Power Poppy Creative Confetti - September

Hello! I am hosting the Creative Confetti Challenge over at Power Poppy! I wanted to inspire you to great heights, but I have been distracted with a visit from my adult children! My son came for the long Labor Day weekend, but my daughter came for a WEEK! Plus, my college-age son started online classes this last week! I have been enjoying the "kids" and not spending as much time in my studio!

However, I hope that you enjoy the challenge this week! I had fun making the samples!

HOW TO PLAY: Stamp or print a Power Poppy Stamps image onto COLORED CARDSTOCK!  Then, color away! Use ANY color cardstock, as long as it's NOT white cardstock. 

On to my creations! 

The project that started me thinking about coloring on colored cardstock was this class from Vanilla Arts called Illustrated Monarch. 

The class was to color the Monarchs and Milkweed image onto tan cardstock. I had a lot of fun coloring on the tan paper with Copics and Prismacolor pencils. 

The tan cardstock was light enough that the Copic markers looked fine, if muted, and the colored pencil looked AMAZNG!

So...I thought...what OTHER colors could I print onto and color?!?

I chose a few images to print onto a few colors of cardstock. I found that if I wanted to color an image onto very dark cardstock such as black or navy blue, I would have to somehow trace the image with a white pencil or use a similar technique. The printed image did not show up quite enough to allow me to see the lines, especially on a detailed image. Also, Copic markers are too transparent to show up on super dark cardstock.

I asked my artist daughter about using colored paper and she said the standard colors she used were white, off white or cream, tan, and gray. But, I was sure that light blue, pink, even red would work! I tried a few different papers and colors and learned lots of things!

This is another example of playing around before you start an actual project. Be prepared to "waste" a little printer ink and a few sheets of cardstock! It's worth it to experiment!

I learned that you need to test the paper with the medium you wish to use. I printed this sunflower image from Sunflower Power onto cream linen cardstock. I had hoped to use watercolor pencils for the image, but the paper was too thin to accept the water! I also found out that while the Copics looked amazing, they "oozed" too much on the linen cardstock (no surprise there). The colored pencils loved this lightly textured paper!

In my discovery I learned that you also need to allow Copics to DRY before you can see how the color really looks on colored paper. 

I had my heart set on using Copics on this sky blue cardstock, but they wanted to bleed. Any attempt to push the color back with the blender only made a "drool" line on the paper! The paper had a bit of a rough texture, and no coating so the alcohol ink just wanted to soak in and wick out! 

The colored pencils loved this paper! And they looked amazing on the blue background! I had found my perfect match!

I printed the Chinese Lantern image onto the sky blue cardstock at about 7" x 5".  I printed the lines in pale gray as well. I colored the image with Prismacolor Colored Pencils, which worked beautifully!

I hope you enjoyed my versions of the challenge for this week! If you want to join me and show off some of your Power Poppy Projects, please be sure to share what you come up with by using the linky on the Power Poppy website HERE! Every entry -- no matter what the week -- is thrown into a virtual hat for our random drawing at the end of the month for a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop! 

Have a great week! I can't wait to see what you create! 

Digital stamps: Monarchs and Milkweed, Chinese Lantern

Cardstock: Neenah Desert Storm (tan), unknown blue

Prismacolor pencils for Chinese Lantern: Terra Cotta, Pumpkin Orange, Mineral Orange, Beige, Dark Brown, Crimson Lake, Scarlet Lake, Poppy Red, Sunburst Yellow, Goldenrod, Prussian Green, Kelly Green, Apple Green, Spring Green, Dark Green, Sienna Brown, White

*Note: Copic and Prismacolor color combinations are not listed for the Monarch and Milkweed project to protect the integrity of the Vanilla Arts class.

Coloring Challenge

Hello, Coloring Fans! I promised a long time ago to share more of my coloring book projects, but then never seemed to get them photographed for you! I will try harder to share more of this type of art form. I am still taking a break from paper crafting, but I am spending more time coloring and playing with some of my other art supplies!

I just finished this page, as part of a coloring challenge on Facebook and YouTube. Pamela at Pamela's Passion for Pencils is hosting a limited palette coloring challenge on her YouTube channel and Facebook page. (Yes, adult coloring has a HUGE culture on social media!)

We had to choose a picture from one of Hanna Karlzon's books with the theme "Mystical." I only have one of Hanna's books, this one called Seasons. (You can find it HERE on Amazon. I am not an affiliate, so feel free to purchase where you choose.)

We also had to choose a color palette (Pamela gave us two to choose from). 

Since I chose a picture that had flowers, I thought this palette would work best. I figured I could combine the colors to work for the idea I had for the page. Once I decided on a palette, I had to choose my pencils bu matching them to the colors. I chose 3-5 pencils per color blend.

We were supposed to have about 18 pencils, but I "cheated" a little bit as some of my blends have four colors rather than three. And I added some neutrals (black, white, brown, bronze). But considering I used the 150 Prismacolor pencil set...this is pretty limited! {smile} I ended up with 23 pencils, plus the 4 neutrals, and a blender pencil. So, 28 pencils...since when do I ever do as I am told?!

