May's Sketchbook Challenge

The Sketchbook Challenge for this month is “Can’t Resist.” Well, I can’t resist new spring leaves and splashing around in watercolors! I gathered a few varieties of leaves from the yard, sketched them and cut them out to use as stencils for this fun little exercise from Ann K. Lindsay’s book, WATERCOLOR: A NEW BEGINNING. Starting in the foreground, successive rows of overlapping leaf shapes have watercolor glazes added around them, pushing them further into the background. The stencils act as a kind of “resist” to the paint.

This was done on heavy watercolor paper because the paper has to be wet for the initial wash. I will glue it into my sketchbook.

French Kitty's New Outfit

Here is my French Kitty doll, all dolled up in a new dress and fascinator.

Vermicelli Stitch Practice on Paper Towel

Here is an example of one ply of paper toweling (used to clean up paint) fused to a piece of felt and then free-motion stitched. This very sturdy and highly textured piece of fabric paper will probably end up as a collage background. I learned about stitching on painted paper towels from this very inspiring blog: A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk.