creative jewish mom

Simple Watercolor Ferns For Shavuot!

I shared these watercolor fern paintings with you last year for the Jewish holiday of Tu B''Shevat, though i just had to share them again as they are so simple and perfect for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, coming up this Saturday night. We fill our homes with greenery for Shavuot, which means flowers, plants, and often the kids go out into the fields and collect anything that seems appropriate. This year the holiday of Shavuot is back to back with Shabbat, meaning we will have to decorate the house on Friday afternoon, ruling out all that fresh greenery, and possibly even flowers, as they just won't look all that great once the holiday rolls around. And, for those outside of Israel, Shavuot is a 2 day holiday, meaning Shabbat, Shavuot, Shavuot, or Saturday, Sunday, Monday. So, I say, in addition to some lovely new houseplants, which is always great, go for some non-perishable decorations, like these watercolor fern paintings. And if you prefer you can always cut them out and make a garland, which could be quite lovely, so go for it and chag sameach!

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.

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?

How To Paint Red Poppies With Watercolors

After the holiday rush I decided that it was truly time to start dedicating some time to learning some new artsy skills, which really doesn't have to take a whole lot of time or money courtesy of skillshare, which I am happy to say is truly an amazing site with sooooo many great things to learn. I totally recommend it, and when you click HERE, you can get 3 months for 99cents, really folks, don't miss out on this one. (Or click on the ad below for a free month, but I'd go with the 99 cents.)

Given my wide range of interests I had a hard time figuring out where to start, (after the crayola calligraphy and brush lettering which we need to get back to) but something using supplies that we had on hand surely seemed like the best way to go, and i loved the idea of a challenge of sorts, so I started the Expressive Florals 7 Day challenge, which starts with painting poppies, a favorite of mine as they are native to my area here in Northern Israel.

The poppies I painted here, can certainly improve, but I'm happ with this as a start especially since this was done with brush only, no drawing with a pencil folks, as that makes things too tight, and the point here is to get loose, which I succeeded in only partly, but it is a start!

 

Watercolor Still Life Fruit Exercise Is Great For All Ages!

My fourteen year old daughter is once again taking painting lessons, this time with a teacher who learned painting as a trade in Russia, so the lessons are precise and skill oriented, which can be a good thing, though not exactly how art is taught in the USA generally. Nonetheless since we are seeing great results with piano lessons from our teacher who is from the Ukraine, I'm trying to be a bit open minded as far as teaching techniques go! My daughter in any case has and will be exposed to art education on many levels, so the main thing is to just do it, and not worry too much about the process assuming something is being taught!

I'm happy to say, that today, the day after Passover, a day in Israel called "isru chag" which is in effect an extension of the holiday (and occurs for Passover, Shavuot and Succot, on days that are still part of the holiday outside of Israel) my daughter had the desire to paint, and while I was recovering from the holiday by sleeping, she was painting this sweet watercolor still ilfe, using some of the skills that she has been learning recently, and some that she learned from a different teacher a good five years or so ago.

Giant Watercolor Lollipop Costume Prop Or Party Centerpiece

Need a giant lollipop for a costume or maybe a whole bunch to use as centerpieces for a birthday party or even a bat mitzvah? I just made this one for my daughter to use as a prop in a play that was part of her graduation from 8th grade ceremony, and it looks even better from far away! It is true, the results are not what I'd call "perfect" but with all the perfect looking crafts being churned out these days courtesy of cutting machines and ready-cut everything, I'd say it is time to get a little bit imperfect, now and then. Ready to make some giant lollipops? Lets get started!

Simple Mediterranean Harvest Watercolor Paintings For All Ages

With all the pumpkin crafts and fall harvest related themes floating around the web right now (and of course posted on Craft Schooling Sunday), I thought I'd share some Mediterranean harvest watercolor paintings as an alternative to all the orange pumpkins and colored fall leaves crafts which only really apply to a relatively small portion of the world! Now, of the four species that I'm sharing with you here, one of them is actually harvested in Israel in the late spring/early summer. Can you guess which one?

Yes, that is right, wheat! Here in Israel I don't know how much wheat is grown today, but anywhere that wheat is grown does not have a severe winter and thus fields are plowed and seed sowed in the Fall. The barley harvest is the earliest harvest, around March/April followed by the wheat harvest in May/June.

Of the remaining three items, which are all fruits, grapes are harvested started in the late summer, followed by figs, and dates. Ever seen what dates look like growing on a date palm? The individual branches do look like my watercolor, but these little branches are clustered together in large quantities creating a really spectacular site.

You'll Need:

• watercolor paper
• watercolor paints
• a pencil
• kosher salt
• some paper towels

How To:

With a pencil, lightly draw the outline of the fruits or vegetables that you'd like to paint. Fill in the shapes with watercolors, using a wet brush. Large areas can be painted by first wetting the paper, but this should not be done for small areas as then paint may bleed beyond the lines defining your shapes. If you add too much color, you can dab it with paper towel, and you can also use the paper towel to create texture by dabbing the painting in select areas. Do keep the painting on the wet side, as after you are satisfied with the painting, scatter some kosher salt on selected areas and set aside to dry. Make sure painting is 100% dry before you shake off the salt. I know, it is hard to wait, but if you don't you can ruin all your efforts.

These little water color paintings do look lovely just as is, or you can lace them together with some twine and make a fun little wall hanging. Enjoy!

 

 

Paint A Fun Watercolor Chameleon Wall Hanging For Your Child's Room!

After we painted watercolor strawberries and watercolor apples and pomegranates, I am still loving the idea of using watercolors in so many fun ways, so I thought I'd paint something fun for my twelve year old  son's room, as he just got his own room for the first time ever! Now that I've made this cute wall hanging and he loves it, I think I need some new accessories and bedding to pull the new look together! I live in a somewhat remote area, so online shopping is really helpful, and before I start shopping I like to check out chameleonjohn.com to see if there are any coupons that might be useful.

In case you are wondering if this little wall hanging just came to mind, and I set about painting it, well not exactly. At first I thought I'd paint patterns inspired by the amazing skin of chameleons, but that didn't quite work out, so then I thought maybe I'd make a painting, but that didn't quite work out either! So then I realized I just need to go with more basic painting, and this sweet little wall plaque was born! I can of course see this as a fun series to teach kids about important personality traits, can't you?

You'll Need:

• watercolor paper
• watercolors
• a pencil and a fine permanent marker

How To:

First draw the light outline of a chameleon on half a sheet of watercolor paper. You should of course look at photos of chameleons and take not of all their special attributes: the feet, the tail, the texture of the skin, the amazing colors......

Then fill in your shape with watercolors, wide stripes of color that bleed together will lead to the best looking results for those of us who are not quite so professional in the painting department. Use water, but not too much so that everything runs over the lines. While painting is still wet, sprinkle kosher salt over the desired areas and set aside to dry.

Once dry, gently tap the paper on a clean surface to remove the salt, and then add the eyes and mouth and a few details here and there using a series of small dots make with your fine line pen. Using a pencil and then a black fine lined permanent marker, add words and some little decorative flourishes. That is it!

And of course instead of "be adaptable" you could write "show us your colors" or "let your colors shine." Just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are some great quotes out there that would also be perfect for this little work of art. Enjoy!

 

 

Watercolor Apples In Rainbow Colors For Rosh HaShana Cards!

Once you start painting with watercolors, it is hard to stop, so I thought I'd practice trying to paint loosely with this idea for a sweet card for Rosh HaShana — tiny watercolors in rainbow colors do look cute, and you certainly don't have to be perfect, in fact the less perfect the better, I'm still working on that!