Pot-Belly Dragon

Here's a mixed media piece, that I almost skipped working on. I thought my skills wouldn't be able to get thru the complicated piece! But somehow I did and this is "Pot-Belly Dragon," from a tutorial by Karen Campbell for Awesome Art School.

I had gone to visit the kids in St. Augustine and found that my 9 year old granddaughter worked on a film at camp using dragons for her theme! So in honor of my granddaughter I painted this piece.

I followed Karen's step by step instruction drawing the mage on Canson 140 lb. watercolor paper and painted the dragon with Jane Davenport Watercolors. 

I used a ruler to draw a 7" square and a Micron Pen and a Posca Markers for outlines. I used a white Gelly Roll Pen for a few highlights.

I hope my granddaughter will like to see this piece, as a memory of a great summer at camp, on my gallery wall.

 

 Challenges:

  https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-202607-anything-goes-wopt.html 

https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-854.html 

https://lilpatchofcraftyfriends.blogspot.com/2026/07/282-july-19-polkadoodles.html 

Whimsical Victorian Miss

 

 

I'm so proud of the way this "Whimsical Victorian Miss" came out! She is from a Karen Campbell tutorial for Awesome Art School. I drew her using a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil in m Ohuhu Marker Pad. I watched Karen's videos and used a print out she provided for a reference. I outlined the girl with black Molotow Markers and colored her using Ohuhu Markers. I used a black Pitt Pen for the black lace trim on her dress, as well some black accents. I used a white Gell Pen for highlights.

This "Whimsical Victorian Miss"  in 4th of July colors brightens up my Ohuhu Marker Pad!

Challenges: 

 https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-202607-anything-goes-wopt.html 

https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-854.html 

https://lilpatchofcraftyfriends.blogspot.com/2026/07/282-july-19-polkadoodles.html 

The Magic of Home

 

This fun "The Magic of Home" is from a collage tutorial by Eulalia Mejia for "A Year of Magic and Fairy Tales."

Back in 2020, I discovered Gelli Plate printing and I made a lot of sheet of mixed-media colored card stock to make colorful mono-prints. I stored these prints in a cabinet for years. Now in 2026, I combined these prints with pieces of printed scrapbook paper and colored card stock to make this colorful scene.

Eulalia used acrylic paint for the background. I don't paint with acrylics, so I used a sheet of dark blue card stock instead. I used Eulalia's templates to cut the printed papers, scrapbook paper and card stock into pieces that make up the mushrooms and the other pieces. I loved putting this scene together.

I embellished the cut paper pieces with a variety of fineline pens and some Carandache Crayons. The dots on the mushrooms were done with white gouache.

This is my third piece using a collage tutorial by Eulalia Mejia, they are a pleasure to work on.

Challenges: 

 https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-202607-anything-goes-wopt.html 

https://paperfundaychallenges.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-challenge-89-anything-goes.html 

 https://classicdesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/classic-design-challenge-07-2026-julaug.html

Whimsically Cool Cat

 

This wonderful "Whimsically Cool Cat," is from a tutorial by Karen Campbell for Awesome Art School. I used my Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil to draw the image on Fabriano hot press watercolor paper. I outlined the image with a Micron Pen and added some shaded areas with a Blackwing Pencil and a paper blending stump. I added the random colors with Jane Davenport and Prima watercolor sets.

I'm so very happy with the way this piece came out!

Challenges: 

 https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-202607-anything-goes-wopt.html 

https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-854.html 

https://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2026/07/animals-realimaginary.html 

Magic Mushroom

 

This "Magic Mushroom," is a gouache painting from a tutorial by Lucy Brydon for "Art is Magic." It was an art event with a free 9 day Tempter Session running thru July 19th.

I used a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil to draw the mushroom on a New York Central Art Supply 5 x 7 hot press watercolor block. I followed Lucy's step by step instructions using Arteza Gouache. I added Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White for the dots on the mushroom and glowing background.

I always  enjoy working on Lucy Brydon's tutorials. I learned so much in this gouache tutorial.

Challenges: 

 https://paperfundaychallenges.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-challenge-89-anything-goes.html

https://classicdesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/classic-design-challenge-07-2026-julaug.html 

https://creativecrafterschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-102.html 

 

Victorian Portrait

 

This "Victorian Portrait" is from a tutorial by Karen Campbell for Awesome Art School. The focus of this piece is on the 1840s hair and creating a graphite portrait.

I drew this lovely girl using a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil, in my Strathmore Toned Tan sketch book. I used a Blackwing-Mat Pencil and a paper blending stump to create the shading.

This portrait was so much fun, that it was hard  to stop adding little bits!

Challenges: 

https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-202607-anything-goes-wopt.html 

https://creativecrafterschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-102.html 

https://paperfundaychallenges.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-challenge-89-anything-goes.html 

https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-853.html 

 

Grandma Minnie

 

 

 

There is a lovely group on Facebook called Plum Loved Art in which members can find free digital images to work with in any way they would like. The owner of that group is artist Shelley Plum, who owns an Etsy shop by that name. She has a great variety of adorable images to use for personal art. This image is one the "Gray Hair, Don't Care," sets (V1). I named her Grandma Minnie! I'm sure my Grandma Minnie never held a paintbrush! Oh well, I like the name!

 I copied the line drawing making small changes to it, making it my one own. I drew Grandma Minnie with a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil in  my Canson watercolor sketch book. She is outlined in Micron Pen. I used Jane Davenport and Prima watercolors and a small amount of Arteza and Holbein Artists' Gouache to paint her hair and the dotted apron. 

Grandma Minnie was so fun to work on!

Challenges:  

https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/07/challenge-202607-anything-goes-wopt.html 

https://classicdesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/06/classic-design-challenge-06-2026-junjul.html 

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge.html