RosiesWorkshop.com Blog

Photoshop Elements - Designing with layers in mind.

Administrator — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:25:50 +0000

Recently, I bought a book on the art of Calligraphy. In the book, it suggests to place tracing paper over the rough draft of your work to use as a guide for a more professional result. It also suggests to use paper that has a grid to keep your letters evenly spaced and in neat evenly spaced lines. I happened to have some tracing paper with very light grid lines, so I started to practice different styles with it.

Now, I wanted to use my new skills to create a new image for my new Zazzle Store, Rosie’s Card Shop. This store will feature paper products with floral designs in the botanical style.

I did some research on the Blue Geranium flowers that I have published in the past, and discovered it is a wild species also known as Cranebill. I placed the tracing paper over the drawing and drew the proper name for the plants.

Original Geranium drawing after editing

After scanning the text, I cleaned up the image by removing the background with the Magic Eraser tool in Photoshop Elements. Then, with the original drawing file, I added new layers to copy and paste the text elements over the original drawing.

Calligraphy to add into the original drawing

This is the final result after editing, which is now available on products in my new store.

Completed design

Please visit my new store to see more designs using this technique.

Wild Geranium Poster by rosiescardshop
Browse other Floral Posters

Chinese Brush Painting

Administrator — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:45:15 +0000

One of my favorite art instruction books is, How to Draw and Paint Watercolor, The Collector’s Series, by Walter Foster Publishing, Inc., published in 1991. It was republished as The Art of Watercolor by Walter Foster Publishing, Inc.

“Chinese painting techniques were developed from calligraphic strokes thousands of years ago. The relationship between the two art forms is still apparent today.” Lucy Wang

After reading Lucy Wang’s chapter about Chinese Brush Painting, I wanted to try it.

I found a lot of Chinese Brush Painting books and supplies at both Amazon.com and Dick Blick Art Materials who are both my Sponsors. At the bottom of this page is a scrolling banner from Amazon with Chinese Brush Painting books and supplies. For Watercolor paints, I found an excellent resource at Dick Blick Art Materials web site for choosing Watercolor Pigments.

Supplies for Chinese Brush Painting

Kits are available which provide the basic tools and equipment to get started.

Buy Holbein Artist Watercolors at Dick Blick Art Materials

In order to follow along with the instructions, I have provided links to show you the colors that Lucy Wang used in her illustrations; the Dick Blick website provides a lot of information on colors and their properties. Click on the color to go to the Dick Blick website for more information. The text in quotations is from the Dick Blick website. Use the back button to return to my blog.

Crimson Lake, “… similar to Rose Madder, the natural source of the historic color Alizarin Crimson”

Cadmium Red Medium, “Cadmium Red is a bright, warm red …”

Vermillion “contains Cadmium Red, alternate names, Cadmium Scarlet, Selenium Red.”

Aurora Yellow (Cadmium Yellow Light) “Cadmium Yellow is brilliant, dense, and opaque, …”

Indigo, (Antwerp Blue + Lamp Black) “…It has similar properties to pure Prussian Blue..”
“Lamp black is a very opaque, heavily staining black pigment …”

Burnt Sienna, “Burnt Sienna is a warm, mid-brown color …”

Light Bluish-Green (gouache, an opaque watercolor paint) closest match Cobalt Green

Cobalt Blue (gouache)”Cobalt blue is a semitransparent. …”

White (gouache) “Titanium White is the most brilliant of the white pigments. …”

Buy Holbein Sumi Set at Dick Blick Art Materials

Buy Yasomoto Rice Paper at Dick Blick Art Supplies

The next part of the book describes how to paint the seven basic strokes of Chinese Brush Painting. The books stresses that these strokes take practice to master. Below is my attempt to master these strokes, but, as you can see, I need more practice.

Basic Brush Stokes 1

Basic Strokes 2

Below are my copies from the practice exercises in the book. Lucy gives easy to follow step by step instructions on mixing colors and the strokes to use for each exercise.

Narcissus, copied from How to Draw and Paint Watercolors

Butterfly, Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Prothonotary Warbler

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about painting in watercolor.

Creating a small garden

Administrator — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:47:48 +0000

In the Spring of 2006, we decided to plant a garden in the front yard. We had put in a few plants the year before that had been moved from our old house, which included; Iris, Daylily, Tiger Lilly, and Phlox.

Our front yard before planting the garden.

Find Gardening Books At Amazon.com

Trowel and Error: Over 700 Tips, Remedies and Shortcuts for the Gardener
The Complete Perennials Book
Better Homes and Gardens New Garden Book (Better Homes & Gardens Gardening)

Planning the Garden — Decide what you want the garden to do for you.