The pencils used:

Aqua/Green: Light Aqua, Light Green, Peacock Blue, True Green, Spring Green

Blue: Indanthrone Blue, China Blue, Blue Lake, Sky Blue

Red/Pink: Crimson Red, Pomegranate, Mulberry, Hot Pink, Deco Pink

Coral: Process Red, Pink, Salmon Pink

Yellow: Yellowed Orange, Spanish Orange, Deco Yellow

Purple: Dioxazine Purple Hue, Violet, Lilac

Neutrals: Espresso, Bronze, Black, White, Blender

The background is a little streaky, but colored pencils can give you issues when it's a big space to cover! I tried a blending solution to smooth it out some, but, oh well. It is supposed to be "a bright summer night" and I think I hit that pretty well.

Each item in the picture was colored with a combination of the colors listed above. I added some of the yellow and blue to the aqua and green to get the various leaf colors. And so forth. 

Notice the little circles in the artwork? I just colored right over those little "sparkles" as I knew I could go back an add paint, gel pen, Stickles, Wink of Stella, or anything I wished after I had finished the coloring. I ended up using a white gel pen to make little dots on the page to mimic...stars or sparkles or lightening bugs (fireflies to some of you). 

I love how the bottle turned out. We were supposed to add bubbles to the bottle as one of the techniques, but my bottle had so much bling on it, plus it's pretty small, that I just decided to NOT do the bubbles this time!

I really wanted to play up the glowing of the bugs and leaves, and such. I had fun trying things and just having a play! And, yes, I sort of ignored the butterfly. I really dislike coloring butterflies, so he just got "left behind" in this picture!

I love how the purple flowers turned out. Such a rich color!

Now, the red flower I am not as happy with. I really struggled with how to color this one, and left it until last. By then I was sort of ready to be finished with the project! It shows in this flower!

All in all, I love the rich, deep colors of this "bright summer nights" picture!

The last step is to spray the picture with a fixative to keep the pencil from rubbing off on the previous page. This book has double-sided pages, so there is a page to color opposite this one.

I hope you enjoyed this coloring post! I will try to do some more soon!

Coloring book: Seasons by Hanna Karlzon

Colored pencils: Prismacolor Premier (150 set) - see the list above

Gel pen: Signo white

Blending solution: Gamsol (with a flat brush) - used for the blue background only

Spray fixative: Prismacolor Final Fixative

Power Poppy Inspire Me Monday - September

Hello, colorists! The last time I was up on the Power Poppy Blog, I talked about taking a class to help you get past creative block. Well, perhaps you've taken a class or two...or three! But, are you saying, "Now what, Gloria?" since you've finished your class?

Well, hop on over to the Power Poppy Blog again today to find out the next step! 

Tried and True or Something New?

Good morning, Blog Friends! Today is my wonderful husband's 54th birthday! We don't have any big plans until the weekend because our 33rd wedding anniversary is on Saturday! And even then, the plans are small. Things are still pretty closed down in my area of California, making getting away a bit of a production - which as you may know is NOT my jam! I think  we are looking ahead to a big anniversary trip for our 35th in 2022! 

Anyway...I have a fun post for you today! I finally had time to finish my Power Poppy project from last week! I did not have time to get the NEW Aloe and Oranges image ready for you until now!

Once I got going with this image, I decided to create TWO projects, this one using Copic markers with a little Prismacolored pencil, and then another, larger project using some NEW pencils I purchased (see below). 

For this project I printed the image onto white cardstock, using the no-line version. I only printed a partial image, and sized it to fit a 4" x 6" card. (I was in a hurry, remember?!) I added a sentiment from the Sunflower Power digital set.

Then I did my thing...I colored the image with Copic markers, and then added a bit of detail with Prismacolor pencils...just like always! 

I confess to being not entirely happy with the result, plus the full image is so stunning that I really wanted to color the whole thing.

Well, I recently purchased another set of pencils. This brand is marketed as Wanshui but the name printed on the pencils is Brutfuner. I think Brutfuner is the manufacturer and they allow various companies to re-brand the pencils. They come from China, so who knows?!

I know, I know! I like to try different things....and really, 168 pencils for under $30?!?! These are marketed as "oil-based" pencils and since the cream of the crop oil-based pencils are super expensive, I decided to give these budget guys a try! (I got my pencils from Amazon, HERE.)

I printed the image at 8 1/2" x 11" using the no-line version again. Ok, this is BIG. Especially for using pencils only. But, you can really practice your details when the image is larger. Trying to fiddle around with a card-sized image can be difficult, especially when learning new techniques. 

I really love using the larger images as prints rather than making cards. (Yes, my paper craft stuff is still in time-out! I am only interested in my coloring art right now! Call it COVID brain!) I am a huge fan of botanical prints, and think that coloring these larger images in a realistic manner is sort of like coloring your own botanical print book!

How did the new pencils perform? I had some mixed results. The paper is very smooth, so it was not the best for pencils. But, a lot of my adult coloring books are printed on smoother paper, so I wanted to see how these pencils performed on a similar medium. (I will be sharing some of my coloring book pages soon!)

