I got involved with the World Watercolour Challenge in July, but I, being me, took it a step further and challenged myself to paint only in ATC (Artist Trading Cards) size, which is just 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. Now although I failed on some of the paintings, I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed myself. It’s ages since I painted so picking up the brushes again was such a joy to me.
However … in the comments, I got into various chats about ATC’s and tried to explain that if you fancied making an ATC, you didn’t have to paint in order to make them. You could glue, stick, adhere, ~ paper, magazine cut-outs, tissue, die cuts, anything basically. And attach all sorts of things. You can make a picture, a statement, a quote, or even a whole story on your ATC.
To try to show you what I mean, I made a quick to make ATC … it could be kept exactly as it is, and stored in a collectors folder. Or you can give ATC’s away to friends, family etc. Or you can swap them with other ATC makers. Or … you could use them on a handmade card or in a scrapbook.
Don’t let life RUFFLE your feathers ~ photograph taken with the flash on.
First I made the fairy dress, out of bluey green feathers, a sticker and black card, and using a plain white card, pre-cut to ATC size (2.5″x3.5″).
I firstly coloured the ATC card using two different blues – one was called Freshly Washed Jeans – the other … I’m going to have to call Teal – it was ink left on a bit of sponge, which I’d saved in a sealed plastic bag (I’m such a thrifter!). Then using an embossing ink and gold Tonic embossing powder, I embossed all around the edge of the card.
photograph taken using a bulb light desk lamp only.
I stamped the ‘message’ ~ “Don’t let life RUFFLE your feathers”, and stamped a feather over it. Then added the three pearl gems in contrasting colours.
Aw…. nearly forgot … before I began this ATC … I back-stamped it using my favourite ATC stamp:
an ATC back-stamp. Used on the rear of Artist Trading Cards, so that the piece of art work can be traced back to the artist who made the ATC.
I tend to stamp my ATC cards on the back before I begin my art work … but I’ve been known to forget and if you do it’s easily solved. You stamp your ATC stamp onto some plain white paper, fill in the details and cut it out to the exact size and simply glue it to the back of your ATC.
And that’s all there was to it!
Well, it’s Monday again. A brand new week, fresh out of the box and gifted to us to do with as we will. Do something good today. Make your day a memorable one. See if you can do something which will make another person smile. It could be a work colleague, a friend, a relative or a complete stranger. Whoever it is … make them smile. Do whatever you can, with what you have available to you. Just make someone smile today and make it a memorable day for you, and for them.
Sending a whole ton of squidges, all sent out in various directions around the globe, in the hope of one of them getting to you and making you smile too. If you’re smiling right now … then one has already reached you.
Some of you may remember that a few days ago (during The World Watercolour Challenge Month of July) I did a little ATC watercolour painting of some Meadow Flowers(<—click) and told you how I’d been inspired to paint that particular little painting. (click the link and it will open in a new window to actually read that post if you missed it).
The original ‘Meadow Flowers’ ATC (sized 2.5″x 3.5″inches)
I said in that post that if I got the opportunity I’d take a snap of the flowers next time I passed them. Well I drove past them yesterday (1st August) and before I turned the bend I had a very heavy heart, telling myself that they’d have all been drowned by the awful rains (and the winds) we’ve experienced here in the last few days, …. however, as I drove around the bend my heart began to flutter like a butterflies wings. Yes, the rain had given them a bit of a knock and nudge but there they stood, nodding and swaying in the wind. I pulled over and very quickly snapped a couple of pictures on my cell phone. One through the open passenger side car window – so it was nice and crisp and clean … and another through the windscreen – which gave the photo a bit of a white haze … but you can kind of see them.
taken through the open car window.This photo was taken through the windscreen of my car. Hence the white haze
What you’re looking at in the last photo (above) isn’t the full length of the Meadow Flowers planted – there’s roughly about half as much again which I couldn’t fit into a photo. So you can imagine what a total blast of colour and joy it is to see each day.
I saved these photo’s as quite large ones, (so that everyone would be able to see the meadow flowers properly) and I know I used to be able to open up photo’s by simply clicking on them here in WordPress, and they would open up in the larger size. But … I don’t seem to be able to do that now … so if someone knows how to get them to open up in their larger (saved) size then please could you let me know so that I can let everyone else know. Many thanks!
