I always plan to share art posts more frequently than once a year…and then I always have a really good excuse when that doesn’t happen. But you’re not here to hear (hehe) my excuses, you’re here to see art! Of which I have plenty over the year, so we shall divide them and succeed in sharing multiple art posts a year.
Today is the colorful edition, featuring one of my absolute favorite mediums: ink and watercolor! I cannot gush about how fantastic it is to first sketch out a nice lined image with pencil, then go over it with pen, then erase all the leftover pencil, then go crazy with watercolor. It’s so much fun, so freeing, and so forgiving. If you have not tried it yet, read this post, then GO TRY IT.
…I also just realized that all the paintings you’re about to see are gifts for my dear friends and family. Most of my art ends up becoming gifts, because it’s rather sad to have everything all hidden away in sketchbooks, isn’t it? I’d much rather give them away and hopefully brighten someone’s day with them. 😊 So this post is also a lil shout-out to all my beloveds!
First we have this image of Prague, which I made for Mama! She loves Europe and loves to travel (see where I inherited the travel bug?) and has not yet been to Prague, thus why I painted this for her. Admittedly I do not have much experience with architecture, so you may notice some lines and angles that defy physics, but I had a lot of fun with this overall.
A good-bye gift for Noam, one of my swim mates! We always joked about being dolphins, especially during all the brutal fly sets. This painting is fairly simple, although the dolphins were tricky to get smooth lines.
This one was for my dear friend Khylie (who is an amazing writer, by the way, so you must subscribe to her newsletter.) She loves both the mountains, pine forests, and the ocean, so I thought of a home that combined all these elements and voila! The angles of the house lines are still not quite right, but…let’s call it an artistic flair. And thank God I’m not an architect. 😂
I still love this piece a lot, for a very dear friend with three adorable little boys/bear cubs! The chimney stones were a huge pain to sketch, and then line in, and then paint…but it was worth it, so worth it.
A special gift for Bella before I moved away for college. She is one of my best friends from swim who became an amazing friend overall and I miss her so much (*hugs for you if you’re reading this*). Of course we both love the water, and old ships, because who doesn’t! I could draw and sketch old ships all day, they are that immensely satisfying.
An imaginary home for my friend Marybeth! All the logs and, you got it, lining things up were difficult and took a lot of erasing, as was coming up with the color brown, which did not exist on my watercolor palette. I had to create batches of blue + orange, which sounded a bit like witchcraft, but ladies and gentlemen, it really does work and make a lovely brown.
This yellow makes me very happy, especially since it happens to be my friend Hope’s favorite color! The sunflowers were a bit of a challenge, but I had a lot of fun painting everything in and creating this rustic cottage for her.
I might have drawn and redrawn that bridge a dozen times (curves and arches are hard), but I’m happy with how it turned out! I’m still working on my sky and cloud skills…I wanted to combine blue and orange but then remembered that blue + orange = brown so I had to improvise quickly to avoid creating a brown sky. 😂
This was for my other best friend from swim, the one and only Kate! *also hugs you if you’re reading this* The angle on this one was really tricky, but I eventually got (most) everything lined up. The sails and different lines were really fun to add in.
That mist was originally not intended to look so spooky…but hey, sometimes watercolors don’t do what you expect them to. This was for my friend Zachary, who is also an incredible author and who has a newsletter that’s very well worth your while to join.
This was inspired by the fantasy world Tiphereth Erets, created by Hope, in which all sorts of magical creatures and settings find a home. I do love ink and watercolor and how easy they make it to create trees and bushes and grass, and I really love how whimsically magic this turned out! It fits the vibe of Tiphereth Erets very well, methinks.
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And that is all of my ink and watercolor for today! Next art dump, I will share with you my pencil drawings, but in the meantime, tell me: Which one is your favorite? Do you have any requests or ideas for me to draw and/or paint? Have you tried ink and watercolor? If not, go try it out! If so, are you in love with it as much as I am? 😍
Until next time,
Bon voyage!
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The Voyaging Storyteller 
All of them are so good! I especially liked the ships, the one with the three bears, and the very last one. My sister is learning how to do ink and watercolor too (she’s the definite artist in the family lol. I’m just a happy bystander who appreciates the talents of others XD.)
