Color Burst Technique: Weathered Wood

Hi everybody, I hope you're having a beautiful day...it's a beautiful, crisp, fall afternoon where I live, it couldn't be more perfect.
Recently, I posted a video on Facebook live and I wanted to follow up today with a few clearer photos of the technique that I showed in the video. The technique is "faux weathered wood" with Color Burst.  It's a great watercolor technique that instantly make you look like an accomplished water colorist.   

This technique lets you create texture with watercolor.

And, it could not be easier.

All you need is some watercolor paper, Color Burst ( I used Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, and Lamp Black) and a fan brush! 



A fan brush will let you create lines and streaky textures with Color Burst.




 If you'd like to see how I did it, watch this video, I give step-by-step instructions and show you how to paint woodgrain with Color Burst and a fan brush.
Watch here....


                             

The contest is over, and the winners have been chosen,  but I thought you might enjoy learning the technique.

To finish these cards, I added a tiny water colored die cut leaf to the envelope. It looks pretty cool.  



Here's a list of the products I used to create these cards:
Color Burst, Rich Moroccan Shades
Ken Oliver Crafts Water Media Stitched Cards
Maya Road Dies
Stick It Adhesive
Best Ever Craft Mat
Robert Simmons White Sable Fan Blender Brush



Thank you for visiting my blog today and for watching my video!  I hope you'll try this technique, once you master it...your friends will think you're a watercolor expert! I'm thinking that this background would look great with a die cut Christmas wreath on it too! 

Reverse Glass Painting with a Color Burst Background

Hey everybody, I am a collector of old stuff...so, you can't imagine how happy I was when I found reverse glass painting in an antique store the other day.  Reverse glass painting has been around since the middle ages in one form or another. This piece is a vintage piece from the 30's or 40's and based on the subject matter, may have been created by a local artist.

I really loved the image...it's like so many images I photograph while walking on the river near my home.

And, although the "crinkled" aluminum foil background is typical for pieces created during the 30s and 40s, I felt like it needed something more.  I really wanted to see this piece with a magnificent sunset behind it.

I really love that silhouette image, I see it quite often when I'm walking near the river.

 

 

So I decided that it would be great to use Color Burst to create a wonderful, watercolor background that would capture some of the beauty of our sunsets.

First, I removed the tiny nails from the frame that held the foil background in place.

Then carefully removed the backing and the foil back ground.  I discovered that this was a "at home" DIY piece...the mat board on the reverse side was actually a phone book cover.

Here's close up of the foil once the piece had been deconstructed.  There were a couple different kinds of foil, and it looks like they had some color, but the color has faded away over the years.

The next thing I needed to do was to create a Color Burst color palette that would, approximate the colorful sunsets I see outside my front door nearly every day.

 I chose, Cerulean Blue Ultramarine Blue, Lemon Yellow, Gamboge, Orange, and Merlot.  That's a lot of color for an 8x10 background...but I wanted it to be very colorful!

So I created a loose, "washy" background with lots of color.  I didn't really try to catch any detail on this background.  The details are in the painted glass that overlays this background so you can be messy.  

When I reassembled this piece with it's new Color Burst background...I loved it even more. The sunset is so glowy!

If you like this project, make sure to check back in a couple days...I recreated a similar vintage reverse glass painting with a frame from a resale shop, stencils, and Color Burst. 

Til next time, 

 

Family Business and Gratitude

“I sew a little prayer and a little good wish into every card I make," is what my mom said when I picked up a bunch of watercolor cards yesterday that she’d just sewn for me. And, that, just kind of blew me away, because I know it's true.

   

 As a "solo-preneur" I never know how things are gonna get done and I am really grateful that I can rely on my family for some of the day-to-day tasks that I need to accomplish. No kidding, I've actually asked my dad to help me kit and sort scrapbook paper. 

Lately, my mom has been helping with sewing watercolor card fronts together. And I could not be more grateful to her for help. I just love this image of her hands sewing (can you see the love?)...she's been a seamstress all her life, her work is amazing.  She's sewn window treatments, draperies, and accessories for homes all over the United States and been included in publications and house tours for over 40 years. And even to this day, designers and folks who worked with my mom in the past, tell me they always loved working with her, loved her designs, and often tried to figure out how she created some of her wonderful projects. 

