Brusho, Lino carving and other ways to muck your hands up..

Recently I was given a gift of Brusho.  I had never seen it before so I dove into it right away.

brusho-color-art

A few things you should know if you’re going to try Brusho out..

1) It stains like a stainy staining stain. I was green and blue for a good bit. Now I don’t mind being various colors and Sampson of course has a habit of being various shades of color but from what I understand some people don’t think it’s quite normal to walk around with paint and ink all over them. Be careful or wear gloves. Don’t use this over a good rug or table or what have you.

2) Don’t open the lid, tempting as it is, simply take a sharp implement, a nail or such and stab the lid with it. Do not stab yourself or anyone else.

After I punctured the top, I used little round stickers (Avery coloring coded labels for files) to close them up. It’s not necessary but for some reason I have a tonne of those stickers.

brusho-set-art-stickers

3) If you live in a humid area, you might want to get one of those silica gels things to keep in the box with them or put some rice in there. They are a crystalized salt sort of thing. I live near the Mississippi which is a muggy muddy river, I noticed within a week that it was too humid for them.

4) To activate the Brusho, you shake a bit out onto paper then spray it with water. Test your sprayer first. The first one I used was so powerful, it shot the crystals all over the place. The second was too weak and made puddles. I did find a purse sized one that had had eye glass cleaner in it and that worked well.

5) A little bit goes a long long way. Do some tests to see how much you want to use. It’s pretty vivid and of course mixing complementary colors will get you mud. Complementary colors are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel..green and red, blue and orange, purple and yellow and so on.

6)You can use it as a fine art sort of watercolor by dropping a little bit in a palette well and adding water. I did not do that. I did watch youtube videos about it.  There’s a good tutorial here for a fine art landscape. This lady’s youtube channel shows how to use it more for crafts like card making.

I used a white crayon to make a quick line drawing. I then sprinkled some of the Brusho on and sprayed it. I use the thingy that blows dust off my camera lens to move some of the colors around. The whole thing took maybe five minutes.

brusho-watercolor-painting

I also used some on a sketch that I hadn’t finished. That made for a fun effect.

brusho-art-watercolor-painting.

It was entertaining to use but a bit of a pain in the ass.

I also decided to take up lino cutting. I did it once ages ago in high school. I remembered loving it.

Plus I had a coupon.

This is my test piece, it’s 6×2 inches.

lino-ink-art-printing

Then I went a little crazy..

lino-art-first-printing-ink

And I ran out of paper so  I printed on the Brusho..

lino print painting art brusho.

I need to get more paper.

Lots and lots of paper!

See you soon.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Perambulating Possum

A pretty possum

Perambulating past.

possum-tree-rain

Leaving radishes

On my window sash!

possum-radish-paws-small.Perhaps she lives

in a purple house

possum-house-ink-drawingWith other possums

and a little mouse.

They could drink tea

and dance in delight

mouse possum watercolor art paintingAnd when they are tired

They’ll say goodnight!

watercolor by Virginia Spencer.

theend.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2017

Fancy Flamingos

A flamingo in watercolor, 4×6.

flamingo-watercolor-miniature.

And the same flamingo in pastels, 4×6

I haven’t used pastels in years, made a thorough mess of myself!

flamingo-pastel-miniature.

Thanks to the person who added the photo to the WetCanvas Reference Image Library. This was part of the miniature forum’s monthly challenge.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2017

Elephants and Pumpkins

And no,  this is not a political post.

Fall with it’s dramatic skies and dancing leaves is here with a vengeance. I really need to do some catching up on the blog.

This painting is a two inch square in acrylic and will most likely be bigger on your screen then in real life.

house-painting-acrylic-miniature.

This ink is more than double the size at 5×5 inches. This was part of a monthly miniature challenge on WetCanvas. WetCanvas has a huge reference image library,  it’s a fantastic resource. Thanks to the member that added the photo I used as a reference for this.

In the original photo the wall was brick and there were solar panels everywhere. I altered those which is always a good idea when you have discordant elements. You don’t have to paint or draw exactly what is in a photo or right in front of you. The pens are Microns.

pumpkin-garden-art-ink.

This pumpkin in acrylic is from the same challenge. This quick study is 5×5 inches.

pumpkin-acrylic-painting-art.

This is also from a photo reference from WetCanvas. This was a fun one, it was  a challenge to use restricted palettes.

This is the Zorn palette which is Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Medium, Ivory Black and Titanium White.

Anders Zorn(February 18, 1860 – August 22, 1920)  was a Swedish painter who generally painted people and figures. I’m not sure why he used such a restricted palette but after playing with it for awhile I can see the lure of the colors he used.

