My Creative Side
Watercolour and mixed-media art projects and inspiration for FREE.
Find out about Brina’s Creative Side or log in. Find your inspiration for just $65.
Creative Warm Up - Describe and Draw
At the beginning of each kids’ art class I like to have a warm up. It’s a good way to connect our hands to our heart and our eyes. Warm ups change through the season. because I notice when an idea gets old for the kids. Their efforts and excitement starts to dwindle. A month ago I started the Describe and Draw warm up, where I find a picture online (usually Pinterest) and they need to draw a picture based on my words, and their interest came back.
How To Use Watercolours - Start A Messy Landscape
When I start a messy, abstract landscape painting, this is how I usually begin. Watch how I started My Assurance, a messy landscape painting created from a few brush strokes.
Creative Warm Up - Watercolour Bubbles
I tried to combine the watercolour bubbles with a koi fish painting but, truly, all the kids really wanted to do was create a full page of bubbles in different colours and sizes. It’s a really fun and rewarding thing to do!
Creative Warm Up - Imaginative Play
Creative warm ups to keep your imaginations sharp - ripped pieces of paper turned into a picture and a doodle play practice.
Drawing Prompt - Winter Lodge
This photo reminds me of Island Lake Lodge, a really cool resort just west of Fernie, BC. Since I want to practice evening landscapes, I thought this would be just the right place to start. The contrast of warm light and cool colours will make the cabin really stand out.
Drawing Challenge - Weekly December Prompts
It’s my first weekly drawing challenge where you get a prompt and try, the best that you can, to draw, paint, etch, sketch the word of the week multiple times. The challenge is to create from the same prompt in different ways each day.
Drawing Prompt - Get Loose Birch Tree
During a walk along the Annex Park path, I snapped a photo of this tree and immediately knew I was going to paint it…or something based on it. I take a lot of pictures with the idea of painting it later.
Creative Warm Up - Shape Party
We all need to warm up sometimes, especially when we sit at the table with all our supplies and we don’t know how to get started. This is my favourite painting and mark making exercise to get my ideas flowing…or to just play around.
Paint The Things You Find Difficult To Paint
The best advice I got from an art class was, If you find someone difficult to paint, paint it over and over again until it’s not hard anymore.
Why is a Sketchbook Practice Important?
My sketchbook practice didn’t start until the spring of 2023, when I understood that art is important for me. I need to it every day because it brings me so much joy and peace. A little book with blank pages can do so much for your art practice.
How To Use Watercolours - An Abstract Landscape
Due to the popularity of my abstract landscape paintings on social media, I thought I would create a video of how I do it.
How To Use Watercolours - Metal Surface
I don’t often paint metal surfaces, but when I do, it’s all about the highlights and shadows. Grab a scrap piece of watercolour paper or two and give this a try.
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.
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.
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.