I am not an artist. I raised one and she can draw just about anything. Me? Squares, triangles and stick figures!
On occasion I release some of my quilting designs as C
oloring Pages on Pinterest. Simple. Basic. Quilterly.
Schiffer Books sent me two review copies of these beautiful coloring books by
Kristy Rice. Then I got nervous because they were beyond my squares, triangles and stick figures. Here is the cover of the Spring collection,
Spring Cutting Garden:
A 60 page book with 25 watercolor pages for coloring. There are tips and hints on how to use both watercolors and colored pencils. Lots of color illustrations. Here is a bit of the book description online:
- The first in a series of seasonal watercoloring books based on artist Kristy’s Rice’s cutting gardens, this book celebrates spring’s profuse blossoms such as peonies, magnolias, pansies, and Eastern blue star. Her easy-to-learn, joy-driven approach includes simple tutorials on how to use watercolor and where to find affordable materials. A stationery-industry tastemaker, Kristy believes that making art, regardless of skill level, has the power to reconnect us to each other and ourselves. Touching brush to paper with water and color releases an inexplicable calm that so many of us long for, and making art, even in short bursts, brings us back to ourselves by slowing time.With 25 detailed, yet whimsical illustrations, artists are invited to continue the journey begun in her first watercoloring book series, Painterly Days.
And since I can't color (even inside the lines), I asked my friend Jeannine and her artist daughter Denise to color a few pages for me. Here is one done with watercolors (by Denise). Notice that it's easier to get shading with water colors. (I am returning the book to her so she can finish this!)
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| Flowers done using water colors |
And Jeannine used colored pencils, which is harder to get depth and shading. Jeannine is a quilter like me with a preference for squares and triangles. Still beautiful, don't you think?
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| Flowers done using colored pencils |
And another shot of the cover out in the - wait for it - GARDEN!
Take a visit to
Kristy's web site to see a lot of her work, be inspired by her gorgeous flowers and artistry and generally pretend you can do the same thing (by buying one of her books!)
The books are beautifully done with tri-fold covers to help keep your place and lots of sample pictures. If only I was the coloring kind . . . But Denise is and the
Spring Cutting Garden book is hers.
Hello Debby! Like you, I am no artist by any means. I have thousands of designs on Pinterest Boards saved of a variety artistic designs that I would love to use as an embroidery design or an applique design someday, all beautifully created by someone with that wonderful gift. I am so appreciative of their talents and that they do share them with us! Your friends are doing such a lovely job creating their pictures, I do hope you will share them when they are all finished! Thank you for sharing the links also, checking out new sites is always fun, you never know what you will find! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteDebby! Like you, I am not an artist either. In fact, in junior high I often turned in blank paper with my name on it because I couldn't draw worth beans. I love to color but don't have the time. However, I am having a knee replaced next week and it would be fun to color while in the hospital. It may help to get rid of the effects of all the meds. I love the books that have quilt patterns in them and don't mind coloring them. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteThe water color is really beautiful shading. The daffodils are much neater than I would do. LOL I like that they put it on water color paper when they printed it. Great idea.
ReplyDelete