Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

Thank you for stopping by for another step-by-step tutorial on how I drew this African girl in a turban.  I am not a traditionalist when it comes to drawing. I don't use any fancy tools or grids, gosh I don't even use a pencil, actually using a pencil or eraser has become a hindrance instead of a help. I start and finish all of my work in pen and upside down. Most of us have read or should have Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain on their to-read list, well one of the most valuable lessons she teaches is flipping your work upside down. You trick your eyes into actually seeing what is in front of you and not what you think you see. Your mind is much better at picking up spatial changes, angles, and values much better when your mind doesn't label an object.   As you see from the following example I keep my lines loose and flowing and I develop the overall shapes and form of my subject.  At this stage, I am not worried about the details just the of the composi

Its been months in the making but I finally pushed the button and we are live! CLICK TO ENTER www.eclecticstudio.ca If you see something you like and I haven't added the format you are interested in please contact me. I'm always adding new products so sign up to get updates. Thank you for all your support

Wow, I can not believe how much our lives have changed in 3 short years. We finally found our forever home in the beautiful Kootenays, gave up the hustle and bustle of corporate life, and have become semi-retired homesteaders. As I am not very good at downtime I needed to come up with something that fills my heart with joy as well as my free time. It has always been a dream of mine to have a dedicated art studio and a fantasy to have a gallery, Well this year, with the support and coaxing from my husband, I am finally making things happen.   One of the buildings is perfect for this endeavor, now we just need to find a contractor that will work in the middle of the boonies to bring my dreams to fruition. Until that time I am advertising as a working studio and so far from the visitors coming into or out of the States it is slowly garnering attention.   I took a few years off from selling and now I feel like I am starting from scratch, having to relearn all of the intricacies in building

A few artists are very good at blogging – I am not. I get overwhelmed by creating valuable content, how often to blog, and whether blogging can be effective for artists. When we look at creating content we need to first identify: What is the objective of an artist blog? I am sure that every artist has unique objectives, but I can almost guarantee we are all blogging to create an online presence and drive traffic to our art websites so we can land a sale. When developing content we should keep in mind that y our online art gallery is a place to showcase your art, but your artist blog makes it easy for people to find you in Google’s search. Put your time and effort into what will help you to reach your unique goals. If your goal is to sell art prints, put your effort into what will help you to sell more art prints. If your goal is to sell a watercolor painting, put your effort into strategies that will help you to sell your watercolor painting. If your goals are to i

Home on the Range 6*8 inch acrylic on canvas board available for purchase Whenever I have the opportunity to do a show I am always mindful of whom my customer is, I guess this is my marketing and sales background showing up. A show in the city may feature more paintings, than a show in the country where it may be more prints/art cards. I have also found that when selling in the city buyers seem to be relaxed and accepting of abstract ideas and styles. I have entered a new market and have been invited to participate in a local art show, being in the country I decided to put together a mix of smaller paintings and art cards and we will see how that goes. Any ideas on how to market your art in smaller markets?

Well, I finally broke down and bought a permanent 6 * 6 inch permanent Gelli printing plate. I have been using the DIY gelatin plate I made a few years ago a lot in my work but it has a limited shelf life. What started out as a 10 * 10 inch, after time, shrinkage and remelting it is now a 3 * 5, which works well for tags or small note cards but I felt the investment in a permanent plate was worth it. This is one of my most favorite journal pages to date and I think I am going to convert it to an art card for an upcoming show. I would love to hear what you think.

If you love scrapbooking, paper arts or mono printing you will love gelatin plate printing. These plates are available through your local craft store or online but I have chosen to make my own using this recipe: Ingredients: Recipe 1 6 T of unflavored gelatin (7 of the small packs) 1 1/2 cups boiling water 1 1/2 cups glycerin 2 bottles of rubbing alcohol (some people have not had any luck with this ingredient but I have found it works for me) also please do not microwave rubbing alcohol it may cause explosion or burns. or you can use this recipe Recipe 2 4 oz. unflavored gelatin (4 boxes or 16 packets) 2 – 6 oz bottles of glycerin 1/2 cup COLD WATER 1 1/2 cups boiling water Equipment: You can use a rectangular glass pan, one of those clear acrylic frames, or a metal pan or tray. You can also make plates in round shapes or cut fresh ones into geometric shapes or organic forms. If the pan is 9×13, the plate will come out about 1/4 inch thick. Adjust the recipe

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)

Just a quick demo on how I painted this sailboat at sunset. Colors used: Indian Yellow, Napthol Red, Alizarin Crimson, Royal Blue, Burnt Sienna and Brillant Orange and permenant ink First draw out your image and mask off your sun spot - dry. I chose to use ink as a base to this painting applying it both directly and using it as a wash to add some shadows. Next wet the entire sky area. Working around your sun spot start by adding a graduated wash of indian yellow from the bottom to about 3/4 the way up, then add in alizarin crimson, and at the top work in a band of royal blue letting it run down a little. DRY The sky is not holding the weight I need it to so I wen over it again using the same colors and technique. This time adding a band of brilliant orange along the bottom. Looking better but still not quite there. So lets dry and move on to another area so that I can come back and judge the values. The sails were added using a mix of BS, brilliant orange and indian yellow. D

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!

Click Here For Auction! Finally a few new paintings have gone up in my store. This is one of them. It is my version of the classic painting by Giovanni Bellini Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice done in watercolor. It measures 3.25 *5.5inch on 140lb CP arches paper. Hope you enjoy :)

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

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

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!

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

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

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

2.5 * 3.5 inch watercolor on 140lb CP Arches SOLD My kitchen table is been taken over with pre-school books, so ive had to resort to changing my artistic expression from medium/large sized works to whatever fits into the palm of my hand and can be moved quickly. LOL I dont mind because my 4 year old has been writing, spelling and sounding out words and starting to catch on to column adding. :) My 2.5 year old is a parrot so anything that we are working on that day is being picked up by X as well. I LOVE IT!  So with that said this is my latest little creature card ive been able to fit in. Hope you enjoy. 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

**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.