Colors Are Your Friends or let’s talk a bit of “my” Color Theory III

29 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in General Announcements

≈ 1 Comment

Now we have talked about our friends in the last two parts…they are quite a handful, aren’t they? I also got introduced to your friends…Loved what I was reading:

Sue Clarke: Purple…so royal and yet playful!…

Dottie: Loved your posts on color! Made me think that black and white are sort of like the adults. All the other color children are running around on the canvas displaying all their glory and exuberence in their own personality and style, The adults come in to offer a little containment and accent…

Caroline: you could do white, even if it is a bit the same as black some people say it’s not a color. But there are a lot of other voices that are saying that white is the color that means pure, hope, innocence, clean, …Then there is pink that is totally “think pink” Red the color off passion and warmth…

So now that we have thought a bit about their personality we might wanna study our friends a bit more. Kind of like the CSI of colors ;)

Remember the Color Wheel?

Good old color wheel – that is how I started years ago exploring colors. I made one for you…actually the plan was that you could download it…but you know…smarty-pants forgot that her scanner is not THAT big – so the color wheel is bigger than the size of my scanner…and …oh well…

BUT- you can definitely make your own …*snigger* or you just google color wheel if you are lazy and you will find thousands and can just download one of them.

So let’s start with some basics here and we talk about pigment colors…because color theory is so much more complicated (just open your printer and look which colors are in there to be mixed- different world!)…we keep it easy, ok?  - for most of you it is a refresher I’m pretty sure- but it is never bad to get some refreshing, right?

Primary Colors:

Your friends Red, Blue and Yellow carry the last name Primary. Those guys cannot be created by mixing any of the other colors out there. But- they have super powers ….they can be mixed to create all kinds of other colors on the color wheel.

Check out where they are located on the color wheel.

So what does that mean for you if you love to play with Paint Media?

Well…I would recommend to really have those three colors, because you simply will never be able to create them on their own with other colors. I know, sounds like obvious….but sometimes the obvious is hidden ;)

Secondary Colors:

Now these guy’s last name is ….Secondary…Ding Ding Ding Ding ;)

Not the coolest name right? Always the second…never the first….LOL. That doesn’t make them less attractive or nice though. In fact I love the Secondary Guys :) mmmh- why my friends are all of a sudden guys, no idea..let’s roll with it.

So they are Secondary because they come out when you mix the Primary Guys.

Yellow and Red = Orange

Blue and Yellow = Green

Blue and Red = Purple

So check out where they are on the color wheel ? EXACTLY :)

And because you see it- you know already who is missing on the color wheel and you might assume right why they are called:

Tertiary Colors:

So Tertiary are those colors that are the result of mixing a primary and a secondary color. Those friends are Yellow-Orange or Blue-Green and so on. That is why they are located in between the Primary Colors and the Secondary Colors. Pretty nifty those friends- just as in real life- sometimes your friends fall in Love with each other and produce a new little one ;) LOL- sorry- couldn’t resist.

 

Now off to you:

If you take one paint media you own – say all your acrylic paints colors or waterbased spray paints or one company for example, which of the colors on the color wheels do you have covered and which would you be able to mix if you take in account what we already said about mixing?

Now if you think about this way- you might realize that you have way more options then you thought you would have – or you just figured that you definitely need some more colors to cover your possibilities. What you think do you need more or are you good to go?

 

Next time we talk about how we make colors sing :)

Have a gorgeous colorful day!

Nat

 

 

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Hello Sunshine or Take a look at the Cocoa Daisy June Kit

26 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Cocoa Daisy

≈ 1 Comment

Here is a little sneak at the Hello Sunshine Kit by Cocoa Daisy coming this June :)

The name says it all this month. Happy colors of reds and yellows, sprinkled with blues and greens will greet you when you open your June kit, Hello Sunshine. Exclusive Ormulu Flappers and Cocoa Daisy stamps meet up with paper and embellishments from Jillibean Soup, a just-released, brand new Simple Stories line, Lilybee, and Basic Grey, to name just a few of the many manufacturers represented in this kit. You’re going to want to sit back and soak it all up come June, it’s time to say hello to creativity!

 

And even though Hello Sunshine is packed to the brim full of scrappy goodness, once you see the FOUR add ons this month, you’ll want to get a couple of those too.

Check out the patterned paper add on, Shades:

Then there’s Wide Brim, because you might need more of the new Summer Fresh from Simple Stories, frames from American Crafts, and bits and pieces from Jillibean Soup and Lilybee.

All this sunshine leads to Freckles, but not the sunkissed variety, instead the add on has lots of Pink Paislee and a dash of Basic Grey and American Crafts.
Finally, there’s the Embellishment Pack featuring more Basic Grey, some Echo Park and, well, we’ll let you try to figure out the rest. We promise it’s fabulous!
And a little peek at the June Stamps:
Can’t wait to dig into the kit and start playing :)
Have a wonderful day and see you Monday for a new episode of “Colors Are Your Friends”

Nat

Sgraffito or Make Your Mark Video

24 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Acrylicpaints, Art Journal, Backgrounds, Mixed Media, Tutorial, Tutorial Video

≈ 17 Comments

Sgraffito is an art term describing a technique used e.g in plaster, pottery, glass or paint. Basically one or several layers of the medium are revealed by scratching into the top surface. The term comes from the Italian word sgraffiare and means to scratch. Not sure if that will help me with my next Italian vacation but hey… you never know ;)

Now why is that something that might interest me? It is cool because you can create TEXTURE- yum yum! Do you need to have more reasons?

You actually saw some stuff already where I used the sgraffito technique- like on this piece from a post here playing with the Derwent Artbars. I used a tool that Derwent especially made for this, called the scraper.

But there is more…Scratching into still wet acrylic paint – Texture heaven. You can use all kinds of tools for it – like a plastic fork, the end of your brush, palette knifes…ah there are many many possibilities.

It is fun to add some sgraffito marks to your backgrounds or art journal pages – Let’s do a quick background video:

 

I love to use Liquitex Heavy Body Paint with the Sgraffito techniques, because they are – as the name might give it away ;) – heavy bodied paint.

I already have something in mind where I will use this background as a foundation – you will see it soon.

And if you want to learn more about acrylic paint techniques and a LOT of background techniques with them…

well….;) I can recommend my Über*Media Acrylic Paint Workshop. You don’t have to have Heavy Body Acrylic Paints….but I will show you how you can overcome that problem of having none anyway so you can still do sgraffito. But hey- Sgraffito is only one of more than a 100 techniques in that workshop :)

I just love Acrylic Paint :)

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For my Friends from Germany, Austria or Switzerland:

Wenn Ihr in Deutschland, Österreich oder der Schweiz wohnt, könnt Ihr übrigens  hier bei Liquitex eine Musteranforderung machen und bekommt solange der Vorrat reicht diese Packung mit zwei Musterproben der Heavy Body Acryl Farben

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Hope you enjoyed the little video :)

Nat

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Colors Are Your Friends or let’s talk a bit of “my” Color Theory II

23 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in General Announcements

≈ 10 Comments

If you missed the first part of this series – you might want to check out this post first, so you know what me crazy girl is talking about ;)

So I introduced you to my friends Yellow, Blue and Red…let’s see who else is there.

My buddy Orange  is pretty social and communicative. Most of my friends like Orange. Orange also makes other friends stand out, Orange pushes them, but in a good way. Orange is warm and fun.

Next up is

Green is actually one of my very best and oldest friends. It is variable and contradictory at times. Green likes to blend in with my other friends, which makes it very easy to get along with green. Green doesn’t like conflicts and it is a good mentor to ease things. Green stabilizes. It is my most constant partner :)

Now next

I know, I know…some evil tongues say Black is not a friend aka color. Pah…that is bullying! Black is an awesome friend. It is all friends! Black is serious, and sometimes a bit humorless, but Black can be such a great supporter if you do not take Black to serious. Black also has this amazing ability to make other friends shine. Black in doses is awesome….but if you are around Black too much it might make you depressive so you have to pick your time with Black wisely ;)

Well…now that I introduced you to my friends- I will be talking about mixing and matching in the next “Colors are Your Friends” Post. Hope you enjoyed the first two parts :)

Now…is there a color I didn’t introduce that you think has a certain personality?

Nat

 

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Colors Are Your Friends or let’s talk a bit of “my” Color Theory I

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Tutorial

≈ 18 Comments

What I hear most often about my work…and sometimes I am not sure if it is meant as a compliment- hahahaha- is that my color combinations strike as unusual. Sometimes I get asked how I thought of putting those colors together. Truth is…I do not think that much about it anymore…but …I came a long way experimenting and trying things ;) So I thought I would share with you my philosophy of colors in a couple blog posts and also refresh some color theory stuff.

My philosophy which I often share in my classes is:

If you want to work with paint media- wether it be acrylic paints or others – you have to treat colors as if they are your friends. They have different personalities and there is a different time and a different place where you want to spent time with a certain friend. I could also say – Colors are LIKE my friends, but hey…I don’t want to start explaining which friend of mine reminds me of which color- LOL. I wanna keep my friends ;)

So before I go into the whole lot of color theory, color wheel and mixing …let’s look at those colors lightly first…let me introduce my friends to you, meaning the colors that I tend to meet often.

Yellow is a pretty new friend of mine, I am still a bit cautious with Yellow…I am never sure where yellow is heading to with my other friends. Yellow is light and a very positive friend. Yellow is kind of extrovert…boy…yellow is really really loud sometimes. Yellow is always intruding but mostly in a happy way. Yellow is my outspoken friend. My friend yellow can be pretty negative too though…sometimes jalous and sometimes a coward.

Here are some samples where I used yellow prominently:

As you can see I use yellow to make statements a lot.

Blue is an old friend of mine. Blue is a bit passive, calming and refreshing. What I like about Blue is, that Blue is open to everything. I like that I can bring blue in with most of my other friends and that Blue is never really overpowering. Blue makes me also sad sometimes…but Blue is a good sport…

Ah Blue….

