My Creative Side
My Creative Side offers new watercolour and mixed-media art projects
and inspiration weekly, for FREE. I’m just getting started.
Find out about Brina’s Creative Side for teachers, community art instructors, homeschool families, or anyone who wants a little more art instruction. Just $55 for full access.
Drawing Prompt - Clouds
There’s an art to painting or drawing clouds. They seem like they should be easy, and they are if you’re going for those fun cartoony clouds, but I think the hardest part is creating something fluffy and dimensional with a few shades of a colour.
Art Project - Wildflower Pollinator
Wildflower Pollinator was created for my 10-12 year old art class who really wanted to paint flowers. It’s something I love to paint so I jumped on the chance. My style of teaching is to show a little and allow them to create their own art because I find kids have such amazing imaginations and I want them to explore their ideas.
How much time should I spend on my art?
I had a hard time with this question when I was younger. I used to think I had to work on a piece of art for weeks or months…sometimes years. I wanted to work for hours and hours, through the night even, because that sounded so romantic.
Drawing Prompt - Canoe
This photograph reminds me of Loon Lake, which is a place we love to camp at in the spring. Draw this photograph using just a pencil, marker, or try getting the paints out.
Art Project - Oh Greenhouse
Inspired by artwork by Oamul Lu, a fantastic artist that you should look up, I created this Oh Greenhouse art project for an adult art class of mine. I wanted to try the masking fluid I had just purchased to help shape the greenhouse framing. It’s also a cool way to show contrast, between the inside and the outside of the greenhouse.
How To Use Watercolours - Plants and Leaves
When I paint leaves and plants, I let the paint brush do most of the work. The technique is simple, once you get used to it.
Drawing Prompt - House In The Mountains On The Water
This photograph has all the elements I love to paint from - water, a house, tree, and mountains. If you find this too overwhelming, try just drawing or painting the house and a couple trees or just the mountains and sky. Only paint what you’re drawn to.
Art Project - What’s in the Frame?
What’s In The Frame? was designed after I took a picture of downtown Fernie with these trees framing the buildings in the background. The trees were darker, and ominous, while the town was bright and welcoming. How you frame a painting can send the viewers eyes right where you want them to and tells a greater story.
Art Project - The Curious Whale
The Curious Whale was created for my kids’ art classes soon after I worked on another whale project. It’s about a curious whale swimming up to the surface of the ocean to find out what is floating on the water.
Art Project - My Moth
My Moth is my kind of moth. I love to create my own patterns and colour combinations inspired by real objects, animals, or plant life. There are no rules in art. This one is fairly simple or you could be inspired to create a more complicated piece of art - the options are endless.
Observational Drawing Practice
Do you want to get better at seeing? Seeing is when you actually look at an object so closely, you understand all the contours, shapes, shadows, and textures that you wouldn’t see without a little training.
A Private Art Lesson in Fernie
I feel quite touched when asked to lead a private art lesson, especially with people who don’t even know me. They are putting a lot of trust in me. I always aim to offer a calm and supportive evening of art to those who are brave enough to give it a try and hope they come out of it with a bit of inspiration to keep going.
Drawing Prompt - Rocks
When you look closely, rocks are so interesting. The colours, textures, shapes, and shading makes each one unique. I get why kids find so many ‘special’ rocks. Grab your art tools and try and create a page of rocks with what you have, whether that’s just a pencil, watercolours, or other art materials.
Illustrative Journalling
Thanks to a short online course on Domestika by Kate Sutton, I was inspired to do my own illustrative life journalling, as drawing and writing are two passions of mine. The idea is simple, and you’ve probably already done it before, to combine visuals with written words.
Mark Making
I find just the act of mark making to be one of the most meditative and relaxing art practices. It’s the act of making marks on a page, in any way you like. Easy. Right? The way I do it, in my art practice, is I fill a page with watercolour paints and add random lines, dots, and shapes on top, using a variety of art tools.
Sharing My Creative Side With You
I’m starting a collection of fun and creative art project ideas for art teachers, art class instructors, parents, or anyone who wants to start painting and drawing.