Drawing Crocus

04/07/201606/01/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 27 Comments

Spring is finally arriving in Norway. Today I went for my first walk in 2016 in the park near to where I live.

It is a lovely park which rins down both sides of a little river which flows from the hills into the big fjord in my town, Sandnes.

The park has lots of things to offer such as picnicking, hiking and nature study and yesterday it offerede me some Crocus. Their flowers appear in spring, autumn and winter, so I guess this must be cultivatedbut they are so beautiful I love them at any time of the year. The park was also full of Snowdrops (in Norway we call them Snowbells) and together with the crocus flowers it the first sign of plants pushing up through the last of the frost and snow to tell us that spring is really here.

The delicate green of the leaves and the crocus blue of the flowers are such a contrast to the gray melting snow. It is like a glow of warmth peeking above ground. It makes my heart sing with joy. We norwegians have survived the winter in our well insulated warm wooden houses, but the snow drops and crocuses survived in the ground and now are putting their heads up to greet the spring sunshine.

Well I’m sure you have all guessed by now – I just had to paint them.

I’m still working on my new blog/website. It takes so much work! sooooooo much time! and so much energy! It takes time to create a nice site to browse and enough interesting content and all of that. But I learn a lot and I love it.

Do you blog? How much time do you spend on your site and how much time do you spend on your art? I would love to compare notes with you. Please leave a comment, You know that I always love to hear from you. It gives me the energy and inspiration to keep going.

Sandvedparken.

I you are going to Stavanger you find info about the park here

Yellow brick road

You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Share the magic of creativity.

Have a look:

Edith Holden`s sketch book.

03/06/201606/01/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 20 Comments

Watercolour, Edith Holden

I found a lovely book in a second hand store that I remember from when I was young. “The country diary of an Edwardian lady” by Edith Holden. I always wanted to have it and so I grabbed the opportunity. It was written in 1906 but only published in 1977. It was an enormous success and often given as a gift. According to the Sunday Times newspaper, it was the best selling book in the 1970’s and remains number 4 of the overall best seller list for the last 40 years.

Each month has notes about the important days in the month, interesting information about the month, together with some poetry, entries about the things she did, and sketches and paintings of birds, insects and animals she came across on her regular walks.

It is a beautiful example of how important a journal is. This was obviously done for her own pleasure, but someone (an artist) realized just how inspiring it was and had it published. I find this so interesting. Just think about it, of all the books in the world, one of the best selling books happens to be a beautiful copy of a sketch book! A sketch book that was never intended to be published.

This book gave me lots inspiration, and by the way, it is easy to find a second hand version on Amazon or ebay.

The winter is ending, the plants and flowers are waking up. So now is a great time to get out there and look for them. Show us all what the new spring is bringing in your area, by drawing and painting what you find for us.

Watercolour, Edith Holden

Watercolour, Edith Holden supll

The materials I use in the video are:

Pentel color brush #101 (water solvent)
Pentel brush GFKP Japan (water proof)
Molotow masking liquid.
Raphail brush “softaqua” imitation squirrel -0
Da vinci brush, harbin-kolinsky- 6
Habico brush – 0.3
Atelier scrub brush -8

Two professional secrets for you...

The Molotow masking is the best I have ever had for protecting the page from colour. It is very delicate and is easy to use for details.

I also have to say that the Atelier scrub brush is the best I have found to rub out the masking liquid. It doesn’t leave the residue of an eraser and doesn’t risk oil stains from using a finger. Even more important, it can remove a water colour stain quickly and easily, even the next day. It is only a brush, but it is also one of the secret tools used by professional artists for corrections…

Watercolour, Edith Holden

You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Please share the magic of creativity .

How to be creative? You might also like:

A secret sneak peek

01/06/201601/06/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 21 Comments

fashion drawings

A secret sneak peek.

Some new ideas on how to be creative! I use my sketchbooks for different reasons at different times…. I told you before that breaking some rules can lead to creativity.

This time I was multitasking as I was sketching, I was in front of the TV watching “Jane the virgin” on Netflix (and by the way I have fallen in love with the show it makes me laugh out loud).
It brought me back in time to the days I did fashion design. and gave me some different ideas.

