A while back I bought a box of little wood slices with the intention of painting them all with little landscapes and giving them as gifts. If I could get enough of them painted before Black Friday, I was considering selling them to hopefully make a few bucks before Christmas. It was mid November before I painted any, so yeah, I think I’ll have to buy another box and try again for next year.
Instead of stressing over getting a bunch of ornaments painted and shipped before Black Friday, I prepped all of them with Watercolor Ground and had the kids who joined us for Thanksgiving paint them. Ages ranged from 4 to 18 and they went to town making some really awesome ornaments. I brought Tombow markers, some inexpensive acrylic paint, and a set of iridescent watercolor that was on sale. I was so proud that they all had fun and spent a good amount of time painting their ornaments on Thanksgiving. It was a great activity for them to all do together that wasn’t a video game.
Watercolor Ground is a painting medium that can be painted onto porous surfaces to allow them to be painted with watercolor or gouache paint. I applied two coats to each of the wood slices and it allowed the wood to behave a little like watercolor paper. It’s not nearly as absorbant and you do get some bleeding or weirdness from the grain of the wood, but it’s overall a much easier surface to paint on than if I’d just painted on raw wood.
Of course I had to paint one wood piece to see how it would turn out and made this little painting of Half Dome from Yosemite National Park. I LOVED how it turned out. The medium doesn’t behave exactly like watercolor paper, but it’s close enough to make for some fun little paintings. On this one I used a combination of watercolor, gouache, and water-based brush pens. I made a TikTok video showing this process that you can see here.
I had so much fun with that first ornament that I had to make another one… or a couple more.
This time I tried for an epic sunset at Joshua Tree National Park. With the sunset I tried harder to get more of the look of a watercolor wash. The paint doesn’t blend quite as well as it does on paper, but I was happy with what I was able to achieve. Then I used gouache and brush pens for the trees and foreground. What a fun and unique park to explore! Here’s is the TikTok video I made of the process.
The next one I did was a Christmas gift for my son’s 2nd grade teacher. She has two parrots and my son had the genius idea to paint her beautiful birds onto one of these ornaments. He sent her an email asking which breeds they are (Blue Fronted Amazon and Solomon Island Eclectus) and she sent him a few photos. I was more than happy to paint them onto the little piece of wood and he wrote his name on the back. You can view the TikTok video here.
The next ornament I made for my sister of Babylon Arch. She and I hiked to this beautiful arch in southern Utah last year while we were both on a women’s retreat. It’s such a magical place with beautiful views of the Virgin River and gorgeous Navajo sandstone. For this ornament I used gouache for the whole thing. It’s been fun to re-remember how to use gouache, get the right consistency, and how to layer to get the affect I want. Here you can view the TikTok video.
For the last ornament I made this year, I made this scene from Coyote Gulch for my friend Michelle. She and I, along with another rad woman, backpacked to Coyote Gulch this past spring. I wrote a long blog post about it earlier this year. The third night of our trip, we camped under this alcove and it was such an epic camping spot. Here’s the TikTok showing this ornament’s progress.
Making these ornaments has been such a joy this fall that I'm planning to order more wood slices and then spend the spring and summer next year painting a stock of them that I will sell online and locally. I am hoping to get into some local arts and crafts fairs and festivals next year selling prints and stickers, so maybe I can sell some of these ornaments there too.
What are some epic locations you’d like to see painted on an ornament?
I have been struggling to have the motivation to paint the last month or two. I really want to make more paintings that I can turn into stickers and maybe even sell as prints, but motivation just hasn’t been there. My kids are back to attending school in-person too, so it’s not like I don’t have the time. Sometimes it’s kind of like exercise: when I don’t feel like doing it, if I force myself, I feel so much better afterward and feel glad that I pushed myself.
This was my mood the other night, so I made myself a mug of hot tea, put some Star Trek: Discovery on my iPad and set to work on a new painting. I wanted to do another starry night sky, so I chose a mountain that is relatively close to home rather than a spot in southern Utah: Sundial Peak and Lake Blanche. Lake Blanche is in Big Cottonwood Canyon and it’s a hike I really want to do this year. It’s more challenging than ones we’ve done before, so I haven’t been able to go with my kids. I have heard that we can backpack up there too, so I’m going to try and convince my oldest to go backpacking with me up there. The promise of a lake with fish should be enough.
By the way, I bought myself a second Pocket Palette so I can keep my warm and cool colors separate and I am loving it!
I chose not to go over this one with black ink. I felt it really didn’t need it. I also need to stop using blue painter’s tape and get some proper masking tape. I keep having issues with the tape tearing the paper. I’m betting thicker paper may help too.
I don’t know if I will turn this one into a sticker. I like how it turned out, but there are a few tweaks I’d like to make to the colors before I will be happy with making it a sticker. Plus, it’s part of National Forest land, not sure my “I heart public lands” verbiage really works. Should I do something else? Maybe a short quote about wilderness or exploration? I will have to think on it for a bit.
In the meantime, here’s a time lapse of how I made this painting:
By the way, are you following my YouTube channel? If not, here’s the link. My kids keep telling me I need to post more, so I’m working on that. The fact that I have no formal video-editing skills is quite apparent.
Here are the materials I used for this painting (many of these are affiliate links):
Daniel Smith Watercolor
Trekell Watercolor Brushes
daVinci Travel Watercolor Brushes
Pocket Palette (x2)
Grumbacher Miskit Masking Fluid
Fluid Cold Press Watercolor Paper
Phone Holder/Ring Light Thingie (quite handy!)
