creative jewish mom

Simple Watercolor Poppy Wall Art

After sharing a few posts last week showing the watercolor poppies I used to make holiday decorations I decided to hold off and publish this watercolor poppy wall art separately so that it wouldn't get lost in all the gorgeousness of the watercolor poppy cut outs and the watercolor poppies centerpiece! After making those watercolor poppy cut-outs with straight stems, I realized that I could paint a panorama (two sheets of large watercolor paper used horizontally) of curved stem poppies to fill the width of my kitchen picture ledge for some more lovely decor! And yes indeed, simply painting a long row of poppies with no added background looks quite good, and can be done fairly quickly. Best of all, flat art like this is certainly simple to store until you need to add a festive touch once again. Of course these poppies are so great looking you'll likely leave them up for a while! I have 3 picture ledges in my kitchen that are used to display art generally, and I love to change them up, so these poppies have been a nice addition, and quite a bit more calming than my flower paintings hung clothesline style! The great thing about watercolor paper is that I was able to simply stand the sheets on the shelf, and with just a bit of masking tape to secure them, voila, lovely art was born. Okay, I did have to paint the poppies first, but that was pure joy! Want to make some painted poppies to decorate a spot in your home? Let's do it!

Blooming Watercolor Poppies Centerpiece Is Festive And Very Budget Friendly!

I am totally in love with the watercolor poppies in a pot centerpiece, well one-sided centerpiece really, and I have already made two more! This idea, is something that you can play around with depending on your own needs, and there are so many ways to go! I actually made a small one using a small round plastic peanut butter tub, which would make an adorable teacher appreciation gift or a token of appreciaion for a neighbor, for example. Then again, making larger pots of poppies really doesn't take that much more time, so go for it, as this burst of festive and artful color is a joyful addition anywhere or anytime! The Jewish holiday of Shavuos is on Thursday night, so we'll be enjoying all the watercolor poppies as we celebrate the giving of the Torah, and then they will likely be used as centerpieces for any number of occassions. I'll admit, I can't wait to try this idea out with other flowers, but with the holiday approaching, together with houseguests, that will just have to wait. Okay, lets make some of these pots of blooming flowers, shall we?

Watercolor Poppy Cutouts To Make NOW!

Please take my word for it, these watercolor poppy cutouts are one of the best things I've made in a long time, as there is just something about them that looks AMAZING! And that is even though my illustrations and the paint job were a bit lacking.......So get out the biggest watercolor paper you can find and start making some watercolor poppy cutouts, you won't regret it, and in fact you'll be jumping for joy and planning all the ways you can use these beauties! I have this idea of a diorama of sorts with watercolor poppies, so with that in mind I drew my poppies with straight stems so that I can tape a skewer to the back (which I did in this photo) but you can also draw them as shown inside this post, and then figure out how to use them afterwards! I'd say just hanging them anywhere could look amazing, or use them as a gift topper, or make a bouquet, of any number of other ideas I have yet to think of! The Jewish holiday of Shavuot is coming up this Thursday night, and since it is the holiday of greenery and flowers to remember the lush Mt. Sinai, where the Torah was given, these poppies are just perfect! (Never mind the fact that the poppies usually bloom for Passover in Israel, we really don't need to be so literal, we just need to be joyful!) Okay, lets get to it!

White Gouache Illustration On Watercolor Wash

As you can see, I am just loving the idea of illustrating with gouache, and so I have one more simple technique that produces great results. Ready? One of the benefits of gouache, as opposed to watercolor paint, is that is is opaque, meaning you can layer one color over another, yes indeed! So, one simple way to take advantage of this attribute is to make a beautiful background with either watercolor paint or gouache, though or course something rich, like my blue backgroud, and then paint lovely details on top of this background with white gouache. And if you want to take it one step further, add some ink details, and voila, you've created something wonderful! Need a bit more information to make this happen? Let do it........

Rosh HaShana Symbols Mobile Or Wall Hanging Craft

Rosh HaShana starts on Sunday night yet there is still time to whip up a few fun decorations to add extra meaning to your holiday. Or maybe you are celebrating at someone else's home and would love a fun way to add a special holiday touch to a bottle of wine or wrapped gift? Here is it my friends, simply paint some whimsical shapes that look like a fish, a carrot, a pomegranite, a beet, a gourd, and an apple for starters, and either use them together to make a mobile, or use them separately as gift tags, place markers, cupcake or cake toppers, or you name it!