I have to say, the oranges and yellows went down beautifully. I was able to layer and layer and layer the color! Since these pencils are oil-based, they do not blend together the way that Prismacolor pencils do. You need to do a lot of light layers to build up color. Which is a learning curve in itself!

But...the greens? They did NOT go down very well at all. They would only layer a little bit and then turn streaky and crumbly! I ended up putting a layer of Copic on the remaining aloe leaves before adding the pencil (which really did not help very much). I kept working at it, but at a certain point nothing was happening! 

I will try the pencils again on different paper and see how they do. I will also see which colors perform well, and then check to see if they will play nicely with my other brands. This set has some wonderful yellows and purples, colors that are under represented in other brands.

At one point I was ready to give up, but I decided to soldier on! I am happy I did! It was such a fun experiment, not to mention a great learning experience!

I think some parts of the image came out beautifully and others...not so much. But, all in all, I am pretty happy with it! The pencils are a nice quality and sharpened like a dream in my electric sharpener. They hold a nice, sharp point for a long time!

I decided to NOT add any sort of background color because I really was not sure how the pencils would behave and did not want to ruin what I already finished! You will also notice that the pencils leave a shine on the paper, which blows out the camera! In person you can't see the shine as much under regular lighting. 

Which is your favorite, tried and true (Copics and Prismacolor pencils) or something new (Wanshui pencils)? Would you like to see more product experiments? 

At the end of the day, it was $30 well spent on the new pencils. I am sure they will do fine on paper that has a bit more tooth...at least I hope they will.

In other fun news, Marcella has introduced the NEW Power Poppy team! Check that out HERE.

Power Poppy Fresh-squeezed Scents Collection Mini Release - Day 2

Good morning, Friends! We have not done a Power Poppy release since Christmas! So this is a fun treat, right?! For today's release we have this lovely digital set!

There is one image and two sentiments, with both black line and no-line images!

Today I am sharing a project with this Healing Bouquet set, which has a lovely lemon (or is it a lime?) with a lotus blossom, some elderberries, and tiny blooms of lavender. There are also some springs of eucalyptus, which is everywhere here in my area of California. 

I decided to color the fruit as a lime, which works I guess! We have Mexican limes here, and eat them quite a lot. They are a lovely green, which I hope I have captured in my artwork! I used reference photos for everything to make sure I was coloring as close to the "real deal" as possible. I have no clue if these fruits and flowers are active at the same time! I live in San Diego county, and everything blooms all the time here!

I printed the image onto Bristol paper at about 7" x 5". The background was achieved with a watercolor technique using Distress inks and a waterbrush. I basically smeared the ink onto my glass mat, then picked up the color with the waterbrush and swished it around!

I colored the image with colored pencils (Prismacolor Premier). The Bristol paper has a bit of texture so it worked great for the watercoloring and for the pencils. When I was finished I trimmed the image and matted it with black cardstock. It will fit into a frame for display.

Or, you can turn the image into a card by printing or stamping a sentiment onto it! I used a digital sentiment from the Sunset Sway digital set.

To see what the rest of the Bloom Brigade has done with these marvelous images, check out the blog roll below!

Stacy

Christine

Leslie

Ally

Broni

Barbara C  

Jenny

Gloria - YOU ARE HERE

Julie 

Catherine

Cheryl

Sathya 

Lisa

Check out the Power Poppy Blog for more inspiration! I will be back up on the Blog on September 7th with a new Inspire Me Monday tutorial! (To see the Aloe and Oranges release, click HERE.)

Power Poppy Fresh-squeezed Scents Mini Release - Day 1

Hello, Colorists! I am getting a late start this morning due to having a monster migraine yesterday! But I wanted to let you know about the NEW Power Poppy Mini Release, Fresh-squeezed Scents! We are introducing the Aloe and Oranges digital set today!

 

I love the smell of oranges! I love orange juice, too! Aren't these photos just yummy?!?

The new digital set comes with one image and three sentiments! Plus you get black outlines and no-line versions!

My project is a work in progress! I have a long way to go to finish it up, but I wanted to give you a sneaky peek! I will post the competed project over the weekend, so stay tuned!

Make sure you blog hop to see what the team has done with this image. They will knock your socks off!

Stacy
Julie 
Christine
Leslie
Kathy
Ally
Broni
Barbara C
Gloria - YOU ARE HERE
Catherine
Nancy
Barbara W
Lisa
Jennifer

PLUS...

Check out Amy Shulke | Vanilla Arts’ Citrus Punch class for markers and colored pencils.

Power Poppy Inspire Me Monday - August 3

Good morning, Friends! I am up on the Power Poppy Blog today with an Inspire Me Monday post! Today I am chatting about finding your creative spark when it seems to have left the building! 

Hop on over to the Power Poppy Blog and check out all my information!

After a long slump, I finally colored this project following a tutorial by Vanilla Arts! I love how it turned out!

This is my latest project. I just decided to mess around with some color combinations, and this is what happened! Check out the details HERE.

I hope to have more frequent posts as we finish up with summer and head into fall. I have been trying to spend a few hours a week in the studio working on some things! Here's to an infusion of mojo! {smile}