Luckily, I didn't have much work today (actually, I had some but with such headache, I thought it could wait :-P) So, after finishing some work edit, I decided to play with my brand new set of this water color paints I just bought :-)
The last time I painted water color was when I was at school, a long-long time ago. What made me go out and buy this set was a challenge called Drawing Lab Challenge hosted by Gumnut. The challenge is to create art pieces based on a wonderful book, Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artrist written by inspiring Carle Sonheim. The book is full of exercises for those who love drawing, amateur or professional, anyone who wants to boost up his or her creativity.
This week's challenge is creating imaginary creatures. I set up the tools with brown paper cut off from a shopping paper bag. The little piece of flower-pattern paper on the right side of the shot is the other side of the bag :-)
Then, I followed the book's instruction : paint random marks on paper. I had no idea what I was doing. The brush in my hand felt awkward and I didn't know how to mix the paints or how to work with water. I just put colors on paper.
While waiting for the paints to dry, I did more on my Moleskine. This time I tried to make it as pretty as I could. I was amazed by how translucent yellow looked and Green looked almost fluorescent. Watching red flowing and blending with dark green somehow gave peace to my mind :-)
Let's come back to the brown paper. The next step was to imagine : from what I painted, could I see imaginary creatures? I didn't see it at first but when I started tracing some paint borders, my creatures took shapes...
Can you see my creatures? The obvious one must be the penguin with his fluffy scarf :-)
And now another spread for my Sketchbook Project!
I had so much fun with this exercise and by the time I finished this fun drawing, my headache was long gone :-)
This is one of my favourite things to do - but I haven't done it in ages. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeletewow that is so interesting :D
ReplyDeleteWe often stuck in a mode where we draw before we color. I find your way of creating the imaginative creatures out of the random colors is really interesting and let our imaginations run wild~
well done and awesome job! :D
I love it when pieces transform! That penguin is too cute for words! I love him!
ReplyDeleteoh these are fabulous - glad to have you back this week...great work.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like fun!!! I have asked for some watercolours for Christmas; normally I just sketch, or use watercolour pencils but it isn't the same. If I paint I use acrylics but again you can't get the same effect.
ReplyDeleteI love your creatures :-)
I have never done this before, but it's so amazing what you came out with in the end when all you started with were beautifully coloured blobs. Did you just glue this into your sketchbook when you were done? Great idea, I never thought of doing that before either. Thanks for the reference to the book and the inspiration!
ReplyDeletethis is just amazing! your lines are beautifully executed, it looks like so much fun. I have a new box of pentel watercolours too but only used it once and gave up. you make me want to try again =)
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful. What a great process, I really enjoyed watching the creatures unfold.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful to have a new set of paints, all the colors lined up so neatly? I love the potential.
ReplyDeleteSo amazing what you created from paint smears! Wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone. :-D
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy water color and will try more!
These are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteSorry I've taken so long to comment. I was cut off from the internet just after you posted.
Thanks for pointing out that I hadn't made it clear where to link to from my blog for the challenge. Hopefully I've remedied that by introducing a Mr Linky.
Anyways, you've done some lovely work and it inspired me to give it a good go too.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Nutty
(tangled up in the have-tos, and missing out on the want-tos)