Danielle Calabro

We have been super busy with the holidays Lately and I have found it hard to stay on top of everything. So where to start, we are waiting for the final "Gold Cert." on the loan approval for the house and it is driving me crazy and stressing me out. Its hard not to think about but we keep praying that everything will work out. Thanksgiving was great and time flew by getting to Christmas, only a few more days left and of course I have a couple more things to get got to love waiting on a pay check.  One thing I did not wait until the last possible minute on was Christmas cards. I only did 5, to be honest I loved doing the outside of the cards but the blank inside is what scared me the most.  THE SNOWMAN He is my favorite, just so darn cute. I used watercolor for the background and took a chance on the snowman and used gouache. I loved the matte finish the gouache has, I outlined using india ink. THE LIGHTS This is my second favorite, the lines were done with cop...

I have been super busy with the holidays lately and I haven't taken the time to Blog. I have however been busy creating. Here I was playing with watercolor and Gouache again. 

Unfortunately, here in Florida there is no such thing as seasons, you have hot, comfortable or wait its not supposed to be this cold in Florida. I have grown up in florida and have never had the opportunity to see the changing leaves of fall, when it gets to what we call cold in Florida you just see the trees loose their leaves. So in celebration of the fall season...... I wanted to try something a little different, this is done in india ink. I started with a cheap calligraphy brush but couldn't get the thin lines I was looking for so I switched to a calligraphy dip pen and #0 and #00 watercolor brushes. I did not draw this out first, I wanted to see what I could come up with right out of my head, there were a few mistakes but I made them work for me. I really like the way this came out and I am considering trying this on canvas with acrylics, maybe even add a little color.

Well its that time of year again, and I already have the hiding spot for the candy. No, this is not to punish my children, this is to regulate how much candy they are eating. We have one kid in braces and the other one soon to be in braces, I am not taking any chances. So in the spirit of Halloween I have an accidental monster man. I was playing with some gouache paint and watered it down like watercolor and did a wet on wet, I wanted to see if it would react the same as regular watercolor. So I let it dry and just kept looking at it and had no idea what I was going to do with it. My daughter came over and said, "Mom, that looks like a nose and head." and thats where it started. I followed the edge of the yellow and went to town. I used acrylic ink for the hair and back. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Only a few days left

Playing with a watercolor technique with the background and Gouache silhouette of trees.  The background did not come out as dark as I would have liked, still have to keep playing with the water and paint mixture. Either way, I am very happy with the way this came out. This is my favorite tree between the two of them Of course we all know, no two trees are the same. I find it relaxing painting a bare tree, sitting there with a brush and doing each individual branch. The thick and thin lines are teaching me 2 things: 1. Patients - Something I lack most of the time 2. Better brush control - I tend to have a heavy hand

Every now and then I like to check out what " Skillshare " has to offer for a traditional artist. They don't have a lot but they do have a few. One I chose was " Modern Watercolor Techniques " It was a fun little class and not hard to follow at all. This is where I got my "Spacey picture side from, it was the last assignment. My favorite part was the Jelly fish though, I had a tough time with the first one I did so I tried it a second time, here is the fist and second one. This was the fist try, she had us mixing different mediums with watercolors. I was using watercolors, acrylic ink and gouache. I liked the colors of the right jelly and the bottom jelly the most.  This was Jelly number 2. I felt like I was getting a little more control with the smaller brush. I also added that thing in the middle that I saw on most jelly fish. I can't say I will start painting jelly fish or sea creatures but it was nice to learn a new way to le...

I remember as a young child I loved everything about space and I am still in awe by Galaxy pictures, they are so beautiful.  Playing with Watercolor technique, stars added with white Gouache     I love when we go to an area outside the city limits where you can look out and see every star in the sky, it truly is a beautiful sight. The other day we were driving home from my Grandfathers house and the roads we took had no bothersome lights. I happen to look out my window and noticed how well we could see the stars. It was late but my son was still awake so I had him look out his window and he was in awe.  As adults I think we forget to take a look around us, we forget how small we are in this massive universe. My sons reaction made me realize that they have not experienced nature enough. They have their heads stuck in a tablet, computer or video games. I can gladly say where our new house is being built we will be able to enjoy the night sky, it may not b...