Fish on a plate, acrylic, 10×14 inches (not a mini!)

zorn-painting-fish-palette.

I found some interesting shadows on my walls.

blog-tower-shadow-eiffel.

And I fixed a staid apron by embroidering an elephant with a happy spoon on it.

elephant-embroidery-sewing.

Meanwhile back at the ranch..

Sampson had surgery and thoroughly enjoyed his meds.

sampson-westie-dog-collar.

Zeus also had surgery and was awfully affronted when I suggested that he was supposed to be sitting on the pillow on the floor not in my new chair.

They both recovered nicely.

zeus-dog-lab-yellow.

My sunflowers grew over 12 feet tall.

blog-sunflowers-gardening-large.

We rescued these two birds.

This juvenile cedar waxwing was caught in a sudden heavy deluge of rain. he was fine after he dried off. Sorry about the fuzzy photo!

cedar-waxwing-bird.

This red breasted nuthatch, I found upside down on the porch, I think he hit the window. He flew away fine after a drink and some warmth.

nuthatch-rose-breasted-bird.

This came across our TV,  then we had three very small tornadoes..

tornado-tv-warning.

And there’s a frog living in my birdhouse. He’s been there since early July.

treefrog-birdhouse.

And I’ve taken at least one hundred photos of him,

smiling-tree-frog.

And he is smiling in every single one.

treefrog-sleeping-birdhouse.

🙂

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2016

 

Waspppp Uppp!!

That is…

Wasp up there!

hornet-nest-hanging.

Actually,  it’s a hornet’s nest, a bald faced hornet.  They’re pretty talented,  look at those textures.

blog-hornet-nest-black-white.

We’ve had a busy year in our gardens for insects. The insect world is an interesting one.

I don’t quite know what to make of whatever this bee is doing.

Is he fighting with that bug? Is he eating it? Do bees eat bugs?

bee bug.

bee bug two.

bee bug one.

I have no idea but this butterfly watched the whole thing and kept getting closer and closer until the bee buzzed at it.

moth bee watch.

I watched until the bee flew away with the creeper butterfly in tow. It was rather disconcerting and a bit gross so here’s a cute bee on a pretty flower to wash that taste out.

bee-flower-pollen-photography.

Then there’s the mason bee, they come in varying colors. This one is wearing a sassy blue metallic coat that she picked up at the recent New York Fashion week.

mason bee.

The bees and the wasps were all enjoying the  various flowers and hummingbird feeders. The hummingbirds kept a wary eye…

blog hummingbird green irredescence.

..while Dummy hung out on a mushroom.

blog-dummy-art-photography.

I wonder if he knows that he has a thread stuck in his neck joint.

I guess I’ll go tell him, if I can find him. He’s never around when I want him.

Here’s 4×6 pen and ink with watercolor of a Greenman. Thanks to graymare on WetCanvas for putting the photo in the Reference Image Library there.

greenman-pen-ink-watercolor.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2016

Veggie Overload!

The garden went crazy!

So many veggies.

But no beans.

Does anyone know where the beans went?

Da Da Da Dum…

bunny blog.Hmmm….the mole did it, you say?

But the mole is in a cup…

mole cup cuteOr was it this guy?

chipmunk

But he’s in Gettysburg!

blog pensive meerkat

No, it is definitely not the meerkat!

Wait a minute, I have a grainy photo taken at twilight through a window.

bunny garden

Who’s that sitting inside the garden fence?

What a cheeky bunny!

*sigh*

Ah well, it doesn’t much matter.

There is plenty to go around.

image.

So many veggies..

I’ve even resorted to painting them!

A garlic bulb in acrylic, 5×7.

garlicvmrs.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2016

 

 

 

 

Happy Summer!

It is sweltering and hot and muggy and it’s summer!!

Yayyyy! Let’s go outside

And hang with the hummingbirds.

blog hummingbirds fly dance.

Or dally in the daisies

goose daisies bird.

Or bounce with the bunny..

bunny furry cute.

Or go to the lake!

Acrylic, 12×9, with a palette knife.

the lake knife painting.

Whatever you are doing, enjoy the day!

Happy Summer!

Woohoo!

🙂

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2016

 

The heat is on..

Recently I participated in an ATC trade. An ATC is a small card about the size of a playing card, that is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

Most trades have themes, for this one the theme was “Warm Weather”.

I used ink and watercolor to make some scenes from various festivals and other warm weather activities. These will most likely appear bigger in your screen then they are in life.  The color looks better in real life as well, my photography brain left me stranded when I took these.

