illumination

You may be thinking at this point that I am blogging about lighting.

No.

I'm studying the Byzantine Era in art right now.

Medieval manuscripts...

Ok.

What I meant by illumination:

or

(No. Sadly I didn't make those. :P)

Anyways.

My assignment was to research illuminations and make one.

I decided to illuminate a letter 'A'.

I wonder why...

:P

Gouche, a type of paint, was often used in illuminations, most often in green, royal blue, and red.

I thought about using watercolors, but they are way thinner than gouche.

Gold leaf is used a lot too.

It was rubbed onto the illumination with a tool tipped with a hound's tooth.

:D

Tinfoil just doesn't compare with gold leaf.

I don't have any hound's teeth either.

I finally remembered a sheet of gold origami paper I had stored away in my closet.

Just right!

Well, maybe not just right, but it does look much more like gold leaf than tinfoil does.

;P

Then I found a few brightly colored markers/pens,

and set to work.

It isn't nearly as intricate or detailed as true illuminations, and the colors aren't right

(though they are much better in real life. Our scanner once again mangled the colors... :/).

The gold paper actually looks fairly realistic

(in real life..),

but the markers just can't do an illumination justice.

I need to find gouche paint...

:)

stamps & stamping

Hey!
I'm back again.

This time, I am posting about my stamping experience.

No, I don't mean store bought stamps.

I mean handmade stamps, of course.

I was inspired.

This lady makes reeaalllly nice stamps. 

So cute, intricate, and pretty.

*sigh*

She uses an artist carving block for her stamps.

And a linoleum cutter.

I have neither.

Of course, by now you should know that probably won't discourage me much.

I improvised.

As usaul.

;P

Craft foam does an admirable job masquerading as carving block, and an ordinary craft knife seems to fit the job of cutting foam pretty nicely!

I like birds. And flowers.

So those are the stamps I made.

I layered my foam and glued it together, as it was so thin.

Then I cut out the shape I wanted for a stamp.

 I carved some details into the stamps. 

I made sure to carve deeply enough that you can see the marks, but not all the way through the foam.

That wouldn't have been good.

 :)

Lastly, I glued the foam shapes onto a piece of cardboard.

Then I tried stamping.

They worked!

I was very happy.

:D

I stamped on scrap paper...

ripped brown paper bags...

and pretty patterned card stock.

Then I made bookmarks.

:) :) :)

It was very fun.

And I like the final products, too! :P

(I also stamped on cloth...I haven't made any thing with that yet. We'll see if any thing comes of it...)

And that's all for now! 

My stamping fiesta is recorded.

:)

I will try to post again somewhere in the nearish future! 

;P

watercolor birds

:)
I'm posting again!

Yes.

Here are the watercolor birds I mentioned in the other post.
Neither of them are quite as good as the sparrow, (in my opinion) but I still like them.

Firstly,

a cardinal

Well, the poor bird appears to be a bit tail heavy.

And the legs. *sigh* 'fraid these aren't right again.

On a brighter note, I was pleased with the beak!

:P

 And a blue bird.

I like this one better than the cardinal, though my sparrow is still my favorite. This one is softer looking, and a little ruffled...

more realistic.

AND:

THE CLAWS WORKED! 

:D :D :D :D 

I actually painted a titmouse too, but it had serious stomach problems.

Looked as if he might have swallowed a golf ball or something...

So I won't post that.
:)

I keep thinking I'm caught up on posting, and then I start some new project. 

I wonder why it is that when I'm on summer break I lie around and read all day, but when I should be working out Algebra 2 equations during school, I have half a dozen projects that urgently need my attention first?

Hm.
:P

My latest project was carving stamps, so I'll try to post about that soon! :)

bas-relief scupture

Ok, no excuses this time.

I have just been lazy.

;P

School has started!

That means I have started my art course. 

Fuuuun.

I get to do art projects during school.

:)

Well.

This week I was supposed to write a 200-500 word report on ancient art. 

Hehehe.

Oh, the benefits of homeschooling.

I suggested attempting a bas-relief sculpture instead.

Much more interesting.

My suggestion was approved, so long as I blogged about it afterward. 

