As a kid I was always told that I was terrible at art. I was really creative, but give me a blank piece of paper to draw on and it wasn't going to be pretty. For a lot of years I internalized that I wasn't good at art. I couldn't draw or paint or scuplt. Then I got really into pottery and found that I was reasonably good at it. I've always been creative and can find creative ways to do things, I just didn't know how to apply them to art. Finding the right teachers who could explain things in a way that made sense to me was the key. My pottery really went to new heights when I found Clayshare during the pandemic.
I've watched Jessica on Clayshare and some of the guests she's had on like Paula McCoy of Colors for Earth paint on pottery and I really wanted to do that.
I decided to start with watercolor because I really like how it looks on pottery. I also had it in my head that it was easier than acrylic. I'm not sure I believe that any more, but I'm glad it's where I started. I found a book on Amazon that seemed like it would be a good starting place - Ink and Wash Florals: Stunning Botanical Projects in Watercolor and Ink by Camilla Damsbo Brix. I can't say enough good things about this book. I'm only 1/3 of the way through and I feel like I've already learned in leaps and bounds. I started by drawing the flowers first in pencil and then in ink several times in my sketch pad. Once I felt like I had a handle on the drawing part I drew each flower several times on the watercolor paper.
Then I took the big leap and started painting. Several of the designs require you to put one color on and then let it dry so having a few pages I could go between helped me. Not every flower I've done looks awesome, but there is at least one of each that I love.
I'm working on the next set of flowers in the book and I've already pre-ordered her next book because I find the way she explains things to be so simple to follow.
I made a cork wreath a few years ago following a tutorial online. Every tutorial I've found uses a hot glue gun and that's what I used the first time. However, the sun on my front door is hot enough (even in winter with the glass screen door) to re-melt the hot glue. I decided to try again with e6000.
What I've learned with the e6000 is that it doesn't set as quick as hot glue. That meant I had to do only a few at a time when they were at weird angles and I had to support them.
This ended up taking about 2 weeks. Every time I walked path after a few hours had passed I would add another couple of corks. This was pretty messy and sometimes I would have to go back and add a bit more glue if something feels too loose.
Now that I've been able to give it to my sister I can share a special project I did for her birthday. I saw a post from Spoonflower where they suggested making tea towels with recipes on it. I picked out a few of grandmas recipes and photo shopped them together. I decided to have Spoonflower print them onto quarter flats. Made a tea towel and this pillow which came out amazing.