I’ve blurred out the background properties which face onto the green, as … well, they aren’t my properties and I don’t have permission to put them on the web. So just being polite.
I missed the final days of the Watercolour Challenge as we had Little Cobs come to stay, and quite frankly, he’s enough to keep a whole host of Angels busy! By the time I’d managed to get him into bed of a night-time and read him a story (or two), I was so plumb tuckered out that I felt like I needed putting to bed myself!
But today I had to take him home again.My loan of the Grandchild time had come to an end. So we made the best of the last few hours we had together by starting with a thoroughly unhealthy breakfast … of Toast (not me, just Little Cobs) followed an hour later by … McDonald’s breakfasts! Then we played Lego (which I am totally useless at but I try my best); then we made a packed lunch and took it to the sea to watch the boats, the waves and look for Pirates. However …. on the way there, we just HAD to take a slight detour and visit Toys R Us, with pocket-money supplied by Grandad, to buy as much as we could possibly buy and pile into the car.
Then it was off to see the sea. 😊
We couldn’t go and sit out as the rains had made everything so wet we would have got soggy bottoms – and it was still a bit windy, which Little Cobs hates …. so we ate a picnic in the car with the windows down a little so that we could get that fabulous air and actually smell the sea (which I love) …. and gazed out onto the water, as we played with some new toys.
This was the sea and the sky of blue with its cotton wool clouds….
picture taken 1st August 2017
… that isn’t an x inside a circle, printed on one of the clouds … it’s the reflection of the corner of my parking permit. lol.
Normal service will now resume, once I’ve got my body back, because some bu**er has stolen my youthful, joy filled, light as a feather feeling body, and replaced it with some old duffers body, – and they have to be at least 120 years old, by the feel of the body which mine has been swapped with. This one is creaky, old, positively broken in rather a lot of places and totally damaged through over-use (see definition for ‘knackered’ – which OBVIOUSLY isn’t a word I use, being as it’s such an unladylike word and all that).
All I’ve done is taken responsibility for a 6-year-old boy … so it’s obviously while I was distracted that someone broke into my home and swapped my own body for this load of carp which they’ve left me with. I don’t know who I complain to. I mean …. would the Police take this seriously? I doubt it. In fact … I feel like I can hear them laughing from here!
Suggestions for getting my “OOooooNLY 27 YEARS OLD” body back would be much appreciated. For I have a birthday … as you know … and I shall be “OOOooonly 27” again, so I need my “OOoonly 27” year old body back… because that really was some body, and this one I’ve got now is …. broken in 50 Shades of Busted!
Till next time … … I send you squidges, mentally. … I just can’t seem to get up from my seat at the moment to squidge you properly … actually, I think my arm has just dropped off … ut ohhhh . . . . I think a leg might be about to follow it!Oh gawd, … what next?!!I DEMAND THE RETURN OF MY BODY! (or at the very least … a new one).
Where I live, I have a different routes to drive home if I’ve been out gallivanting. On one of the ways I can come home takes me past a big stretch of green grass in front of some houses. On this stretch of grass the council planted some seeds for meadow flowers to grow in order to encourage and help bees with their jobs.
They’ve actually done this all over the Dorset area in various places, which I’m so thrilled about – but this particular area, being probably the biggest ‘patch’, takes my breath away each time I see it and makes me slow my car down just so that I can drink in the wonderfulness of it and nature in general.
So, when I sat down in my craftroom on Friday afternoon for a bit of watercolour painting on an ATC, I wondered if I could capture the mass of colours and beauty as they swayed in the breeze, of all the meadow flowers which always took my breath away. And this is what I managed to bring about via a few paint brushes and some colours.
Meadow Flowers with a white mount ~ An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
I began by first working on the background which I desperately wanted to fill with the glory of the almost mental array of incredible colour which my eyes and heart registered as I came upon the flowers. It was difficult to pick out particular flowers as it was all such a wonderful sight.
Meadow Flowers with the green mount ~ An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
Once the background colour was done(and I’d waited for it to dry …. helped after fifteen minutes of waiting – which is the limit of my excitability, patience wise) I then was able to pick out some of the colours and turn them into flowers.
