Monday, March 18, 2013

Easy As 1 - 2 - 3!





I've been playing around with watercolors and wanted to share a technique with you that's so quick and easy! I guess it's a well-known and often used trick but I hadn't done it until recently. Martha Lever has a tutorial called Color Drop Flowers that would be very helpful, I'm sure. I haven't taken any of her classes but I love reading her blog posts! If she ever does an acrylic painting class I'll definitely sign up!

OK, back to my simple flowers. I used one of my photographs for inspiration.
In step #1 all I did was make a few circles of lightly tinted water where I wanted my blooms to be, adding a bit more color in the some areas. Leave it to dry, letting the color spread on its own:

For step #2, I did basically the same thing but this time I did the stems and leaves. I used only water first, then added bits of green here and there and let it seep and run and blend into itself... and let it dry thoroughly:

Then for step #3, I used a sepia PITT pen to loosely add details:

It's not identical to the photograph, but I was mostly concerned with practicing and getting the feel of watercolors again.

The painting at the top of this post was made the same way, as well as the one in my Welcome post. The flowers in the Welcome post were created over some watercolor blobs I had done months ago, set aside, and recently found. Instead of throwing that page out, I added the details with the pen and made whimsical blooms!

If you try it, be sure to come back and let me know. I'd love to see your art! :)

Blessings,
Lana

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Thank you, Mr. Peale!




It’s funny how things work out. How we worry about this and that, going over and over situations in our minds, having conversations with ourselves about different scenarios --- and answering ourselves. Wait, you do that, don’t you? And then just out of the blue when we have given up and forgotten about it or just decided to stop hoping… the answer comes in some form or another.

As mentioned on my other blog earlier this year (in this post) I decided that this year was THE year. THE year I finally treat my business as a real business. THE year I finally call myself an artist and really mean it. THE year we finally finish all our renovations. And on and on. I was all gung-ho and then the little whispers started speaking to me, calling to me from the shadows and telling me how silly I was to think I could succeed... at anything. I tried not to listen, I really did, but the whispers just got louder and louder until they were no longer whispers of doubt but shouts of accusation! They nearly drowned out the music in my heart, the melodies that sang: "You can do it --- you deserve it!" The shouts kept telling me that to have faith in myself and to call myself an artist would be like bragging and I should be more humble.

But I persevered. No matter how small and inadequate I felt, I kept on praying and reading my Bible for guidance. I took time to read daily pages from Simple Abundance. It was (and is) hard, but I was determined to make it happen because deep inside my heart there is this joy that comes when I dare to dream about living a productive, creative life. Not only do I want to live a creative life, but I want my art to inspire and encourage others… to bring them joy when they wear a piece of jewelry that I’ve made or hang one of my paintings on their wall. I want to be a blessing to someone. It's that simple.

And this week, even though I should have been working on other things, I finally got busy reorganizing my workroom. I mean completely changing it around… flipping the layout from one end to the other! I had this urge to that I couldn’t control! Even though my back was killing me I kept on working and moving bookcases, sewing machines, computer tables, printers, a couch, etc.

All the while I kept feeling that nagging doubt about being successful at what my heart wanted to do, but I worked anyway, getting my room ready for all the creativity I am determined to unleash very soon!

While moving things around, I was sorting through one of my many boxes of books. The very last one I got out was The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. My mom read his books and had several of them but I never had read anything by him other than a quote here and there. I opened up the book and chapter one was Believe in Yourself. The first paragraph read:
“BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. But with sound self-confidence you can succeed. A sense of inferiority and inadequacy interferes with the attainment of your hopes, but self-confidence leads to self-realization and successful achievement. Because of the importance of this mental attitude, this book will help you believe in yourself and release your inner powers.”

Wow! I laughed when I read that and I think I cried a little, too! God knew exactly what I needed to hear (or read). This book, and more of Mr. Peale’s books, will be on my reading list.

So, thank you Mr. Peale --- and God!
And don't forget... BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

Blessings,
Lana




Thursday, March 14, 2013

Welcome!



There you are! You found me! :)

Since this is THE year for me (I'll cover more on that in later blog posts), I thought I'd start a new blog. Eventually, Honeysuckle Lane and Simple Joys Paperie will be merged into one website and I wanted a fresh, new blog to begin sharing future art and designs with you. The aesthetics of this blog will change over the next few months as I work on a more cohesive look. Soon, I'll have a few more things in the sidebar and some tabs at the top where I'll share my favorite books, supplies, websites, and more!

I'll do my best to post regularly... at least a couple times a week... and I'll share more photos of my workroom and works in progress. I'll also share my thoughts and joys and fears of being a work at home artist.

I'd love for you to leave a comment whenever you visit and have time.

Thanks so much for stopping by,
Lana
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