Hi friends! I have been participating on World Watercolor Month this year and I really love how the prompts have stretched my creativity and imagination. I created this scene for the prompt “tickle” Tickle your funny bone…get it? You can see my daily world watercolor month paintings over on my Instagram.
I like how this turned out but there were a few moments of “yikes!” while I was working but I didn’t let that get me down, I just pushed through and I’ll show you how to overcome some issues you might have in your next painting!.
Supplies:
Paints and brushes from my LUKAS signature set at Jerry’s Artarama (Retail price $344.10, on sale for $99.49 and it comes with a block of 100% cotton Fabriano watercolor paper that will not give you any of the issues I had with the cheap sketchbook I used today LOL!)
8.25 square Arteza sketchbook (affiliate link) *honestly I like these sketchbooks but ever so often you get a paper with weird sizing issues.
Hi friends! Last week on YouTube I posted a haul of stamps I bought for a song at a yard sale. I asked viewers what I should use first and the basket stamp was the hands down winner! This stamp is 24 years old so it’s unlikely you will find it (unless you already have it, then lucky you!) but there are similar free printable templates online, I put some in this printerest board for your convenience.
These projects were fun to make and also I have 4 little gift boxes and a variety of tags I can use this Christmas! Use this tutorial as a jumping off point to make party favors or gift wrap for your next occasion!
Supplies (Many products I love and use are now discontinued but you can always find something similar to buy or even better, in your stash!)
Stamp: Limited Edition
Cardstock: Recollections Heavyweight from Michaels
Apparently there was supposed to be a handle stamp on the edge of the wood stamp block (I bet that was in the big tote I rummaged through to find it!) but I think we managed just fine without it LOL! Affiliate links were used in this post. Happy crafting!
Hi friends, Today we are going to take a look at a small set of watercolors that really pack a punch, The Rosa Gallery Watercolors. I am reviewing the 12 color set which sold out shortly after posting my review to YouTube yesterday. They have also increased the price if you want to preorder it so I recommend you go for the 24 set in the cardbard box if you want the best value and don’t need a tin, or, go for some of their tinned sets if you want one. They are still a fantastic value. The 24 cardboard box set will have all of the colors in the 12 set plus 12 others. I purchased this set myself and was not paid to do this review. Affiliate links are used in this post.
As promised in the video I have photographs of the charts. Creating a mixing chart is a great way to see the possibilities of colors in a set when mixed with another color in the set. To create more variety (otherwise the bottom half of the card would be identical to the top half) I use more of the color from the top row in each column. In other words, look at the color on the top of a column and all of the colors under that will have a mix where the top color is more dominant.
Here is the chart using a split primary mixing technique. This 12 color set has a warm and cool version of each primary color which is what I recommend to my students (and why I bought this set to test out!)
This is an example of mixing with warm primaries, and of cool primaries. The color mixing stamp is from Waffle Flower.
Below is the swatches with a glaze stripe and the pan wrappers. Sorry for the upside down labels, it’s funny what bothers me and what doesn’t huh. Also, I forgot to make my transparency stripe until after I swatched the yellow so look to the right of each yellow swatch to see the transparency.
And finally some of the granulation examples. I found Ultramarine Blue, Umber and Cadmium red to create the most granulation in mixes. To get granulation you want really wet washes so the pigment can settle out and separate in the standing water. You also want to use smoother paper with a heavy sizing for the most dramatic effect. To avoid granulation simply do controlled washes on dry paper or speed up drying with a hair dryer or heat tool.
Price (much lower than other comparable brands) Even cheaper in Europe!
Mixes well
Contain real cadmiums which are usually very expensive
Pigment info disclosed
Cons:
These are a liquid poured pan that can become sticky in humid environments so probably not the best for travel as an sideways palette could get messy.
These can be hard to find in the USA, I jumped on the chance to order a set when they came in stock on Amazon.
Most of the sets have Cadmium colors in them so not suitable for children. Also many artists wish to avoid cadmium so I thought I’d list it here as it is a con for some.
Bottom line: You really can’t go wrong with these paints at this price. I know the price changes on Amazon so I’d say these are totally worth a try if they are less than $2 per pan in sets especially if in a tin. I’ll probably get more if I have the opportunity to! You can visit the Rosa Gallery Store on Amazon to see what they have available.
Hi friends! Do you have a bit of free time this weekend? Wanna paint something easy? We are going to paint this today, it’s a great way to get some practise in and knock the rust off the brushes!
If you like this loose floral tutorial please check out my Watercolor Flower Workshop! You will learn how to paint a variety of flowers in a loose style and arrange them in pretty compositions. Click here to learn more!
Supplies (Affiliate links used)
Rosa watercolors *I bought the 12 color set but the price jumped, the 24 color set is a much better deal or I suggest the botanical set of 28 if you enjoy painting lots of flowers.
