Week of April 10
Summary of Choices for the Week
BATS
Working backwards, today I created a learning / promo poster for International Bat Appreciation Day and Liz Kohler Brown‘s Off Grid Challenge. I’ll take off the header and write one like, “Bat Facts” for a poster for sale.
I started out with Liz Kohler Brown’s gouache, but quickly needed something for the furry body, so I changed tactics and returned to Lisa Bardot brushes like Fur and Fluff. I also used her Texturrific Shaders. For the night sky, I added a Jennifer Nichols Starry Night brush she provided for one of her classes. It’s not a perfect bat, but it is a “little brown bat” common across North America.
Mugs
Liz Kohler Brown taught a lesson in gouache mugs, a draw together live session I watched on replay in her community. It was perfect for my granddaughter’s birthday; she has loved going to Starbucks since she was just a teenager.
The post talks about what I learned in planning the layers. But I also learned I need to practice more with gouache; I can’t get into the pointy areas of an illustration. It seems I just make the brush smaller, or perhaps duplicate a brush and add a taper. There are many times I need to add stabilization because my hands are a bit shaky.
If you’re wondering about gouache versus watercolor, gouache is more opaque, and I like that better. I also did not like the plain background, so added one of Jennifer Nichol’s repeat texture backgrounds [No 6]. What do you think?
Postcards
A group of friends from a course I took in 2013, CLmooc, still create art together. I wrote a post about the Postcard Project, which may have stalled in the busy schedule we all have. I created a postcard size slides with added postcards from my art for examples. The goal is for people to create postcards others can use for sending to others. It’s another of our collaborative efforts. All our work is Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Non-commercial, Share Alike.
Gouache Greeting Cards
I wrote several posts expressing gratitude to Jennifer Nichols for her two lessons on gouache florals. I used various techniques and resources, including Peggy Dean’s book and ChatGPT for greeting card messages so I could add them to my shops on Zazzle and CardIsle, various colorways.
Videos
I’ve also been learning from two free courses:
- Stacie Bloomfield’s [Gingiber] week long Leverage your Art intro to her longer course
- Genna Blackburn’s four-day Path to Portfolio intro to her longer course.
Both would be fantastic, but, at age 74, I’m taking a slow path. It would be great for someone younger or an elder with lots of energy to take both courses. For me, I am thankful for the introductory tips from these free classes, and I am most grateful for their time and willingness to share.
Because of their excellent tips and enthusiasm, I did some research to find out how to use Affinity products for creating a portfolio. I created a One-Tab list of what I’ve found so far.
That’s It!
That’s it. A busy week. Lots of learning and creativity. How was your week? What’s you next steps? I want to finish more gouache floral cards, follow up on learning Affinity portfolios, review my Teela Cunningham gouache class, and get that rabbit style project going. Retired, never bored.
Try It
So perhaps try to set a goal for yourself—learn another style, technique, or product. What do you think?
And you’re welcome to follow this blog for art inspiration. We can share with #warmup4art to enjoy our work together! I look forward to your sharing and find me at @42Sheri, on Mastodon Sheri42, on Flickr teach.eagle Sheri 42.
I wonder, if I draw a line... 