My art pouch...

So when it comes to storage for almost anything, plastic is not an option for me.  I love handmade, fabric, wood or something vintage.  Below you can see my art pouch that I made to hold an assortment of art supplies.  I can dump it all in and I just love rummaging around for things.  I keep some charcoal pencils and things that get dusty and chalky contained in vintage metal pencil cases found while thrifting.  My pouch is broken in well now and it's soft and slouchy and I love it.  All vintage fabrics, of course.  

 I have one extra one I created in my shop right now.  If there's interest I may make more + I've experimented with flat pencil cases and different sizes.

There's just something about handmade and vintage that speaks to me. It feels more special and has more meaning.   

 Plus it's a one of a kind item.

Let me know what you think.  My girls are already requesting some handmade pouches for their makeup and friends for presents.  Great idea, girls!

Watercolored teacup...

Sharing an entry in my artist journal.  Today it's watercolored teacups.  I started by sketching first with pencil then using my Lamy Safari fountain pen...ink is not waterproof.  

 Great practice and I love that the blue ink bled a little.  Reminds me of that beautiful blue China.

 Closeup of the beautiful way watercolor has a mind of it's own.

 Detail of notepad with shadows.

 I used my Sketch 3 method for this journal entry.  That means that I simply did 3 different types of sketches.  I did the main tea cup with notepad, the blue teacup and the more detailed pattern.  I find that when I take the extra effort to sketch something three different ways, I get more and more practice.

And......#practiceisart.  You can find more of my #mishsketch3 entries on my Instagram account, MishWooderson.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Plein Air Painting and John Muir...

I'm so inspired by our beautiful country.  Landscapes are definitely my favorite thing to draw and paint, whether it be from a photograph, a vintage postcard, a book...but especially right from nature itself.  Today I have a mixed media spread from a small artist journal, featuring a landscape inspired by this postcard below. 

 This was my set up of supplies.  I'm painting inside because it's still fairly cold for outdoor painting for me.

 Some of my colors inspired by a small travel palette from Green Earth and Blue Berry.

 My finished painting.

 I found this wonderful quote from John Muir to add at the end.

 Although this painting was done outside, I went out later and did a watercolor sketch from my vehicle.  Sketching outside just brings all the senses alive.  It's really the best way to capture the true essence of a landscape.

 That brings me to Plein Air painting.  It means paint outside, simply.  And John Muir?  You've probably read a lot of his nature inspired quotes.  He was a conservationist and a leading role in why we get to visit beautiful places that we call call National Parks.

I'd love for you to watch this video about John Muir's role in the history plein air painting.  It's fascinating to me and I've watched it several times.  If you have an interest to paint landscapes, especially from the great outdoors, this is a must see short documentary.  It's from the great people of Plein Air Magazine and the Paint Outside website.  It's called Outside The Lines and direct link is HERE. I hope you enjoy.....and let me know what you think.

Vintage postcard inspired watercolored flowers...

The past two weeks I've been enjoying Jeanne Oliver's classed called Reflections: Paint Your Story.  Today's art session was inspired by a video Jeanne posted about abstract flowers.  I used the vintage postcard shown below for my inspiration.  

 The sketchbook I'm using is a Dylusions small journal with a snippet of vintage ledger pasted on.  The papers aren't high quality watercolor paper but perfect for some sketching with paints.

 I used Pan Pastels to add the blue and yellow shading in the background.

 I'm loving the look of scribbly drawn lines with watercolor added.  Graphite will always be a favorite medium of mine.

 Soft and airy, such a good sketch for staying loose.

 A good day to make art.

Thanks for joining me today.