So, I would have never imagined while I was in college, or busy working at my corporate jobs, that at some time in the future, I'd have the opportunity to work directly with my parents, in a business, almost every day. I am grateful for their time, talent and for their years of experience in running their own businesses. Most people don't get this opportunity and I am blessed daily for it, and it never would have happened had I not left the corporate world and ventured out on my own.  

The fact that these watercolor cards are even a class is also somewhat of an accident, it seems a few store owners had seen some of my Color Burst demos and suggested that a watercolor card class would be great...and it is, in this class I get to teach a number of Color Burst stamping and painting techniques, and I'm starting to get enough requests for the class that we're going to have to find a source for the cards...it's not like I can ask my mom to sew thousands of cards every week.  

 

 So until I find the source, we'll keep making the cards by hand, and each one will have a little prayer and a little wish sewn into it, and I am so happy to be able to share these cards with my students, because they really are handmade with love.  And I am so grateful that my journey has brought me home and given me the opportunity to work with my family in ways I never imagined and I could not be happier! 

Til next time, 

Ken

  

New Creative Team Announced Ken Oliver Crafts

I am more than a little excited today to announce a new creative team!  It's been a really challenging proposition and I am about a month overdue in naming the team!  Why?  Over 500 crafters, artists and bloggers from around the world sent in submissions.  

I was overwhelmed at the task...and had to call in some support to help with the decision making process.  

You know, if it was up to me, I'd choose EVERYONE! If you submitted art, and weren't selected for the team this time, thank you so much for your submissions, I loved looking at every single one.  And, keep in touch as we're going to feature guest contributors regularly.

I am so very proud of the team we've assembled...CONGRATULATIONS to all!  We have a very talented, well-rounded, world class team.  We have members from Germany, Italy, Canada, Ireland and the USA.  And, the new team features mixed media artists, stampers, card makers scrapbookers, lifestyle crafters and painters!  We wanted to offer a wide variety of arts and crafts "disciplines" to make it really interesting every day!

The new team members are:

Sharon Callis, Ireland

Krista Riley, USA

Nikki Davis, USA

DAKRI Sinclair, USA

Buffy St. John, USA

Zoey Emanuella Scarpelli, Italy

Diana Hetherington, Canada

Tracy Pounds (Miss Tracy), USA

Dunja Dücker, Germany

Kimberly Jones, USA

Laurel Beard, USA

Jeanne Streiff, USA

Jessica Frost-Ballas, USA

Yvonne Blair, USA

Giovana Smith, USA

I have extremely high hopes for the team...each one is so talented and I am so grateful that they've chosen to work with my products.  And I know that you're going to love the works of art they create.  

I started to do a bio for each one of them on this post, but I decided that we should "spotlight" each one of them separately to introduce them and let you know a little more about each team member.  I'll start the "spotlight" blog posts next week, so make sure to check back.  I'll send out Facebook reminders too, so you'll make sure to catch every post.  

In the meantime, follow them on Facebook...follow them on Instagram and Pinterest!  You are gonna love what you see!

Please join me in wishing everyone CONGRATULATIONS!  

I am telling you...this team is gonna rock the house! 

til next time,

Ken

Maya Road and Ken Oliver Crafts Designer Challenge

Hey everybody, I need to let you in on a little secret!  This week, some of my crafty friends and I are teaming up with our friends over at Maya Road for a really cool blog event, designer challenge featuring newly released paper cutting dies from Maya Road and a couple of great die cutting accessories from Ken Oliver Crafts!

You will just love the new dies from Maya Road, and I know you will want to see how Stick It and the Tool-It-All make die-cutting and card making easier that ever before.

This designer challenge is going to be great!  For the next 3 days, October 21,22, and 23rd, you'll be treated to creations from some of the best designers in the industry...and, of course there's a chance to win!  All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on each designer's blog.  Each designer will give-away a prize pack featuring the tools you're seeing on the posts this week.  And, if you will, tell your crafty friends about our blog hop!  Feel free to share our posts to your Facebook and Instagram to let your friends know about our fabulous give-a-ways! And, visit the Maya Road blog too...their creations will blow you away! 

The contest will remain open until Sunday night, October 25th.  Our winners will be announced on Monday October 26th.