Having spent two good weeks going to museums in the USA this past month, I am all for crafts and creativity that use the simplest of materials and therefore the most creativity. And you know what, generally the results are also the most heartfelt. Who ever said ahhh about something cut from a die cutting machine? Got it? So get out those paints and enjoy, because quite honestly just applying color to paper is so very very satisfying and a great way to jump start your family's (or your) creativity!  Ready?.......

Paint The Kotel In Rainbow Colors For The 17th Of Tammuz !

I have pulled this post from the archives, as it is truly a perfect one.

Today is the 17th of Tammuz, a solemn fast day on the Jewish calender which marks the beginning of a three week period of mourning for the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, (The Holy Temple/King Soloman's Temple.) So with the boys home from school early, and my daughter just starting her summer vacation, there is no time like the present to try and get back into our crafting groove which I have missed greatly! So today I pulled out the watercolors, and grabbed a white corrugated cardboard box, and we all spent some time painting the stones of the kotel, and I just love the results!

Yes, my boys smirked when I told them to use bright and beautiful colors for the stones that they know as beige, but I explained to them that we were painting the stories that the stones had surely witnessed, and all the beautiful prayers whispered in front of these stones every day by countless individuals from both near and far.

Brush Lettering With Crayola Marker Paint Drips Background

Thanks to my teenage daughter's love of brush lettering and faux watercolor backgrounds, I have yet another great idea to share with you! I will admit, this piece is actually the back of the brush lettering birthday card I shared with you yesterday, and I thought it was just too lovely not to get its own post. While this faux watercolor paint drips background is the back of a card, you can do this as a stand alone piece as well......so many fun ways to go! So grab those markers, familiarize yourself with either brush calligraphy (using a brush marker) or fauxligraphy and lets put that creativity to great use!

Watercolor One Stroke Leaves On Branches

With just a few very simpe techniques under your belt the mystery of painting simple and beautiful watercolor illustrations becomes so much clearer! I'll admit, learning how to paint leaves with just one stroke was a new one for me, and I am in love with this technique! Yesterday I shared with you my fern leaf watercolors, and today we're going for a denser bush/tree look by painting leaves on delicate branches.

So get out those round watercolor brushes and some watercolor paper, or at the least round brushes and paint of any kind, and lets get started!

Simply Lovely Watercolor Fern Paintings For Mastering Brush Control

Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the New Year for the trees starts tonight, and if you have 30 minutes or so you can still whip up some gorgeous watercolor leaf paintings and learn about practicing your brush strokes a win win crafting experience! While I have yet to actually put in the time I'd like, I'm in the process of honing/learning some illustration skills, starting with watercolor painting. It turns out that the first step is learning brush control, using a round brush, and leaves like the ones used in my fern illustrations are created with just one stroke. Pretty great I must admit, and so relaxing to paint. A friend was over the other day and she thought I had stamped all these little leaves! Of course there are so many designs one can make once you master the one stroke leaf, so give it a try and enjoy!

How To Paint Loose Watercolor Florals

I just love all the watercolor floral patterns that are everywhere these days, on stationary, on fabric, you name it. And so of course, I am dreaming of creating my own lovely patterns, but first I have to learn how to paint, so don't anyone hold their breath! Okay, I'm not starting from scratch exactly as I did once upon a time do gouache paintings for a course in pattern design at Parson's in NYC, but I'll be honest that was quite a while ago, and I'm not exactly even sure why I took that course in retrospect, since I had no painting or illustration background. I guess it sounded good then, and it still sounds good, only today I can learn quite a bit by checking out all the amazing resources online, and especially at skillshare, where I am in the middle of a 7 day challenge called Expressive Florals.

So much fun to get out the paints and watercolor paper, and I can't wait to spend some more time honing my skills......though truthfully one can and should dedicate just a small window of time to learning something new, and for that skillshare is just too perfect, especially since you can download the videos to view off the grid, now wouldn't that be great?