Monday, July 22, 2013

inspiration monday


i have always been inspired by carla sonheim's artwork.  as the queen-of-silly, she has the most wonderful ability to find whimsical little creatures hidden just about anywhere, even in sidewalk cracks!  but if you're like me and don't have too many sidewalks in your area, i've come up with another way you can go about creating an "inspiration splotch" with some watercolor paper, watercolor, paintbrushes, waxed paper, your favorite pens and markers, pencils, and a jug of water.
(i'm using some turquoise watercolor and a yellow watercolor crayon in my moleskine journal)




first,  lay down some clean water onto your paper and then add your watercolor.....
you want your color(s) to be fairly wet.





now lay a piece of waxed paper on top of your watercolor.....
rub your hand across it to smoosh the color around.





lift the waxed paper to reveal the splotch underneath.  if you have any droplets of watercolor left on the waxed paper, you can tap them back onto your watercolor splotch for some added texture!





now take a good look at your watercolor splotch.
see anything hidden in there?




if you don't see much the first time,  you might have more luck
by turning your paper around another way.





once you've spied something, start adding some details using your favorite markers....
(i've used pitt artist pens)





once you get started, it's hard to stop......





but before you know it, you've revealed your very own
imaginary inspiration monster!  have fun!


{this creature-from-the-art-lagoon was created in my moleskine journal using cotman watercolor, lyra watercolor crayon, paintbrush, pitt artist pens, uniball signo white gel pen, waxed paper, 3B and 8B pencils}






15 comments:

Jeanette said...

Lori, You truly are cleverness personified. How fun is this?!? I could always welcome a little inspiration "monster" in my studio, especially when he's so stinkin' cute!!!
Thanks for the HUGE smile to welcome in the week and this Monday!!!
Hugs and love,
Jeanette

Melanie said...

This looks like so much fun. Your monster is looking very funny and collourful. I will give a try some day this week.
Thanks for sharing this fu technique.
Liefs, Melanie

Alexandra MacVean said...

Absolutely CUTE splotch monster! :) Love it, Lori. :)

Dymphie said...

your green-horned-five-toothed-inspiration-monster brought a huge smile to my face :D

TriLov said...

This looks like fun!!

ellie said...

are you trying to kill me? lori vliegen loves carla sonheim? next thing you know, you will tell us you love jill badonsky and it will all be over. the trifecta of my 3 favorite artists.

i love this fella! he is so freaking excellent. and it is such a freeing, easy way to dig in and do something fun.


thanks for sharing. i am going to do one this week.

big hugs
ellie

Dawn said...

Awe Lori, your monster is amazing. I love doing things like this with watercolour and acrylic ink too, sooooooooo much fun and incredibly freeing.
Thank-you so much for sharing.
Huge hugs x

Margaret said...

Fabulous, as always. Before you turned the page I could see an elephant on the left with ET on the right lol xx

Isabel said...

Genial!!! Fantástica creación!!! Besos.

Createology said...

This Monster from a splotch is uber cute! You my dear do not need sidewalks. Your artistic talents are beyond over-the-moon. I think your Splotch Monster should star in a book your write and illustrate. I'm just sayin...
Summer Sunshine Smiles...

Jennifer said...

LOVE THIS! You are truly a talent!

Unknown said...

This is DARLING. I love Carla's work, too, and I can't wait to try this!

Vivika said...

Oh so cute! Fabulous technique! Thank you!

Linda Kittmer said...

Oh Lori, what a wonderfully fun idea. Your monster is adorable.

angela said...

I never thought monsters could be so cute :)

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