watercolor blue jay

Sorry it's been so long again...

:(

I'll try to blog a bit more on Christmas break. 

It's CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!

:)

Sleeping in, reading in, baking cookies, and making things!
Ah.

Here is a blue jay I painted today.
I liked how it turned out.
:)

 Anyway.
I'm almost done my semester art project. 

:D

So I'm not quite done art yet.
Almost...
:P

I'll try to post about it soon. 

another drawing...

Well, I know it's still Thanksgiving week, but I finished another drawing. 

This once is Christmasy! :P 

Yep, I'm a bit ahead of things.

Hm. 

I wish I could make it bigger, but it just gets blurry when I do.

:( 

In real life, it is a whole 8 by 11 1/2 sheet of paper. 

I'll have to figure out (ask Elise :P) how to make it less blurry.

(edit: Elise figured it out!)

pencil drawing

Well, here I am again!

Though I'm not posting about Michael's quilt.

I just finished a drawing, and couldn't wait to post it...

:P

It was sort of inspired by Mary Engelbreit, though I don't know if you've every heard of her...

My mom really likes her drawings.

Anyway. 

Here it is!

Hm. 

:( 

The scanner quality is pretty bad. 

It's much crisper and clearer in real life.

Not to mention better colors.

Ah well.

I enjoyed making it, and I thought the scene was  cute.

:)

pineapple

I haven't posted for too long. 

:(

 I have quite a backlog of projects that I hope to post about soon!

Here is one thing I did for school recently...

a watercolor pineapple!

I was fairly happy with how it turned out...

especially the leaves! 

(Whenever I have a successful watercolor I'm inspired to do more. :P

I've just sketched a rose I'm planning to paint. )

I'll be posting soon about a quilt I made for Michael! 

:)

Ukrainian eggs - history

Well, one last post! 

Here is a bit about the history of Pysanky.

Pysanky probably dates back to ancient times, though there are no eggs to prove this, due to the fragile nature of eggshells.

The art may have been most developed in Ukraine, but many of the people groups in Eastern Europe have at one time or other practiced decorating eggs.

As in many ancient cultures, Ukrainians worshiped a sun god, as the sun was their source of life. Eggs, decorated with symbols of nature became a key part of this worship and a symbol of the rebirth of earth after winter. These eggs were believed to have special powers.

Pysanky were an important part of life in Ukraine.The exchanging of Pysanky was symbolically giving a gift of life. The art was handed down through the generations, from mother to daughter. 

Each color and symbol had a deep meaning, which were taught to each generation. Most eggs were very geometric, divided into equal squares, triangles or other shapes. Eight sided stars were often used, as they represented the sun. Sometimes the eggs' decorations would include an unending line, which, as legends claimed, would trap any evil spirit that entered the house!

When Christianity was introduced, eggs become the symbol of man's rebirth, as well as signifying the tomb Christ rose from. Interestingly, many of the symbols used for worship of the sun god survived, and were altered to represent Easter and the Resurrection.

In more modern days, the practice was carried to the Americas by Ukrainian emigrants. Near the same time, Pysanky (as a religious practice) was banished from Ukraine by the Soviet regime, museum collections were destroyed in war and the ancient art was nearly forgotten.   However, since Ukraine's independence in 1991, the art has been rediscovered and practiced once again.

Ukrainian eggs

My kind sister used her amazing photography skills,
(see her blog here for even more amazing photos)
to take pics of my eggs!

Here they all are:

~

Now separately, in order of creation:

 This was my first one...

...which after making, I startled my family greatly by skipping through the house exclaiming how well the kistky worked.

:P

 ~

Next, a bird on one side...

And a flower on the other.

And yes, the leaves are blue.

*sigh*

Still learning...

;)

~

Then I decided to make an untraditional egg.

Traditional eggs mostly have geometric patterns, very even and uniform.

Untraditional eggs are...

ungeometric.

:P

So I made a peacock, 

 with it's tail flowing almost all the way around the egg.

I like the effect..

~

Then we have a very traditional egg.

An eight pointed star, which symbolizes the sun.

Actually, I didn't know that until after I made the egg. 

:P

~

Lastly, my latest egg.

I liked the way this one turned out. 

By now most of the lines are looking fairly straight!

~

And here are the eggs all together.

Well, five is all the eggs I have made so far, but I'm pretty sure I will make some more when I get time.

Phew.

Quite a few photos.

 Of course, I had around 70 pics, just of the finished eggs to sort through. 

:P

I'll do one more post on Ukrainian egg/Pysanky history sometime soon!

Ukrainian eggs - wax & kistky

Now on to the actual process.

First you need eggs.

Blown.

That is the part I like least...

:P

Takes a long time. 

After you have an empty, clean, dry eggshell, you can really start.

I draw lines dividing my eggs into eights, usually, and work from that.

 

After you have a design you like sketched onto the egg, you use the kistka 

(which is heated over a candle)

to coat with wax any areas you want left white.

 

 I was thrilled with how well store bought kistky work compared to homemade.

They draw MUCH thinner, smoother lines, and almost never drip wax.

I got my kit here.

Kistky are hard to use in that you hold them differently than you hold pencils, since the tip is pointing downward, not straight.

After coating certain areas, you dip the egg into the lightest dye you are using.

In my case, this was yellow.

When your egg is blown, you have to continually press it down into the dye, otherwise it would bob to the top, and dye only the bottom bit of the egg.

Thus, my brightly colored fingers.

 (sorry, no photos...:P)

I was awfully worried my fingers would be black for the concert last week...

Thankfully the dye came off just in time. With much scrubbing.

Anyway.

Take the egg out of the dye when you like the color.

Keep in mind, that (at least in my case,) the dye is lighter after/if you pat it dry.

Pat the egg dry.

If you want.

You can also let it dry by itself, if you aren't in a rush.

I was.

;P

 

Then cover the areas you want yellow with wax.

Dip it into the next color.

Red.

  Leave it in until you like the shade of red.

I found that the order of colors is basically:

-Yellow

-Light Green

-Light Blue

-Turquoise

-Orange

-Pink

-Scarlet

-Red

-Brown

-Brick

-Dark Red

Then the final colors are:

Black, Purple, Royal Blue, and Dark Green.

Ok. Not so basic.

Continue covering areas with wax and dyeing until you are happy.

Then, the really fun part is taking an old rag and a hair drier and melting and wiping off all the wax!

My favorite part.

:)

I wasn't quite pleased with my first eggs, as I forgot the order the colors should go in.

I dipped one egg into green, and forgot the yellow.

Then I tried to dye yellow on top of the green.

:/

Thus I found that there really is a reason you have to dye in order of color.

:P

Next post I'll just show you some pics of the eggs themselves.

(sorry this took so long to post...)

Ukrainian eggs - dye

I have started the eggs.
:)
First I'll post about making the dyes.
Because that proved to be a more difficult and time consuming task than I first thought.

I had an extra half hour, so I decided to make up the egg dyes.
Dyes take longer than half an hour to make.
Let me get that point across first. ;P

However, I didn't know this.

So I dived in.

I started to boil some water when I realized I needed distilled water.
No big deal.
I hired my little brother to run to a sari-sari store for some water.

Then I realized that the dye was going to be a tight fit in the containers I had.
I tried it anyway.
Thankfully the dye all fit.
:P
However, some splashed on the counter.
This is strong dye. Not food color dye.
STRONG.
*gulp*
Actually it wiped off alright.
(water soluble)

Nevertheless, I moved to the back sink.

I boiled, measured, poured, and made sure not to dye myself.
Despite precautions I did have greenish blue fingers for a while after...

Finally, all twelve dyes were made, and safely stored with the lids on tight.

Phew.

I stopped several times, for lunch, music, and homework.
And it took much more than half an hour.

Next I'll post about the actual eggs!

Gothic building blocks

Yep. 

Another art assignment.

This time, it's about architecture.

Church architecture, to be exact.

I shall show you five examples of Gothic building blocks, and briefly explain each.

Thrilling, eh? 

:P

 Alright.

~

First are the:

Flying Buttresses

 Not sure if you can see, but I circled the flying buttresses with red...   

These were a main external support, used so that the walls of buildings could be skeletal, with huge stained glass windows, rather than solid.

~

Next:

Vaults

A vault was an arched ceiling, often rising very high above the ground.

 ~

Then, there is the:

Nave 

This is the main part of the interior of the church.

This word came in very handy last night, while playing boggle.

:P

~

Then, we have the

Tracery

This is the stone framework decorating the windows.

Such intricate stonework!

~

Lastly, my favorite part: the beautiful

Rose Window

Isn't it amazing?!

Rose Windows are circular windows filled with stained glass.

~ 

And that is it!

I still find it amazing that people could make these intricate and complicated buildings with such primitive tools, and often times they took literal ages to constuct. 

The Cologne Cathedral took six centuries  to build!

Yes, interesting name, isn't it...

:)

(I started my Ukrainian eggs! I'll post about that soon...)

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!
:)