Oh goodness.. another post! Can you believe it? I’m trying.. hehe!

I started watercolor painting this late spring/summer on a whim. It looked fun so I figured why not.. so I pulled out the cheap-o Artist Loft brand paints from Michael’s that I used to use when I was with CTMH and started coloring stamped images again for cards. (Please bear with me as I re-learn formatting Blogger posts. They seem to have changed the way they do photos since I last regularly blogged…)

They worked for about five minutes while I played around and explored watercolor painting.  I decided I REALLY enjoyed watercolor painting.  I used up that one pad of watercolor paper that I had been hoarding since about 2008, bought some more, and then I realized that I needed something better paint wise…  eventually I landed on these Sakura Koi Field Sketch pan paints… and then with decent paints and paper I was HOOKED.  I started playing around with landscapes and plants…

It has been a fun summer with watercolor. I am totally addicted and have quite successfully avoided things like laundry, dishes, organizing, and sometimes and often, cooking dinner because I was wrapped up in my imagination and water and paint. (That’s not always a bad thing.. just sayin’.) I also brought my compact watercolor paints, paintbrushes, and travel size watercolor pad with us on our cruise to Alaska (posts on that coming) and painted on our balcony on sea days. Watercolor painting is so relaxing. It is so easy to get lost in the the colors… and it is a lot less mess than papercrafting. 😉

I LOVE looking on Pinterest and YouTube for tutorials and inspiration to paint. There is so much out there! This is an image I sketched out based on some stamps I saw online.

I recently discovered an amazing company called Let’s Make Art.   They offer a subscription service that includes and also have free tutorials on YouTube.   I’ve yet to subscribe, although I think I might give Santa an idea for Christmas, but I have been following their free YouTube tutorials have have been freehand sketching their designs and painting along with them.  Sara Cray is the owner and she’s so fun to watch and has LOADS of great tips and techniques that she shares as you paint along.   I don’t get anything for sharing the love about them… just the hope that you might get a spark for watercoloring and join in the fun.  (Always happy to enable fellow creative friends.) I love following along and painting!

Here are a couple fun paints just in time for Halloween!  I have to admit I have really enjoyed painting spooky pictures! Black watercolor is kind of a pain to work with because it tends to want to go gray (watercolor paint is transparent) and you have to drop a lot of paint in to get a really rich black.

Wednesday night the temps here dropped 60* overnight.  We had about 3″ of snow on the ground Thursday morning… our first measurable snow for the season so that meant we spent the evening watching Disney’s Snowball Express and enjoying a warm fire.   I made my best ever Hearty Chicken and Dumplings and pulled out my paints.  Recipe is here in my Facebook foodie group, What’s Cookin’ Good Lookin’?

I painted this Floral Truck while we watched the movie and it was so much fun to paint!  It’s my favorite color after all…   The flowers were also a ton of fun! 

Have you watercolor painted? Do you like it? I am thoroughly loving it so far! Happy Friday! I am off to snuggle this cute puppy…

XO, E