Plein Air painting and new free tutorials

 

Windmill by Marla L. Niederer

I hope you are still enjoying a creative summer.  Over the past two weeks I have enjoyed some plein air painting.  Inspired by Yvonne Morell’s class I took my art supplies and sketched and painted a wonderful old windmill that just so happens to be located next to a friend of mine’s home.  It was such fun!

 

Wellesley Island by Marla L. Niederer

I also added color to a sketch I did while I was staying at a cottage on Wellesley Island this past spring.  Sometimes while on vacation there isn’t enough time to complete a sketch in color but I often take my fountain pen with me that my son made.  I just love using it while going out and about.  I keep water soluble ink in it and then can use just water and a brush to add shading or often I go back and add color with watercolors when I am home while using a reference photo.  I find the sketching I do while out and about becomes such nice souvenirs of my trips. 

I also wanted to share that this month on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel I have shared two new free tutorials and will be sharing a couple of journal flip throughs in the coming weeks.

 

Accordion books by Marla Niederer inspired by 5 books in 5 days challenge 

The first free tutorial is on how to make an art journal out of an old book.  I had such fun with this so hope you enjoy it also.  If you are interested in viewing it just click on the picture below and it will bring you right to the tutorial on my OrsinisAngels channel.

 

Free tutorial on how to make an art journal out of an old book by Marla L. Niederer

For the book’s pages I used geli prints that I made.  I thought I would also share how I made the geli prints with you and posted a free tutorial in case you wish to make your own geli prints too.  You can view it by clicking on the picture below.

 

Free tutorial on how I made geli prints to use in  an art journal by Marla L. Niederer

Just a reminder, I have two digital original paper doll downloads in my shop now that can be used for your personal mixed media, collage, and junk journaling projects.  You can find out more about them by clicking on each picture below.

 

Estelle a digital fairy paper doll by Marla L. Niederer

Little Fox a digital paper doll by Marla L. Niederer

You can see a free video on how I assembled and decorated my paper doll Estelle on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel by clicking on the picture below.

 

Free tutorial on how to assemble Estelle by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see and find out about my self-study classes you can click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see all of my free video tutorials on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel just click on the picture below.

 

Free tutorials on OrsinisAngels YouTube channel

To see all of my free tutorials click on the picture below.

 

Free tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me just click on my picture below.

 

About Me

Untill next time…….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

 

Book Challenge and Sketching workshop

 

My Living Room by Marla L. Niederer

Summer seems to be flying by so quickly!  It seems like the more you enjoy something the faster it goes by doesn’t it? 

I thought I would share with you some of the creative things I have been up to lately.  I have been working on a sketchbook practice online class presented by Yvonne Morell this month.  For the class one of the activities was to do a sketch of your living room.  This is a sketch of my living room couch.

My Living Room by Marla L. Niederer

Another activity was to sketch people in public.  This is a sketch I did while plein air painting with the art group I belong too.  Such fun!

Plein air sketch by Marla L. Niederer

I also have been involved in a Five Books in Five Days challenge presented by Ali Manning.  Well, I don’t think I will make the five books in five days deadline but had so much fun making two of the forms of accordion books presented in the challenge.  I still have a bit more work to do on them.  I’m sure glitter will be involved but thought I would share a picture of them with you. 

Accordion Books by Marla L. Niederer 

Just a reminder, I have two digital original paper doll downloads in my shop now that can be used for your personal mixed media, collage, and junk journaling projects.  You can find out more about them by clicking on each picture below.

Estelle A Digital Fairy Paper Doll by Marla L. Niederer

Little Fox a Digital Paper Doll by Marla L. Niederer

You can see a free video on how I assembled and decorated my paper doll Estelle on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel by clicking on the picture below.

 

How to assemble Estelle a Fairy Paper Doll by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see and find out about my self-study classes you can click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see all of my free video tutorials on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel just click on the picture below.

 

Free Video Tutorials on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel

To see all of my free tutorials click on the picture below.

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me just click on my picture below.

 

About Me

Untill next time…….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

Mermaids

 

Mermaid Watercolor painting by Marla L. Niederer

This summer I’ve been working on a few mermaids.  I started out being inspired by a Jane Davenport book on mermaids and painted this.

Mermaids by Marla L. Niederer inspired by Jane Davenport's book on mermaids

I then was inspired by a Toni Burt mini class for Kalidoscope 2022 her session and created this journal page.

Art Journal page by Marla L. Niederer inspired by Tony Burt's Kaleidoscope session

I then created this Mermaid watercolor painting.   I won't even tell you that I was listening to ocean sounds and had seashells on my desk while I was painting. I also won't tell you that I recently purchased a set of mermaid paintbrushes either lol!

 

Mermaid watercolor painting by Marla L. Niederer

My fascination with mermaids is far from over so I will probably create a few more mermaid projects this summer.

 

My watercolor painting desk

I also wanted to share that I have a few original digital download paper dolls available in my shop now.  They can be used for personal card making, art journaling, junk journaling, shelf decorations, party activities, amongst other personal creative pursuits that you may fancy.

 

You can see more about my original Little Fox digital paper doll and purchase her if you wish by clicking on her picture below.

 

Little Fox Digital Paper Doll by Marla L. Niederer

You can see more about my Fairy Digital Paper Doll Estelle and purchase her if you wish by clicking on her picture below.

 

Estelle Fairy Digital Paper Doll by Marla L. Niederer

You can see a free video on how I assembled and decorated my paper doll Estelle on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel by clicking on the picture below.

