Karudden's Blog

I was playing with my watercolor on the cardboard and the drips and bleeds of the paint on the surface. Watercolor is interesting to experiment with because you will have a different experience and results depending on the absorbency of the surface, the quality of the paint (and brushes), and, obviously, how much water you use.

I ended up washing off the color experimentation layer and using more earthy tones, cut it down, and turned it into a postcard to send to my friend Katharine. I decided the eyes were lined up strangely, but I didn’t want to paint on it more (though I ended up adding some definition to her left eye), so I collaged over her right eye (but I didn’t snap another photo).

I guess I need to practice WordPress (and watercolor) some more, because I still can’t figure out why I can’t add to or edit a text block I already wrote, once I click out of it. Peace and Love and Cheers to experimentation (and PLAYING!) with paint!

edit to add: I just tried something I hadn’t seen before, opening the code editor version, and adding directly into the html; which is working 🙂

Here is a “try not to pick up your pen” style drawing I added some watercolor to (done on cardboard scrap, obviously), and then I put a note and a stamp on the other side and sent it to my friend, Barb.

I could have added more to it, but I’m glad I stopped and didn’t mess with it to try and add details it doesn’t need. Knowing when to stop is a big part of making art, and it only comes with repeated trial and error and practice and experience.

Let this cat be a lesson to me! Don’t overdo it and stop overthinking it! The more you do, the more natural it starts to feel to know where to put marks on page and when to say, that’s good (enough)!

And let this cat be a lesson to relax and play some calming music, and slow down. Take a mindfulness drawing break where you aren’t trying to do anything but breathe, and follow the lines as they appear.

An old letter I discovered in a box of letters from and to my mom (who passed away in 2007)…I really like the sketch and it coincidentally resembles art teacher Karen A. who has awesome stuff in her Sketchbook Revival retreat online workshops.

Two drawings I made on the front and back of an envelope based on an illustration on an advert card from a 1960’s magazine.

Random sketch from last summer trying to draw a hand, which I used to hate drawing, but have improved at over time.