We wanted to have a garden that would not only be pretty but also attract birds. We also wanted to be able to enjoy it from it from the comfort of our living room through the picture window.

We ordered plants from a catalog that were already color coordinated. We ordered a blue perennial garden and a red perennial garden. The plants arrived in early May.

With the help of a rototiller, we created the basic shape of the garden. A path was made on each side of the front sidewalk and a circle shape off to the side under the Maple tree. Then we put fabric and mulch down over the whole area.

First sign of Spring — The Iris and Daylily Bloom

Now for the fun part, adding new plants.

The plants that came through mail order were either very small or root stalks that would not be attractive plants right away. We added some plants from our local nursery, Yellow Primrose, Pink Calla Lily and Sweet Potato.

new plants were added to the garden

The Granite Bench and The Wizard

We built a granite bench for the garden. We were fortunate enough to have a brother-in-law who had access to scrap pieces of granite. With two round cylinders and one large slab, my husband made a bench for the garden. He also added a wooden statue of “The Wizard” that had been a gift from his son.

How the garden looks today.

Once the garden is established, continue to add your favorite things to make it your own space. We later added garden lights, a birdbath, a bird feeder, sea shells and a rock border.

Watercolor painting is a fun adventure.

Administrator — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:05:35 +0000

Whenever I need a little “me” time, I take out my Art Instruction books for inspiration on maybe a new painting or to improve on an idea that I started but not finished. Usually, my paintings are never really finished, they are just stepping stones. One drawing or painting becomes a new one with a little modification. Yesterday, I had some quiet time with the book Watercolor 1, Learn the Basics of Watercolor Painting by Caroline Linscott from Walter Foster Publishing.

Although I have been painting with watercolor for more years than I like to admit, this book is a nice review and gives me inspiration to try something new. Sometimes, I can get so wrapped up trying to make a “perfect painting” that I lose sight that this is supposed to be fun. As Caroline says in the introduction,

“The unique properties of watercolor make it an exciting, spontaneous, and interesting medium.” Caroline Linscott.

Like Caroline, I start with several sketches that are drawn from life, and collect fresh cuttings from my garden to bring into my studio. Photographs are good references, but, I like to be able to see different views of the subject in order to understand the form and lighting. I use floral foam to hold a flower freshly picked from the garden in place while I am drawing it. It makes it easy to change the position of the flower so that you can see it at different angles and lighting. I also have a portable wooden painting box that holds pencils, pens and paints that I can easily take with me to paint outside.

Caroline also has an example in her book on mixing greens for leaves and foliage which I find very helpful. Although I usually make my own mixing charts, I didn’t have one that was exclusively for mixing greens. Her chart inspired me to take some time and experiment with my own green mixing chart. I live in Minnesota, and in the summertime, the variety of green tones in the trees, grass, water and shadows is amazing. Caroline’s book also has some very good suggestions and techniques for rendering water.

Also, in the book she has a Butterfly Fantasy painting in which she says,

“Unleash your creativity and let your imagination soar! ” Caroline Linscott

This is a quick painting that I did back in 2004 from her book. This painting is another idea that I would like to try again, perhaps with india ink to add more contrast and details, or experiment with different techniques like adding salt or sponging.

Butterfly Fantasy copied from Watercolor 1

India Ink with an old-fashioned pen and nib is my favorite method of drawing. There’s just something about the simplicity of the process that I find very soothing. However, it is not forgiving, you can’t erase your mistakes. But, you get a variety of nib styles that can produce many interesting affects, Also, they are inexpensive and don’t require that you buy additional ink cartridges. One bottle of ink lasts a long time. There are many other choices of technical pens that have their own self contained ink supply which are easier to use. Here are some products available at Amazon that you may like.

To experiment with different ideas, I like to make Artist Trading Cards. Small 2.5″ x 3.5″ cards make a nice format for paintings and drawings. They are easy to put in your portable painting box for quick sketches of paintings.

You can then put the little painting in its own plastic sleeve for protection. The size is easily scaled up for a larger painting or print such as 5″ x 7″ or 10″ x 14″ or larger.

I sometimes use my Artist Trading Cards as a design for my Zazzle or Cafepress Stores such as this Lavender Drawing. This design is also available at my Cafepress Store, Lavender.

It is also available my Zazzle Store.

