Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

My wonderful husband stuck a cheap watercolor set in my stocking this year. More for a travel kit than for any serious work but it made me realize how easy working with the right supplies can make your job, especially in watercolors. An inexpensive paper has no real absorbancy and your colors don't flow or mingle like they should. Considering this, the painting style and application of paint to the surface has to reflect these limitations. These few paintings were done in a direct painting style as this paper did not accept washes or glazes well. These are a few of my attempts, hope you enjoy.

Off to a fresh start with the cleaning of my studio. And after the last 3 months of going crazy, what an undertaking that was. Now this is not one of thise fancy pinterest dream studios. Maybe one day. ;) But it is completely functional for being an 8 * 10 space and holding as much "crap" asI have gathered throughout the years. So I thought I would share a little of my hard work with you and I hope you enjoy this little tour.

Christmas - My second favorite time of the year. Every year we try and add some homemade decorations and after perusing Pinterest I saw this awesome image of Santa and just fell in love with it. Pottery Barn did theirs in silver glitter and Bower Power did theirs in red glitter. Hmmm. 2 young children and a bowl full of glitter is just asking for problems so I did his image in the traditional red and white. I love how he turned out and a wonderful addition to our Christmas decor. He is quite large measuring 2ft * 2ft on a 2inch gallery stretched canvas. Hope you enjoy

My daughter needed a lunch bag for school and so I went shopping, but anything pretty was incredibly overpriced for what you get, and being in kindergarten I know we will be going through at least 3 during the year. So while I was at the dollar store I found this "blank canvas", grabbed my fabric markers and turned it into what looks like a designer bag. My girl is so happy, even though it's not pink. ;) Hope this inspires you to turn something boring into something beautiful.

Some of you have already sent your little ones off to school... we are doing the big count down to the first day of Kindergarden. YEAH!!! So while "B" is working on her school prep mom is sitting at her easle painting up a new aceo. This one features an african woman carrying her wares off to market. It measures 2.5 * 3.5 in watercolor on 140lb CP arches paper. Hope you enjoy.

Well while the kids were making up their Father' day cards this weekend I pulled out my paints and let them fly. It is very strange that anything put on the open market is usually very detailed and traditional but anything that I make up for our home is bold,colorful and almost abstract. I love the way this painting turned out-very few strokes with bold color. :) Untitled 8 * 10 acrylic on canvas board SOLD

One of my students have asked me to post the demo that I did for a workshop on portraits from last week. This is a 2 hour painting (including dry time) using a limited pallette of quin gold, aliz crimson, Ultramarine blue, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber.  Stage 1: Mask out any highlights or if you are really confident you can paint around them. Due to the small size of this little man I masked. Stage 2 Sunshine : Wet your paper into the hairline, background, even the whites of the eyes. Wait until the sheen is gone from the paper and start dropping in your mid mix of quin gold. I love this color for 2 reasons. 1 it lifts easy, which comes in handy when laying down your road map  and 2 it adds your sunshine.   DRY Stage 3 I added a little BS and BU just to place a few darks in the eyes and hair. DRY Then mix up a light mix of aliz crimson. This is a high power, staining color and should be used with care. It is way easier to add color then to take it away. Wet his little face again a

Hope everyone is having a good week. I just got this one completed this morning and couldnt wait to share it. ATC 2.5 * 3.5 inch Watercolor on 140lb CP Arches Hope you enjoy SOLD

2.5 * 3.5 inch watercolor on 140lb CP Well my Christmas shopping is done, the house is decorated and handmade items are made and wrapped, I don't have to cook this year so we are sitting back and relaxing from now until January. ;)  Fist time EVER.. LOL Now that I said that I know karma is gonna come a bite me in the butt. Oh well until then I will get as much done as possible. This is my latest trading card featuring a sprig of fall leaves set against an old wood fence. Hope you enjoy. Click Here For Auction!

