Learning with watercolors

I have been spending any free time in the past few months on learning the nuances of watercolors. To imitate is to learn - and so I have been trying to learn by painting a bunch of watercolors I have seen on Pinterest. Here are a few of them. Obviously none as good as the originals I tried to copy - but I am making consistent progress!

Open Paint nights at Redwood City

Redwood City has an vibrant community with a lot of events and initiatives to bring folks together. One recent event I attended was Open Paint night. I had a fun evening amidst food, drink and a bunch of creative strangers! Here is the acrylic painting I made that evening, that now hangs in my bathroom :)

Acrylic on canvas, for Open Paint night

A white Zentangle

Sketching/painting on a black base, either paper or canvas, always looks way more dramatic than on a white base. I recently got these new white Sakura gelly roll pens and decided to try out the pens for a white Zentangle on black paper. I had a great time making this and will definitely try more. Zentangles are very appropriately called "Zen"tangles. Nothing better to achieve a meditative state of mind than art!

A white Zentangle - Hamsa

Urban sketching - workshops and a travel kit

I have always been fascinated by artists who draw and paint plein air. Whenever I see one, I stop to peek at their sketchbooks and marvel at their skill. It has been a particular daydream of mine - to sketch at quaint little cafes, or by the beach, or on vacation. To bring home a sketchbook full of memories! Wouldn't that be sweet?

I found this group called Urban Sketchers who meet regularly to sketch and paint on location. And this year, in celebration of their 10 year anniversary they are conducting 10 workshops in their various chapters, including the Bay Area chapter. I signed up for 5 of those workshops. And now I am bubbling over with excitement!!

Sketching out and about requires some planning. So I gathered up all my art supplies (including a few that I bought specifically for the workshop) and shortlisted what I would like to carry through a day of walking and sketching. The criteria was that it had to fulfill all my sketching needs, while at the same time be light enough to carry around for hours. Here is what I am finally planning to pack for the workshops:

My travel sketching kit

• Sketchbook: Based on inputs from my workshop instructors, I chose the Canson mixed media 5.5X8.5 sketchbook. It has spiral binding and a hardbound cover, and pages can be folded back for ease of holding with one hand. This sketchbook comes with 224 gsm paper weight which is pretty good for simple watercolor washes
• Travel watercolor kit: I already own Derwent watercolor pencils which I love. However, they are not the best suited for sketching on the go (imagine fumbling around with a bunch of pencils trying to find the right one). So I got this W&N Cotman Sketchers Pocket Box - its a neat little kit and is well recommended for watercolor beginners. And its only as big as my smartphone - I can literally carry this around in my jeans pockets
• Drawing/painting instruments: In my pouch, I packed my Pigma Micron waterproof pens, a couple of graphite pencils, a mechanical pencil for backup, my Pentel Aquash waterbrushes, a couple of travel watercolor brushes, an eraser and a sharpener
• Miscellaneous: I also packed a few other things to make life on the road easy. Some tissues (to clean up the brushes and any spills), binder clips (to hold pages or to clip on the watercolor kit to the sketchbook if required), a small plastic cup (to pour out some water if I need to use the regular watercolor brushes) and a small medicine dropper (to pour water into my waterbrushes without spilling it everywhere)

And that's it - that's all you need to get started with urban sketching! Now that I have packed my supplies (a week ahead of time!), all that's left to do is wait till the date of the workshop. I am soo excited, I can hardly wait!

Update: I did a sketch of some of the supplies in my travel kit using those very supplies :) And here is my sketch:

A sketch of my travel sketching kit

Jewelry making of a different kind

The latest fashion/craft trend amongst my folks is silk thread jewelry. If you have been anywhere near Pinterest, you would have seen these gorgeous, bright silk jewelry pieces. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. I ordered a bangle making kit which had all the supplies nicely curated already, so I didnt need to search for each of them by myself. Guess what, I plan to make customized sets for each of my pattu sarees! Ambitious much?

Anyhoo, here are some bangles that I made recently as gifts. Don't you love them? ;)

Silk thread bangles

A cozy blanket for my sweetums

The husband and I were blessed with a precious little gift a while ago. And a gift as precious as this should be wrapped in something nice, don't you think? Ergo baby blanket.

Baby blanket for my precious little pumpkin

I made this baby blanket with Bernat Baby Blanket yarn using this pattern. The crochet pattern is pretty easy on the fingers and fun too - what with the big needle and the speed at which you can get this done. The yarn is so so soft and warm and fuzzy, that I am really tempted to crochet a bigger blanket to use as a throw for us adults. The next time you are in the yarn section of your local craft store, do give this bundle of yarn a squeeze, and you will know what I mean ;) 

A crochet project

I have started a lot of knitting projects over the years. The operative word being started - my mom usually picks up where I leave off and finishes them. I always pick scarves hoping that they would be easy. No need to keep track of patterns, no need to really focus.. just get started and keep going till you hit the required length. But what I always forget is that scarves are long, and take a lot of time and effort to finish.

This time, for a change, I tried crochet. I had heard from others that crochet is faster than knitting. Just a little more complicated to pick up. But easy enough once you pick up the basic moves. Now that I have tried both knitting and crochet, I totally agree! I started and finished this cute pink scarf. It is a simple double crochet scarf, made with Red Heart worsted weight yarn.