Etegami...kinda sorta...

Hahnemühle sent me a wonderful set of 30 Cold Pressed watercolor postcards that came in this beautiful limited edition tin, perfect for both wet and dry techniques. I love sending out postcards much like snail mail art where the outside can be enjoyed by every person who touches the card. 

I thought delving into some Etegami would be perfect. 

Now I am not going to even pretend that they are true Etegami but more like a nod to Etegami, lol

 (Etegami principles that I kinda used are all noted in red.)

A simple, hand-painted image — outlines in black ink and filled in with watercolor.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows I love to outline so this part was easy enough. I did use my bamboo pen and tried to not be precise and to not worry about any bleeding since the

 Motto of etegami – heta de ii, heta ga ii translated means

 "Clumsiness is no problem. 

Clumsy makes it better.” 

Something that sounds simple but is one of the hardest things for me to achieve. I would have started over after the india ink bled under the stencil but then I wouldn't have used my supplies in the way that I did and for this I just smiled. 

Generally, use no more than three colors.

Etegami always includes words and I love to add words to my art although I do try and write them as best I can, Etegami forgives less than perfect lettering.

 “Etegami (e=”picture” tegami=”letter”) 

are simple drawings accompanied by a few apt words, done on a soft absorbent postcards. They are meant to be mailed off to one’s friends, not hoarded. They often depict some ordinary item from everyday life.

In Japan, people do not sign; They use stamps. 

They are called Han or Hanko, and every individual in Japan has one.

Now I don't have a Hanko but I grabbed the closest thing I could think of, a mini hand carved wood block stamp that you can find in Gwen Lafleurs online store. I didn't even have red ink so I choose a hot pink which I got from Rubbermoon which came in one of the Moon Mail club items.

Linking up to Paint Party Friday

You can purchase the Hahnemüle Limited Edition tin of watercolor postcards from:

Rochester Art Supply

Jerry’s Artarama ( looks like a better deal )

The postcards are excellent quality and they came with the address field on the other side so they make for a very professional presentation. I've been in love with the Hahnemüle watercolor paper for awhile now and their watercolor postcards are equal in quality. 

The artist on the cover of the tin is Alexa Dila, urban sketcher from Berlin, Germany

And if anyone wants to see pictures of Blossom,
 my fiberglass bear I painted for charity please visit here 😊

Re-Capping the week

It has been Avery busy week, glad the weekend is approaching. It's the first time in awhile that I have absolutely nothing planned...I like it! lol

1.  I am totally crushing on my Khadi journal. 

Just love the deckled edges of handmade paper!!!!

 This page was done for the itac-17 challenge 2, Asia.

2. Began a new Vignette Art piece (WIP)

3. New toy

I got a refracting ball (80mm) and took it out to play with. We were up in the mountains for the solar eclipse and got there early to avoid the traffic so we had some time to enjoy the scenery.

and of course there was a lot of moss, these were my favorites

moss sporophytes

British Soldier Lichen

4. TIRED
Tired pretty much sums up the Eclipse experience, I didn't even know I had misspelled eclipse in my video of the day until it was pointed out to me, lol If you do decide to watch it, and it's pretty boring, I know, please give me  'thumbs-up" to make me feel better. lol
And an art journal page which pretty much sums up the day.

5. finished Vignette Art piece
#Hahnemühle #Leonardo paper
which I am entering in Paint Party Friday and in Illustration Friday

I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Thanks for stopping by!

One door closes and another one opens

As sad as it is to say that July's watercolor month has come to end I am happy to report a new adventure begins for me. I have received a couple of commissions to do my Vingette Art from a couple of people and that really excites me! I was only doing "Pierson's Great Adventures" to write and illustrate a small book for my grand-nephew to give to him at Christmas but I get to continue on working away at what I love!

How lucky am I?

day 29
Currently the last of Pierson's adventures BUT I am hoping to write that book
( just for him ) so hopefully, you will see more of that in the future

"I am 3! Hear me Roar!"

day 30
starts the work on my commissioned piece


day 31
Pen work rates as one my favorite things to do! I love how it really brings out the details and makes everything pop!


August
As #WorldWatercolorMonth is over, I've decided I'll be continuing on with my weekly posting of art instead of blogging every day...
and so this begins August
 😘

day 1
Finished "The Little Mermaid" and I love how it turned out.
I swear I could keep this for myself it's so darn cute!
Hahnemühle #Leonardo paper

"Little Mermaid"

day 2

Started on the next one...

it's too dark right now so I'll work on lightening it up some.

day 3
much better and I've decided she will be a fairy in this one!


day 4
And the second one is completed...not sure which one I like the most, but I can say this, I'm pretty darn happy with them both!

"Moon Child"

Oh and I finally got a proper phone and now have an Instagram account. Talk about teaching an old dog some new tricks, whew! I never knew hashtagging was like an Olympic sport! lol
#WhoKnew
😜
#IdoNow

Hahnemühle, #Hahnemühle, #Cézanne, #WorldWatercolorMonth

I was very fortunate to have Hahnemühle send me a Cézanne

300 gsm - 100% rag - surface sized - matt, rough and hot pressed block to play with. If you have never painted on a block before, the Pads are glued and gauzed to ensure flatness when wet. This makes them especially suitable for wet painting techniques like watercolor – especially when you are using techniques like glazing and/or color washing. I used my ColourArte shimmering iridescent  H20s twinkling watercolors to create this superimposed piece of art. I loved the that the surface sizing allowed me to easily correct their mistakes, like I had to on the seagulls that I painted in the sky. 

I was only happy with the bottom seagull

 But after the video ended I went back and "lifted" out the mistakes and was able to correct them...well, at least to the point where I liked all three much better now!

Now, honestly, I don't know a whole lot about watercolor papers but I loved painting on the Matte surface!

Matte surfaces
Matte surfaces are used for delicate paintings and are suitable for beginners because of their slightly irregular surface that impacts only slightly on brush control and paint flow. These surfaces can be recommended for all watercolour painters who like to work with fine details.
Users can obtain full brush strokes in the wet in dry technique and even glowing colour gradation using the wet in wet technique.