Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

We have been fortunate to have avoided the apocalyptical floods, but I just can't sit back while others are struggling. So to help with the victims of the flood I will be donating 25% of the monies raised from the sale of any painting sold from today until Sunday to the ADRF. This is a community relief fund partnership with the Abbotsford Community Foundation, Chamber of Commerce and the University of the Fraser Valley. I will be posting the amount raised and the check going out for transparency. With Christmas around the corner, give a gift that keeps on giving. See more at www.eclecticstudio.ca 4 * 6 inch  Watercolor on paper 

I chose to use a grisaille technique for the painting of this old man in watercolor. Grisaille is an old technique oil painters used to develop a monochromatic value study, kinda like a road map for your painting. This later served as a base for the addition of  transparent layers of color. For this painting, I chose to use a limited palette of dioxazine purple, Naples yellow,  alizarin crimson for the face with a pop or 2 of transparent orange and green gold at the end. **This is not a palette I would choose again and here's why. Naples yellow doesn't pack any punch and is opaque. This is not a great mix when you need to cover or mute the purple. Diox purple is also strong stainer, making it difficult to remove pigment. Sometimes this is ok, but didn't really help on this piece. I started this gentleman with an ink sketch that can be found in my Strathmore watercolor 400 series journal. I love the quality of paper in this journal but I wish it wou...

Painting faces with darker skin tones doesn't  have to be a complicated process. Using a limited palette of just 3 colors a yellow (quin gold), a red (quin magenta) and a blue (Prussian) can create beautiful vibrant clean skin tones.  I love using these colors for darker skin tones due to their saturation and their ability to create rich darks.  After you complete your sketch, start with wetting your paper until the shine is off and then take a med. wash of yellow and touch your paper. Use the wetness of the paper to assist in letting your colors flow. Keep the edges against the white highlights clean and soft. I don't use masking fluid anymore, for the tiny highlights, I will come back in at the end of the process with a white pen and add them back in.   Let your layers dry in between as to not muddy your piece. work in small sections and build up the variations in the skin.  Add caption Don't get hung up with det...

I always get asked how to get started painting portraits in watercolors. Easy! Grab a tube of yellow, red and blue, some water, a brush, and good paper. As you move along in the painting process you will learn more about chroma, transparency, granulation, staining properties and such. Right now, we will worry about laying down color and not making it into mud in the process. For this painting, I am using my Strathmore watercolor journal 400 series. I really like the fact that this journal is hardcover but I wish it would lay flat when you open it and get ready to paint. Step 1 - Working in ink only, I work up a quick line drawing to act as a roadmap to my painting. Be confident in your work and don't fear mistakes.  Step 2 - painting with a limited palette. This lady is of European descent so I decided to lighten up my triad by choosing gamboge nova (Holbien), cobalt blue (Cotman), Permanent Alizarin Crimson (Holbien), this painting I also added Ver...

A rt has always played a major part in my life. Whether it be grabbing a sheet of printer paper and pen, some charcoal and wood or if I am really lucky I can find time for a brush and canvas, I have always used art both as a therapy and as a gauge of my mental health. I feel it is very important to find 1 hour a day to focus on your personal well being. I don't consider it selfish or negative. Our lives get so crazy and easily become of control that I find it an essential part of my emotional health and I am very lucky to have someone in my life that recognizes that.   I find 20 minutes hour a day of uninterrupted time when I take lunch. I drive down to the river, and either grab my running shoes and zip around a quick 2.5km trail or I crank up the stereo and grab my travel sketch bag. I take this kit everywhere. It contains the essentials for my style of sketching which is not really fancy, is easy to transport and knows how to get the job done. I emphasize ...

8*10 wrapped canvas Acrylic pouring is an exciting, unpredictable painting technique that doesn't involve brushes and can provide you with finished paintings or interesting backgrounds for additional techniques such as this one. Here is another revamped failed pour painting that after the addition of ink and watercolor it transformed it into something spectacular. Carefully places accents help to acentuate the.hair and weathered face of this individual.  I also tried really hard not to cover all of the beautiful background instead using the texture to my advantage. I LOVE this painting, it has everything I look for in a self-critic of my work, contrast, color, spontaneity, interest, lost and found edges. I hope this inspires you to try something new. If you found this of interest remember sharing is caring. 

