I’ve been Doodelwashed!

This week I have been featured as a guest artist on Doodlewashed.com!

I discovered Doodlewashed on Instagram and loved Charlie O’Shield’s generous and inclusive approach to sharing art with others in his #WorldWatercolorGroup.

So, what exactly is Doodlewashed?  Here’s Charlie’s explanation (emphasis mine) ~

DOODLEWASH – (noun)
doo·dle·wash \ˈ[dü-dəl-wawsh]

1. Anything one creates that involves a drop of water to create beautiful washes of color and/or ink: I grabbed my brush and made a new doodlewash.

DOODLEWASH – (verb)
doo·dle·wash \ˈ[dü-dəl-wawsh]

1. To apply water to colors and/or ink for the purpose of creating immense satisfaction: After I finished that sketch, I just had to doodlewash it!

DOODLEWASHER – (noun)
doo·dle·wash·er \ˈ[dü-dəl-waw-sher]

1. Avid creator and artist who uses water with color and/or ink to make beautiful things
2. One who can’t resist adding splashes of water to sketches: I sometimes just use pen and ink, but I’m a doodlewasher at heart. 
3. A super cool person: No way! I didn’t know she was a doodlewasher. That’s so awesome!

DOODLEWASHING – (verb-ing)
doo·dle·wash·ing \ˈ[dü-dəl-waw-shing]

1. The compulsive need to make something new and then apply water to it: I know there’s a new show on TV, but I’d rather be doodlewashing. 

DOODLEWASHED – (adjective)
doo·dle·washed \ˈ[dü-dəl-wawsht]

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a person who has become addicted to daily doodlewashing: I can’t imagine stopping now. I’m totally doodlewashed!
2. The state of being one feels while “in the zone” while creating a doodlewash: It’s been how many hours? Oh my, I was so doodlewashed I didn’t notice.
3. Having your amazing watercolor art featured on doodlewash.com: Yay! I’ve been doodlewashed!

Synonyms

1. happy, calm, ecstatic, relaxed, delirious (it’s really your call here)

I took part in his August Adventure “Share Your Favorite Things” and it was a wonderful way to get to learn a little more about each other.   He posted 31 topics for the month and we shared our daily sketches on Instagram’s  #WorldWatercolorGroup. 

Similar to participating in Sketch Tuesday, the simple act of daily sketching and sharing really heightened my creative juices, and I couldn’t wait to doodle and draw daily.

Join  @Doodlewashed September Travel Memories and share in the creative Doodlewashing fun! 

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Self-Portraits In Pen

This week we decided to create pen and ink self portraits.    Lara and I both used  current photos on our phones and we sketched happily for several hours.

Here’s Lara’s photo and self-portrait ~

Ii is unusual to see my daughter with such wild hair and I love her photo editing skills!

I love her shading and accurate sketching!  Her picture is an A4 size.

Here’s my photo and self-portrait ~

I must confess that this is my second attempt.  My first sketch seemed very out of proportion which worried me every time I looked at it.  Somehow, one is more critical of a self-portrait and one notices everything that is slightly distorted or out of proportion.  Makes one wonder if that is how we see ourselves?  My sketch is much bigger, a lovely A3 size page.

What art are you busy with?

Blessings, Nadene

Kate’s Doodles

Hardly a day goes by without Kate sketching or doodling.  This is just one of her many gorgeous “doodles” ~

South African Artists

New Package Release!

Introducing a brand new package ~ South African Artists  Art History & Appreciation study which covers 18 notable South African artists from the 19^th century to modern contemporary artists.  This artist study is designed for middle and high school students for Art History & Art Appreciation.   South African Famous Artists will work perfectly for the Little Footprints, Footprints on our Land and Footprints into the 21st Century curriculums.

We follow a Charlotte Mason approach where we study and appreciate one artist for a month.  Each week we view one new art work and I encourage detailed observations, discussions, further research, narrations, and supporting art activities for that art work.

The download includes detailed biographies, Internet links and at least 4 examples of each artist’s works, as well as a blank biography page for narrations and notes.Here is a free sample for you to download ~ South African Artists Sample

I highly recommend Willemien Kruger’s Homeschooling Curriculum Guide.com  where she features her mom’s Elna Venter’s booklets South African Art Series For Children featuring several South African artists.

Pop over to my Packages Page to purchase this download.

Blessings,  Nadene

Veggie Sketches

My girls asked for an art lesson and so I opened a lesson I had bookmarked on observational sketching ~

We read “How to Create an excellent Observational Drawing: 11 Tips for High School Art Students“ on Student Art Guide. A really excellent article!

We looked at Sam Pickard’s art on Planet Sam incredible detailed sketches with colored blocks which she turns into amazing screen printed fabric designs. And, lastly, we  followed Jane LaFazio‘s step-by-step Tiny Tutorial – Sketch and Watercolor.

We each took our own fruit or vegetable and sketched and painted.

I sketched pears  (not a vegetable, but it appealed to me) ~

Lara sketched a green pepper and I love her colors and the swirly designs ~

And Kate sketched a gem squash  with lovely thick acrylic paints and added her quirky humor to her painting ~

A quick, fun lesson with very pleasing results!  Pop over to my Art Page for some more art plans, projects and ideas.

Blessings, Nadene

Revamped Art Page

Since recently adding my Packages page,  I also did some spring cleaning!  I streamlined, and merged all my art pages onto one page.

I now host all my Famous Artists, Famous Impressionist Artists, Art Era Timelines downloads, as well as all our art appreciation lessons on my Art page.

