Thursday, 14 February 2013

Happy Valentine's Day


Even though we don't really have a Valentine's Day tradition here, I've been busy drawing and painting hearts during my train commute. Tradition or not, hearts are just too fun to sketch, and love is always worth celebrating.



I especially loved doing my little tree full of lovebirds, adding layer after layer. They just made me smile.


Unfortunately, when I painted a couple of lovebirds on the following pages, it all went terribly wrong. I painted one of the birds yellow, and when I wanted to add another layer of orange and red, the paint disappeared right in front of my eyes. It went straight through the paper, staining my little lovebirdtree painting.


I tried to add some more paint to my yellow page once I had dried the pages with a hairdryer, but the paint kept disappearing. I really don't know what happened here. Was it the because of the water? But then, it wasn't the first page I had covered competely with very wet paint, and then painted on the other side of the page, without the paint disappearing.


It's a complete mystery to me. And it's quite a pity, because I really liked my little tree full of lovebirds. Luckily, I have taken more than enough pictures of the pre-stained version, and this is, after all, just a little sketchbook. I see it as a collection of ideas I can refer to later. So I might just paint another tree full of lovebirds on a sheet of proper watercolour paper. And I already know what I want to change to improve it.


Happy Valentine's Day, I hope you spend a terrific day with your loved one.
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18 comments:

  1. artfullycarin@gmail.com14 February 2013 at 17:01

    What a shame the paint went through. That must have been so disheartening. Love the lovebird tree though and hope you're not too disheartened to try it again.

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  2. Sandra Busby15 February 2013 at 13:29

    Well nobody would ever know - only you - and surely this page couldn't possibly have looked any more beautiful regardless of disappearing paint!
    I just LOVE it! :0)

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  3. Jez15 February 2013 at 15:57

    I don't see anything wrong with your tree of lovebirds, it's beautiful, I feel I can hear the birdsong and it looks like there will be quite a bit of pairing up and nesting soon. Loved everything you have shown on this page, your birds and flowers are so attractive and colourful.

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  4. Cynthia Patterson15 February 2013 at 19:40

    I love them, they are beautiful.....awesome job!

    blessings,
    Cynthia♥

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  5. Jennifer McLean15 February 2013 at 20:08

    Oh your poor little birds painting, I'm so glad you got a photo before the bleed through happened. Both your hearts and birds are adorable and spectacular. I try and try to do hearts like that and it never comes out as gorgeous as yours. I think some people just have talent in different areas. Hope you had a lovely and chocolaty Valentine's Day.

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  6. Unknown15 February 2013 at 21:03

    I hope you do another one! It was so cute. I love their little heart tails..

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  7. Tracey FK16 February 2013 at 01:00

    both pages are so full of glorious colour...but the bleed through is a pain... loved the hearts and hope you do another page of those little birds... so sweet...xx

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  8. Ayala Art16 February 2013 at 01:34

    Lovely!! adorable hearts and birdies ♥

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  9. Currie Silver16 February 2013 at 17:18

    lovely!! I really love those birdies!!

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  10. Darla16 February 2013 at 20:28

    The pages of hearts was so interesting I almost didn't scroll down to the birds in the tree. I like your color palette.

    Darla

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  11. Nigel Finn16 February 2013 at 23:50

    Oh Dear, what a messy little bird. But so happy and yellow. This whole page makes me smile, for so many reasons. If I ever feel a little bit low I know where to come to be instantly happy again. So sweet.

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  12. Serena Lewis17 February 2013 at 07:00

    I've enjoyed seeing your train commute sketches and these ones are particularly darling! A pity about the bleed through...maybe when you painted the first/previous page, the amount of water affected the sizing or cellulose of the paper right through to the other side??....apart from that I have no clue at all.

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  13. Anonymous17 February 2013 at 15:35

    I'm amazed you drew that wonderful heart page on a train. Your work is wonderful. (visiting from APR)

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  14. VonnyK18 February 2013 at 01:30

    Such beautiful paintings and what a shame about the bleed through. I am glad you managed to take some photos before it happened. They are all so bright and happy, I love them.
    Von.

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  15. VonnyK18 February 2013 at 05:51

    I love your bright colours and happy paintings so much that I've given your blog a Liebster Award. It is for people with 200 or less followers. The details are on my blog.
    Von xx

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  16. Maria Ontiveros18 February 2013 at 07:57

    I love the hearts - especially the doodling on them.
    Rinda

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  17. PaintingWrite18 February 2013 at 17:09

    This is gorgeous - the colours seem so vibrant for watercolour and I love the pen and ink colour wash effect. That's such a shame about the colour coming through like that but at least you had taken photos before it happened. It really is beautiful - I think a children's book would look wonderful with illustrations in that style.

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  18. pauline21 February 2013 at 21:32

    This is so adorable... beautiful work!! i love the birds and those little dots everywhere. Beautiful. xox

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