Curly Top

 

This fellow is part of my child artist digital file from Etsy. The file is from ArtOutrageos. I used a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil to drew him in my Canson Watercolor Book. I outlined the image of the "Little Boy With Pencil," with a Micron Pen and painted him with Jane Davenport Watercolors.  

I drew and painted the background on this piece freehand and love the way it looks! I'll be doing more of these, I enjoy working with just a reference  or two and design my piece without a tutorial. I'm truly progressing on my art journey!

Challenges: 

 https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/10/october-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/10/challenge-202610-anything-goes.html 

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2026/10/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge.html 

https://creativefingerschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2026/10/challenge-331.html 

 

 

 

Underwater Dreams Mixed Media

 

I'm so glad, I had time to check out the Tasters at "A Year of wild Nature." The mermaid from Tamara Laport's "Underwater Dreams" was a blast to work on. I learned so much in the process!

I used a Graphgear Pentel Pencil on Fabriano hot press 140 lb. watercolor paper and used Jane Davenport and Prima watercolors to paint this mermaid. I also used fine line markers, gell pen, Holbein Artests' Gouache and a blending stump.

I'm delighted with this piece. 

Challenges: 

https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/10/october-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/10/challenge-202610-anything-goes.html 

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2026/10/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge.html 

https://alessandrasangels.blogspot.com/2026/09/allys-angels-110-anything-goes-theme.html 

 

Art in the Park

 

 

I recently left Karen Campbell's Awesome Art School, deciding it was time to move on in my art journey. I've learned so much to improve my skills at the school. I also want to work on more pieces to send to Art2Hearts.com. In doing so I've worked on my style. 

I love collecting child digital images and putting them in scenes. I enjoy drawing the child freehand and the background around it. The background is sometimes from my imagination and other times from a second digital image. Either way both are done freehand.

Occasionally I'll go back to some free tutorials, which I can find online, but the child scenic compositions have become my focus. 

This cutie is part of my child artist digital file from Etsy. The file is at Art Outrageous. I drew her on Fabriano hot press watercolor paper using a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil and I outlined the image with a Micron Pen. I used a pencil and a blending stump for the shading. I used a Gell Roll Pen for a couple of highlights.

I drew the park setting freehand including her easel, where she painted the treed property line. I painted this piece with Jane Davenport watercolors. I used Arteza gouache for her hair to be able to cover the trees behind her head. 

I enjoyed working on this painting very much!

Challenges: 

https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/10/october-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/10/challenge-202610-anything-goes.html 

https://creativefingerschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-330.html 

https://creativeinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/10/creative-inspiration-challenges-43.html 

Happy House Plants

 This "Happy House Plants," tutorial is by Karen Campbell for Awesome Art School.

I drew the basic shapes for each of the plants in my Canson Watercolor Book, using a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil and Prima Watercolor sets to paint the plants. I enhanced the piece with Prismacolor Pencils and Holbein Artists' Gouache.

It took most of the day to get this done, but it looks fine now!

Challenges: 

https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/10/october-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://creativefingerschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-330.html 

https://creativeinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/10/creative-inspiration-challenges-43.html 

https://creativeknockouts.blogspot.com/2026/10/580-october-1-sparkle-shine-star-stampz.html 

 

Rusalka of the River

 

This lovely image is from a tutorial by Karen Campbell for "A Year of Magic and Fairy Tales." Her name is Rusalka and she is a dangerous, female water spirit in Russian folklore, who often lures humans to their deaths. Once a victim gets close the spirit drags them underwater.

I drew this dangerous spirit following Karen's instructions and used her traceable for a reference, using a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil. The piece is on Fabriano hot press watercolor paper. I used a Prima Currents watercolor palette. I used a Blackwing pencil and a paper blending stump for shading used in her eyes and a Micron Pen for her eye makeup. I also a white Gelly Roll Pen for the highlights.

It was fun to choose the greens and blues for this image! I'm really happy with how the image came out.

Challenges: 

 https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/09/september-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-202609-anything-goes-w.html 

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge_01035597380.html 

https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-858.html 

Magical Potions

 

This piece is from a tutorial by Andrea Gomull for "A Year of Magic and Fairy Tales."

Using a Graphgear 1000 Pentel Pencil, I drew the image following Andrea's direction, onto my Arches watercolor block. I used a Micron Pen for outlining work and painted with Jane davenport Watercolors. I used Holbein  Artists' white gouache for dots and highlights. I enhanced the piece with Prismacolor Pencils.

This was a fun piece to work on!

Challenges: 

 https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/09/september-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-202609-anything-goes-w.html 

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge_01035597380.html 

https://classicdesignchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/09/classic-design-challenge-09-2026-sepoct.html 

Lighthouse Dream

 

I've been doing art tutorials for a number of years, the last three years at Karen Campbell's online Awesome Art School. There are also many art tutorials online, given freely. I have taken advantage of many. I can honestly say my skills have improved thru the years and I've learned so many wonderful techniques!

I have found that saving digital files on Etsy in the themes I'm interested in and using them as references has helped me to create my own original art. I enjoy drawing my own version of digital images. I have been offered templates freely to use in my work. Sometimes I  can combine both kinds of references in the process and arrive at original art work. This is how I got the "Lighthouse Dream."

I used a lighthouse digital image from  Plum Loved Art  (Wonky Walls and Titled Tops #29) on Etsy and part of a scenic template from Artsydee.com to draw this scene in my Canson Watercolor Book, using a Graphgear 1000 Pencil . I outlined the picture with a Micron Pen and painted it with Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors. I used Prismacolor Pencils and a blending stump for shading and white Holbein Artist's Gouache for highlights.

This picture represents a new level of my artistic journey. I couldn't be happier with this piece.

Challenges:  

 https://avenue613.blogspot.com/2026/09/september-2026-anything-goes-w-optional.html 

https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-202609-anything-goes-w.html 

https://creativecrafterschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-104.html 

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-perfect-time-to-craft-open-challenge_01035597380.html