Lavender Coffee Mug by rosiesworkshop
See other Lavender Mugs

Thank you Caroline, for helping me to remember that watercolor painting is a fun adventure!
View Caroline Linscott’s Art

Blue Geranium Drawing

Administrator — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:23:11 +0000

One fine summer day
When the flowers in my garden were all in bloom,
The sun was shining,
Birds were singing,
Cats were sleeping in the yard,
I picked a blossom of a blue
geranium.

In my summer studio,
I carefully placed the flower
On my desk.

Watercolor with Pen and Ink Drawing of a Blue Geranium

Tip
Use floral foam to hold the
Object in place.

Position the flower so that you can see the way the leaves grow from the stem.
Take notice of how the flowers grow from the leaves and how many leaves are there?

Find Drawing Pads at Amazon.com

I prefer to use 140lb Watercolor paper. I recommend Acquarello Watercolor Blocks. For smaller paintings, divide the sheet into smaller rectangles. For example, if you have a Watercolor Block that is 9″ x 12″, divide it into two smaller rectangles of 9″ x 6″. Then you can cut it into two smaller paintings that are 5″ x 7″ with a large enough border to tape it onto a board using masking tape. Taping the painting onto a board keeps the paper from curling and buckling when you get it wet.

Start by deciding where to place the center of interest.

Ideally, it should be slightly left or right of the center of the page. Allow space
all around the edge for the border. Then it will be easier to frame.

Lightly sketch the stem, then the leaves, and then sketch the flower with soft pencil.

When are satisfied with the drawing, then out line the pencil with ink. I like a fine tipped ink pen like Koh-I-Noor Technical Pens.

Find Drawing Pens at Amazon.com

Let the drawing dry for several hours. Then, erase the pencil with a non-abrasive
eraser. If you start erasing before the paint is dry, you may have unpredictable results.

Find erasers at Amazon.com

Now, with watercolors start adding color.

I like to use color straight from the tube or pan instead of mixing several colors together. It is very easy to ruin the color by over mixing, at least in my experience. Vary the strength of the color by adding more water. For painting outside, pan paints are very nice such as the Art Alternatives Pocket Watercolor Set

I applied the lightest green first, then layered more green in the darker areas. It is better is start with a thin layer and add more darker layers. Let the white of the paper show through in the lightest areas.

The same for the colors in the flower, start with the lightest colors and layer more color to darken the shadow areas.

It was a wonderful afternoon!

Magazines

Watercolor Artist
Watercolor

Watercolor

Please visit my other sites

My Web site

My Zazzle Store/

My Imagekind Gallery

or follow me on Twitter.

My Zazzle MySpace Merch Booth

Administrator — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:49:38 +0000

Zazzle has a promotional widget called the MySpace Merch Booth. It is found in My Zazzle on the Store tab under Promote Your Store To Boost Sales. It gives the customer the ability to design their own products using their own images and text.

When designing my Merch Store, I decided to create template images with the recommended resolution printed on the image. One for T-Shirts, one for key chains and another for posters to make it easier for the customer to create their own products.

Template for a keychain

The minimum recommended size for a key chain is 2.25″ x 2.25″ round with 200ppi (pixels per inch) or 450 x 450 pixels.

Template for a T-Shirt

The recommended minimum resolution for a T-Shirt pocket is 4″ x 4″ or 600 x 600 pixels at 150ppi (pixels per inch). A horizontal or vertical design should be 14″ x 12″ or 2100 x 1800 pixels or 12″ x 14″ or 1800 x 2100 pixels at 150ppi (pixels per inch).

Template for a Poster

The minimum recommended resolution for a poster is different based on the size of the finished product;
Portfolio (horizontal or vertical) 11″ x 16.5″ or 1100 x 1650 pixels or 16.5″ x 11″ or 1650 x 1100 pixels at 100ppi (pixels per inch).
Small (horizontal or vertical) 15″ x 22.5″ or 1500 x 2250 pixels or 22.5″ x 15″ or 2250 x 1500 pixels at 100ppi (pixels per inch).
Large(horizontal or vertical) is 23″ x 34.5″ or 2300 x 3450 pixels or 34.5″ x 23″ or 3450 x 2300 pixels at 100ppi (pixels per inch).
Huge(horizontal or vertical) is 35″ x 52.5″ or 3500 x 5250 pixels or 52.5″ x 35″ or 5250 x 3500 pixels at 100ppi (pixels per inch).
Colossal(horizontal or vertical) is 52″ x 78″ or 5200 x 7800 pixels or 78″ x 52″ or 7800 x 5200 pixels at 100ppi (pixels per inch).

For the best results, use the highest resolution possible.

This is the my Merch Booth on my Myspace Page.