Meadow Flowers with a blue mount ~ An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
I began with the blues and turned them into cornflowers. Followed by the red poppies, and lastly the tiny buttercups appeared low down. After this I just added some colour – mostly a watery green, to add to the depth and try to give that feeling of what it looked like as I slowly drove past this wonderful display and gift from nature. It truthfully takes my breath away each time I see it, as if I was seeing it for the first time. Just incredible.
Meadow Flowers, painted using Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolours. ~ An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
All of the flowers were painted using the box of paints you see in the photo above (yes, that’s my desk…. and my mess). This was taken just after I’d finished painting the ATC and before I’d cleaned up my three water containers. One a large pot thing which has a brush scrubber at the bottom, a second pot which is what I rinse my brushes off in, and a third pot for cleaner water which I can dip my brush in if I require just a little more ‘wet’ to my paint(s) if the colour is drying out.
An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
And that’s all there was to it! 🙂
Well now …. time for some coffee chat …. Happy Saturday! It’s so lovely to meet up with you for a coffee today. I have some biscuits (‘cookies’ for our USA folks) in the cupboard … shall I get them out for you?, or perhaps you might like some buttered toast? We can all eat, enjoy and chat around the table together.
Thank you so much for coming for a visit. It’s a total delight to see you here and I’m so glad that you dropped in and shared a coffee with me. I hope you have a truly lovely day, and that when bedtime comes, you feel that today was a great day to be alive.
Sending squidges to you in your corner, from me in mine ~
Who said you could only have a balloon on your Birthday?Actually .. why have balloons become a special occasion item at all? When I go back to my childhood (not too great a stretch of my imagination, admittedly) I can remember the joy of being given a balloon!
I’d actually seen an image very like this painted onto a birthday cake for a little girls birthday. It had obviously lodged itself in my brain, and because I’d been thinking about birthdays (my own only being a few days away. not hinting or anything), and who can have a birthday without cake? (NOW I’m hinting. Cobs Snr. take note: CAKE – if I can’t have *this one*, then I’d be very happy with *this one* … or even *this one*)
Back to the ATC Cobs! …. … … … with the white mount:
Happy UnBirthday! An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
This little ATC took me a bit longer as I’d over wet the watercolour paper before I began so once I’d sploshed some colour on for the background, I had to wait a while for that to dry. Patience not being one of my strongest points (I try. I really do try) … I eventually plugged my heat gun in and ‘helped’ it to dry. (read: forced the little bu&ger to do as it was told).
Happy UnBirthday! An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
Once it was finally finished I rather liked it. It had a gentleness, which I loved, and innocence – which made me think of me. (yeah, I’m laughing at that one).
After trying the mounts…. I think I actually like it naked.
Happy UnBirthday! An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
I think I’ll cut off the border(which I leave on so that I can handle the ATC while I’m painting it), and I might even mount this one onto a card. Perhaps a Birthday Card or a ‘hello I was thinking of you‘ card. That sort of thing.
Thank you so much for coming and for sharing a few minutes with me. I so appreciate your company.
I’d just like to say a warm welcome to some new followers which have joined our happy team here in the last few weeks. I won’t mention you by name, but you know who you are. It’s lovely to have you here. Don’t be afraid to comment and let yourself be known. I’ve found that I’ve SO enjoyed some comments on other people’s blogs that I’ve clicked to see what that person is ‘about’, and ended up following them. So please do make yourself known. Who knows … you may end up with a few new followers!
Well … it’s Thursday already. Someone has stolen two days out of my week this week. Tuesday and Wednesday have gone missing altogether. If I catch that little rascal who’s snaffling days out of my weeks I’ll grab him by the collar and shake the little divil until all the days fall out of his hiding places! pffft.
Have a wonderful day. Remember … do it to them before they do it to you … be nice to people that is. Smile at them. PLEASE!!! This sort of thing WILL make the world a better place. C’mon! Let’s heal the world… it has to begin before we can win. Let it begin with us!
I never, ever, ever, EVER paint cats. Big ones or small ones … never. They have such lush fur and they wear it so well, that I find it really difficult to capture – even with just a pencil drawing cannot do them justice. Therefore it’s easier to just not paint or draw them at all.