Fashion drawings like this should be fun and you should enjoy it!

Here are some tips for you to do fashion drawings.

Is this something you like to do? Do you like to getting started? Maybe this can help.

You can use Google to find some fashion models that you like and get your imagination flowing.
Think about the colours you will use. The most important thing is to have some fun. Some people will love the colours you choose, and others may not, but this is not for them! Just do this one for yourself.
Using the colours YOU love, will make it much more likely that you will be happy about it.
I always start by drawing a very light line using a pencil, and I prefer 2B. It is easy to make a mistake so have an eraser near by.
When you are happy with the sketch, make the lines darker and begin to paint.
And I am sure this can be a magical step on your artistic journey. Start with a first attempt and see where you end up. You have nothing to loose. If you dont like it, start again.

If you would like a tutorial on sketching faces or bodies, let me know. I love to hear from you. You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Share the magic of creativity.

Store your creative ideas for a rainy winter day

09/13/201506/01/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 16 Comments

Sometimes I have to save my ideas, that I don’t have time for.

By recording them somewhere safe, you know that you have them for a “rainy day” (we get lots and lots of rainy days in Norway).

Create a secret store of creativity. No idea is a bad idea. Maybe it won’t work for one project, but it might be perfect for another project.
It could be a note book where you write down all the ideas.
It could be a sketch book with just drawings or watercolours of what is in your mind.
My favourite is a box of cards with the writing on one side and a painting on the other side. Then I can pull out the ideas in any combination and mix and match the best ideas for a particular project. How to make the box

I make this cards, from old paintings.

Make a box for the cards:

How to be creative? You might also like:

You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Share the magic of creativity.

Colouring escapism

07/12/201506/01/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 17 Comments

You have probably noticed the new colouring trend already. You fill in colours in a black and white drawing. And as you do it, you relax have a wonderful meditation and it is a great anti stress for most of us.

It seems like every one is enchanted by its mindfulness. This also goes for those who can’t paint or draw. I guess this is for it remove the worries of the day and you can focus on a fun, simple and creative task.

I am fascinated that so many people love colouring, the first time I saw colouring pages I instantly wanted to make a book like this. Today I got two free coloring page that you can download, print and colour them in. Here you go: coloring book for adults pdf and here Is one more for you parrot coloring book for adults

Here are some tips

Don’t worry if you go over the lines! It will give more a life and all the colours will make a total finish. Colouring isn’t about the pursuit of perfection, it’s about making your mark and having fun. But if you make a mistake that you really dont like, just scribble or just draw an extra little outline, and carry on. I been using 100 Ibs (200g) Canson watercolour papir and my Sennelier watercolours. You can use coloured pencil, markers, pencil or whatever you like. Why not share your work on Facebook.

Social media is a great place to show off what you have drawn and tell your friends what pens or pencils you have used. I will be really happy if you share my blog so that your friends can download them too. If you colour and send photos of you work back to me.

Send it to

I do like to mention it, but that these drawings are my art work and the drawings are for you only. They are not for sale, or can’t be used for profit commercially.

How to be creative? You might also like:

Messing around

05/08/201511/03/2017 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 18 Comments

Over the last few days I have been in a creative process that has taken up a lot of my time. It has taken priority over chores such as washing up, tidying up, laundry, etc. My kitchen, living room and bedroom are a bit a mess, but you have to break eggs if you want to make an omelette. I will catch up on the chores tomorrow.

I just got a fun commission from the town hall, they are organising a summer festival, and, at the last minute they asked me if I could do some nice small illustrations for this festival.

I am using this as an opportunity to test some watercolours that I got from Jane Davenport watercolours called “Nicholson´s Peerless Transparent Water Colours”

They are made by soaking clear, brilliant, concentrated pigments into card swatches and each swatch is hand-made! These water colours are so vibrant and yet transparent. They are pigment-rich and flow easily. And today they were perfect for painting my flower.

They came in a nice little sachets, each containing 60 swatches ( each about 4 by 6 cm = 1.5″ by 2″). This must be the lightest watercolour “box” you can get.

To make them easy to use, I cut about 1/4 of each swatch and glued them onto a sheet of cardboard. Then I added a brushstroke of each water colour above the swatch so I can see what colour it produces. You can see the result in the photos above.

