Karin Wanderer Learns

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt! The new #KWPrompts is #Animals

Let’s spend the next 2 weeks playing with #Animals! You can submit pictures every day, work on one picture for 2 weeks, or post pictures randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want. Just make sure you tag me @KarinWanderer so I see it!

Use #KWPrompts #Animals &/or tag me so I can see how you think!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Good news, everyone! All of the animal paintings seen here are available as useful art in my Wandering Art Shop! Get these wonderful animals on mugs, notebooks, & practically indestructible vinyl stickers for you to stick on even more useful things!

Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Welcome to #ColorFull part 2!

What is Your Personality Type?

Forget Myers-Briggs, HEXACO, & whatever else is trending right now- the only personality type that matters is your Color Personality Type! I found this breakdown in “Color Theory For Dummies” by Eric Hibit, & I absolutely love it. I think this is something he came up with for the book, but I genuinely could not tell you if it exists in other places as well. This is because “color-based personality tests” are so popular on the internet that it is impossible to find a specific one! All of them want to know if you are a “red” personality type, or a “blue-orange” one, but Hibit’s test is different. These CPTs are much more revelatory; people are categorized according to how they view color & think it should be used. Doesn’t that make more sense?

What Are the Different Color Personality Types?

Color Conformists

Color conformists – you guessed it! – comply with the color stereotypes associated with the time, place, & culture they live in. They may, for example, have specific ideas about which babies should wear which colors or when to stop wearing white clothing. If society’s opinion of a color shifts, then a color conformist may begin to follow the new standard (e.g- the “white after Labor Day” rule is pretty outdated) but they will never be an early adopter.

Red cardinal, brown branch; all is right in the Color Conformists’ world.

Color Outliers

Color outliers recognize the color stereotypes that exist in the time, place, & culture they live in. Unlike color conformists, they enjoy defying those stereotypes. Think Pierce Brosnan & Dwayne Johnson wearing pink to their movie premier, or all the lovely games people play with bridal gowns these days. This basilisk is a terrifying monster in a friendly color palette.

Color Iconoclasts

Color iconoclasts are the exact opposite of color conformists. Color iconoclasts recognize the color stereotypes that exist in the time, place, & culture they live in, & they want to burn it all down! They are radical in the truest sense of the word- they want to challenge color traditions at the root. They defy traditions that insist they must wear a particular color for a vaguely cultural reason. Child Me was certainly a color iconoclast; frequently being forced to wear pink made me question the veracity of any & all color traditions from a very early age!

Color Expressives

Color expressives use color to proclaim something about themselves. Such a person may wear their favorite color all the time, or red when they need to be assertive, or funeral colors to weddings. They may dye their hair a color that they feel suits them better. They may be very specific about how they paint/decorate their homes- relaxing colors in the bedroom, fun ones in the den, somber ones in a workroom… For color expressives, colors are never just a nice thing to look at, but a conscious choice made after deliberate thought.

I want a turtle in my favorite colors & I will not let reality get in my way!

Color Fluid

Color fluid people are neither one thing nor the other—neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring! They combine any/all of the color personality types described above. They also are very flexible; they are more likely to shift & change which aspects of what Color Personality Types they ascribe to over time than anyone who identifies with one single type.

What Is Your Color Personality Type

So, what do you think? Are you an Outlier? An Iconoclast? A more Fluid combination? Have you always felt that way, or has your type shifted over time? I’ve been reading a lot about color theory over the last few months, & I have to say this style of categorization really appeals to me. I’m mostly a Color Expressive, but occasionally a knee jerk Iconoclast. I guess that makes me Color Fluid! What are you?

Let me know! [Mastodon]() [BlueSky]() [IG]()

Tune in on future Tuesdays to learn more about color!

We’ll be talking about how our ancestors made pigments & what they used them for. We’ll be talking about how we currently make pigments & what we use them for. We’ll be talking about how we physically see color, how we categorize it, & how we organize it. Finally, we’ll be getting down to brass tacks & talking about specific colors! It’s going to be a wild ride.

My 2-week #KWPrompts art challenge is ongoing!

We still have another week of the #IdleHues prompt Check out the #KWPrompts list for more information!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt! The new #KWPrompts is #IdleHues

I’ve been reading & writing a lot about color lately. This has been making me examine my old art with a new eye, & I’ve realized something: I hardly ever use the color red!

How is this possible? How can I paint so much without using red, a primary color? Simple: I like to paint with a palette that uses cyan-magenta-yellow, not blue-red-yellow.

These are all my colors, the wheel is my 3 favorite CMY primaries

I practically never use red. I very rarely use orange. I don’t even see a lot of reddish browns in my older paintings! So, Red Hues are my #IdleHues. I will spend the next 2 weeks focusing on using more reds!

Take a little time & look at your old art. What color(s) are missing? What are your #IdleHues?

Let’s spend the next 2 weeks using colors we usually leave alone!

90% of my red paintings are foxes.

Use #KWPrompts #IdleHues &/or tag me @KarinWanderer so I can see how you think!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky IG

10% of my red paintings are fan art

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Welcome to #ColorFull part 1!

Color is light alone, but it is experienced so directly & powerfully that we think of it as a physical entity. ~Linda Holtzschue

Do you remember learning your colors? I don’t. I can remember learning fancy color words like “camel” or “periwinkle,” but broad categories like “brown” & “purple” feel like they have always been in my vocabulary! How old were you when you learned that color is perceived a little bit differently from person to person? How old were you when you learned that you see color a little bit differently from moment to moment?

Color perception depends on many things. It depends on who is looking at the color- as we’ve mentioned before, everyone is the same in that everyone is different! That extends to colors as well. A small percentage of the population has Color Vision Deficiency (CVD – sometimes referred to as being ‘color blind’) but people with typical color vision will each see colors differently, too. Color perception also depends on what other colors are around it- yellow will look brighter against a dull gray background than it will against a hot pink one. It depends on the medium the color is made of- the same soft blue will look different in colored pencil than it will in acrylic paint, or cake frosting, or on a computer screen. It depends on the light you are using to look at the color- a red couch can seem brown or even black in dim light.

This hummingbird’s bright green feathers look even brighter against beige

At the same time, your own knowledge can change how you perceive color. Most people could tell you that a couch is red. An interior decorator might specify that the couch is crimson, or alizarin, or cadmium. And if you know the couch is red, then see it in the dark, you won’t find yourself wondering “OMG who painted my couch black!!!???” This is because of a little thing called “color constancy,” where your brain will still be telling you that the couch is red.

‘Color constancy’ is a nice little shortcut for your brain to take, handily remembering what color things should be & filling that information in for you. This means your brain doesn’t have to note the hue of every single thing you see every single time you see it. Considering all the other things your brain is keeping track of all the time, this is very convenient! Maybe a little too convenient…

Once you “know” what color something is going to be, that ‘memory color’ can get you into trouble. Memory color is why people often paint the ocean blue, even if the water in front of them is gray or green or clear. They “know” it’s blue, so they don’t really look at their reference.

Your brain plays a lot with color, actually. Most people these days report that their memory, dreams, & daydreams are typically in color. In the 1940s, when television was still black & white, a much higher percentage of people reported that their dreams were “rarely” or “never” in color! Headaches & head trauma can make you see color, or even feel it. For example, when I get a particularly bad headache everything ‘feels’ red, even though I don’t actually see anything as red.

This series of articles about color will be focused mainly on the visible spectrum (or as we tend to call it, “light”), as humans typically perceive it. I have to limit the focus to humans, or this series would never end as I talked about all the animals who see differently than we do! But you all know me, I can’t just not talk about animals. As such I’m going to take a paragraph now to infodump talk about how other animals see color. Many insects & birds see in ultraviolet light, which completely changes how plants look. Some snakes see infrared light, aiding their heat detection even in pitch black environments. Nocturnal animals often, but not always, see almost entirely in achromatic tones- also known as grayscale. Insectivorous bats see in grayscale, & fruit bats see colors, which helps them spot the ripest fruit! Animals also use color in the wild, most notably the bowerbirds and their famous nests. Zoos use color as enrichment activities for the animals they care for, so I will end this digression with a lovely video from the Smithsonian that shows lots of different animals painting!.

Tune in on future Tuesdays to learn more about color!

We’ll be talking about how our ancestors made pigments & what they used them for. We’ll be talking about how we currently make pigments & what we use them for. We’ll be talking about how we physically see color, how we categorize it, & how we organize it. Finally, we’ll be getting down to brass tacks & talking about specific colors! It’s going to be a wild ride. I can't wait!

In the meantime – in between times – my #KWPrompts art challenge is ongoing!

We still have another week of the #LimitedPalette prompt Check out this link for more information!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt!

The new #KWPrompts is #LimitedPalette

Two colors

What counts as a “limited palette” is up to you! Will you limit yourself to only 2 colors? Only analogous colors? Only neon? Let's spend the next 2 weeks focusing on what we can do within these arbitrary boundaries. Would you like to learn more? Check out is Hazel Soan’s The Art of the Limited Palette (#NotSponsored)

Three colors

Use #KWPrompts #LimitedPalette &/or tag me @KarinWanderer so I can see how you think!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky

Three colors

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Three colors This duck was supposed to just use yellow & sienna, but then I splattered it with blue from another painting & didn't notice until it had dried. Always protect you work, friends, & be prepared to roll with your mistakes!

Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Hello & Hello again! Every so often on this blog, we take a break & share a recipe instead of talking about art. Here is where you can find every #recipe. Would you like to share a recipe in a future blog post? Let me know!

These jam tarts are fantastic & easy to make! Use whatever flavor of jam you like- just make sure it is seedless. The original recipe was for an 8 inch tart but I prefer to bake them in a 12-cup muffin tin.

This Week We’re Making Jam Tarts!

Ingredients

Crust: * ½ c butter, melted * 1 c 2 tbl AP flour * ½ c sugar * 1 tsp vanilla extract * ½ tsp almond extract * ½ tsp salt

Instructions

• Mix all to a crumbly dough & press lightly into muffin tin

• Bake ~12 minutes at 350°F – until the crust is just barely starting to brown

• While the crust bakes, mix everything in the Topping list except for the jam

Ingredients

Topping: * 1 c Greek yogurt or ricotta cheese * 1 egg, lightly beaten * 2 tbl sugar * ½ tsp vanilla * 1 tsp of whatever spices pair well with your jam (I used cardamom)

• 12 tbl seedless jam (I used blueberry)

Instructions

• Take the muffin tin out of the oven, but LEAVE THE OVEN ON with the door closed.
• Divide topping mix evenly between muffin cups- it's about 1 tablespoon each
• Top each with 1 tablespoon jam
• Put it back in the oven ~45 minutes (still at 350°F) – until the jam starts to caramelize.
• Let the tart(s) cool for a bit in the tin, then remove from tin(s) & let them cool entirely on a wire rack.
• Do not eat them before they are fully cooled as they will burn the heck out of your mouth (ask me how I know!)

The #KWPrompt is #Monochrome for 1 more week!

Let's spend the next week focusing on what we can do with only one color. Show me how you think!

Use #KWPrompts #Monochrome &/or tag me @KarinWanderer so I can see your art

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky IG

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Have a fantastic day, enjoy these tarts while you draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt!

The new #KWPrompts is #Monochrome

Some subjects are already monochromatic, which makes things easy

Let's spend the next 2 weeks focusing on what we can do with one color at a time.

This art challenge is a tribute to the #NDDoodle challenge, now retired

Use #KWPrompts #Monochrome &/or tag me @KarinWanderer so I see your art

Show me how you think!

Don't sleep on this art challenge!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky IG

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Today we are talking about making bread art, which is exactly what it sounds like. This ephemeral art looks good & tastes great- who could ask for anything more?

Red & white onions with shishito peppers

Which Bread Recipe Should I Use?

Whatever you want! I use the focaccia #recipe from The Joy of Cooking, but any yeasted bread should work. I think that even a thick quickbread batter (like cornbread) would work, but I have not had time to test that idea. Don’t want to make any kind of bread dough? You don’t have to. Pick up a premade pizza dough at the supermarket & go wild!

Focaccia dough makes great pizza & pizza dough makes great focaccia

It’s so easy!

Lots of different herbs & vegetables can be used for bread art. The examples in this article use red, green, & white onions, as well as bell & shishito peppers. Experiment with whatever you’ve got! Just keep a few things in mind…

Think Thin

Slice those veggies extremely thin. As you can see in the picture below, the purple flower was made with big thick pieces of red onion. As you can see in the picture just below that, the purple flower pretty much fell apart as the onion pieces roasted & shrank. The red pepper pieces were much thinner & they shrank much less. Test 1: Unbaked

Stay Cool

Soak your cut veggies in ice water, drying thoroughly before you arrange them on your dough. This keeps the vegetables from shrinking & twisting so much. In the picture below, the greens in the round pan were not soaked & have shriveled quite a bit, while the greens in the rectangular pans were soaked in ice water & have shrunk much less.

