Design Contest Entry

I wanted to share my process. 

I started brainstorming - 

-reading elevates, reading uplifts, reading transforms, reading lets your soar to new worlds, adventures, I thought about "Reading Rainbow" and it's theme song - butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high, take a look, it's in a book... 

and all these thoughts led me to a connection between books and butterflies and then the idea was born!

I started with these graphics and printed them and then painstakingly cut them out.

Then I watercolor painted what would become the butterfly.

   Then I cut out each butterfly.

Then I went in search of book pages.  After researching, I came across the Library of Congress and books that were in "public domain".  A public domain book is one that is not covered by intellectual property rights or copyright, usually because the rights have expired. Once a book enters public domain, it can be reprinted and distributed without the need to get permission from the original author.

Of course, I carefully chose the book and page I wanted to use.  

A Christmas Carol - where Scrooge learns he hasn't missed Christmas

Alice in Wonderland - where Alice speaks to the Caterpillar

Robinson Crusoe

Little Women

Peter Pan - where Wendy learns to fly

Pride and Prejudice - where Mr. Darcy says My affections and wishes are unchanged...

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - where Dorothy wants to go home to Kansas

I painted the body - by painting and then folding what I painted in half.  Then I watercolor painted the sky, creating clouds by removing paint with a crumpled napkin.

I cut out the book pages and taped them to the butterfly outlines.

Then I scanned everything and started putting it together digitally.  I added black around the edges of the wings, with white dots.  I added the words "Reading Uplifts".

This was my entry - the contest was for the Wichita Public Library to design a new library card in the adult category.  

I learned there were 29 adult entries.  The selection committee narrowed it down to three options.  I was sad because I really put my heart into this contest and fell in love with my design.

Have you ever entered a contest?  I love design contests!  I can't wait for the next one!

Directed Drawing Activity - Watercolor Snowman

I hosted a Christmas dinner for one of my Bible Study groups this year and I wanted to plan a creative activity for us to do in between dinner and opening presents.  A few years ago a friend told me that her family did one of these and had a lot of fun with it and I've wanted to try one ever since.  In reality, I found it online as a project for elementary students but I think it's a fun grownup activity as well!

For this Project You'll Need:

watercolor paper

watercolor paints

paint brushes

foam brush (optional)

black sharpie

cup of water

something to protect your table surface

Here are the instructions:

I read the instructions and we each drew our snowmen.

Then we traced our drawings with a black Sharpie.

Then we got to work painting with watercolors!  The main thing the instructions emphasize is to paint the background a bright color, which will make the snowman pop.  We used foam brushes to paint the background, which made it really easy.

And then the fun part is to compare them - we all received the exact same instructions, but they each look extremely different and each is adorable in it's own way!

I love mine snowman art!

Instant Download Fall and Christmas Art

Last Thursday was the official First Day of Fall - let's celebrate!  I have presents for you - at the end of this blog - keep reading!!

The past several weeks I've been re-vamping my Etsy shop and its new focus is Instant Download Digital Art.

It's fun for me to create it.  My process includes painting watercolor pieces and then scanning them to use in digital design.

I have always loved decorating with words.  I love to read, I love the written word, I love setting the tone for the space with the words you use - I believe in the power of words.

A couple weeks ago, I updated my blog header (see above ↑) to a watercolor turquoise background that I painted - to add some consistency to my brand - watercolors and modern calligraphy!

Soon after that I designed and unveiled my new Etsy logo:

and today I'm revealing my new Etsy header:

Here are some of my favorite designs for sale on my Etsy shop, The Burlap Flower and I would LOVE for you to go check out all of my designs and let me know what you think!

 

Thank you for reading my blog, thank you for checking out my 

Etsy shop and thank you for your support!! ♥

Present #1 - use coupon code FALL2016 to get 10% off anything in my Etsy shop

Present #2 - one of my Fall designs that you can download here for free!

Shamrock Watercolor

Today I had the inspiration to make a shamrock watercolor to decorate for upcoming St. Patrick's Day - I think it's extra special this year because that's when my nephew is due to be born!  

First I cut a piece of watercolor paper to the size I wanted, that would fit on this clipboard on my mantle.

Then I found a pattern via clip art in Microsoft Word. 

Then I cut out the shamrock and used the rest of the page as a guide to paint inside of.

I taped down the pattern over the blank page.

Then I brushed water over the area I wanted to paint.

Then I began painting, using all the green colors in my palette.  

  

Then I let it dry for a few hours.

Then I took off the pattern and saw that the water had bled under the pattern some, but I still really liked the effect.

I hope it brings luck!