This weeks new release. This is portrait # 8 from my children from around the world series. Artist Trading Card 2.5 * 3.5 inch Watercolor on 140lb CP SOLD

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends and Family! Im a little disapointed in myself. While I was trimming this piece the blade slipped and now it is a touch smaller than an aceo. So now she measures 2.25 * 3.5 inch  watercolor on 140lb CP arches SOLD Hope you enjoy

She is part of my children from around the world portrait collection. 2.5 * 3.5 inch was painted using artist grade watercolors on 140lb CP Arches paper. Hope you enjoy SOLD

Wow it has been a long time since I have done one of these little tutorials/ paint alongs. Yesterday I thought I would paint up a little girl. I had no real person in mind, I just started with a basic line drawing getting her perspectives down and picking out my pallett of hmmm.... lets see... quin gold, perm red and cobalt blue, opera and i will toss a little burnt umber in at the end. Lets start by wetting her face and dropping in some color to get a base of where we want to go with this. At this point I will be working with only my yellow and red remember to work around your lights. Still working wet in wet and building up light layers of my yellow and reds all the time thinking about where the sun will hit her face. You will see I added just a dab of burnt umber to place the eyes. Dont forget to leave the highlights. Continue building up your layers of sunshine, but now it is time to start thinking about how and where your facial structures recede. The eye sockets and sides of t

Well after a month of continous visitors I am hoping things will start to clam down around here and I can get back to some serious work. :) This is a little tree frog ACEO I managed to fit in this week. He measures 2.5 * 3.5 in and is created using watercolor on 140lb CP Arches paper. Hope you enjoy. SOLD

Good morning everyone. I dont know about you but I am really feeling the Christmas - yes i said it :0- crunch. There just doesnt seem to be enough time in the day to get everything acomplished. We just got the Halloween decorations down and now we are pulling the Christmas boxes. The last of our visitors will be arriving tomorrow and the I am hoping it will calm down after that till Christmas, I am getting a little burnt out. :) I have a few things on the go right now. I am almost done my prim angel, should have her up later today and trying to clean up some 1/2 done little aceo's I have piling up in my work corner. :) This is the latest 2.5 * 3.5 inch Watercolor on 140lb Arches CP Have a very Happy Day! Tammy

How can you tell when the Holiday season has started??? By the amount of guests in your home. ;) LOL Another set has gone and just enough time to get sheets washed and put back on before the next set of guests arrive. I think I will need to fit in a NAP sometime in there. This is one I finished at 4am but have been waiting for the snow to clear before I could get a good picture. It is an ACEO 2.5 * 3.5 inch watercolor on 140lb CP paper. Hope you enjoy.  SOLD Tammy

Pigeon #1 2.5 * 3.5 inch watercolor on 140lb arches paper SOLD Pigeon #2 2.5 * 3.5 in watercolor on 140lb CP arches paper SOLD  Good morning everyone. :) A beautiful fall day has started and what better way to greet it then with a couple of lovely bird paintings. :) Hope you have a Happy Day Tammy

Avail for purchase SOLD I bought some new paints last week and just couldnt wait to try them out.  Quin Gold *** Love this color and cant beleive that I have been living without this color for so long. :) and the other is Lapis Lazuli, the verdict is still out on this color. Although it does lend itself nicely to stone but still trying to come up with another use for this oddity.  These are 2 of the watercolors I fininished up this weekend. They are both ATC's measuring 2.5 * 3.5 inch and are painted on 140lb CP arches paper. Hope you enjoy

Hi everyone. I cant believe how fast time flies these days. We have been getting Belle ready for kindergarden and potty training x-man. Boys are sooo much harder then girls. :( lol but while we have a min at the table I get a chance to glaze in some colors and every few days I actually get something acomplished. This is my project of the week. It is 4.5 * 7 inch acrylic on a gallery stretched canvas. Check ebay tomorrow for the posting Hope you enjoy Tammy

**SOLD Over the weekend Artist Network was offering their free video weekend. In light of recent events I havent been much in the creative mood so this was a little kick start in the creative department. Inspired by Karlyn Holman, Watercolor without Boundries, this little tree frog aceo was created using a toothpick to paint in the black acrylic and traditional brush painting for the watercolor portions. Hope this inspires you to try something new.