:D

So, here I am.

 

In case you didn't look at the definition, bas-relief is a sculpture done on a chunk of stone, or wood, or wax.  

My sculpture couldn't be stone,

(Don't have the right tools...)

Or wood,

(Don't have the right tools...)

Or wax,

(Don't have wax...)

So I tried clay.

Bas-relief is often known as "low relief", meaning that the carving is fairly shallow.

It is carved out of the material, instead of molded onto it.

Enough of definitions. 

 On to the process!

;P

I took a whole lump of clay,
(extravagant, I know... :p)
grabbed my knife with removable tips, (so handy!)
stole the rolling pin from it's drawer,
and began to...

flatten the clay.
(bit of an anti climax there?)
:D

That took quite a while.

Then, when I had a flat piece of clay to work with, I started carving.

I decided to make a dolphin,
don't ask me why.

A sort of random choice, I guess.

I wasn't at the peak of inspiration...

And the final piece.

Nope, not many photos.
Mine is not the blog of photos.
:p

And there you have it.

Documented.

And it will go down into generations, handed down to hundreds of thousands of eager readers, longing to know of this amazing, historical event, that changed the course of...
[/sarcasm]

Ok.
I'll stop.
;P

P.S. I painted some more birds! I'll try to post them soon.Yeah. We'll see if that actually happens or not... :P

watercolor ventures

Well,
I finally have another post!

I have been playing around with watercolors quite a bit.
(as you may remember from my last post...)

I saw a neat idea somewhere for mixing watercolors.

A sort of "watercolor multiplication chart"...

My version:

You most likely are unable to decipher the scrawls on top and left of the sheet, so I will  attempt to explain. :P

Basically, the first word on the top left corner is "red", as well as the word on the top of the column of words on the left.

The next word down is orange, as well as the next one over, and so on...

Anyway... it just shows what color you get if you mix the color on the top and the color on the right.

Hm.

Complicated.

And I'm not very good at explaining.

Moving on...

;P

One night, I was just inspired to draw a tree with birds.

So I did.

And then painted it.

*grins* 

I think it turned out pretty well.

:D

And then, last but not least, 

A sparrow.

This time, I aimed for 

"realisticness"

(yep, that's just a made up word)

;P

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out!
Except for the claw...
*glares at claw*
My claws never seem to turn out quite right...
: /

Ah well,
that's all for now!
:)

scherenschnitte hummingbird

*stares at title*
Wow, you are long...
...

Well,
No watercolor birds to show yet,
just a single scherenschnitte.

~
Schnerenschnitte
scherenshnitty,
and

scherenschnittay

are  my brother's, sister's, and mother's names for my outrageously named artwork...
Yes.

It's a strange name.

Sometimes I'm not sure even sure I'm spelling it right...

;P

[/end of rabbit trail]

I'm pleased with myself, as this was not a paper cutting I found online.
*gloats*
I made it myself.
 *gasp*

Well....

Not exactly.

I took Microsoft words graphics and played with them until I had a good pattern.
 :P



And...
for a change, I cut it on black paper.

I like the effect!

Ah,
Hummingbirds.
:)

watercolor birds

I've been gone for a while.

Yes.

Excuses.

Our trip was VERY fun and interesting,
(except for an unpleasant flu...)

*grins and nods*

Extras! Extras! Read all about it HERE!
;P

Well, I have been playing around with watercolor, and I recently saw this blog.

So, on to watercolor birds.

To be completely honest, it is only two so far, but it's a start.

And it's been fun.

I'm enjoying it. :)

1st bird.
(as you can see, I messed up right under the beak...)



But I still like it.

And...

2nd bird.

I like the shape of this one a bit better, but maybe that's because I just painted it...

It also seems somewhat more subdued than the other.

Almost pigeon-like...

Hm.

Oh, the flowers are supposed to be poppies.

They ended up resembling roses, or carnations...
:P

And the stem of one unfortunate bud is extremely thick due to a unsteady hand...

But I like it, too.
:)

That is it so far...
There may be more to come.
or maybe not.

It will depend on the whims of the artist.
;D

Oh! I also posted my third chapter of my novel, in case anyone would like to read it...