So what went wrong here then? I don’t know. I have no idea what form of madness came over me which made me think I could paint a leopard.
‘Wild Thing’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
A pamphlet came courtesy of the postman today (Monday – as I’m typing this). It was a crafting/painting/sewing/you name it, it covered or mentioned it. Inside was a terrific picture of a Leopard and I sat admiring him. Then this little stray thought came wheedling its way into my brain, and . . . the dreadful, dirty, deed was done.
I went to my craft room to paint an ATC for the World Watercolour Month Challenge and I decided I would have a bash at painting the Leopard. What. An. Idiot!
I can’t paint cats of any sort. They’re too wonderful for me to try to paint. But I gave it a go and although the finished result isn’t a total disaster, no self-respecting Leopard would want to own up to being the Leopard which Cobs put together like some really bad painting by numbers jovial delight.
I told Mr.Cobs that I couldn’t put it on the blog as it wasn’t good enough. He disagreed and told me to post it. So … I’m posting it … but it’s his idea it’s here, so we’ll blame him.
‘Wild Thing’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
And that’s all there is to today’s show and tell!
Happy Tuesday!
You got past Monday then? Good-o! Well that means there’s only 4 days left, now that sounds MUCH better than the original 5. Not only that, but the original 5 had that most awful of days in it … Monday. The four days you have here doesn’t have any day beginning with the three letters: Mon. No ‘Mon’ at all. None of the remaining days even have even just one of those letters in their own first three!
Check it out: Tue. Wed. Thu. Fri. See? NoM. NoO. and finally …. NoN. Isn’t this now the greatest week on earth, ever??!!
Wishing you a terrific Tuesday, filled with a little laughter, some lovely smiles and … a smattering of love.
I’m going to type this blog post and get it all finished and completed within 15 minutes. Yeah … and pigs might fly!
I got out my paints this afternoon (Sunday) with the intention of painting an Angel … but then a stray little ticklish memory came to mind and I found myself pencilling a flying pig, and so I went with it.
P ‘And Pigs Might Fly’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
It was quite a quick painting project, the longest time was waiting for colours to dry so I could move onto another colour … but my heat gun helped with that just a tad.
Again, painted to the ATC size of 2.5inches by 3.5inches. You can see the exact size in the photo above – the pencil marks around the sides – but I always leave an ‘over-hang’ so that I can touch/hold the painting and move it around without getting mucky finger prints on it and spoiling it.
‘And Pigs Might Fly’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
I tried a white mount around it and quite liked that. But then tried the blue mount and …
‘And Pigs Might Fly’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
… I quite liked that too. One moment I love it with the white mount … and the next … well … what can I say. I like them both.
What about you? Which one do you prefer?
This really was an enjoyable make. Watercolour paper. Watercolour paints. Some brushes and some water … and VOILA! One teeny pig with really tiny teeny wings. Somehow I don’t think those wings would carry the pig … but hey… who am I to judge? I have no training in these things! 😇
Happy Monday!
I know, I know,you’re not overly impressed with Mondays. Lots of people aren’t. So let’s break the system. Let’s paste a smile on our faces and wear it at every opportunity today. Why? Because it makes everyone wonder what the HECK you’ve been up to. You’ll look like you’ve been up to something or know something. Keep ’em guessing. When they ask you just say “Aw, nothing, really” … but say it in *that* way which makes them think that … you might not be telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And that alone will keep ’em smiling. lol
Have a truly blessed day my friends, and wherever you go today, may your God go with you.
When it said on the packet: “Baby Seeds” – I thought it was referring to the size of the flowers which would grow. I didn’t think I was supposed to take it literally!
Ah I’m joshing with you really. I didn’t really grow a Baby in a Flower Pot! I painted a baby growing in a flower-pot … in ATC size, especially for World Watercolour Month.
an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
I got about half way through this and wasn’t entirely sure that it was coming out as well as I wanted it to. I nearly gave up and started again. Not sure what pushed me on, but I’m so glad that I did because I fell in love with this little scrap by the time I’d finished.
If you look carefully at the photo above, you can just see the pencil marking of the actual size for an ATC/ACEO ~ and that size is: 2.5″x 3.5″. I tend to cut a piece of watercolour paper just a little bigger than that size so that I can hold onto the card and move it around, as I’m painting ~ without spoiling the painted image with a finger or thumb marks.
an Artists Trading Card sized watercolour painting, painted for #WorldWatercolorMonth
I tried three different mounts on this little hand painted card and all three seemed to bring out different aspects of the card . . .
A Flower Baby Growing in a Pot ~ an ATC/ACEO painted in watercolours, especially for #WorldWatercolorMonth
The green mount seems to pick out the two little green leaves growing from each side of the Baby. Is she/he perhaps …. a Fairy or Angel Baby? Are the leaves in fact …. wings?
But … I think my favourite mount colour, for me, has to be the creamy white mount:
A Flower Baby growing in a Flower Pot! And ATC/ACEO hand painted especially for #WorldWatercolorMonth
So … which mount do you prefer? Blue? Green? White? Or perhaps you prefer no mount at all.
Anyhoo …. HAPPY SATURDAY!
I hope your day is sweet from morning till night, and that the Bluebird of Happiness flies over your house and leaves a little magic happy dust, sprinkled from its wings, over your home.
Whatever you’re doing today, do it with all of your heart, for that’s where your happiness lives.
Once upon a Time, there was a Princess Fairy who lived in a tall tower in Fairy Land. From the window she would wave her magic wand over all the people of the Land which would sprinkle them with magical wishes.
Aaaand … back here in the real world….
Maaaaany years ago – at least 10 but probably around 15 to be honest, Daughter No.2 bought me a Birthday card which was just a total delight to me. It was like all of a sudden my daughter ‘got’ me. She saw a card so perfect for my birthday that going against everything that I’ve always taught my girls (buying cards is just such an expense – yes you have to purchase one, but don’t spend half a weeks wages on one!), she spent a little fortune on.
Now, I keep greetings cards. All types. For Birthdays or just for ‘Hello I thought of you and am sending you this‘ types of card. I’m very much into the whole physical memories of something, and will keep cards and little mementoes for ever! I have a drawer in my craft room where I’ve kept cards from years gone by and every now and then I get them out just to make me feel wonderful. Each one holds a special memory, and a ‘trick’ to get that memory from the back of my mind so that I can enjoy the moment all over again. And there, in that drawer is a humongous card – very very tall but not very wide, – which I have cherished from the moment Daughter No.2 gave it to me. Here it is . . .
It’s about (guessing here) 18″ – 22″ tall. (I should have measured it and I didn’t think. I’m not tip toeing over to the craft room now because it’s belting down with rain outside!). You can now see why I’m showing you this card. It has a picture of Fairy Land on the front and I just loved it from the moment I opened the envelope. When I saw it in the drawer I instantly thought I’d have a go at turning it into a tiny ATC of 2.5inches wide by 3.5 inches tall.
(yes, that photo was taken in my craft room)
Some of you might remember me telling you that I taught my little girls, when they were knee-high to an ant, that if anyone should ask them how old their mommy was, they were to say …. “My Mommy is ONLY 27″ … and I have remained 27 since I was 27. Each year Daughter No.2 remembers this and sends me a birthday celebrating my 27th Birthday. Have a look inside this card .. . . .
… ah… you’ll need that blown up a little to read it …..
Her name has been removed (to protect the innocent) …. she writes: “To Mom, have a great (27th) Birthday! Have fun, love and snuggles ______ x“. I thought that since I was using the picture on the card as my inspiration for a little watercolour for World Watercolour Month, I might as well share the inside of the card so that you can see that I trained my girls sooooooo well! LOL
Anyhoo … back to this little watercolour. This one was a real struggle. It’s difficult to go into detail when you’re reducing something to a ridiculous size like this, so I had a real problem with the Princess Fairy. I perhaps, in hindsight, should have left her out – as I did the shutters on the windows (not enough room to keep them in).
an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth
I couldn’t make my mind up on the mount … green or blue? You choose and tell me what you think …
an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth
… Green? … OR ….
an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth
… Blue? Each one brings out something different. The Blue one brings out the shooting star and seems to make the colours just a little more vivid. Where-as the Green mount makes it look more subtle and … ‘fairyfied’. OOoo… choices, choices!