Yes, it is full, and you may have some “scroll fatigue” to reach the bottom, but it is cleaner, simpler and fresher, and there are less links to click.   Not only that, but I have refreshed and updated many of my larger bundles.

Pop over to have a peep.

Blessings,

Spring Bouquet Alisa Burke-Style

I subscribe to Alisa Burke‘s blog and receive her inspiration almost daily in my inbox!     She is a prolific artist and we often create motivated by ideas, such as here  and our first bouquets.

This week we were inspired by her post “A peek into my process” ~

Kate, who loves to pick and arrange flowers from my garden, collected an amazing array of brightly colored and textured spring flowers.

She used Alisa’s process, and took apart the petals and painted color testers.  She then painted a beautiful bouquet.

Lara painted her bouquet and created detailed outlines. 

Somehow, she and Kate “swapped ” their styles from their previous bouquet paintings.  I used my waterproof black ink in my fountain pen and sketched all the flowers. Using waterpaints, I painted the flowers and leaf-shaped background. We really enjoyed painting our flowers!

Pop over to my Art Page for all my art inspiration lessons and downloads.

Blessings,

More Julia Anastasopoulos Art

We love Julia Anastasopoulos’ inspirational art!  In fact,  we  moved our first murals to fit on one wall in our passage to make space for more!

We spent several days during the past weeks, in our typical Charlotte Mason approach, studying Julia’s Anastasopoulos’ art on her website knolc, and we were all inspired to do a flurry of art activities ~

More massive murals ~
Kate’s created another expressive cityscape filled with fun and whimsy!

Looking through her project gallery on her website knolc, I was inspired by  artwork which was transferred onto windows.  She used the “historical, architectural influence of Louis Michel Thibault on the City of Cape Town to create a public artwork that would work effectively on glass” which was installed in Thibault Square MiCity Bus station.My new cityscape featured our South African Cape Dutch architecture.  I added people depicting early Cape Town life. I painted my mural using acrylic ink, but I realized then how difficult it is to convert this design into something truly artistic.  In the end, I felt comfortable with my mural as a historical picture, but realized that it was not true art …

I think that it is only when one does these types of art appreciation activities that one truly realizes the true brilliance of talented artists.

Lara’s whimsical created this amazing picture, typical of some of Julia’s illustrations. In fact, I am convinced that Lara could become a talented illustrator!  Kate also created a lovely Julia-inspired illustration!  I absolutely love all the tiny details and all those  teeny tiny lines she used to create the grass.  Kate has definitely captured the style and feel of Julia’s art.Julia’s Shadow Boxes were the inspiration for my own shadow box picture featuring my children enjoying their childhood freedom on our farm … a collage of their happy life outdoors.  How quickly these years flash past!The next time you need some art ideas, look at your favourite artist’s gallery and try your hand at some of their projects!  It is amazingly inspiring and can open up whole new ways of doing art!

Pop over to my Art page for more art appreciation ideas, art activities and  art projects.

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Blessings,

 

Julia Anastasopoulos Contemporary Artist – Murals

Julia Anastasopoulos art website ~ Knolc

We enjoy discovering contemporary artists.  They inspire and motivate us!

We recently discovered Julia Anastasopoulos, a South African illustrator, designer and artist.  You can find her art on her website knolc.  Julia’s famous works include  her illustrated murals from the Cape Town Myciti Bus stations, and her playful line-drawings on the walls of the Book Lounge in Cape Town.   Julia’s art consists of whimsical concepts, light lines and tiny detail.   She has illustrated children’s books and my kids loved her art!

She is also famous for creating a South African persona “Suzelle”, featuring her unique humour and DIY “tips and tricks” in her popular SuzelleDIY YouTube videos which have gone viral!

We used her cityscapes as our inspiration and created large murals on sheets of paper.   Kate and I decided to work collaboratively, taking turns to work the cityscape in layers on each other’s pages.  After the third layer, we added all the tiny people and fun details.  We especially loved creating the whimsical ideas!

Some tips for collaborative art ~

• Work according to an agreed scale and size.  Kate’s pictures were much larger than mine and so I drew my details bigger to fit hers.
• Adapt to the style of the drawing there and yet be creative and add your own ideas!  It was amusing to come to “your” picture and find completely unusual ideas on the page!
• Leave some spaces open in your layer for overlapping or unusual aspects to be added later.

Lara created her cityscape on her own.

And here are our final pictures ~

Lara’s cityscape

Kate’s cityscape

Nadene’s cityscape

We displayed our murals on our passage walls!  We love to look at them every time we come out our rooms!

Art appreciation is easy and fun!

Pop over to my art page for more art plans, projects and art appreciation lessons.

To have my blog posts  automatically delivered to your reader or inbox, please click the  RSS Feed button or subscribe button.

Blessings,

Bouquet Art Alisa Burke-style

We have done loads of Alisa Burke–inspired art, as seen here .   She is a prolific artist, creating art and posting her sketchbook pages, her art processes and designs, studio updates, tips, fabulous tutorials and art ideas on her blog almost daily.

Her ideas often spark a creative art ideas for us, and this week we were inspired by her post “a peek inside my sketchbook – one bouquet 3 ways“.

I used a glorious bouquet of pincushion proteas and king proteas, now sadly fading, as  my bouquet inspiration. 

Lara and Kate created their own bouquets with loose watercolors on their page and black pen details ~

Find a contemporary artist for new ideas, new techniques or approaches to art.

Pop over to my Art Page for all my art inspiration lessons and downloads.

Blessings,