eller

If there is one color that defines the North German autumn, that would be this one.



Okay, technically, heather season is already over, but... It's definitely not a coincidence that I decided to produce this particular shade of granulating purple. 

In case you were wondering: yes, the Lüneburg Heath has some heather. XD That's a bit of an understatement, actually: heather bloom is such a spectacular view that people track it online so you can find the best spots for heather-viewing... (Oh, and they have pretty pictures, too.) Ah, unique North German hobbies. XD

By the way, the weather models predict the year's first frost for this weekend. Kale, YAY! (The kale plants need frost before they can be harvested and eaten.) I'm so looking forward to kale season! :)

So, I painted the cover of my new watercolor box! :D I received two awesome suggestions and decided to sort-of-combine them: it was castiron's idea to draw a greenhouse with metal parts to match the silver theme of the, well, duct tape. XD And yhlee asked me to draw a field of flowers that uses all the colors in the box... Well, at the time of that post, I had already begun to sketch the greenhouse, but, ALL THE COLORS? Can do! :D

( WIP and materials behind the cut. )

Another postcard for someone on postcrossing - this time, it's a combination of drawing, painting, and papercut. It has transparent windows! The book page, inkwell, ink blob and large leaves are see-through.



Materials:
Watercolor paper: Florence watercolor paper, smooth, white, 200gsm. This was a bit of a compromise: it's the thinnest possible paper for watercoloring, but the thickest possible paper for reasonable papercutting. (Still: not much detail possible.)
Transparent paper: Folia, 115 gsm (I chose the thicker variety, for obvious reasons), light green.
Fineliners: Staedtler, different sizes.
Acrylic pens: FlySea, white and black.
Watercolors: various brands, no idea which was what. It was not my watercolor box. I'm not at home and didn't grab the box in my bag when there was a perfectly good one open on the table.
Knife: snap-off utility knife. Cheap but good. XD Seriously, it performed really well (as in: non-wobbly, good angle, and ergonomic in my hand) but it's a no-name thingy, no manufacturer printed on or anything.
Varnish: LUKAS spray varnish, satin gloss. (Added to protect the watercolors before gluing everything together.)
Spray glue: Ghiant Hightac, an ancient can. Oh well, it came out a bit yellowed and blotchy but it still worked... Somehow.

More pictures (of the papercutting and of what the card looks like with backlighting) behind the cut.

( Pictures! )

I'll definitely make more cards with this technique. It's so much fun! :D

The next (very very very) poisonous plant, I'm afraid. We have so many of those here. XD



Materials:
- suuuper awesome sketchbook; a red page (I'm using those up disproportionately) this time
- Acrylic pens: Flysea Acrylic Painter Extra Fine in black and white; Amsterdam Acrylic Marker in Yellowish Green; Liquitex Acrylic Marker in Cadmium Red Deep Hue and Phthalocyanine Green blue shade; Uni Posca PC-5M in white
- waterbrush

Another page in the lovely chess sketchbook from antaresnox got filled today! I love oleander, it smells so nice. Of course, it is very poisonous, so even touching the stuff is a very bad idea, but... :D



Materials:
- suuuper awesome sketchbook; a light pink page this time
- Acrylic pens: Flysea Acrylic Painter Extra Fine in black and white; Amsterdam Acrylic Marker in Yellowish Green, Permanent Green Light, Permanent Red Violet Light, and Ultramarine; Uni Posca PC-5M in white
- waterbrush

Another fast sketch in the new chess sketchbook from antaresnox! This morning, I was walking when I saw this very large flower growing from a crack in the asphalt! (I kind of regret not getting that crack into the picture, but the plant was too large to draw the whole thing while getting any level of detail.) Different pens this time: the very professional (LOL) art technique is called "grab some pens from the bottom of your bag". I don't use markers very often but I really enjoy these ones: they each have two sides with shades of the same color, one dark and one light, which makes shading and blending easy.

In case you were wondering: yes, of course I occasionally sketch on white paper, too! You know I'm mainly whining about the constant lack of sketchbooks with toned paper that is not brown or grey, but that's not because I dislike white paper. It's just that I can walk into any art supply store (and even most stationery shops) and get a very nice sketchbook with white paper (not as nice as a handmade one, obviously, but at least one I can use); no whining needed. I really like having a book with different paper colors for different occasions!

This time, I actually managed to destroy the paper: it takes acrylic pens fine, it takes the markers themselves fine as well, but the spots where I used the white Posca to draw highlights over the marker-colored areas kind of dissolved. Interesting! XD (No matter how nice the paper, there's always some way to damage it, and I usually find it very quickly. LOL)



Materials:
- suuuper awesome sketchbook; a white page this time
- Copic Multiliner, black, 1.0
- Markers: Kuretake ZIG Brushables in spring green and hyacinth
- Acrylic pen: Uni Posca PC-5M in white

Fern, and fun with backlighting. So much fun!



Materials I used:
Stillman&Birn Zeta Series sketchbook (270 g/m²)
Watercolors: Turner Permanent Lemon (PY109), Mijello Bamboo Green (PG36), Daniel Smith Jadeite Genuine, Schmincke Horadam YInMn-Blue
White gel pens (Pentel and Sakura)

I was not actually trying to produce an ATC in primary colors only - it just happened, and I only noticed when I was going to start coloring the branches (I do dark colors last so they don't smudge and ruin the whole painting) and said to myself, no, I'm not going to add another pigment in the last minute... Instead, I followed the Second Law of Watercolors: anything you mix will sooner or later turn into muddy brown. This time, the principle actually proved useful.



Materials I used:
Stillman&Birn Zeta Series sketchbook (270 g/m²)
Watercolors: Turner Permanent Lemon (PY109), ROSA Gallery Magenta Rose (PR122), ShinHan PWC Cerulean Blue (PB35)
White gel pen (Pentel)

These things look almost too kitschy to be real. I love them. XD



Materials I used:
Stillman&Birn Zeta Series sketchbook (270 g/m²)
Watercolors: Turner Permanent Lemon (PY109), ROSA Gallery Magenta Rose (PR122), Daniel Smith Jadeite Genuine, Renesans Orange Ochre PY42
White gel pen (Pentel)

...because I needed to do something with that PV15 (a color I don't use very often), and not many flowers come in this muted pink color. In German, this plant is called 'Nieswurz' (sneeze root) because powder made from the subterranen parts of the plant makes people sneeze. With words like this, I always wonder who the f*ck tried that for the first time. It's all for the science?!?



Materials I used:
Stillman&Birn Zeta Series sketchbook (270 g/m²)
Watercolors: Turner Permanent Lemon (PY109), Mijello Bamboo Green (PG36), QoR Ultramarine Pink (PV15), ShinHan PWC Cerulean Blue (PB35), Rembrandt Spinel Grey (PBk26)
White gel pen (Pentel)