And that’s all there was to it!
We have an almighty storm going on here as I type. The thunder is so loud that it’s making the dog bark and me jump. It’s pelting down with rain and I’m thinking that all my flowers are going to get a right old bashing!
I’m not entirely surprised that the weather has changed like this. It’s been far too hot for it to continue without some sort of storm cooling things down. (although I don’t feel any cooling down happening at the moment. I’m still boiling hot!) I feel dreadfully sorry for the county next but one to where I live … Cornwall. They’ve had some awful flash floods there today (Tuesday) and they’ve had to go out in helicopters and rescue folks who have been trapped in their houses by rising waters. I watched it on the TV news at 6pm and it looked awful!
Well… that’s me done and dusted. I’m now going to schedule this post to happen in the early hours of (UK time) the morning, and I’m then taking myself to bed and taking the wee little chubby doggy with me.
Whatever you’re doing today do it with a smile on your face and hope in your heart. To prove to yourself exactly how blessed you are, imagine that you woke up this morning only with the things that you gave thanks for yesterday. Puts things into order does that little thought.
Sending you love, and a bucket of squidges which should last you all day long …
Hello again! Happy Sunday. I hope that I find you in full health and ready for a bright day filled with some smiles and a little love wherever you happen to be.
I’m still dedicated to the World Watercolour Month Challenge, (as you can see) and I’m here with another little ATC moonlight painting, only this time it’s shining over the sea.
Before I began I knew I wanted to paint:- a moon, the sea and a wee little sail boat/dinghy bobbing on the ocean. So I had a plan.
As I painted, the fabulous song from ‘Paper Moon’ came back to me and I ended up singing to myself. It seemed like the perfect title to use for this post, so I did use it. As you can see! lol.
Not sure if many of you remember ‘Paper Moon’ – both the film and the made for TV programme. It starred Ryan and Tatum O-Neale, and even though I was just a little child, I can remember how much I loved watching it. I’d never seen anyone doing any of the things this father and daughter team did … and it totally fascinated me. It didn’t encourage me to try to do things like they did, I just found them both so lovable and funny and loved their love for each other.
Ry “It’s Only a Paper Moon” . . . an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth
The above photograph was taken with just the over-head lights to light it. So it just looks like a moon looking out over the sea, painted using regular water-colour paints.
‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’ . . . an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth
However … when you add more lighting, the moon begins to glow. This is down to me using some Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry water-colour paints, in ‘White Gold’ for the moon, and ‘Blue Gold’ for the glow off the lamp which is hanging on the mast of the little boat bobbing on the ocean.
A tiny section of the painting: ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’ . . . an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth, painted by Cobwebs of The Cobweborium Emporium.
The above close up of the boat shows that the boat is actually sailing away from you in the painting. You’re looking at the back of the boat nearest to you. It also shows the little lamp which has been hung up on the mast of the little sailboat.
‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’ . . . an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth
Finally, I placed a mount around the painted (and dried) ATC of ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’ in order to frame the painting properly and draw the eye into it.
I really enjoyed painting this one. It was lots of fun and such a happy subject matter. Loved it.
And …because I have the song ‘Paper Moon’ buzzing around my brain now, I felt it was only proper to share (as good friends do) so I visited You Tube and got the song just for you. See how much I care about you? 🙂 It’s only 2minutes and 37seconds long. You can thank me later. 😊
Well … all that’s left for me to say now is … and that’s all there was to it! 🤣 LOL
Have a truly blessed rest of your Sunday. Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee with me. It means more than you’ll ever know, so thank you.
Sending love, from me here in my corner, to you there in yours ~
Can you hear dogs howling? Are there rappings at your window? Do you see strange shapes, female like, travelling past the moon with only a broom as transport? Do you have bats in your belfry?
Throughout history, the occurrence of the full moon has been linked to all sorts of strange behaviors. It’s said that some police officers believe that a full moon leads to more crimes being committed.
Me personally? I think it’s all rubbish. The only thing that happens during a full moon is that I can see better in the dark, and I don’t reckon that’s because I ate all my carrots either!
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth – lit with the dullest of table lamps – so that it lights the photograph but doesn’t over light it. It leaves it a little dark and moody.
I was sort of vacant of thought, gazing at the moon through the window and this gave me an idea to paint a [bit of fun] night sky with silhouettes on the ground in ATC size. So I did.
However not only did I use regular water colours, I also used a tiny bit of a different type of water-colours, called Gansai Tambi Starry water-colour – in White Gold. I used this for the moon and a little on some of the stars, as I wanted the moon to GLOW.
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth – This photograph is taken with a bright desk lamp – so it shows the moon being a little brighter than the last photo.
The Gansai Tambi Pearl and Starry colours have mica mixed in with the water colours and can give you a truly lovely glow to parts of your paintings which you want to draw attention to.
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth. This photo taken with the same brighter lamp – but I’ve put a mount around the ATC to frame it better.
I’ve been using these types of ‘twinkly’ water colours for a while now…. I found my very first set years and years ago, packaged up as ‘children’s paints’ and I bought them for just £1.49 from a shop here in the UK, called The Works. You can see a little ATC here (click and the link will open up in a new tab) on which I first used those mica paints to paint with.
But the paints I used for brightening the moon in this painting was part of a boxed set of 6, made by Kuretake.
I LOVE Kuretake products. The company was sited not too far from where I used to live, and every year they would have a monster sale and invite crafters to come and buy. I must have kept that company going for years! I spent somuch money with them, and learnt so many amazing techniques from their fabulous staff, to do with paints and pens. They are very much a company who I highly recommend. BUT… although I know you can buy from that well-known TV Craft Channel (Create and Craft), I urge you to shop around before investing your money there, as I’ve bought some Kuretake products for half the price that they’re selling them on C&C, AND – I’ve got FREE postage on top too! So do please shop around if you decide to buy any of the Kuretake items. The company itself is truly brilliant. Their customer service and the products are perfection. —>Link to Kuretake website HERE.<— (You can buy direct from them on that website too – check-out the sales items!)
This last photo was taken with the flash on as it’s the brightest light I had on a dark evening a couple of nights ago. I so wanted to show you how the light plays with the Gansai Tambi Starry water-colours and makes something so simple become something quite stunning….
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth.
… and … what you see in the photograph isn’t the true story. That moon looks like MAGIC! So magical that it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck!
The only thing I would change about this tiny ATC (2.5″x3.5″) is … that I wish I’d have gently dotted stars into the scene, instead of dragging my fingernail over the bristles of the damp brush to get the ‘splots’. I totally forgot that I was working small-sized and because of that I should have dotted the stars in individually using a tiny brush or dotter. tsk tsk. By the time I’d got to that part, I couldn’t change the dots as it would have spoilt the sky … so I left it as is. But to be honest .. in real life, the dots aren’t as ‘in your face’ as they appear on the photo’s. It’s my own fault for being away with the fairies as I was painting. lol
The next full moon, here in the UK, isn’t until the 7th August 2017 – so make a note and … don’t forget to howl at the moon! (Google will be your friend if you want to know when the next full moon is where you live).
Thank you SO much for coming and sharing a coffee with me. It’s so fabulous to spend time with you. If you fancy a wee chat, then please leave a comment in the comments box below and I promise I’ll reply the very next visit I make to the blog here. (and I come here regularly – so you won’t have to wait long! 😉 )
Before we part … I need you to know that I receive no incentive, payment or encouragement from Kuretake, or any other company, when I recommend products to you. I speak to you as a fellow crafter, with many years experience. I research and buy all my own supplies – and if money would allow I’d buy even more supplies just so that I could share them with you and share the results I get from using them.
Of course, if Kuretake, or any other craft product company, happen to be reading my blog and would like to share some of their products with me so that I can share [honestly] the results I get from using them, with you – then I’d be more than happy to do that. (but the chances are very slim that any craft company will be reading my blog so I won’t hold my breath!) 🙂
Have a truly brilliant Saturday. I hope the weather is just right for you – not too warm that you’re uncomfortable, and not too cold so that you require a hot water bottle for your feet! May your day end with you looking back over the hours, and smiling a satisfied, contented smile.
The Art of Cobwebs 