Watercolor Coral Poppy Painting

The coral oriental poppies I grew in my front yard this spring were such an inspiration! Their petals are so delicate. They almost look like paper! Poppy blooms don't last long, so it's a good thing I took lots of photos for future paintings.

This is the 10 x 12 inch original watercolor that I painted and framed.  It's hanging in my home for now, but it's available for purchase through my Etsy shop.  Check it out!

Kid's Sharpie Canvas Art Project

Materials:
wrapped canvas or canvas board
small spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol
sharpie markers
washable markers

Step 1: Use your imagination and start drawing any patterns or designs on your canvas that strike your fancy.  It worked out for us that my son drew a funny face in the middle and I worked on the edges.

Step 2:  Fill in the white spaces, varying the colors and patterns.  You can use sharpies or washable markers for this. We found that washable markers spread more easily after spraying with the rubbing alcohol- so I highly recommend trying it!

Step 3:  Spry your entire canvas with rubbing alcohol.  You can spray sections as you fill them in (that's what we did) and then spray the whole thing all over again after its all colored in.  I think spraying while the markers are wet helps the ink spread and blend more easily.

Step 4: (optional)  Keep the experiments going! My son tried pressing down paper on the wet canvas to see what cool patterns would transfer onto the paper.  So cool! He thinks it looks like little pixels and I agree.

We also tried scraping the canvas with the tips of markers to create some extra texture.  You could use popsicle sticks, an old credit card, or all kinds of things to do this!

Your canvas will dry fairly quickly and before you know it, you'll have a colorful abstract piece of art to hang up!

Photos of the Week

I finally got myself down to the lake this summer. No swimming though- the algae bloom is back at Utah Lake- ugggh! 

It's such a shame that this beautiful place gets used as a dumping ground in Utah. It could be such a wonderful resource! At least I get to enjoy the plants and birds that live near the shore and I get to see the lake with the mountains rising above it from my own front porch.  

Photos of the Week

Have you ever seen green and pink leaves?  I was lucky enough to see my first in Logan Utah!  I may have taken a few too many photos of them, but hey, it's not every day you see leaves this beautiful.

This is a flower shot from our family trip to Great Basin National Park! We stayed at a cute retreat with the most gorgeous roses.