Splashing Through Life - Art by Patricia Henderson

Every month I get together with a wonderful friend and we play! We try out different art techniques and media and  get our creative juices flowing. Yesterday we got out two books by Mary Todd Beam, Celebrate Your Creative Self and The Creative Edge . I was lucky enough to go to one of her week long workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee about 4 years ago. It was great to get out her books and try out some the excercises. It brought back some wonderful memories. Here are a couple of experiments that I tried yesterday: I Dreamt I was a Dragonfly 9" x 7" Acrylic on Mat Board Under the Mountain 14" X 9" on Mat Board

It's a wet and windy Wednesday today. A perfect day to be inside and sketching a little bit. Today the first thing my eyes landed on was my vase of watercolour brushes.  I thought they looked like a nice bouquet! Bouquet of Brushes 5.5 X 3.5" In my sketchbook NFS

Sometimes when I'm stuck for what to do in my studio, I get out the Clear Tar Gel Medium. What is this stuff? Well on the container of the Golden Clear Tar Gel, it says it "Generates fine lines by dripping from a palette knife or other tool." Here is a little demo I did a couple years back that shows how you can use it. CLICK HERE FOR DEMO . One of these days, I'll learn how to set up a video demo, but for now you are stuck with photos! I have a few of these on the go right now. Here are two funky flowers! Each one is 20" X 7.0" on Peterboro Illustration Board. I used Fluid Acrylic paints. Yellow Flower                    Pink Flower And here are some closeups:

A good friend of mine introduced me to   Brusho®   Paint crystals the other day, and a group of us tried it out. It sure was fun experimenting with it and figuring out all the ways that it can be used! What is  Brusho®  you ask? Click on this link from  BrushoSecrets.com and it will tell you all about it. Basically it is powdered pigment crystals.  You can sprinkle it on dry paper and then spray with water, or sprinkle the dry powder on wet paper, or mix with water and paint like watercolour. Each method gives you a different effect. When the crystals react with water, they burst with colour and spread out in interesting patterns. Out of the several experiments there were only two that came out worth posting here. For the first one, I drew the shape of the flower and then painted it with plain water. I then sprinkled the water with  Brusho®.  I ended up with quite a wild Coneflower! I did add very small touches of watercolour when I got home. ...

These darling Clementine's are so sweet and juicy, I just had to sketch them before I eat them up! I was happy with the whole one, but had fits painting the partially peeled one. So, not so happy with that one, but it's just a sketch for me. And I had fun doing it and that's all that matters! Darling Clementines In my Moleskine Sketchbook 3.5 " X 5" (The photo is a bit dark, but you get the idea!)

I finally got my shipment of 6 X 6" canvasses, so I'll be doing some more of my fruit collages. I had some strawberries in the fridge, so I got out three nice ones and decided to warm up by doing a small watercolour study in my sketchbook. Stay tuned for the collage next! Strawberry Study 3.5" X 5" Moleskin Sketchbook Holbein Waterbrush, Pigma Micron 005 pen

Here is a very small quick sketch I did today of the swan that decided to take a brief rest in the field behind our house! He was kind enough to pause long enough for me to take a few photos. Swan Sketch 5 X 7" Watercolour on Arches 140 HP paper

This is supposed to be a lamb. The more I look at it, the less lamby it seems. So I'm going to stop looking at it now. Another quick Wednesday sketch. Ink, watersoluble pencil, watercolour pencils and regular old watercolours. Based on a photo from a great Facebook page, Artist Reference Photos. Baa 3" X 5"

I just realized it's Wednesday and I have to do a watercolour! I had no ideas in mind so I sketched the first thing my eyes landed on. So here are some acrylics done in watercolour, hence the title. Mixed Media 3" X 5"

Here is a quick sketch of a gaggle of geese in the snow. Reference photo courtesy of the great website Paint My Photo . It has given me an idea for a potential collage painting in the future....stay tuned! Gaggle of Geese 5" X 7" Watercolour and ink on Arches 140 lb CP

At the Mary Todd Beam workshop, she showed us an easy way to make stamps. All you need is a small section of foam insulation that you can score and break into small pieces. From a craft or dollar store get some of the thin craft foam that has the peel-off backing. You can cut shapes from that and stick on to the pieces of insulation and voila! A stamp! I used some of these to stamp patterns on some paper to make collage material. I stamped the pattern first and then applied watered down acrylic paint. Fun!

This morning was wet and dull outside, perfect for staying inside and sketching! I decided to do a small study in preparation for a larger collage piece. I got inspiration from a great photo on the website Paint My Photo  for some white geese. So while watching the Rhythmic Gymnastics on the Olympics, I sketched these fellows heading in for a dip in the pond. 7" X 9" on Illustration board © Patricia Henderson 2012

Sometimes I just don't feel like starting an actual painting. It just all seems like too much work, and I just want to play! That's when I pull out my Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith. When I first ordered and received my journal, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, maybe I'm too old to be doing this, it seems to be for young kids." Then I started wrecking. It was fun! It was for anyone! You get dirty or covered in paint, or maybe food...you just never know. It gets your creative juices flowing. I just haven't got up the nerve to tie a string around it and go for a walk with it yet!! Here are some of my favourite pages so far: This one I did today: As you can see, it doesn't matter if you are messy, that's the whole point! Here's one that may never be finished: And one that I have gotten a start on, but need more materials! From last spring: Keri has other great books that help to inspire your creativity, check her out!