I never regret forcing myself to paint… but occasionally, I start a painting and never finish. I have a painting started on my desk right now, and I’m not sure if I will finish it. I want to do two more paintings on Utah’s public lands and then I will offer a deal on buying the whole set of stickers. I need to get that finished.
Any suggestions on beautiful spots you’d like to see painted?? I have some ideas saved, but I would love to hear more; even from spots that are not in Utah!
More than a year ago I bought myself an Art Toolkit and this summer I was finally able to use it. In mid-July we hit up one of our favorite fishing spots in the high Uinta Mountains and the reflection in the water was just beautiful, so I gave it a go. It turned out much better than I expected. The Uintas are a place we go to escape the heat of the Salt Lake Valley in the summer. We’ll bring a lunch and spend a whole day out there; lounging, fishing, painting, and enjoying the quiet with no cell service.
Pass Lake, Uinta Mountains, UT
Since then I’ve used my Art Toolkit a few times on some of our summer travels and even in my friend’s backyard.
Split Mountain Campground, Green River, Dinosaur National Monument, UT
This was such a wonderful little spot to spend an afternoon. We explored some of the Utah side of Dinosaur National Monument, but we had no idea what there was to see other than a museum about dinosaurs. We found some day-use parking at the Split Mountain Campground and we thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful spot. My husband and my oldest son did some fly fishing while my youngest and I chilled in the shade painting and building a sand castle. I cannot wait to get back there someday.
Lucerne Valley Beach, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, UT
Fishing with my son at a local pond
I was reluctant to share this painting when I took my son fishing one early morning before it got hot. I’m actually not happy with it. I had a plan for the water and then a bunch of ducks kept swimming by and made me change it and before I knew it, the water was a mess. Oh well. It was a learning experience. I did go back over the trees with black ink to flush out some of the shapes and I was a little happier with it. But still not happy about the water.
Lone Peak, Wasatch Mountains, UT, view from my friend’s backyard
The Art Toolkit is really thought-out and obviously curated by an artist. It comes decked out with all of the little essentials you’d need for some plein air watercolor painting. It comes with a water brush, pencil, waterproof pen, a tiny squirt bottle, a syringe for refilling the water brush, a little, plastic ruler, two tiny binder clips, and a notebook of watercolor paper that fits perfectly in the big pocket. Lastly, you can choose from a variety of options for the Pocket Pallete
I have since replaced the pen with a couple new ones since I wore out the one that came with it. I have added a second Pocket Palette to my kit; one with warm colors, the other with cool colors. I added a couple more water brushes and I keep a few business cards in one of the pockets. Sometimes I can bring a cup of water with me, so I keep a couple of my favorite regular brushes in there. I never would’ve thought of the little binder clips that come with it, but I use them each and every time I paint.
I really hope to fill up the book that came with the kit. It brings me so much joy to be able to capture a little moment when I see a beautiful landscape.
Strawberry Reservoir, UT
I had the pleasure of creating stickers to commemorate the two Hike it Baby 30 Challenges for 2019. In previous years, they used to have four challenges every year, but decided to cut it down to just two in April and September. You can see the stickers I created for 2018 here.
For 2019, we stuck with a similar watercolor and ink style and I made the April sticker quintessential to spring with blooming crocus, green grass, patches of melting snow, and the sky streaked for a sunrise.
In an effort to get more folks out on trail with their kids, they created a secondary challenge called Take it Outside. Participants received a sticker that loosely coordinated with the HiB30 sticker along with two sheets of little stickers to use on a calendar page that they printed out. Each day on the calendar page gave ideas for a daily activity designed to motivate people to get outside every day. I love how these turned out and it was awesome to see folks using the calendar page and stickers throughout the challenge.
Here’s the calendar page that I created for participants to download and print:
They received this sticker sheet in the mail shortly after signing up:
You can see a mini version of the Take it Outside sticker too!
When the September challenge rolled around, I created a new sticker and we added a few more hikers to the artwork, wanting to give more of a community feel. The Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina were the inspiration for this sticker.
To go with the September sticker, they did another Take it Outside challenge for new members too, this was the coordinating sticker.
I started doing design work for Hike it Baby a little more than a year ago, and it’s been SO much fun to create whatever I can for them.
Every year they host hiking challenges that encourage families to get outside with their kids. Up until 2018, they had quarterly challenges in January, April, September, and November, and the goal is to hike 30 miles in 30 days or spend 30 minutes outside three times each week. Participants can log their miles or time on the Hike it Baby website, they’re entered into drawings to win awesome prizes from sponsors, and they get to join in a Facebook group solely for participants of each challenge where we share photos from our hikes and encourage each other to keep getting outside. We get to see some pretty epic photos from hikes in the Rockies, the Appalachians, the Oregon coast, the mountains in Alaska, and even some great hikes in Japan. It’s an inspiring group to be a part of for those 30 days.
Everyone who registers for a Hike it Baby 30 challenge also gets a sticker to commemorate. In the past stickers have always been a solid color with a fun little graphic. The color and design is different each challenge and participants love to collect them. I had the privilege of designing two of them from 2017; the brown sticker with the foxes and the navy blue sticker with the buck and fawn.
For 2018, the folks at Hike it Baby decided to up the ante on the Hike it Baby 30 stickers and they asked me to do a landscape watercolor painting for the four challenges; each representing the season and a different landscape in the Hike it Baby world.
I was so pleased with how these turned out in sticker form.
January Challenge - still one of my favorites!
April Challenge
September Challenge
November Challenge
Three of these designs made for great t-shirt designs too.
More than a few people have joked that we can’t possibly go back to the older style anymore, so we’re brainstorming ideas for 2019. We shall see how it turns out!