 

Estelle Paper Doll Assembly free tutorial by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see and find out about my self-study classes you can click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see all of my free video tutorials on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel just click on the picture below.

 

Free video tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To see all of my free tutorials click on the picture below.

 

Free tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me just click on my picture below.

 

About Me

Until next time…….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

Sakura by Roslind Sherman

 

Sakura by Roslind Sherman

On my last blog post I shared about participating in the Progressive Paper Doll group on Facebook. I wanted to share with you today some photos of the paper doll I received in the Enchanted Garden theme paper doll exchange.

Sakura by Roslind Sherman

 I received this incredible original paper doll “Sakura” designed and created by the very talented artist Roslind Sherman.

The packaging Sakura arrived in

The packaging of  Sakura was a gift in and of itself!

Sakura by Roslind Sherman

Roslind shared with me that Sakura meant beauty and joy.

Sakura and background paper screen by Roslind Sherman

In addition to the paper doll Sakura, I received a letter telling me a bit about the doll written by Roslind.   I also received a beautiful handmade paper screen also created by Roslind.

Sakura and background screen by Roslind Sherman

I was completely blown away by the intricate layering of papers to create both this beautiful paper doll and background screen.

Sakura by Roslind Sherman

Thank you again Roslind for sharing such a beautiful gift of talent and joy with me!

 

If you would like to make my original art paper doll Estelle, I just placed a free tutorial on how to embellish and assemble her on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel.  Just click on the picture below to see it.

 

Estelle Art Paper Doll Free Video Tutorial by Marla Niederer

My Paper Doll Estelle is also now available as a digital download in my shop.  To find out more or purchase the download just click on the picture below.

 

Estelle an Articulated Paper Doll by Marla L. Niederer Digital Download

If you wish to see and find out about my self-study classes you can click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see all of my free video tutorials on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel just click on the picture below.

 

Free video tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To see all of my free tutorials click on the picture below.

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me just click on my picture below.

 

About Me

Until next time…….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

 

 

 

Enchanted Garden Progressive Paper doll Exchange

 

Estelle an original articulated paper doll by Marla L. Niederer

I’ve been engaging in paper doll exchanges through the Progressive Paper doll group on Facebook since last fall.  It has been such fun group and a good way to stretch my creativity.   For the most recent exchange themed Enchanted Garden I created a paper doll named Estelle and a Little Book of Enchantments to go along with her.   Estelle was inspired by my long love of Tuck Comb Grodner Tal dolls.

Estelle an original articulated paper doll by Marla L. Niederer

If you are unfamiliar with Grodner Tal tuck comb dolls, they were wooden carved dolls with tuck comb hair ornaments hand crafted in Austria, Germany, and Italy.  A very small version of the dolls, often coarsely carved were the peg woodens that were jointed with a wooden peg joint.

Many of these dolls also had tuck comb hair ornaments and were sold for a penny.  Queen Victoria was quite fond of the peg wooden dolls and spent many hours dressing her delightful collection. 

 Estelle started out as an original watercolor painting that I designed and hand painted. 

 

Estelle an original articulated paper doll and Little Book of Enchantments by Marla L. Niederer

 Since the theme of the paper doll project was Enchanted Garden Estelle became a fairy with dragonfly wings. The entire paper doll was hand embellished with metallic ink, archival ink, and sealed with satin acrylic medium before cutting. In order to make Estelle jointed I used miniature brads that I hand painted to match her dress and skin tone.

 

Estelle an original articulated paper doll and Little Book of Enchantments by Marla L. Niederer

For the presentation of the doll I was absolutely fascinated with a pop-up book video tutorial presented by Einat Kessler on her blog and on her YouTube channel. 

 

Little Book of Enchantments by Marla L. Niederer

I had never made a pop-up book before and found the concept intriguing.  There are so many different ways to create one!

Going along with our project theme, Enchanted Garden, I decided that there was no better way to enter an Enchanted Garden than to go through a beautiful antique wrought iron gate embellished with flowers.  I designed and cut out the gate and decided to have the doors open to give a 3D embellishment to the first two pages of the book.  The flowers adorning the gate and used to adorn the rest of the book were prints  of watercolor flowers that I had painted.

Little Book of Enchantments by Marla L. Niederer

The backgrounds for the first two pages of the book and the second two pages of the book are prints of a watercolor sketch I painted of a view from my studio window.  The water fountain, used in both the first and second two pages of the book, was a print from a watercolor sketch I painted of a beautiful garden on Boldt Castle Island close to where I live.  The greenery used to embellish the book was also from a watercolor painting that I painted and made a print of.

 

Estelle an original articulated paper doll and Little Book of Enchantments by Marla L. Niederer

The watercolor and ink fairy embellishing the last two pages of the book is a print of one of my original works of art.  I also designed the pockets which hold Estelle the paper doll.

 

Estelle an original articulated paper doll and Little Book of Enchantments by Marla L. Niederer

 The images for the book were hand embellished with metallic ink, archival ink, and sealed with satin acrylic medium before cutting.

I also designed and hand painted the original bookplate that I then made a print of to use for the front cover of the book.

 

 Little Book of Enchantments by Marla L. Niederer

I hope you enjoy Little Book of Enchantments as much as I have enjoyed creating it.

And if you would like to make your very own Estelle, she is now available as a digital download in my shop.  You can find out more about the download by clicking on the picture below.

Estelle an original articulated instant digital download paper doll by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see my self-study classes you can click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

If you wish to see all of my free video tutorials on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel just click on the picture below.

 

Free Video Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To see all of my free tutorials click on the picture below.

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me just click on my picture below.

 

About Me

Until next time…….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla