Danielle Donaldson

I've taken some of her online classes previously.... and all were fun.  So, when I saw this one for drawing whimsical little animals (little is the key word here) and how to watercolour them ... well, it had to be done.

What fun!

It is also a bit more than that ... she calls the bottom portion of the projects Story Blocks...  I still don't really get it.  I guess my mind just doesn't work that way.  To me it is collaged bits and bobs and using pretty colours that I think look good with my little guys I've drawn and painted.

So far I've only done a few... we are re-building a wall that divides the exercise room from the tv room...so I don't have many spare minutes to rub together... darn it.  I would much rather be having fun with paints and papers than making eleventy nine trips up and down the stairs every 10 minutes.  I have buns of steel already... and, we are only two weeks into the project.  But, we re-built the front side of the wall already ..and, will be starting the back side framing after a bit of re-wiring ...   It will be close to 2 months by the time we are finished it all I'm sure.  In between it all I try to find a few minutes to draw a few lines and even to drop on a bit of colour.

If you want to check out Danielle's class (or other artists) you could go to Jeanne Oliver's site  http://jeanneoliver.ning.com to see what I'm talking about.

Here is my first little dog . ....

and.... some little bunnies that I did ...

Click on them to make bigger if you like...and, you will have to imagine them matted ... and/or matted and framed for the time being....

too "normal"

I did another girl for the Creative Girl project.  She is not totally my own design.  Took some inspiration and liberty from an ad in a magazine.  I called her Shopping girl.... but, have decided she is too ..... uhm...... normal looking, if you know what I mean.   Danielle's girl was ... more .... fun... more ...caricature-like and whimsical .... even less realistic ... sort of ....

But, I did have fun doing her .... and really enjoyed trying to lay on some water colours and get some pretty results ... and, I want my girl ...my own design ultimately.... to have a pet of some sort...so I tried a doggy this time too  ... a pink poodle don'tcha know....  I've made one of those before ... when I was making bears and dogs....

I tried the little trick of gluing on some pretty paper in a couple of squares on the skirt ... to add a bit more visual appeal ....

Today ... another girl ...in between laundry, dusting and some other stuff...yes...it must be done... I can only put things off so long... and, all of you crafters out there DO so know what I'm taking about ...I know you do!  After a while, the dust bunnies get almost big enough to fight back ..or I need cages instead of a vacuum..... where do they all come from?

Skipped to the last project..

The first and third projects in the course didn't appeal to me all that much...but, for sure I viewed them and got all the information from them... and, then... just skipped to doing the girl in the final video.

Watercolours are not an easy thing to lay down..... but, what fun giving it a try!

We are doing a girl in our final project, and, of course, we are supposed to "invent" one of our own eventually.  But, in the meantime, Danielle gave us all sorts of little bits and pieces to use to make one up .... or, in my case, I just more or less copied the one she did on the video.  I also used the same colours to get an idea of how she did things...

Here is my gal....

Here is Danielle's....

I'm sure you can see the differences...but, all in all, I'm pretty happy with my effort....

Here they are side by side....

I need some better white ink pens... and a bit darker pencil...and of course, lots of practice...but, what fun!

She says it took her abut 5 years to come up with a girl she likes and can draw easily ... not using a detailed face at all as it would detract from the rest of the body and colours..  etc... so, today I'm attempting to come up with a girl of my own design........or at least partly my own design..... we'll see how it goes....

The cat came back...

..well, she probably wasn't even gone... she was just hiding somewhere.  And, look how perky she looks.  ..ahahha...she was probably downstairs where the boarder is staying and I didn't want to invade or intrude.   But, I felt guilty that I had missed her dosage of thyroid meds and Googled to check how serious that could be ... decided it was okay to miss one time and left visiting her 'til last night.  I found her straight away and closed the downstairs door and pasted a big note on the door handle.  Do. Not. Leave. Open.  

I'm happy I have now claimed our own space.  The cat's and mine.  I feel totally relieved.

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Here is my first little attempt at Danielle Donaldson's water colour class.  I jumped to the second project as the first didn't appeal to me ...although, I did go through the video of course...as it had a lot to do with how to put down some watercolour paint.  Not that I figured out the part about more water til the fourth video actually...and, so my colours are a bit darker than she did.