Make sure to check back over the next 3 days when you'll see the work of Laural Beard, Giovana Smith, and Jessica Frost Ballas!  I can't wait for you to see what they've created! 

I can't wait for this party to get started!  

Keep it Crafty!

Ken

    

Color Burst: Painted Butterfly

I sat down to work on some projects for upcoming classes...and I accidentally painted this. it was just a simple butterfly that I was watercolor doodling.  

I added some Speedball Ink with a fine detail brush and it really started to come alive for me.  I literally just "scribbled" with the ink and the brush around my watercolored butterfly.

I have to be honest, I completely and totally "lifted" the technique from my artist friend Dakri Sinclair. She's my neighbor and we had a little paint date recently.  I picked up a few tricks. 

Dakri and I go way back...when I was just out of high school, I worked for her mother, Angie Sinclair, who was also an artist, a creator, a writer, a dreamer and a genius...in fact my experience with Dakri's mom, Angie, has in many ways been my inspiration as I've started on my own "solo-preneur" journey this year. I am over the moon that Dakri and I have been able to reconnect after all these years.   

I was completely mesmerized as I watched her paint this piece.

Dakri's finished piece is just amazing!  If you'd like to see a little more of what she does, click on the link here to visit her etsy shop.  Her style is magical!

As I scribbled with the ink and fine detailed brush, I realized that my little 5"x5" butterfly painting would make a great card.  

I added a layer of cardstock behind it, popped on a couple of sequins, and called it done! To me, this card is fresh, simple, and if you've used Color Burst, you are gonna want to try this! 

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you've found some inspiration that will help you along on your creative journey! 

Ken

Color Burst Kids Party! Inspiring Young Artists

Last year, when I started working on the development of Color Burst, I knew there was something really special about the way the product worked...the bursts of color are fun to watch and fun to make.  And, of course, I used Color Burst with some "focus groups" to gauge user response.

I tested with local paper crafters, artists, cardmakers and kids!  I found out that kids really like the stuff!  My first focus group, my nieces and nephew, could not get enough of Color Burst...I even started recruiting friends with kids to get their response...and boy, did they like it!  

And, over the summer as I've been out on the road teaching, kids and tweens are showing up in my classes in increasing numbers...which makes me really happy...inspiring young artists is one of the greatest things we can do.

Even really little kids "get" Color Burst... 

If you haven't seen Color Burst yet, here's a quick video where you can see how it works.

So you can see, it's pretty cool stuff that will let you create lots and lots of watercolor looks in a variety of ways. And, here's another part of the "back story." Art therapists are using Color Burst in their therapy programs with kids and senior citizens...I've been overwhelmed with some of the stories that I've heard.  With Color Burst, nearly anyone can create something that's beautiful and it's so "instant" that it sparks a conversation that enables the therapist and client to begin the work of what art therapy is all about. 

So, over the weekend, I got an email with some photos of a Color Burst Party for kids.  I could not have been happier.  It's almost like a "dream come true" kind of day for me because I am really passionate about kids and art!
Kids gain lots of skills when they create, the learn to communicate, they gain self confidence, they develop pride and self worth...just from the simple act of making art. Here are a few of the pics, so you can see how much fun they had. 

The idea was pretty simple, an art day for the kids, centered around a birthday party.

And they created lots of Color Burst art. 

They even used a few stencils. 

You can see, they created lots and lots of really cool art. 

And it's not so much "what" they created, but it's the fact that a few 8 and 9 year olds got to participate in the "creative" process. 

They had lots for creative, watercolory fun. 

 

And, each kid at the party got to create a photo frame as a souvenir of their day of art at a birthday party.  They even used my 8"x10" Mixed Media Art Board for the project.  

Pretty cool, right? 

I am so glad to learn that kids love Color Burst and that they're finding fun ways to create and share their art.  And, having a kids Color Burst party?  That's the coolest idea. 

If you've not heard of Color Burst or any of the products I mentioned in this post, please see my catalog page here.  And if you'd like to find any of my products, please check with your local retailer or refer to the Wholesale Inquiries page, our reps and distributors will be more than happy to help you find a retailer in your area. 

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you'll be inspired to create some art...hey, get the kids involved too!

Ken