Word of the Year—Watercolors & Lettering Art
Resolutions have never been my thing. I can’t think of one I ever accomplished. In recent years, I’ve let myself be guided by more of a theme for the year, which I share more about in my latest Journal entry.
In keeping with this theme of Word of the Year, I’m preparing for a workshop to be held in the coming weeks which will include us all creating a visual representation for our current theme.
It was fun going through a few creative processes I’ve been learning with watercolors and lettering to showcase a few of the words I’ve chosen in years past.
Growth
I clean script lettering adorned with many swirls and leaves.
Happiness
With so much color and pattern—what makes me happy—this one is straight forward. A rainbow gradient serves as a background for the word and the sentiment.
Joy
This is my word for this year. A feeling of pure bliss, in whatever state of life we’re in. Flowers, colors, a dark outline in contrast to the watercolor paint splashes, not really representing anything deep, just a design choice I enjoy very much.
I’ll keep you posted on the Creating Your Word of the Year Workshop to be held at Artelexia soon. In the meantime, what is your word or theme for this year?! Please share in the comments below.
All Is Well—A Hand-lettered Holiday Greeting
As a graphic designer and stationery lover, I always had the yearning for designing my own holiday card. It was expected, no? Well, time would always just fly by and I’d never get to it, until last year when I created a lettered design and had a stamp created from it.
This year, I wanted to keep the tradition going being that so many of the recipients acknowledged how much they liked the year before’s. Again, waiting too close to the deadline, I recycled a lettered phrase I love which I made earlier in the year. It fit the theme perfectly.
I used my newly acquired lettering skills and used a hand-lettered script design.
I added a few festive jolly holly details, used watercolors to add some color, and finito.
Now, to decide if I should hand-make all 20+ I needed, or if to clean it up and send to print.
The latter won!
I hope your Christmas was festive and fun, and may the coming year be filled with many joyful blessings, because All is Always Well!
Mexican Talavera-inspired Tile Patterns in Watercolor
While these patterns were inspired from the actual venue and typical Mexican tile motifs, I wanted to make them my own by continuing with my watercolor curiosity and just going at it.
I shared the Mexican-themed anniversary invitation these tile patterns were meant for here. A palette of yellows and golds and black were used for that invitation series.
I chose a palette of blues and neutrals for this series, and let myself play with how they flowed together. A hard thing for me to do initially.
In all honesty, finalizing these painted tile illustrations took me the better part of 6 months. Sometimes I get into my head too much and overthink how things are looking and how they’re supposed to look. These are really my second attempt at them.
But when I let go of exactly how they needed to turn out, they turned out better than I imagined.
I even let myself play a bit more with how the water and paint flowed together, and came up with these interesting, flow-y tiles. They seem nice for coasters!
Looking forward to painting more of these Mexican tiles and also exploring a few designs of my own.
Cookie Fortunes—Life's Happy Oracles
My favorite part of eating Chinese takeout? The fortune cookies. I've collected quite a few that have really resonated with my life situation in the instance I read it. So, I thought I'd share a few favorites from my collection, hand-lettered and water-colored, of course.
While most of these miniature messages have echoed true to me, I've also come across some that, either don't seem like 'fortunes'—'You are a pleasant person.'—or are like my recent one below!
Really?! I SHOULD be able to undertake anything … Thanks for cheering me on, cookie!! Maybe something like 'You ARE able to undertake & complete anything' would be better, yes?
Now THESE ARE fortunes that bring me joy!
As creatives/artists/designers/independent 'anything', we can admit that the certainty of where our next paycheck will come is always top of mind. It has been a process for me to let go of past mindsets about money, for sure, but little hints like this help keep me at peace.
Knowing that the important thing is to focus on the PURPOSE, CURIOSITY, PASSION—whatever brings us joy—everything else, including money, will come inevitably.
How's that for a fortune duo?!
The last pair of my #LizzyBCookieFortunes series. Probably the ones that resonate with me the most.
Over the recent years, I have let myself be open and guided by any and all signs that feel instinctively true.
From a young age I've always felt a connection, a knowing of more than what we can purely see with our eyes. When I came upon these fortunes—at different times—it was as if I was being told 'Yes, you've always known'.
““Enjoy the lighter things in life and deeper joys will follow.””
Looking forward to continuing my fortune cookie collection. Above, a recent one I received—in perfect timing, of course.
Paris on the Brain—Watercolor Vistas of My Favorite City
I’ve had a fascination with Paris since I was a little girl. Where that love of the city stems from, I don’t know, but in following my current curiosity of watercolors, I wanted to take a moment to paint a few of my favorite Paris vistas.
With a life-long curiosity for painting, I decided this year was the time to start learning. I started with a water-coloring course via Skillshare which resulted in me losing the fear of mixing the paint wells—a GOOD thing!
Not considering myself a good illustrator or painter, this more free-flowing illustrative method let me just put my beginner skills to use while splattering the paint as if using crayons. Those kindergarten days of staying strictly inside the lines came to good use.
It’s always fun to create different palettes and imagine such recognizable structures in varying colors. A purple Metro sign? A green Eiffel Tower? A blue Sacré-Cœur? Of course!
I’m letting myself explore this new-found interest with painting, so letting go of set notions is a must.
“It’s all about doing something new and playing with the shapes and colors.”
More water-color explorations to come. I’ve been working on some San Miguel de Allende vistas that I’m excited to complete and share!