I'm pretty happy with the results ... which are not too dissimilar to hers... except for the darker colours and the gnome hat on the little house to the lower left..hahahhha... reminder to self... don't put trees directly behind a house and expect it not to look like a hat!

I now realize than when she says add more  water to the brush and go from colour to colour taking some of the last colour with you...she means put it onto a mixing surface, get the right colour and then go to the paper ...  ...she didn't mean to take it directly from the pan of colour.  Okay, ...got it.  Next one.........

And, I  need some better white ink pens...mine are too transparent....

In the style of Suzi Blu

My Suzi Blu girl.  Not quite as grungy as Suzi does them...and, I doubt I would ever manage to do a grungy one anyway....     but, I love her!

See the little area with pink roses and stems?  That is some pretty tissue paper I happened to have hanging around ....so I glued down two pieces ...  ... one other is up on the left corner ... I just couldn't believe how perfectly it fit with my colours...

Here it is .... near some of my own chosen pinks and greens ..

A few of my means of getting some texture and odd areas of interest.  I found a bit of scratty, sort of open weave straw ribbon or whatever it is .. no clue why I had it in my box of assorted oddities.  A piece of golden open weave ribbon.. and I punched out my own version of sequin waste to put paint onto in a few areas.  Worked just like the waste does.

Almost reminds you of stars in her hair and on her dress....

Still have't found any beeswax to smooth onto the whole canvas..but, maybe I won't bother anyway.... my big fear at this point.... what if I ruin her?  Yes, I know our first attempts are supposed to be experimental anyway ... but, I do like my result ...and ... well...    ..

making faces....

Delta took a beating and got a bit muddy... but survived the rain and hail.... still looking beautiful ... looks like a sun bonnet dropping over a little face.










How can delicate flax look so perfect after a blustery day?

Today we golfed (my old guys and me) ... we had a small opening in the weather ..not perfect but at least we didn't have to wear earmuffs. I even took my coat off on the third hole. The wind picked up on the 9th...but by then...we were done. Only a small 9 hole course for us on Wednesday. It's plenty. Can't afford a 5 hour day right now.... had to come home to play gopher for the carpenter. You know... get me the stubby in my toolbox? ... oh, I need the vice grips... where's my Phillips?... can you see the hammer? .... I need the plumb bob...
Only today he was dismantling even more, so I was a burro part of the time and then the gopher. It does save him a lot of slogging up and down steps and I get some exercise. Not enough..but some. Then, I made the mistake of saying about choosing a piece of nice coloured arborite to match the green paint... and there was still a piece of soft blue gray mottled arborite on the sink side... .... I say was because it is now in the garbage pile. If I am having green on one side... no use having blue on the other.. but..to get it out...the sink had to come out...then...the toilet almost came out... (my laundry room is also a bathroom) .... for now the toilet is the only thing he hasn't taken out. And..if it is too much trouble to paint around it... well, it too will become history. sigh.... he is all excited and said..you are getting a new sink! I was happy with my old sink. I was happy having a fairly nice working laundry room. When will I be able to wash clothes?
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Okay...I'll play dolls instead.










I managed to find an occasional half hour and did finish a Button Babe. I forgot to take one before I got this far... next time. These pics have been posted before.....but just to show the progression...here they are once more ...










A self covered button. Any fabric that is a nice flesh colour... and one on which the Pigma pen doesn't run or isn't too deeply ribbed to wreck a very delicate nib. Then, I lightly pencil in features and use watercolour pencils. Some outlining around eyes, lips and nose with .005 Pigma pen..some brown..some black. A spray of Krylon fixative to protect and hold the colours.













Then, I play with different fabrics for hats...or decide on yarns, fur or wool for hair.... it's lot of fun.













The rhinestone "jewel" on her black velvet hat is a vintage earring found in Mom's jewelery box... I bet she would giggle to see it used for this. I imagine she wore this pair a few times... "bling"! It needs daylight ..or perhaps candlelight to see the true sparkle.
Katerina may eventually have some ribbon or a small ruffle at her throat. Still might just need that little bit extra.... we call it OTT (over the top)... and it is almost a must for our dollies...