Friday, June 14, 2013

Father's Day Vintage Images



Hello, again.

Today's vintage image is a father and children,
seeing that father's day is this coming Sunday.


He looks as if he is being a very attentive father.

Here he is in black and white;



and here is an antiqued version.



I thought I would include this desk scene as well.



Here it is in antique,
 and here is black and white.

Feel free to use these images from the late 1800's.


Have a great weekend!



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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Art Lesson: Painting Outside the Canvas.


Hello again!

Today I am going to show you how fun it can be to use mixed media
as well as a recycled item to create a piece of art.

I did this project a few years back and took the photos with my old camera,
but I thought I'd  use it anyway.



Inspiration for a piece of art can come from life,
somebody else's artwork or technique,
or, in my case here, a vintage illustration in an old book.

The above illustration drew me in,
so I used it, but changed it with some elements I wanted different.


 I had some cabinet doors that an aunt had given to me,
so I sanded one, base-coated it, and used it for my canvas.


 Once the base-coat was dried, I sketched the adapted scene lightly on the wood.




I then used a permanent calligraphy ink and my dipping pen to sketch the scene
(the type of ink is explained >HERE<).






I let the ink dry thoroughly for a day, and then used some acrylic paints to create color.









I also used the calligraphy ink and pen to write a verse under the scene.


When I had everything painted the way I liked, I let it dry for a day,
and I then lightly stained the piece with some watered down brown acrylic paint to give it a slightly aged look.
I then varnished it to protect it.



The finished piece went to my sister who has a house full of sons.


It is always fun to create a piece of artwork on a different canvas.
Using mixed media can be challenging, but add different dimension as well.


Have you used a unique canvas to create a piece of artwork?
What did you use on it and how did it turn out?


Thanks for stopping by!



Linking to these fun blog parties:



Sunday, June 9, 2013

Father's Day Gift Idea.



Father's Day is coming up next weekend,
so I thought I would post an easy and fun craft/gift idea.

I find that men can be difficult to find gifts for,
but most men have that undeniable love of food,
and giving some special snack foods always seems to be a good choice.

I have a habit of collecting jars that I think are an unusual shape.
I also have plenty of canning jars around, so I came up with some fun labels
and purchased special foods my husband likes and doesn't always get.













My husband always finds a way to add humor to the cards he gets for me at holidays,
I try to reciprocate, although I think he has me bested most of the time.










 I still have a few more things to finish up before next Sunday.




I created these tags on Microsoft Word and then colored some of them with my Copic markers.
If you would like to use some of them or print some up for your children to use,
just click on the image, right click on it and click "View Image."
You should then be able to print that up and it should print in the correct size.


After I printed and colored the labels, I picked out some scrapbooking paper in colors I liked and cut them slightly larger.  I covered the jar with these first and used double sided tape to hold them on.
I then affixed the colored label in the same way.







 I posted a few of them in color here and left the rest in black and white,
for those who want to use their own colors and wording.
Stickers in the center would work well, too,
especially for toddlers who are not quite efficient in their vocabulary yet
but would like to give Dad their own "craft".







Sorry this was a little late getting posted.
My computer wanted to run slowly today.

Let me know if you have any problems.
Thanks for stopping by!



Friday, June 7, 2013

Free Vintage Image: Happy Children and Fabric Dye.


Hello there!

Here is an ad from a late 1800's magazine I found called
The Delineator.




I made a black and white from it as well as a sepia.






 These would be fun labels for the laundry room or sewing room.

I also cropped up and erased the wording so that the children could be used alone.



 Here it is in black and white as well as sepia.


 



Aren't they a happy bunch?



Thanks for stopping by and have a relaxing weekend!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Art Lesson: Blue Skies, Blue Mountains, Blue Grass.



Have you looked up and noticed the blue sky lately?

Did you know that if we did not have the atmosphere that we do on earth, the sky would be black like it is on the moon?  How sad that would be.  Of course, we could not live without our atmosphere, but the blue sky does make it even nicer considering all the colors it could have been.

I love blue skies!


The way that light travels and hits the atmosphere of the earth causes the colors of light to separate in such a way that the blue rays that make light are what we see,
making the sky blue.



Notice how the blue seems darker higher up in the sky whereas on the horizon, it is lighter.


The atmosphere that we have also creates a bluish color in the distance.

I went out into the pasture to try to capture some pictures to demonstrate this.

I opened up and let more light into my camera lens for this shot to try to make it easier to see the bluish tint we see in far-away landscapes.


This is called atmospheric perspective.

 Also notice that often the grass that is nearest to us is brighter and more distinct.


 As we look further back into the distance, the shade of the grass color takes on a slightly darker color made by a slightly bluish tint (the droplets and light in the air, atmosphere, contribute to this).  This bluish shade can really be seen when we look at the shadow of the trees on that far hill.


Of course, the way the sun is shining and where it is hitting when we look also can decide how bright what we are looking at will be and where the shadows will fall.

Notice the picture below is the same picture as the one above but just up a slight distance:
the sun here is behind the treeline,
making the grass have a darker shade than the grass in the distance that is highlighted by the sun.


There is much to keep in mind when painting a picture, isn't there?

It is what makes the world so beautiful and full of liveliness:
the many colors, hues, and shades.




As I am still working on some coloring/teaching pages for the Ten Commandments, I thought I would use this lesson to color one of the pages with my Copic markers.




 I used a light yellow green to start.





 This was followed by more greens.
I find I use the most variety in the greens.



For the sand, I started with a skin white...






 followed by light suntan on the sand 
and dark suntan and sepia on the tree trunks.




 I started with the yellow to the tips of some of the tree's leaves,
 with more greens in the areas where the marker caps are placed,
and a warm gray for some shading,




 Some darker browns and a darker gray finished the tree trunk,
and some neutral gray on the sandy banks edging and rocks.
Pale moss was used again to double up some layers.





 A darker shade, Moss, was used for the first hill in the background.
a darker brown Caribe Cocoa on the sand banks,
and Pea Green for shading in/around the grasses.





 More greens for shading and variety.






 Finally, for the mountains in the background, I chose Ice Ocean, a light bluish green
and Blue Berry, a light bluish purple.





More shading and darkening of areas near the marker caps, using those colors.




 Shading on the mountains as well as a second layer of Ice Ocean to deepen it.



 The colors from the mountains were then randomly squiggled in the stream.





 I used a bright Tahitian Blue to squiggle in some cloud edges, Pale Porcelain Blue stretched out beside them,
and a touch of a light neutral gray in the clouds.
The blender pen helped wash away the hard lines.


The grass looked too flat to me,



so I added a final touch of some greens to stipple in some grass,


and then the blender pen helped blend everything the way I felt was needed.

I love the blender pen.






I am enjoying experimenting with my Copic markers,
but am always amazed at how many colors cannot even begin to compare to the beauty
of God's world.

I hope you can go out for a pleasant walk soon and notice the colors.  If you think of it, see if you can see the bluish tint in the distant view.


Thank you for stopping by!


(I am sorry that I never posted a craft this past weekend.  I had a root canal that got infected and was well-nigh worthless to anything but a hot water bottle and the couch until it was fixed.)


Linking up to these blog parties:
The36thavenue.com
Theshabbycreekcottage.com
 Bystephanielynn.com:Sunday-showcase-party
Makingtheworldcuter.com
Firefliesandjellybeans.com 
Nominimalisthere.blogspot.com
Betweennapsontheporch
Theprairiehomestead.com