eller

This is such a funny coincidence - not just one but two people decided to send me samples of their selfmade watercolors over Easter! :D I was soooo happy to find these in my mailbox! (As you probably know already, I make my own paints, so I also almost always appreciate what others produce.)

Tarabel sent me this lovely set of five colors that looks like a forest theme or something...



...and Nil sent me ten different dots, mainly fascinating earth tones, and some of the colors also glitter a bit. :D



I'm soooo happy and I can't wait to do something with the new paints!!! :D Actually, I have a plan... XD

The long weekend over Easter was artistically active. :) This one is completely with pigments that belong to my 'standard' set - nothing out of the ordinary. Weird tulips found, of course, in the Rhododendronpark Bremen.



Materials I used:
Stillman&Birn Zeta Series sketchbook (270 g/m²)
Watercolors: Mijello Bamboo Green (PG36), Blockx Blockx Red (PR254), MaimeriBlu Faience Blue (PB60)
White gel pen (Pentel)

North Germany's weirdest invasive species. Bremen has the world's largest rhododendron collection, which is a quite fascinating scientific project (it's not just a very pretty garden - though it is - but also a gene bank and everything, so, the 3000 species of rhododendron are not purely there for decorative reasons) but does horrible things to the local ecosystem. When I was a kid, people were like, "oh, we'll plant rhododendron because the bugs won't eat it". This used to be correct, except these days, we don't just get all the invasive bugs that come with what's essentially a monoculture of invasive bushes, but also, some local bug species have evolved to eat rhododendron. I've seen a maybug eat a rhododendron leaf, and you have no idea how weird that is! (Evolution in progress, I suppose.) Anyway, whatever I may think about the ecological impact of this weird gardening project, the view in spring is spectacular. They also have other plants (including some really fascinating ones) and I enjoy going there with my sketchbook and colors! So, uh, have some rhododendron...



...I have to admit I have no idea which of the 3000 species it is. Theoretically, all their plants are properly labeled, so, the bush should have had a tag somewhere with its name, except of course it was not visible because all those leaves get in the way. Some Rhododendron it is. ;)

Materials I used:
Stillman&Birn Zeta Series sketchbook (270 g/m²)
Watercolors: Turner Permanent Lemon (PY109), ROSA Gallery Magenta Rose (PR122), Mijello Bamboo Green (PG36), Daniel Smith Jadeite Genuine, Holbein Shadow Green (PBk31)
White gel pen (Pentel)

I almost never use blue... Except today I did. This ATC shows a typical spring flower that's everywhere these days: Scilla, sometimes in German also called 'Blaustern' (blue star). It also happens to be one of my mother's favorite flowers. :) I had a lot of fun with the composition.



Materials I used:
Stillman&Birn Zeta Series sketchbook (270 g/m²)
Watercolors: Schmincke Horadam YInMn-Blau, LUKAS Türkis (PB16), White Nights Burnt Umber (PBr7), Phoenix Yellow Ochre (PY42), Turner Permanent Lemon (PY109), ROSA Gallery Magenta Rose (PR122)
White gel pen (Pentel)

...aaaand the third ATC made with the help of the craft materials sent to me by Up-Quark.



I still had a large clock sticker and two metallic pens I had not used yet at all, soooo, I had to use them on this card! The materials used are:

By the way, I'm sure the jeweler doesn't just make jewelry: he also has tools for much rougher work out, and the scales seem a bit big for small stones... All this sparkly stuff has to be a front. The question is what the lady REALLY wants in the store! Presumably, it's not purely for, uh, fashionable purposes... XD

Another page filled in the sketchbook from antaresnox. I'm trying to draw something fast every day. The forsythia is in front of the house... And, of course, rhododendron is everywhere.



It's kind of fascinating: rhododendron is an invasive plant, and when I was a kid, people started to plant it in their gardens deliberately "because the bugs don't eat it". This used to be true, except, oh wait, these days they do... I suppose we're seeing some evolution in progress. XD

This is an ATC swap game again: Up-Quark sent me an envelope with 15 different craft supplies, and I have to use them on ATCs.

( Here's a picture of the art supplies. )

My first ATC is IN SPACE, and it's a shaker ATC again, because hey, why not?

I used the following eight materials:
- space washi tape (background of the large window)
- die-cut (colored in; can be shaken in the large window)
- narrow striped washi tape (in the small window, where the lady is working, as background)
- Wire (unfortunately not clearly visible on the scan, but also in the small window; here's a detail photo https://ibb.co/p1ZsDvh in case you're interested)
- white textured transparent paper (the lady's clothes; I colored on it but the texture is intact)
- blue narrow washi tape (the lamp holder on the top right)
- light green transparent paper (the monitors at the top; I drew on it, but the color is still coming through)
- World map/globe motif paper (on the monitor on the left edge; I put shading on it)

So, I took a simple Morakniv 120 (I think I've already mentioned it's the gold standard in the 'store-bought puukko-type knife that's somewhat useable' category) and modified it according to my personal needs.

( Knife nerdery - reshaping the handle )

Thank you SOOOOO much yhlee for this awesome knife bookmark! :D I will never lose the page in one of my knife books again! :3

These ATCs are for a swap that challenged us to use new materials. So, I used some things from my advent calendar and from Christmas. :)

Michael Harding watercolors and Schmincke opaque white on paper from a Paul Rubens watercolor sketchbook (hot pressed, 300gsm).