Red is a handful! Red is so passionate and polarizing. Pretty much a drama queen when with others, sometimes also aggressive. Red is always overpowering, always wants to be in the foreground. Can’t be quiet…can’t be in the background too much. But Red is warm and it is so much fun to be around Red…it is sometimes the life of a party ;)

My first round of friends – more of my close friends will come tomorrow.

What are your favorite colors that you tend to use the most often?

Nat

Lullaby Canvas or I better post this later in the day ;)

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in Acrylicpaints, Handmade Embellishments, Liquitex Ink, Mixed Media, Neocolor II/Derwent Artbar

≈ 19 Comments

Some very good friends of mine have a new addition to their family  - I am sooo excited for and with them :)

For the little one I made this Lullaby Canvas – truly hoping they will like it…cause …I am sure the little one will not start throwing its rattle against it…or maybe it will? LOL

The canvas was inspired by the amazing Sue Pelletier and an old German Lullaby song “Weißt Du wieviel Sternlein stehen?” which means translated “Do You Know How Many Stars There Are?”

Here is the song for you…please do not listen to it before you finished your day tasks- LOL- remember it is a Lullaby song and I don’t wanna be responsible for your head falling down onto the keyboard…;)

weisst_du_wie_viel_sternlein_stehen

ah …you know…I better make this post an evening post ;) …oh wait…evening in which part of the world? ….LOL

I used heaps of paint media – eager as always seeing how they work together ;)

PaintMedia: Liquitex Gesso, Derwent Inktense Blocks and Derwent ArtBars, Liquitex Acrylic Inks, Liquitex Heavy Gel Medium, Liquitex Super Heavy Body Paint  - FUN!

It was fun to work a bit more with burlap – I love that material and a new material for me: paper clay- which is what Sue Pelletier is very well-known for. Love the possibilities of this. The rest is old news…some tissue paper, metal pieces, wire, ephemera, fabric, canvas fabric and yet putting it all together and getting excited each day as a project evolves is fun. And my fave is thinking I make this for friends I love during the process. This canvas is full of fun memories of times I spent with the amazing parents of the little one. I so miss them here! Now hope they don’t read my blog- LOL- because the package is still traveling overseas.

Speaking of Lullabies…which comes to your mind?

Wishing you sweet dreams tonight :)

Nat

 

 

Upcoming workshop in June: ArtMesa 2012 in Madrid, Spain

19 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Workshop Schedule

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Only one more month and the second edition of Art Mesa in Madrid, Spain is happening. Carmen Sanchez and I will teach two workshops on June 23rd and it sure is going to be lot’s of fun :)

There are only a couple spots free – if you are thinking of coming…let me show you this video created by Carmen about last year’s ArtMesa

Check out the Mixed Media Workshops we are teaching here

Looking forward seeing you :)

Besos

Nat

Spinning, Pouring, Stringing or…How to turn an LP into a Birthday Card

18 Friday May 2012

Posted by in Acrylicpaints, Altered Art, Mixed Media

≈ 6 Comments

Lot’s of birthdays of dear friends are coming up the next couple weeks finally to celebrate the big 40 was my friend M.

Well – while playing and showing possibilities with some paint media for some Bonus Techniques for Lesson 7 of the Über*Media Acrylic Paint Online Workshop I created this LP Birthday Card for him

This photo is cracking me up at the party – funky M. on the left and funny crazy S. on the right- LOL ;) BTW- that was not the reaction to the birthday card – snigger ;) I think I said something stupid…LOL

It was a fun party…just a bit too cold outside …but we are true Hamburgers…if it says it’s May on the calendar it is time for BBQ outside, no matter how the weather turns out and even if it is a chilling 8 C (46 Fahrenheit) ;)

Here are some details of the LP

It was fun working with Liquitex Acrylic Paints, Inks, String Gel and Pouring Medium – and there are so many fun things you can create with it.

What was the most “unusual” material you ever created a birthday card with?

Have a gorgeous day

hugs

Nat

 

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Keep your Eyes on the Stars…or/and Your Feet on the Ground

17 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Art Journal

≈ 16 Comments

Theodor Roosevelt said this…well- without the “or” in between – smart man  ;)

I had some awesome opportunities coming up this year…and sometimes they would just vanish, or they would just be not as awesome at the second glance or they would be just under ridiculous conditions or they would be just not doable. It is always a crashing experience…because from the high feeling of YEAH-double-fist-up-in-the-air comes the bad fall to reality that hurts a lot.

 

But ….I start to realize that it is awesome that the opportunities were even showing up…even if they weren’t really opportunities in retrospective LOL – because you know what? There will be always some opportunities coming and some will be just the right ones for me. Actually an awesome opportunity just showed up and it might be really really cool :)

With each of those shattered opportunities I learned something…I learned something about myself ….I learned what I want and what I don’t want…and that is pretty cool… Without those shattered opportunities I wouldn’t know myself that much and hey….I spent most of my time with me….hahahahah- so better know this person, don’t you think? LOL

I am not reaching for the stars. I am just reaching for mine. There is one personal star out there shining for just for me…and one just for you, and you and you!

Hope you star is shining bright for you today!

huge hugs

Nat

 

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