Hat Redone

Laure suggested I add more shading to my hat to make the contours show up better. I did just that and like it much better. I reposted the old pic with the new so you can see the difference. Thanks Laure!

And remember everyone, Laure teaches watercolor with her Imaginary Trips where we learn to not only dive into watercolor, that scary medium, but learn to do things like shade objects better, sketch out our ideas and more. Any class of hers will only help you as you have fun while learning. Click on the Imaginary Trips button on the right side of my blog for more info. I'm just finishing another class with her and will be posting pics soon.

Christmas Card Done

All done! I took the majority votes and used this version for my cards for this year. I didn't end up cutting windows out of colored card but went into Photoshop Elements instead and blurred out the edges, added the Merry Christmas and my writing for the inside. The hardest part for me (besides remembering how to do anything in PSE) is writing something that goes with the card front and fits the season and how I feel about it. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I thought about adding a thin border around the outer edges of the card but couldn't figure out how to do that. I need more lessons on PSE for sure! I meant to get them addressed yesterday but forgot about them since I had them under a pile of books to make the folded edge of the card permanent. We go to town today but this week we will also go on Wednesday and that won't be too late to get the cards out by.

Want to Sketch?

Have you wanted to sketch but didn't know what to draw? Didn't think you were good enough of a drawer? There is a new challenge starting up in January where some artists got together and will be posting an idea to sketch each month. They will have pointers for us, share what they draw and even have some give-aways. Sound interesting? Check it out by clicking on the Sketchbook Challenge button on the right or going to it righ here. I am going to follow along; hope to see you doing it also.

My Hat

My Hat
Originally uploaded by TimareeC

I'm taking another class with Laure Ferlita and the subject right now is hats. That reminded me of how my granddaughter enjoyed warming up by wearing my hat when they were here at Thanksgiving so I made a journal page out of it. It's a very fuzzy, shiny hat.

Free Calendar

Robin Kohli (E-junkie) and Adi C (Fish & Web) have developed an art calendar with owl pictures submitted by many different people. You get to pick the pics you want and for which month. Then you can download and save it for printing. Check it out by clicking here or on the owl to the right on the sidebar. Just a little something for fun!

O Christmas Tree and About That Ornament!

The first picture here is how I used all the advice given on my last post. I put my oval template over it for the scan to help show what it will be like in a card. I'm still debating adding some lines of white "snow" or glitter to the ornament as a couple suggested. It just isn't thrilling me though and then today I decided to sketch a tiny tree I bought the other day.

This tree is so tiny it won't hold hardly any ornaments. I strung some beads (the larger ones are a lightweight plastic) on a thread and wrapped the tree with them. Then I strung a few sequins to be the ornaments. I liked it so sketched it this morning. I should have scanned it in before writing on the watercolor paper as it dawned on me that I like this better than the ornament for Christmas cards. Now I will have to try to remember how to get rid of the writing in Photoshop Elements so I can use it. Maybe I can figure out how to put a poll on my blog as to which one to use for my cards this year.

Thanks everyone for all the advice given. So many offered and I think that is a wonderful thing. It's good to have people willing to say more than just "I like/love it" as we get to grow and improve getting the feedback with ideas on improvement. You are all wonderful!

I got the poll up on my sidebar. I'd love it if you'd give me your opinion!

Suggestions Please!

This is meant to be an oval inset into my Christmas cards. I figure the cards will be a color, probably red but maybe something else. The greenery got too top heavy and now it looks unbalanced. Does anyone have any suggestions for improving the balance? Or any other suggestions to make it better even "start over"?