Hi friends! I totally realize that I am probably NOT he best person to answer that question but I had the opportunity to review a very hot new product. the Brutfuner set of 520 “oily” colored pencils. I had recently reviewed the Brutfuner square set of 120 which I recommend as probably the best budget colored pencils on the market under $30 so I was thrilled to try the new set. I was sent this set for free from the Andstal Stationary shop and they arrived in perfect condition and very well packaged. You can see my unboxing here. I have heard from other viewers that have ordered from this shop on AliExpress that they are top notch which is always nice to hear as I did not know them before they contacted me as I had purchased my Brutfuner Squares on Amazon. Watch the video for my full review on these.
Pros:
Great variety of colors including pastels, neon and metallics
Centered cores, straight barrel, nice build construction (3.3mm lead in 7.5mm body)
Sharpens well to a fine point (lead is harder than Prismacolor, it is similar to Arteza and Deli/Markart pencils)
Layers well
Holds a point well
blends with water or OMS
Set came well packaged to protect from breakage and package is reusable for storage
Cons:
Lots or near-identical colors
The color numbers are difficult to read on the barrel
Pencils are inconsistent in laydown, some are rich and pigmented and some are weaker and streaky
Price (of 520 set, smaller size sets are reasonable)
Difficult to blend
What would be the best use of this set:
Classroom-the harder leads will be more resistant to breaks from droppage and the many similar colors mean several people could share this set and not want for a color or have to wait for one.
rubber stampers or adult coloring book enthusiasts who need a sharp point and variety of colors for fine details.
As a design tool for color picking (the colored barrels can be used as color swatches)
photo props
as a collectors item as it is the largest set I have ever heard of.
Bottom Line: I can’t say if this set is for you. It’s a lot of money to spend for a budget quality pencil and for that money you can buy a professional quality set that meets your exact specifications that would have replacement colors available. To be totally fair you could purchase a smaller set for a much more reasonable price, like a 48 set for around $15 so it’s not the per pencil price that makes this expensive, just the total set price for the 520. What do you think? Happy crafting!
Hi friends! I kept seeing these glass globes in antiques shops and import shops I I wondered what they were. I knew they must be nautical but I didn’t know exactly what they were or how they were used.
It turns out that Japanese fishermen used to use them to keep the top edges of their nets afloat in the ocean and then they would cut them free after they pulled in their catch so they would wash up on shore for beach combers to find. You can see me paint this and learn more facts about Japanese fishing floats in today’s video! If you would like a real time narrated tutorial of this project you can find it in Critique Club.
Hi friends! This might be the most useful $9 you spend to store your crafty supplies!
Supplies:
Scrap 2×4 lumber & plywood If you don’t have a scrap of plywood you can purchase a seasonal “wooden” sign at dollar tree, it doesn’t matter the design as you will cover it and it will be cheaper than buying a small sheet of plywood at a lumber yard.
9 wood crates like these from dollar tree. You can buy a minimum of 4 online and they will ship it to your local store for free if you are worried about not being able to find these at your local Dollar Tree. I discovered that each crate will hold about 100 pencils comfortably so determine how many pencils you want to store and divide that number by 100 to see how many crates you will need. You can put jam jars in the crates if you want to store fewer or if you do not wish to use dividers so that you have more options to use this for other things in the future.
Hot glue (optional but it holds things tight while the wood glue sets up)
Important! You don’t have to use as many crates as I did, also you can configure them in different ways to fit the storage space you have. You might prefer a 4 long, 2 deep situation to go along the edge of a desk and in that case, you don’t need the plywood, just glue the lower layer to the wood in the back. Make it your own. Consider turning it on its side for other art supplies you want to store. Happy crafting!
Hi friends! You don’t have to take a fancy vacation to get outside and paint. In fact you can probably find beautiful places near by to make art. Keeping a few useful supplies in a bag ready to go will make you more likly to venture outside and sketch. I decided to go through my travel art bag and see what should stay and what needs to go.
Sadly the Grumbacher bag I have is no longer made but I did find several similar stool backpacks on Amazon in the $20-$50 price range you might want to check out. The only thing I would change in mine would be to have padded straps (which I can probably make for mine) so if you are considering buying one you might want to look for that.
Portable Painter Palette: on Blick or Amazon *By far this is the best travel palette I have ever used. You fill it with your favorite tube watercolors. Winsor & Newton half pans will also fit.
I also like the viviva colorsheets with my small book and a water brush to tuck in my pocket (If my darned clothes have a decent size one!)
Other: Water bottle, rag or paper towel, chunk of wax, piece of cut-up credit card, and sunscreen
Instead of listing everything in my bag I only listed the items I would buy again. Affiliate links used where applicable. That’s all for today, happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 