Cockadoodle Doo 5*8 Mixed media (Gelli print, acrylic, watercolor, oil pencil, ink, pastel) Good morning sunshine! Rise and Shine!    One of my more favorite Gelli paintings as I love everything chicken. Having a small flock is one of the reasons we moved out of  the city and into a community that is chicken friendly. So to honor this funny little man I pulled a page from my paper journal and just went at it. One of the benefits of painting on either a toned or pattern background is that not only does the mid tone color of the underpainting works to tie the painting together, but the subtle texture in the print can add a certain je nais saia quoi, even of you only see specks of it here and there. You can see that interesting pattern come through in the area behind the waddle and in the eye area and it really lends itself to adding the texture without having to paint it. I love it! As 2017 is the Chinese ye...

Happy Groundhog day. For those of you that don't know what the meaning of this day is. It is the mid point of winter. YEAH!!!! And to celebrate we bring the groundhog (an oversized gopher) out of his den (cage) to see if he sees his shadow. If he does it means 6 more weeks of winter and if he doesn't than spring is supose to come early. For this part of the country it is gaurenteed we will have 6 more weeks of winter and it has been a very long winter so far. lol  Finally we are getting some beautiful weather but as the snow disappears the brown lawn emerges. I am in desperate need of COLOR. :D  So I drew out a couple of Macaw parrot profiles and am working them up 2 different ways. This is the first one and he was done with a combination of  tangle patterns and brightly colored watercolors.  So much fun. Hope you enjoy.   

I had a very productive day yesterday. The kiddo`s have been down sick so it has been very quiet the last few days. I finished up a few paintings that have been sitting in my `they are starting to fall apart, so i will put it away for a while box``. This one of the old lady in the window is one of those projects that really gets me out of my comfort zone of painting tight. It has elements that I love, the contrast of lights against darks and the imagery of what the woman is thinking about. It is a small piece measuring only 3.25 * 4 inch so my intention was not for detail but for impression. Hope you enjoy. (referral affiliate link- all that means is that if you click on the image, and decide to purchase, I would receive a teeny tiny %. There is no cost to you by using my referral link)

Well I am finally feeling better but now the kiddo's are sick. :( So while the babes are resting on the couch watching movies, I pulled out my paints and put together this little landscape of an old covered bridge. 4 * 5.25 inch watercolor on 140lb arches Hope you enjoy. Click Here to purchase!

I am a little behind in my posting. This is one of the pieces I completed for the Christmas commission I received and haven't got around to getting up here yet. This aceo (art card edition and originals) is of a country farm in the fall. It measures 2.5 * 3.5 inch and was created on 140lb CP arches using artist grade watercolors. Hope you enjoy.

It has been a few months but I have finally got a few new items up for bid in my shop including this little guy. He measures 2.75 * 5.25 inch and is painted on 140lb Arches paper. Hope you enjoy.

This painting practically painted its self. Using a value study as an underpainting to your watercolor is an easy way to paint any subject. This portrait used water-soluble markers to apply washes of color. by using color left on your water pen you can bounce some softer transitions this is also another way to control your hard and soft edges in a painting.  After applying the first washes of darks I went back in with a few washes of color to bring this lady to life. The best part is that the shading was already taken care of for you. I hope you take this opportunity to practice a variety of painting techniques. Hope you enjoy. Merry Christmas everyone.

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.

These are a few of the small paintings I have been working on this week. Outcroppings was done mixed media with an ink and watercolor wash and old trees on misty lake is a traditional watercolor. Hope you enjoy. :) Click Here For Auction!

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 ...

5 * 5.75 inch Watercolor on 140lb Arches Don’t you feel that sometimes life just seems to get away from you.  This new painting has been a long time coming, her name is Patrise and she runs a craft market on the San Salvador Island. I hope to get back into the swing of things after I can reign this recent chaos back in. Hope you enjoy

It is snowy and blustery and generally gross outside so I thought I would get this weeks painting polished up and posted. This handsome tibetan child is featured in his traditional garb which adds a huge pop of color to an otherwise dull painting. He measures 4.5 * 5.5 inch and painted on 140lb CP arches. Hope you enjoy. :) Click Here For Auction!

My tomatoes and peppers and herbs are starting to pop up now and I am starting to dream of green grass and white sand. So with that Happy thought in mind I was inspired to paint up this lovely white cosmo. This flower is always a show stopper in my garden with guarenteed color and beautiful whispy foilage. It measures 4.75 * 6.5 inch and is painted on 140lb CP arches paper. Available for purchase. Hope you enjoy. Click Here For Auction!

This is from my little bin of "it is starting to fall apart, so I will put it away for a later day." LOL I dont put alot of pieces in the big round "bin" because my husband just rescues them for his stash anyways. HAHAHAHA This is another watercolor portrait of a child using a limited color palette for her skin tones and just bumping up the color in the hair. Anyways here is this weeks project "Rosie" 2.5 * 3.5 inch watercolor on 140lb CP Arches Have a Happy Day :)