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Thank you Lillian!! That’s awesome, and you know what else it means? That you have supplies available and YOU can try it out yourself! 😃😃 Seriously, it’s so much fun.
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*gasp* So true! I do dabble a bit in lettering for the cards I make…so maybe I could try it with watercolors and such. Thanks for the idea! *runs off to make more greeting cards* XD
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YASSS and you should totally share pics when you’re done 😉
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I loved the third one about “miracles ” we see as ordinary. They are not. Love, you,mimi
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AHH
AHHHH
AHHHHHH
THOSE WERE AMAZING!!!! HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!?! The ships were my favorite but that last fantasy one was also fantastic and THEY’RE ALL SO GOOD AHHHHHHHHHHH
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*blushes and melts into a delighted puddle* THANK YOU SO MUCH JOELLE. 😍
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WOW, ELISHA! I’m in awe!!! These paintings are incredible – especially those ship ones! And those skies…ahhh!!! The sunset colors are GORGEOUS. (How did you have to improvise with the orange + blue so it didn’t turn into brown?) This is making me want to try watercolor…
(Haha, it’s a good thing I’m not an architect either XD Poor souls who’s have to live in my designs. *muffled laughter*)
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THANK YOU SO MUCH SARAINA! 😄😄 Well, the improvisation was mostly stopping the blue entirely, adding in more orange and some light purple in an attempt to blend it better. It was quite Frankenstein, but I’m so glad you like the result!! YES YOU SHOULD TRY WATERCOLOR. So forgiving and so. much. fun.
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Ooo, interesting!!! Well, I LOVE how it turned out!! 😀 I really do need to try!!! XD
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These are so pretty!! All the buildings and environments are giving me motivation to practice urban sketching this year, haha. The colors are gorgeous, too. I can’t wait to see more in the future 🙂
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Thank you so much Merie!! Ooohh I’d love to see some of your urban sketches! 😀
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These are great! I do use watercolor, but I have never tried the watercolor-ink combination before. It looks really good.
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Thank you Rose! You really ought to try it, you’re already half-way there! All you need are some pens which you probably already have lying around. 😄
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Well, I am not the best when it comes to art- as in paintings (couple years ago made two watercolor works). When it comes to sketches- best at abstract. Other kind of sketches I have worked on belong to maps- as in of my fantasy worlds (those are tricky, keep trying to improve those)
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Oooh, fantasy maps are cool!! You’ll have to share some tips, because mine look like a toddler scribbled. 😂
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Well- only still new to map drawing; still not that great at them
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Those are so beautiful! Awesome job!!! They made me so happy! Especially the Yellow cottage 🤩🤩 so beautiful! I love watercolors, but I’ve never tried watercolor with ink.
But it looks so beautiful when you do it! Definitely inspiring me to try it out! Thank you for sharing you beautiful art Elisha!
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Aaaahhhh thank you so much Eliyah, your words made my heart sing!!! 😊😊 YES you must try it out with ink, and let me know how it goes!! (By the way, I LOVE your name. Does it have any special meaning?)
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🤗
I tried out ink and watercolor! It isn’t my normal style, but it was so, so fun! I really enjoyed it!! Thank you for inspiring me to do so!
Awe! Thank you! I love your name too!
Yes, my name is Hebrew (from the name Elijah) and means “Yahweh is my Elohim ” It’s technically pronounced “ee-Lee-Yah” or “E-lye-yuh” and is a boy name, but to make it more girly sounding my parents pronounce my name “Eh-lee-yuh” 🙂
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beautiful!!
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Thank you Sara! 😊
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Your art is so beautiful, Elisha. (The SHIP in particular MAKES MY HEART SING.) Seriously, I always enjoy your art dumps SO MUCH, though I, being no artist at all, must only look and not hope to emulate. I love the cute, cozy look of ink-and-watercolor as a medium.
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Aaahhh your comments always make my day, thank you so much Sarah!!! 🥰🥰 Though I don’t believe you for a second, you are most definitely an artist in some capacity thus I command you to join the ink and watercolor cult. *shoves supplies into your arms*
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These are SO lovely. ❤
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Thank you Weez!! 😊
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