Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

On our travels this summer, I went beachcombing for some driftwood with a completely different project in mind. I love using natural items in my projects and with keeping the nautical travel theme for the boys' room, I designed this fish bones wall hanging. I found some slender twigs for the body and some bark for the head and tail attached it all with my handy dandy glue gun and voila.

Hi all, Its been a long while since I have been around to chat or share. This past year has thrown us for a loop and we have all had to refocus and re-evaluate life. When I last posted, I was working on a set of tangles, and during this, I started noticing that my vision was going a little funny. No big deal I thought as I am reaching that "age' when things start needing a little tune-up every once in a while. So Easter weekend I finally made an appt with my optometrist. That is all heck broke loose. The next thing I know is they are shipping me off to the hospital Easter Sunday for more testing.  I have been diagnosed with type 2 central serous retinopathy and a form of age-related macular degeneration, where my pigment layers are disintegrating. I'm not 40 yet and the last time I checked I wasn't a man either. As this is primarily a male dominated disease. There is no treatment at this time and it is progressive. :( This in combination with my youngest daughter deve

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 really like the spontanious nature of pulling these prints, the texture you get is even more unpredictable than watercolors. This one of the old man in glasses was created with Golden Open acrylics and detailed with ink on AF cardstock. Hope you enjoy.

I have been working on some monoprint ideas lately. I really like the graphic nature of these prints but I am more of a painterly type person. So combining the two this is my take on monotyping. This is a 5 * 7 inch using golden open acrylics and ink on illustration board. I would love to hear what you think.

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.

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