Something different.

Some time ago I felt the need to make something different.

What I wanted to do was to explore shape and dimension in a piece of work and at the same time try to achieve a texture which could remind of an oil or acrylic painting, by using watercolors/twinks.
I am happy with the result, but what you see here is not how it looks in person. The first photo is a scan of my piece, and the second one is a photograph. Neither of them are telling the truth. The darkest blue area ( where the red line ends) is darker in person, almost like deep purple. The brown areas are more correct in the lower one.

It's strange how some colors are impossible to get right. There is also a distinct aqua color above the lower ball, and that one color is nearly invisible in these to photos. 

Looking in the back mirror, I wish I had made a connection  between the upper ball and the white space, that would have been a better composition.

Just for fun I printed this piece and made some additional lines using Neocolors 2, but the result is no good. I have to practice a bit more on that. I'm sure it has potential though. Some of the line work  I did felt very good, but I over did it. Well, it's fun to make such experiments as this, and I'm sure it won't be my last one.

Just a little mandala.

Today I was out walking again,

and now my thighs and other sets of muscles are hurting. It's a really tough trail we're going and as many rounds as we can in 30 minutes. I had to stop after 6 rounds, the best ones make it 10.

I didn't mention that last Monday one of the participants fell and broke her femoral neck, ambulance,  hospital and surgery were the result. She is set back for at least 8 weeks. Not fun when such things happens.

I did this little mandala to get myself started to paint after a long break. It always help to make one of my mandalas, and often the result is that I make more than one. Nothing much to say about it, it is what it is, but I'm very happy with it.

Today I also got a package in my mailbox. Some days ago I ordered a few new paints, some pens and Sumi ink. First thing I had to do was to rearrange my paintbox and make a new color chart for it. I love doing these little color swatches, and each time I see this particular one I want to paint. It's watercolors by the way.

The Sumi ink is meant for my dip pens, and I was very curious on the bottle I'd ordered. Not at all sure it was the right thing. I had this little empty bottle ready for the new ink and filled it up. While pouring I thought , is it meant to be this thick? I tried my dip pen and it didn't work at all.

Only one thing to do, read on the bottle, oh I see, it's paste ??!  My 100 ml bottle Sumi ink might be mixed with water, even as much as 1/6 . I tried mixing a small amount and then it worked fine. Lesson should be learned a long time ago, but this is what I do all the time, do first then read. Not good, but you know...........!

Just a little something

I keep forgetting to post on Mondays

as I intended to this year, so this post will go for my Monday posting this week. I made this little circle a week or so before Christmas, guess I wanted to have some snow for the holidays.

Right now I am so busy painting, and I love to try out my ideas in my journals. Backgrounds are what I'm testing, and it can be quite a challenge when watercolors are the medium.

I've also found a Norwegian online shop where I can buy my art supplies, and that's great. I just ordered Sumi ink and I really hope it will be just perfect for my dip pen.
I hope your week is just as good as mine.

Birds flying south

This little one were inspired by the birds leaving for winter.

It's made in my A5 Zeta journal using Twinks and regular watercolors. I didn't know exactly what to do, so I did just go with the flow.

I'm sorry for the bad lighting, it's hard to find good light around here these days. I wish you could see it in person, the Twinks really make a big difference.
I want to thank you all for your good wishes on my Birthday, I really appreciated it.

Monday makings

Happy New Year everyone,

I hope you've had a wonderful season.

2016 is the year I will try to post a new little mandala, prismatic painting or other small stuff made in my Zeta journal, each Monday. At first I was thinking of doing mandalas only in that journal, on page two I made a prismatic painting. Lol.
I'm not very good at limiting myself to one thing only, that's why I'm going to call these posts Monday makings. Several of these are made in 2015, but not shown earlier. I have to have some in store so that I know I have something to share if the inspiration should leave for better weather.

My first is a mandala made using colors I do not choose very often. The background colors were chosen as complementary to the ones used in my subject, but all of a sudden I had changed some of the main colors. It ended up like a mess only. I signed it and thought, oh well one can't win them all.

But, next day I couldn't live with giving up so I sat down again, continued playing and the result is much better, in my opinion at least. 

So many times I forget to trust the process of creating, wait, put it aside and then see what happens. Most often I instantly know what to do after a break like that. What about you?

I've also decided to use this new year to finish up some old works. I've already started on a large piece that have been bothering me for a long time.