“The Carousel”

There is a Carousel in Port Dalhousie, Ontario. The price is still only 5¢.

That carousel, has one of the five Loof lions that are left in North America. Their lion is the only left that has its head turned to look at the spectators, which for some reason has always made me happy. 🙂

blog carousel summer merry go round.

“The Cherry Blossom Festival” is usually one of the first warm weather festivals and is the best smelling one to boot.

blog cherry festival.

“The Flea Market”.  My Dad, was not a shopping/ clothes minded guy . One day he wandered off at a flea market. He came back with a gigantic bag of factory castoff socks. He paid $2 for all those socks and it made him sooo happy. My mother who had just accidentally shrunk his pea green plaid suit by putting it the dryer fifty times was not so happy. Coincidence? I think not.

blog flea market sale ATC.

“The Hiking Trail”. With the upsurging popularity of the Parks system, it will be only a matter of time before Yeti becomes a bearded, top knot wearing hipster.. If he opens a coffee shop and hires a groovy ukulele playing singer, it could work out well for him.

blog hiking trail moose.

“The Campground” where you go after hiking. It is also where the raccoons go. Once when we were out on a canoe trip, our campers were getting a little freaked out by raccoons who were making various.. um, love songs, let’s say. We told them to scare them off by making noise. Not too long afterwards, we heard an especially long “love song”. As soon as it stopped all our campers burst into claps and whistles. I swear that raccoon walked right into the clearing and gave a bow..

blog camping tents outside.

“The Strawberry Field”. I should have added a couple kids pelting each other with soft strawberries because as anyone who has been strawberry picking with my brothers knows..that happens.

blog cherry picking farm.

“The Music Festival”. Those prices are getting out of control, man.

blog musical festival.

“The Garden Show”. I once spent a summer slightly adjusting and moving  my neighbors gnomes every day. Ended up getting the whole neighborhood involved so she couldn’t figure out who was doing it. Drove her crazy….good times, good times.

blog garden show.

“The Craft Show” where crafty people while never admitting it,  go to get more ideas on crafts to craft..Crafty crafty crafting crafters.

blog craft fair arts ATC.

“The Farmer’s Market” where the pies are sweet and the birdies say tweet.

blog farmer's market.

“The Waterfront” or “Why I love boating”.

blog waterfront boat beach.

“The Renaissance Fair”. Cheers good Knight!

blog renaissance festival.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

A bit late but well intended nevertheless.

Here’s a bright bird to start the year off. I’ve had an injury and will be having an operation on my arm so this was an experiment with large brushes and lots of paint mostly because it was driving me nuts not to paint.

I have lost some movement and control but I have not lost the ability to write run on sentences. Yay!

11×14, Acrylic, Goldfinch on a cone flower.

goldfinch small.

Don’t worry though I have some friends looking in on me. I mean literally  just walking up and looking in the window. Who does that? I appreciate the thought but use the door for Pete’s sake.

buck.

While I’ve been icing my arm, my trees decided to show me how it’s done and are doing a little ice therapy in my backyard. So pretty.

winter trees small.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful start to the year!

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2016

Under the knife..

I’ve been playing with knives.

Palette knives that is.

No one trusts me with the real kind…sigh.

This first one is acrylic, 11 x 14, inches  This is the Wheatfield in Gettysburg, PA. where we visited recently.

The Wheatfield had during one day over 20,000 men fighting on her soil and ended with mass causalities. It’s not a terribly large area,  I can’t imagine what they must have suffered through. It’s one of the many places on this earth where if you stand still for a moment you can feel the sorrow welling up.

With this painting I used the palette knife over a brushed in backdrop. The brushwork on the bottom layer was used to create the soft edges of the distant hills.

painting wheatfield gettysburg palette knife.

This tree was a fun sort of leftover paint attack. This was done solely and a bit souly with knives. I really enjoyed throwing the paint around on this.  It’s in acrylic and is approximately 11 by 14 inches.

tree acrylic knife painting.

This one wasn’t done with a knife, just regular old brushes. My brushes are so beat up, I hold on to them until the very end. Acrylics are rough on brushes. Some people will tell you to spend a tonne of money on brushes but really as long as they’re not the kind where the hairs fall out, the cheap ones are fine.  It’s 4×6 inches and I call it “Blue Christmas” ’cause I love Elvis.

blue bulb big blog.

And here’s another 4×6 inches. This is an acrylic of one of my favorite ornaments, an inch high wooden rocking horse.

painting horse vintage ornament.

If you have any questions about the paintings or technique or what have you, feel free to ask in the comments.

Have a good one.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

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