Test 1: Baked

Use Science!

Squeeze half a lemon into your ice water. This will keep your greens green instead of brown! It seems to have a slight brightening effect on other vegetables as well.

Use the Right Tools

A sharp knife makes your job much easier. You could also use a mandolin or vegetable peeler for those very thin slices. Take your time & get all your veggies prepped, soaked, & drying on a clean dish towel before you start decorating. Poke your toppings into the dough firmly; I like to use a chopstick. If they are just sitting on top of the bread the design will explode & your thinner greens may burn, no matter how well you soaked them.

Ask me how I know!

What Do You Think?

Will you make your own bread art? I hope so! I want to see what delicious art you make Mastodon Bluesky IG

Not really into baking? How about a different art challenge?

My #KWPrompts theme is Old Art, New Work for another week! Take something you made & remake it. Would you like to know more?

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

It’s time for a new prompt for my bi-weekly art challenge! How has it been 2 weeks already? Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess.

New #KWPrompts: #OldArtNewWork

I have spent this past month making faces. While humans are still my least favorite animal, they are at least a little more fun to draw now than they were before. Comparing my current drawings to ones I made earlier made me want to redo my work so much, I decided to spend the next 2 weeks doing just that. I will be remaking a lot of my older drawings & paintings, especially animals. Join me!

The original version, an idea drawn several times but never quite right

For the next 2 weeks my art prompt theme is Old Art, New Work Take something you made & remake it.

The updated version. I might make it into a print- what do you think?

You can change the colors! You can change the medium! Turn a sketch into a painting! Turn a sculpture into a poem! Turn a lino print into a cake! Keep everything pretty much the same & just try making it again with all your updated skills! However you want to re-imagine old artwork is up to you Show me how you think!

#KWPrompts #Face

Use #KWPrompts #OldArtNewWork &/or tag me @KarinWanderer so I see your art!

Mastodon Bluesky IG

No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

February is for Faces

I’m on a mission to draw 29 faces in 29 days! I got a bit lonely on this mission, so I made it into a 2-week art challenge we can all do together.

Join me for the second week of #KWPrompts: #Face drawing challenge Show me how you think! Mastodon Bluesky Ko-Fi Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Would you like to know more about drawing faces? No problem! This article you’re reading right now has valuable info! Would you like to know even more? Read Part 1: There Go I But For My Face

And as always…

Practice, Practice, Practice!

No matter what method you use to draw people, you always need to practice! Is drawing a whole face too intimidating? Draw it in small parts.

The best type of practice is the type you actually do

Start with a frame

There are a lot of ways to frame out a face. Try as many different ways as you can find. You might just be surprised by what method works out for you! If you have a reference photo you like, draw wireframes over & over. This helps you see how the facial proportions work together. If you are working digitally it is very easy to layer the different wireframes to see how your different iterations line up. If you are working physically you can do the same with very thin papers & either a light box or a bright window.

Attack of the Clones

Once you have a wireframe you like: use it, use it, use it! This is easy if you work digitally. If you work physically, trace it a few times. Using the same wireframe over & over again helps you see how everything comes together. It also is fun to see how differently you can make people look in spite of starting them from the same wireframe.

I don’t want to admit how many versions I’ve drawn of this wireframe.

I really don’t want to admit how many versions I’ve drawn of this woman.

Reference Photo vs. Live Model

Drawing with a photo is easy! The subject holds still, indefinitely, so that you can really take your time & pay attention to detail. Drawing a live model is easy! The subject is actually there, so you can look at them from a few different angles & even ask them to pose differently if you like. Drawing with a photo is hard; the angle/lens distortion can really mess up things like perspective/foreshortening that are already difficult, especially for beginners. Drawing a live model is hard; people can’t just hold still & let you practice forever. Think about what pros & cons are most important for you. Try drawing from photos, videos, & from life to see what you like the most. This will depend on your temperament, your resources, your experience & your art style. Everyone will be different!

What do you think? Do you like drawing people? Do you have any favorite tips & tricks? Please, share them with me! Mastodon Bluesky Ko-Fi

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.