUST CELEBRATE THIS HOLIDAY. I don’t know about you but my mailbox is not at all full of happy mail. Wahhh! It’s bills bills bills. So let’s do something to get mail OUT to each other. 

And to that end….I decided on a whim I’d do a two day sale on classes – in case you’re in need of some inspiration to get going on making cards to mail out! If you’re reading this blog post you’re likely going to get an email later this morning with the sale info too. There’s also a sale on the Gratitude Junk Journaling class I’m part of in November so I’m including that too:

Two day sale at art-classes!

So tell me…

When was the last time you sent out a just-because card? And

When WILL you send out another?

After making some distress oxide panels in the mini sketchbook earlier this week, I thought I’d try a two page spread in those ink refills. It’s very different to do a small piece vs large – so be careful when you generalize between sizes of art! (Lesson learned!)

Tutorial: Distress Oxide Painting

In the video you’ll see an unboxing of a Dryden Designs pen but don’t buy one! It had a myriad of issues, and when I emailed the company (givig them the chance to send a new working pen) they’ve never replied. So there’s that. I switched to my Peter Pen instead.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Tips

The biggest tip is to put as little moisture on this paper as you can! But on other papers you’ll have an easier time since you can use a heat gun to dry it. But in either case, if creating in a journal, having similar colors on opposite pages will lmit some damage.

Gratitude Junk Journal class

These are the samples seen in the video today; only the last one (grapes) will be taught in the class – but you’ll get to learn from lots of other instructors too. Last year was so fun and I hope this year you’ll join in the fun!

Supplies

• Distress Oxide reinkers 
• Ranger mini ink blending tool (round)
  • foam pads 
  • felt pads
• TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen F
• TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen M
• Yasutomo Mineral paper 

Before getting started with the painting today – I filmed a little clip of how I fold/cut/tear a full sheet of watercolor paper! I did that for Instagram recently, and even Arches asked if they could repost it, so, yeah – let’s do that here. I didn’t realize it was something folks didn’t know how to do.

Step 1: fold the sheet in half. Over and over. And over. You don’t need a bone folder or anything, the paper WILL tear easily once you get a good score going.

Then tear it – sideways, not upwards! That’ll give you the best deckled edge without the possibility of tearing into the paintable area. Do that again for each half and you end up with four quarter sheets! I’ll be painting in this lesson on an eighth of a sheet, so I folded one more time.

Tutorial: Watercoloring a peach rose (layering tips)

And now for the painting! This is part 1 of a 2 part series on layering vs glazing….and you can watch the layers develop. See photos below.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

First pass

The first wash is a light one – very very wet! The lighter you want areas of  your painting to remain, the lighter the wash. It’s ok to dab up excess color as needed. It’s even ok if there’s no white left. Here you can see the lightness of the first pass while adding the next one:

Second pass

Adding the next-to-the lightest colors happens in pass 2; below you see that work after it dries, with a few strokes of pass 3 for comparison: 

Third (+fourth!) pass

When I’m adding the darker colors, I like to work in some extra-darks while the third pass is still wet. It gives the ability to blend nicely.

Darker details

Since I find contrast irresistable….I had to add some deeper darks with just a tidge the darkest shadows. Can you see the difference it makes in creating depth?

And voilá! All done. Layers are your friend – and can really make a painting stronger and more vibrant, as well as have a lot more depth and dimension!

What questions do you have about layering?

I know that was one of the things I watched closely when going to in-person classes….how different artists apply color into wet paint or over dry. What would you like to know?

Supplies

• Arches Cold Press sheets
• Daniel Smith watercolors:
  • New Gamboge 
  • Aureolin 
  • Quinacridone Rose 
  • Permanent Alizarin Crimson 
  • Anthraquinoid Scarlet 
  • Payne’s Blue Gray 
• Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Brush – Round 8 and Round 4