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 

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 ...

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 intr...

I created this old sailor painting in my watercolor journal using a limited watercolor palette, black and white gel pens and a waterpen pen. Waterpens are plastic cartridge pens with plastic or synthetic bristles that are filled with water and work well in a travel journal. But when you are use to professional supplies these take a little bit to get use to as nothing beats beautiful sables, but sables do not transport well in my travel bag, and transporting a water supply is a pain.  Not a great painting, but I really love the play of lights against darks. 

I have decided to post some of my reference photos free for you all to use in your work. These are some lovely wild sunflowers growing in the fields out by the ball diamonds in Fort Macleod, Alberta.  This little gopher was trying to photo bomb my other shots so I had to include him in this batch. If you choose to use any of these photos in your art  I would love it if you could link back. Thanks, I really appreciate it.

Drawing portraits on kraft toned paper provide a mid-toned base in which to build your portrait upon. One of the drawing sites I visit has a Halloween drawing event going on right now. Each day a different Halloween inspired drawing prompt is posted and you have the opportunity to use this as inspiration for your sketch. The prompt for this day was Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus and skulls.  This gentleman is full of personality and life. With very little detail or line work, you are still able to give life to a 2-dimensional piece of paper. Kraft paper is a little thin so you are not able to manipulate the ink like you can on some thicker papers, so you have to be very watchful when laying down your strokes. 

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 ...

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...

Can't you just feel the wind in your hair and the bugs in your teeth? I bet your this Golden Lab can feel just that driving down the open road, and he is enjoying every moment.  6* 8 in Acrylic on canvas board $135 CAD includes shipping 

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.

I try and pull my sketchbook out every chance I get. Whether it is to create a background for later use or to create a study or painting from the pages that are "in waiting".  Using my sketchbooks regularly gives me the opportunity to intuitively paint. I grab whatever I have at hand and just let myself go. Because I work in a lot of portraits I find that these images just appear, others may find that this happens when they work with animals or landscapes or even abstract arts. This painting started with a background of stamps, dictionary paper cuts, stencils and wound up with very little if anything of that background showing through after adding some hard and soft pastels to finish it off. I guess it is what it is.

5*8 inch mixed media over monoprint With the background already done for me, this acts as a mid-tone in which to add lights and darks. During this painting process, I felt like a sculpture pushing (adding darks) and pulling features (adding lights). I used a very simplistic palette of just Prussian blue and white over a Gelli print strong in oranges and greens, I feel it has some impact with the texture of the print showing through. Thoughts?  

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...

How quickly an idea can change. I have an art journal full of unused Gelli prints and some basic supplies that have been calling my name, so when I get 5 minutes to unwind I use what's in front of me to do something wild and crazy. Today I grabbed some cheap chalk pastels and just started to play. As I get to the hair you will see that the pastels are a little weak in value and saturation so I sprayed with a fixative added some sewing tissue and paper to cover the red pastel and turned her hair green. I added some contrast in the background and pumped up the color with little touches of acrylic and oil pencil. Don't be afraid to layer and think outside the box. Use crazy colors, don't be a perfectionist, use items that are completely out of your comfort zone. Grow. This painting is one of those ideas that went off the rails and turned out pretty good. It has all the characteristics I personally look for in my art. Value, Composition, Contrast, and Interest. Hope this ins...

Hi everyone, so nice to be back in the world of creative expression. I really miss these days as I don't get a lot of time to do it anymore with going back to  school and family responsibilities.   4.5" * 7" Mixed media (paper, canvas, acrylic, ink, oil pencil, chalk) I was working on some printing some Gelli papers for our Christmas gift tags. This is an easy project to create with very minimal, inexpensive supplies and are beautiful in many other applications as well. I used regular craft acrylic, card stock, a homemade permanent Gelli plate and some store bought and hand cut stencils and stamps. I really don't like wasting such beautiful papers so with the left overs from our tags, I decided to cover a canvas with 1 inch tiles using the printed paper with Modge Podge and after deliberating for a while I decided to add this cute bunny painting. I left some of the background prints showing through as this will add dimens...

"Sleigh Ride" is one of the fragrances from New Directions that I receieved for the more masculine soaps I made this year and I love it!  Their description of the scent includes top notes of eucalyptus, citrus, ozone floral with nuances of strawberry. Floral mid notes of cinnamon, carnation and tuberose blend into a warm base of cedar, violet, balsam, powder and musk.  It may be just be me but when I smell it I am reminded of my grandpas sweet pipe tobacco. Inspired by the name of the fragrance, I designed this soap in a white base (snow) and added a pencil line of activated charcoal (for the shadows that you would see on a moonlit stroll through the woods)and added a sharp peaked top that shimmer with white glitter (to represent the shimmery snow caps in the moonlight) . This soap is a treat for all your senses. What do you think? Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Adeps Suillus, Ricinus Communis Seed Oil, tita...

Once upon a time I was a little nut and the older I get the more this quote couldn't be truer. This is another page in my inspirational art journal. My journey of what keeps me going from day to day. This piece is done on a gelatin printed background with some collage, ink and oil pastel.

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 ...

My dd and I have been busy printing gift tags, Christmas cards and background papers on our handmade Gelli plate. If you haven't had a chance to experiment with this type of monoprinting, you should! There is no right or wrong way, just ways that work out better than others. If you don't like something it is very easily covered up to create another dimension. We cut our own stamps (texture plates), basic stencils and used found objects to print a multitude of papers. This is one of my not so good prints that I turned into an inspirational mixed media piece. Gelli print, acrylic paint, oil pastel, ink, collage.  I love the way the paper does a lot of the work for you.