I really like them because they combine transparency with vibrant colours and I really like the fact that it is just small rich pigments on little cards, that you can put inside your sketch book and bring absolutely every where. The only down side for me is is that I can’t order them from a local source and found the shipping a bit pricey. But you may be able to find a source near to you.

LagreLagre

Sennelier watercolour travel box

04/19/201508/19/2015 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 11 Comments

I am very excited to try my new Sennelier watercolours

I just got myself two travel boxes from Sennelier watercolour. I don’t have personal experience of Sennelier but I seem to remember hearing only good things about their colours.

I find it fascinating that Sennelier use honey as the binder, that must be a plus?

Until now I have always used watercolours from old Holland so I will comparing Sennelier to old Holland.
I know that w&w is a favorit for lots of people, but I realy never got to test the vibrant colours that I usually pick for my paintings. I recently got to tried Daniel Smith watercolours and find these intense! They must be full of pigments, so I want to buy more to try them out, but unfortunately I can’t find them in shops in this area so I’m going to order them online from the US.

Back to the Sennelier. They are very good. I like that they float easily on the paper The colours are kind of sticky, they are not VERY sticky but still, it makes it quicker to get the colours wet and ready for the painting, a bit like colours from the tube.

They easly cover the paper without killing the work, That is something I have never experienced with other watercolours. I love the tomato red: 619 Bright Red.

I got two boxes, I bought the big metal box firs, as it had more colours and it cost the same as the little box. But I fount the metal box is a bit too heavy to put in a smaller bag to have on hand all the time, but it is very good to bring on a trip when you know will be painting. Sennelier has room for additional colours and I already put some in . it is also very handy to use the plastic cover for protection, and the plastic cover shows the names of the colours underneath their colour names.

I am having fun testing the Winsor & Newton water colour marker, W&N marker and Sennelier work very well together.

I be very happy if you leave a comment about your experience with watercolours, and your favourite brand.

 I like my colours to be vibrant, bright and have depth. I really like them to be intense and "electric".
I will not hesitate at all, to getting more watercolour from Sennelier.

A JOURNEY INTO THE MAGIC OF CREATIVITY

watercolor

Drawing Crocus

Spring is finally arriving in Norway. Today I went for my first walk in 2016 in the park near to where I live.

Sandvedparken.

You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Edith Holden`s sketch book.

A secret sneak peek

A secret sneak peek.

Some new ideas on how to be creative! I use my sketchbooks for different reasons at different times…. I told you before that breaking some rules can lead to creativity.

Here are some tips for you to do fashion drawings.

If you would like a tutorial on sketching faces or bodies, let me know. I love to hear from you. You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Store your creative ideas for a rainy winter day

Sometimes I have to save my ideas, that I don’t have time for.

By recording them somewhere safe, you know that you have them for a “rainy day” (we get lots and lots of rainy days in Norway).

Make a box for the cards:

You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Colouring escapism

You have probably noticed the new colouring trend already. You fill in colours in a black and white drawing. And as you do it, you relax have a wonderful meditation and it is a great anti stress for most of us.

Here are some tips

Messing around

Sennelier watercolour travel box

I am very excited to try my new Sennelier watercolours

Spring is finally arriving in Norway. Today I went for my first walk in 2016 in the park near to where I live.

Sandvedparken.

You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

A secret sneak peek.

Some new ideas on how to be creative! I use my sketchbooks for different reasons at different times…. I told you before that breaking some rules can lead to creativity.

Here are some tips for you to do fashion drawings.

If you would like a tutorial on sketching faces or bodies, let me know. I love to hear from you. You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Share this:

Like this:

Sometimes I have to save my ideas, that I don’t have time for.

By recording them somewhere safe, you know that you have them for a “rainy day” (we get lots and lots of rainy days in Norway).

You can subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email, or follow on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Share this:

Like this:

You have probably noticed the new colouring trend already. You fill in colours in a black and white drawing. And as you do it, you relax have a wonderful meditation and it is a great anti stress for most of us.

Here are some tips

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

I am very excited to try my new Sennelier watercolours

Share this:

Like this: