Serendipity Creative: Technique

Showing posts with label Technique. Show all posts

Crayola Markers You Can Use Like Watercolor Paint

Did you know you can get really bright marker color with a watercolor paint gradation? Lay down your marker color then wet it with a brush wait a few seconds start gently moving your color around. This happens best with Crayola brand I've tried other popular names at this price point and they never stacked up to the pigment quality of these markers. Every style from broad to fine point will do except the scented ones. I believe the essential oils they use make the color adhere too strongly to the paper.

Speaking of paper, the best kind to use would be a smooth card stock that you can push the color around a bit on. The best way to lay your color is one color at a time go over it with your brush then grab the next color. The longer the marker sits on the paper the more stubborn it is to move especially purple. Although I haven't done too many tests on timed lay downs I prefer to kind of dance around the paper not fast but not too slow either. Play with it. You can get a feel over time what is best for you.

Big ones, small ones, short ones, tall ones, just make them Crayola

Initial experiments on what could be layered and how heavy I could lay it down

Two different borders on facing pages with example of stubborn purple

Better purple-color around the edge then wet and pushed into the white center

Circles turned into flowers by lifting color from the center and brushing outward

Light and dark in different areas can add depth and dimensional interest

Smoothing two colors together can form a pretty rainbow

Crayola Crayons Smooth Color Palette Saturation

We're going to play with crayons tonight...not the kids...we adults. But first, it's been a really successful home school experience! Isabelle did a great job learning her Preschool skills. We've opted to teach through the summer and begin Kindergarten after a short break. I'm a strong believer in year round education. No one should have to take a mandatory 67 day break from something they love doing. While getting the classroom ready I updated her worn out crayons and stopped for a moment to enjoy the scent of the freshly opened box. Intoxicating. I just had to play with my own when I was done.

Did you know you can get a really smooth, clean, vibrant color from crayons without pressing hard? Many adults hate the graininess of a crayon straight on paper with the little white bits showing through. It's easy to remedy. Just lightly treat the area you want to color with some 70% ethyl alcohol sold at most pharmacies. This also works with colored pencils. With the colored pencils you need to color your object lightly first then blend in over. No heavy hands needed. Hope you enjoy trying these tricks and remember to take a little sniff to take your heart back to more innocent days of fun!

Everyone should have at least a few crayons around

Making swatch pages in advance creates ease while matching colors

Copic swatches matched up to Crayola Crayons - who says we need expensive supplies?

Plain white printer paper - top row straight crayon - bottom row alcohol prepped

Home school classroom still need to finish adding days to the calendar

Pieces of Passage

11-29-2012 This is a scene from the art process that is rarely shared. It's just as important as the working results to acknowledge that sometimes the piece just doesn't come together. It's important to document this. As these sat in a pile in the trash I realized that my accepting the defeat and stopping was important for my growth. Don't be afraid to acknowledge and throw away the crap. It opens up your mind to fresh new thoughts.

Shared with Artists in Blogland

Artists Inspired by Each Other

11-05-2012 Whether you love Pinterest or hate it I'm a believer that it is here to stay. While surfing the net yesterday I came across my own work on their site. Thanks to all the users that linked back to me. I search engined "pinterest marywalkerdesigns.com" to see if there were any more and found the albums listed at the bottom of this page. The two page spread below was the most popular and had gotten repinned quite a bit. I loved that one of the people found it inspiring for a quilt idea.

I've been inspired by other artists as well for example I made two art journal pages with ideas from paintings created by Kirstin McCulloh. Her striped socks legs and the girl called Dreamer that she recently sold. My versions don't look exactly like her work but close enough that I mark them as NP which for me means not to publish them here because they are not my originals.

Felt Fashion Dress Up Dolls

10-31-2012 Well I did something a little different tonight instead of drawing I made our daughters some felt dolls. Four to be exact and a wardrobe that would make Cher take a second glance. Eleven each of skirts and pants, twenty two each of shirts and dresses in four different styles. I can't wait to watch them play. I figured if they really like them when they are older I'll make hair, shoes etc. right now Aurora is almost two and little things aren't in the equation. I may still add faces but I have to experiment to see what media will work best for that. I guess for now they'll just have to imagine faces. Maybe that's a good thing?

Shared with Not Just a Housewife

Our Art Outdoor Adventure

Beautiful day here in New Jersey. My oldest daughter Alexis 17 yr old had the day off from school. I felt like getting sloppy with some art so I surprised them by grabbing supplies and taking her and Aurora 2 yr old out to the shed so we could get messy without worry of wrecking the house. Let's face it I cleared the space for a workshop we may as well get to use it ONCE right? It was a little dark and the doors I imagined on the side would have brightened the space right up. The deck would have been a great place to set our papers out in the sun to dry. Who cares right? We got to have fun anyway.

We collected found objects around the yard mostly leaves and sticks and things. Laid them out on our large sheet of paper and sprayed them with Tshirt spray. Flipped them over and pressed out the remaining paint. We then went to work adding patterns and color with water soluble crayons and oil pastels. Then finished up but adding a final spray coat over the piece to give it a more unified look.

After today's fun and girly giggles I learned that running away from my family wasn't what I needed from the shed. I needed a neutral place that didn't need to be cleaned that could be used as an open space to get messy in. Live and learn.

Shared with Art Journal Every Day Paint Party Friday Just Journals

Quiet Art Space

The joy of independent study is I can take what I learn and go in any creative direction I choose without fear of making a mistake. For this journal spilling lesson I made a drawing game doodle page mostly following lesson instructions and a page expressing a place I would like to be which I went completely in my own direction creating. And yes I realized after scanning that Breathe has an E at the end I fixed my page but didn't bother to rescan. Go right hemisphere!

Here are step by step instructions on how I created my Quiet Space page. Last night I hunted through the craft papers stash and chose colors and patterns that mimic how I feel when I am in my favorite place. I ripped every piece of paper as I found it, ripping paper is great therapy. When I felt satisfied that I had piled my way into a happy place I flipped around the paper stack shuffling them into a good assortment. Like a kid playing with leaves. I sprayed the journal page with photo spray adhesive and laid out the papers. Mod Podged the whole thing and went to bed. Tonight I returned and trimmed the paper edges added words that apply to the space and some doodle decorations. Done and fun.

See more pages from my art journal

Shared at ABAC Art Journal Every Day

NEW Mary Walker Designs Shop

02-25-2012 I've opened a shop and I wanted to share my excitement. I'm offering some of my art as jewelry pendants. You can check them out here or anytime with the Buy Made By Me tab above. I've had so much fun making these. If there is a piece of art that you've seen on this blog that hasn't been made into a pendant but you would like to see it as one please let me know. I can create a custom order just for you. Looking forward to feedback on this new adventure.

On Necklace Chains

On Collectible Display Rack

Yes Dear Mixed Media

01-19-2012 Playing around with some mixed media for fun. There is a watercolor on the other side of this page that I worried about damaging. In the end, I was really pleased with how well the paper held up. It's a Strathmore Mixed Media Visual Journal.

I experienced two epic fails but still managed to have fun so I decided to go ahead and share it. For starters the eyes are shaped strange as the color was being added the difference became more evident. The other problem came after applying the Liquitex glaze my Uniball pen decided to blur out all over the place. I patched the pupils with some India ink but the damage is still done throughout the page.

I photographed her at a couple fun angles and zoomed in on her lips just to show her better qualities. The entire piece was made using patchwork paper pieces, watercolors, Copics markers, Sharpie fine line, Microns and Pitt brushes. The overall theme of the page was, "Yes Dear." The word on her butterfly necklace is STRONG and the words in her hairpiece are the definition for Dear. I like how her attention is focused on the butterfly as if to say, "Hey, get me out of here."

Clear Mind to Open Creative Doors

07-21-2011 I have almost a half dozen artist trading cards swaps that need to be made. My mind has been going through the pouty, "I don't wannnnnnaaaaa" for days. So I drew this journal page. It's an exercise to help me prioritize emotions that matter the most and help me let go of the useless time consuming feelings that I harbor.

This is one of my many ways of dumping excess distractions to allow for creativity. You can try this too. Draw a your hands setting a bird free. Fill the hands with what you want to cherish and hold dear. Fill the bird with what needs to go away. Not only is the activity fun but your sure to feel relieved too.

Juxl Puzzle Art Drawings

07-09-2011 To make these artist trading card drawings I did 'Juxl Puzzles'. The instructions simplified are to "Draw four groups of three lines each. Draw a curve between the end of any line with the end of any line in another group. Draw another curve between the end of any line and the end of any line in another group. On the second curve only, place a dot anywhere between the two endpoints. Continue making subsequent moves in this pattern." Full directions with photos are on Wikihow here. My favorite thing about doing this excercise was not knowing what I was creating until I was more then halfway finished.

Newly Emerged

Gondola

Hibiscus Cecilia

Shaped ATC's Series

02-14-2011 "Are you ready to try something a bit different with your ATCs? How about changing up the shape? This swap will be for cards which still fit into a 2.5 x 3.5 inch footprint, but are anything but rectangular in shape."

Cupid

Tulip

Rabbit

These three cards were sent to Nicole in my ATC Club for the Shaped ATC's swap.

Steampunk Motorcycles Series

01-23-2011 "Steampunk art mixes modern ideas and technology with those from the past, namely the Victorian Age, when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing and steam was a major source of power. The genre started with literature, where science fiction and fantasy met Victorian-era scientists, but has since evolved to include all art forms."

Bike 1

Bike 2

Bike 3

These three cards were sent to Mara in my ATC Club for the Steampunk Revolution swap.

Paper Punch Art

11-24-2010 This was a different kind of card to make, using a hole punch. I scanned the layers so you can see how the final card came together.

Christmas Tree Layers

These four cards were sent to Dina in my ATC Club for the Paper Punch Art swap.

5-4-3-2-1 ATC Challenge

11-24-2010 A design that must contain: 5 colors, 4 snowflakes, 3 words, 2 things that sparkle and 1 texture. My colors black, white, light blue, red and light green. My words Let It Snow. My two sparkles: rhinestones and my texture is embossed velum swirls. Here is the final product, I made 5 of these.