Buy merch from Rosie’s Workshop at www.zazzle.com/rosiesworkshop

[Copy this widget to your profile] [Create your own merch booth]

My Garden Designs

Administrator — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:15:50 +0000

Many of my designs for my Zazzle and Cafepress products come from photographs or drawings of flowers in my garden. If you would like to read about my garden, visit my Squidoo Lense. These are a few of my garden inspired designs.

Iris Buds Poster

Iris Buds Poster by rosiesworkshop
More Iris Posters

Spring Iris

Spring Iris Poster by rosiesworkshop
Poster printing by Zazzle.com

Stained Glass Iris

Stained Glass Iris by rosiesworkshop
Keychains made online using www.zazzle.com

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily Poster by rosiesworkshop
Large format posters printing from www.zazzle.com

Butterfly Design

Framed Panel Print
Buy this product at CafePress

Please visit my website, http://www.rosiesworkshop.com for more gift ideas, my Art Gallery at http://roseauneart.imagekind.com or follow me on Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/rosiesworkshop

Fall in Aitkin

Administrator — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:12:24 +0000

Watercolor Painting by Rose Aune of Rosie's Workshop

from: My Art by Rosie’s Workshop, The Switzerland Trail
This is a Watercolor painting of the area where I grew up in Aitkin County, Minnesota. One of my Mother’s favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon was to go for a ride on the “Switzerland Trail”. It is a dirt road that winds around a beautiful area in Aitkin County in Minnesota. Fall in Aitkin is a painting of my memories of those special trips.

Buy the framed print at Cafepress

Other products featuring this design are available at My Zazzle Store.

Fall in Aitkin Poster by rosiesworkshop
View other Watercolor Posters


It is also available as a framed print at my Imagekind Gallery

Visit my shops for more Minnesota Landscape paintings

My website, Rosie’s Workshop

My Cafepress Stores

Rosie’s Workshop

Minnesota Posters

My Zazzle Store

My Imagekind Gallery

My Squidoo Pages

My Art and Designs

Follow me on Twitter



Creating Zazzle Posters
Administrator — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:54:40 +0000
Hi!  I’m going to be moving in a few months, so I have been going through my drawings and paintings  that have been collecting dust in boxes and scrapbooks for years.  Self, I said, “the time has come to start doing something with all this stuff, before you have to pack it all up again.”  
I go through these drawing and painting frenzies, where I produce a lot of work that may be just an idea, or may become a full blown painting.  That is how I accumulated this large collection of sketches and ideas that wait for me to come back to them to finish.  
To make a long story short, I selected a few works that I thought would make good posters.  I have a Zazzle store, and hadn’t really spent any time learning how to use the Poster design tool.  After I prepared the images for publishing, as I talked about in Preparing Images for Publishing, I uploaded the images to Zazzle to start making some posters.  I had a few posters that I created earlier, but, they just didn’t look very good, in my opinion.  I wanted to add backgrounds, borders and text to jazz them up a little.  I realized that if I took an existing product, and then used the Customize It feature, I could create a new product, by saving it with a new name without having to start from scratch.  Aha!  
I like the Zazzle design interface, it makes it easy to change backgrounds, borders, text and product descriptions.  When I finished making my Posters, I made a Zazzle panel that just shows Posters, nothing else.  These are my new posters in my Zazzle panel.

make custom gifts at Zazzle
Please visit my website Rosie’s Workshop, my Zazzle Store, my Imagekind Gallery or follow me on Twitter.



Preparing images for publishing
Administrator — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:59:10 +0000
Many times, when trying to come up with a new design idea, I will review my drawing notebooks for ideas.  Today, I found a drawing of my dog Lucy in colored pencil that would make a nice poster or other product.  
Original scan of my Lucy drawing
After scanning the original drawing at 300dpi and saving the image, I start by making a duplicate layer, leaving the original image intact and hidden.  If you make a mistake or change your mind you don’t have to start all over again.  The duplicate layer can easily deleted.  That way you can experiment with different styles and filters but still have the option of going back to the original design.  
Usually, scanned pencil drawings will need to be darkened and enhanced to look good for printing, in my opinion.  I often use the automatic color correction and color variations in Adobe Photoshop Elements to darken and enhance the image.  To create the oval border, I use the select tool to create an oval around the design then invert the selection and fill it with color.  To make the image suitable for a large poster, I increased the image size to 11″ x 16.5″.  Save a copy of the image as a png file for uploading.  If you are going to be using the image for email or the web, also make a jpg copy.
This is my published image on Zazzle.com

German Shorthaired Pointer Poster by rosiesworkshop
Browse the Prints posters at zazzle