Day 58.5: A New Mermaid

I did this mermaid to make up for that old terrible one I did. This is what I meant to do before, but it just didn't work out. Now I have my good mermaid so I'm happy.

I've mentioned before that I'm not that experienced with watercolour. Maybe it's more that I'm experienced with it, just that I've not come anywhere near mastering it. I have, however, learned a lot about masking fluid.

There are a few things that all artists should know about masking fluid. 

1 If you don't let your coloured masking fluid dry, then it will lightly stain your watercolour if you try to wipe it away. This can be very annoying if you are working with a lot of light colours. I prefer the coloured  fluid, because you can see where you put it.

2. Liquid frisquet can and will dry too quickly. it can sometimes gum up while you are drawing with it. Be sure to clean your pen often when using it. (If you mess up, no worries, just wait until it dries to erase!

* Never ever apply masking fluid with a brush. It never ends well. I mean even the cheap brushes... it's not worth the pain you will go through. Frisket with a nib is better, but you are paying for the nib. It's best to buy pens you'd use for pen and ink. Avoid getting pen nibs that look like this: 

From my experience the little flap can get caught on paper easily and can be broken off to easily. 

It's much better to get pens nibs that look like these:  

You can't see it from the picture, but these guys have a hairline split that runs from the tip to the little hole. That hole, when filled with ink will hold your ink a lot better than the the the kind with the flap. These nibs are a lot easier for beginners to use for either ink or liquid frisquet.

You can generally use water to clean your pens after using liquid frisquet. It's important that you keep the pens nibs dry. I think many have a coating for protection of rust, but better to be safe than sorry. If by chance you are using ink as well buy yourself some denatured alcohol to clean off the ink - it works wonders on brushes or pens. If you can't find these nibs at your local art store you can find people who sell vintage and new nibs online. I used pebeo drawing gum for both of these paintings. It was about the only choice at the time at my art store, and I really love it.  

I'm not sure if I will have time to post much tomorrow. Have to go to the in-laws to see the Canadians play for the gold. Middle of the day plans always throw me off! 

The Good Fairy

Today just felt like a sad day. I'm not really sure why, actually. It was partly because of my recent failure with the other two sketches, but mostly I just felt blah.

I think this fairy is a bright end to a rather dismal day. I'm dedicating this fairy to a dear sweet friend of mine. Her name I wont say for privacy reasons. I hope that this little fairy will brighten your day as well.

Day 57: Back to the Drawing Board

So I looked at the drawings I was working on and I'm not at all happy with either of them. I started them just to try some experiments with mixed media. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. They are just overworked now. Blah. I think I would to better if I started over on them. I just need more time which I never seem to have. So need a break from drawing right now. I'm getting too frustrated over not having a decent computer and it's showing too much in my work.

Day 56.5: An Update

So today was a tough day for me. I left work a lot later than I usually do which pretty much threw everything off for today. I have a fairy and a mermaid that I will post in the morning. Right now they are drying, and I don't want to risk making the scanner tacky. So I'll post early tomorrow with my drawings, and with any luck I'll have a third drawing done before the end of the day tomorrow. Sweet dreams to the dreamers, and good morning to the morning glories out there.

Day 55: In Which Evil Computer Smites Me

From now on this old computer of mine will be known as "Evil Computer". On Evil Computer I can create a colourful drawing with several layers and save it quite well. When I go to open a saved colourful drawing with several layers, Evil Computer smites me. He slows down, crashes Photoshop, and refuses to let me open my colourful drawing with several layers!

I will be getting Good Computer shortly. I'm sure Evil Computer will try to thwart my efforts, but Good Computer will prevail.

I'm sorry, Evil Computer ate my fairy, so I only have a seahorse to show. I will show my fairy later. Seahorse was supposed to be in colour, but that is not something Evil Computer would allow. I hope you enjoy my seahorse, and not think me completely mad (though I may well be).

Elizabeth O. Dulemba's Blog

Elizabeth O. Dulemba has this neat new widget for download on her page. You can download a different coloring page every week. She even has a link to older coloring pages. Send her the colored page and she'll post it to her blog.

Go to Elizabeth O. Dulemba's Blog if you want to check it out.

For every 100 followers on her page she's giving out a free signed copy of her book, so check it out! Also, while you're there you can suggest new ideas for pages. Enjoy!

Day 53: The Barn Owl

I've always loved barn owls. Like any owl they seem to have a certain wisdom about them. I love the heart-shaped frames around their faces. They almost look like dolls.

I'm not sure how many more farm animals I'm going to do, because I'm running out of different looking animals. Most of them are birds, and animals that look like horses or cows. Maybe I should try some farm equipment next?