Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

I haven't been painting alot for a few months now, but i have 4 small open ended paintings that have been ordered and need to finished in time for Christmas. I usually don't take orders this late in the season, but the same client does this to me every year and makes it worth my while .. lol So in order to get back in the swing of things I did this very loose 2hr portrait of a little african boy. This little man was done on an 8 * 10 canvas board and just 5 colors UMB, alizarin crimson, yellow ochre, and black and white. 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 ...

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!

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 :)

I've been gone forever it feels like. Around Halloween I started feeling a little run down and didn't really think about it - I have kids, lol. And over the past 3 years I have lost close to 60lbs, once again didn't think anything of it, isn't that what we all want. lol But at Christmas, it got to the point that I thought I should go see a doc. Which has now resulted in being booked in for 2 surgeries in the next few months? Not cool! But at least I know it is not all in my head. So if I am away for longer burst in the next few months, please bear with me. I will be back. :) Needless to say, I haven't been doing a lot of anything but resting lately. But in the few good hours that I have had in the last few weeks, I did whip up this precious little babe. I think I will call her Rosie. 2.5 * 3.5 ACEO Watercolor on 140lb CP Arches Happy Creating

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

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 ...

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

  Good morning everyone. A new little art card i just finished up. I just love little chunky babies - yes I am a cheek pincher ;) lol so when i saw this little man I couldn't resist. Hope you enjoy Tammy

I must really like little boy's in blue as this is the second painting this week I have done with the same color pallette. :) I really love the renaissance feel to this painting, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately. Other examples can be found here http://tampster1.blogspot.ca/2011/08/trying-to-loosen-up-little-portrait.html#.UpoBMcRrZjo and here http://tampster1.blogspot.ca/2013/01/the-old-lady-in-window.html#.UpoBlsRrZjo SOLD Boy in Blue Hat ****Artist Trading Card*** 2.5 * 3.5 inch Watercolor on 140lb CP paper Hope you enjoy Tammy

This was my serious project for the week. My little boy blue checking out the tadpoles at grandma's. It was quite a chilld day and from his vantage point he could still see the little fishes and baby frogs and didnt mind just exploring this new world.:D 6 * 7 inch watercolor on 140lb CP paper Hope you enjoy Tammy

SOLD A small painting of a little African girl carrying a basket back from the market. This painting was done in a limited pallet with the addition of some cooler yellows for the clothing. 4 * 5.5 inch Watercolor on 140lb CP Strathmore paper

Been working on a few small childrens' portraits in watercolor. Children are so full of character and innocents and are such a joy to paint. Both paintings are were done in a limited pallet using 3 to 4 colors and just letting the layers of color and value brings these babies to life. Hope you enjoy these. SOLD to USPACE GALLERY Haitian Hider 5.5 * 6.5 in watercolor on 140lb CP arches Baby Wonder 4.5 * 5.5 inch Watercolor on 140lb CP Strathmore

So the past 2 weeks have all been about SPRING. Dont you just Love that word. :D I have got my seeds that I can get started now up and growing. Yesterday I planted a bunch more herbs and bedding out plants. The greenhouse (more of a lean-to) design has been finalized by the man of the house. ;) Working for a lumber yard has its privlages. :) My wonderful husband has also started on my new raised garden bed boxes and 2 planters made from recycled pallets. Ill post pics when they are planted up. On top of the smell of dirt in the house I also have bits and pieces of fabric laying around. My BFF is expecting again and being a mom of 4, I think I have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesnt. So when I came across this pattern for a baby swaddler from Craft Gossip I just couldnt resist. There is Nothing better than being able to have 2 minutes to breathe when the babies are little. So can you imagine not having to burrito wrap every 2 minutes because the little one has kicked its ...

I haven't done a watercolor portrait in a few months so I thought I would stick with the mini theme I have been dabbling with and try out an artist trading card format 2.5 * 3.5 inch for this little girl. Hope you enjoy :) Watercolor on 140lb CP paper

Another painting started .. i just love the expression on this teens face.. it represents that genre very well.(man i sound old all of a sudden) LOL Anyways just a simple pallette Skin tones - raw sienna, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue. Work slow .. develop your warms .. thin washes wet on wet and **let dry in between*** When you are waiting for the initial skin tones to dry move onto another area that does NOT touch and adjacent area that you have worked on. For the jacket I used just a simple wash of UMB and Burnt Sienna. Cobalt blue for a bounce of stronger color in the white shadows. Keep developing your skin tones. dampen a small area at a time, drop in your color and walk away. For the hat I used a light wash of perm. rose.. dry and then cobalt blue. Enhance the shadows and the stiching on the hat with a mix alizarin crimson and UMB that you have been using on the face. This will help to tie everythig together. I also used perm rose and cobalt underwashes on the s...

Well it is finally done - thank heavens! And over the next few days I will be posting what I have been working on over the past 2 months. This is a double portrait- kinda - of my second cousin and her favorite pony out in the field. This was NOT the easiest piece I have ever done and it was definatly a challenge going from color to black and white again. On with the show. Stage 1 is the line drawing and the most important of all stages. Careful planning at this stage will guide you through the rest of the process with ease. Remember every line is an opportunity for a value change so plan.. plan.. plan. Hope you can see these first 2 steps Now its all relative.. LOL ;) I tend to bounce around allot when i work because 1. I get bored easy. 2. I tend to see how one area works against another. If you see in this stage I have started placing some of my darkest darks - the lightest lights will be the paper itself. Any other value that i put in will be in between these 2. So far there is...