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 ...

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 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...

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. 

Add caption How do you know when a sketch or painting is finished? Well, that is the age-old question that has plagued many of the even seasoned artists and the answer really lies with the artist itself. These portrait sketches are good examples of portraying age, through eyes and hairline rather than exaggerated wrinkles. Sometimes less is more.

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...

Capturing the essence of a person without overloading on detail is one of the advantages of working with ink within a time limit. As Bob Ross used to say "there are no such things as mistakes, just happy accidents". That is what makes it art instead of a being a copy of a photograph. Here are some 20-minute portrait sketches that I use to capture the mood and moment. Don't look for perfection, look for a reaction from your audience.  Using a quick watercolor washed background this crabby old lady has a little more character than just a using a plain white background. It doesn't have to be perfect or refined to add a little zip.     This dude with a crazy-eyed expression is far from perfect and even with the corrections made along the way it is hard to tell what was an intentional mark and what was not. Don't be intimidated by ink, be confident in your strokes and embrace your mistakes. 

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 ...

I am very excited to bring you this latest work named "Morphed". This abstract painting is a representation of the ying and yang of humanity and how even though we see the world through the same eyes, our perspective is completely unique. I hope you enjoy. 18 * 24 inch acrylic on stretched canvas **Remember sharing is caring**

2' * 3 ' acrylic and ink on wrapped canvas This painting has taken me a few years to finish for a couple of reasons, 1. I don't usually work this large and 2. I don't usually do abstracts. Well working on this piece I have had to overcome these issues. In addition to these colorful faces, I also incorporated some basic tangles to add some interest. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, I just wish my photography skills would do it justice as it is much brighter in person.

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?  

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...

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.

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)

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.

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!

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

It has been a long time since I posted a demo so I will take this opportunity and share with you my latest commission. This is Maia, her wonderful husband asked me to paint this gorgeous picture of his wife as a surprise for her birthday. Awe isn't he just so sweet. I have known this couple for many years and was so honoured when asked, and in all reality who could pass up such a beautiful model. :D Step 1: This is the third workup of the line drawing hence the 2 pieces of paper taped together, nothing fancy here. So I waited for a nice bright day taped her to the window and transferred her to my watercolor paper. The hard part is over. I think that probably my most challenging aspect of this project was the fact that I knew this lady and wanted to do her justice. Stage 2: Lets add color. So in this stage I masked out some key highlights, like the glints of lights from the underskirt and earring, and eyes. The other highlights, like the one on her shoulder I could work around be...

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.