Paintings

Stone leaf decoration York Cathedral England watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

Design Elements

One of the best parts of sending packages to friends is that I get to play with new ideas. I like to approach things systematically. Once I am happy with a design, I plan out most of the steps with room for needed modification before I start working. This year I got to make a few things for a couple of friends, and I was excited about that. I used design elements from my travels which made them extra fun.

My friend Dixie and I send each other little surprise packages every now and then. In the last package, I included a tiny little 1″ x 3″ book for this artist friend of mine.

Before I made the book for her, I made a book of the same dimensions for myself first. Because of their size, these little books can be a little fiddly to make, and I didn’t want any surprises while making hers. It looks like a lot of tools for a 1″ x 3″ book cover, but I really did use all of them. No matter the size of the book, sometimes I end up using the same set of tools.

I thought of walks in the woods, amongst moss-covered trees and rocks, Celts and druids when making this book. Hence the colors. The washi tape on the cover could not be a better match.

Once I was happy with mine, I made this blue book for her. She loves flowers and the color blue. So I made hers with blue cloth and added a little yellow flower on the cover.

This is the wonderful package filled with cards, bookmarks, stickers and art supplies Dixie sent me. She sends me small surprise packages every now and then. She also somehow knows exactly what I need. I needed a new kneaded eraser, and (not) surprisingly I found one inside the box.

She is quite the artist. The card is made from one of her paintings and the bookmark is made by her too. Do visit her website at Arranged Words for very peaceful reads and beautiful works of art.

Both of us share a love for Sennelier watercolor paints. She included a tube of Quinacridone Gold. I am very used to the color itself, but from a different brand. However, watercolor varies a lot depending on the brand, so I was eager to see how this one would behave.

I always start with drawing in my sketchbook, then copying the drawing over to watercolor paper for painting. This way the watercolor paper gets a clean copy of the drawing and the paper is not damaged from continuous eraser usage.

I love to visit old ruins when we travel. I decided to paint a small sandstone ornament.

Quinacridone gold is an orange to yellow hue shifting color. Creating a monochromatic painting is a great way to learn about a color / pigment. I learn about how the pigment moves with water and the dark/light values this way. I loved the way Sennelier’s Quin. gold behaves and how gentle it looks. I can’t wait to use it for a larger painting next.

This year, I did an exchange with another friend of mine. I will share the amazing package I got from her another day. She hand-stitches a lot, so I made a sewing needle book for her. I designed the book, then worked from my plan one step at a time – first on mine, and then on hers.

I had medieval style notebooks in mind when I designed them, so I made them using book binding methods. I bonded two pieces of faux leather together for the cover to get that look. I could also show off those colorful linen threads with the stitches I chose.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

I added tons of pockets for supplies and included notes pages for projects. I thought of heather at the English and Scottish countryside when choosing colors for the woolen felt I used for the inside and for the threads. I added a print of a little drawing I did of a bridge in Mull, Scotland quite a few years ago.

I am looking forward to using mine for hand stitching and knitting as well.

Concertina books are very fun books to make by accordion folding paper. I needed to join two sets of folded paper to extend the length of the book. I tried out a few options using plain copy paper before using my good paper for the final book.

At the end, I used a strip of strong Japanese paper to join two pieces of folded watercolor paper together. The join is hardly visible, and it also makes both sides of the book usable.

You can of course leave the folded paper books as is or add covers. I decided to make cloth hardcovers. For the front cover, I made this drawing of the Glenfinnan viaduct in Scotland. The inset on the cover keeps the artwork protected from rubbing / shelf damage.

Here is my copy of the finished book. I used heavy watercolor paper, so I can use both sides of the paper. I am thinking of using it for ink paintings. If you any have ideas other than painting, I would love to hear them.

Sometimes it is a long path from design to finish, and I enjoy every bit of it while playing with glue, paper and scissors. I hope this inspires you to try something new too.

Until next time,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.

Little Stories – Travels And Tales

Posted on July 9, 2025
by Soma Acharya
Outside The Lines, Paintings, Photography, The Girl And Her Cat

I had to take a break from post writing for much longer than I had anticipated. Need of a change of air took me to Yellowstone for a few days, and then to the Eastern Sierra mountains. Back at home, I have been painting and binding books with new inspirations from recent travels, as well as making tiny arts in my old bullet journal. I also have another art supply experiment to share today. So here we go.

A few photos from Yellowstone

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

Yellowstone was profoundly overwhelming. I was hoping for late spring snow, and mother nature listened. It snowed there every day during our stay. The landscape transformed with mist and smoke from every part of the ground when the sun came out after the snowstorms.

The storms also gave me this beautiful contrasting dark sky. During an early evening walk we heard a loud noise and saw an ever-increasing plume behind us. Not sure which geyser went off, as there are many in that area.

Off to Tioga Pass

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

Then we went off to my favorite Sierra mountains. The trails were still closed due to snow. We took it slow with walking around a few new and old areas, and simply reading while listening to the rain.

Even though it was warm in the valley, it got cold in the mountains with oncoming nightfall. I was glad to have packed my winter jacket as we waited for the mountains to take on the colors of Alpenglow. I really missed these mountains. Now I am back home until the weather cools off again, and I can breathe freely outside with pollen-free air.

Outside the Lines – Gesso and Watercolor ground

Outside the Lines is a series where I share my experience with new art supplies. This time it’s watercolor on Liquitex gesso and watercolor on QOR watercolor-ground.

I converted my last year’s bullet journal into an art journal. That’s when I thought of using gesso and watercolor-ground to cover up the writings. To see how they each perform, I covered two discarded paintings with gesso and wc-ground each.

Gesso on the left, Wc-ground on the right, both after 3 coats

I needed to apply multiple thin coats in order for the paper to not warp.

Gesso covered and sealed off the darker under-painting and writing much better. Wc-ground didn’t perform very well with the coverage even after three coats. When used to cover up writing, it picked up the ink color and got tinted by it. It’s a bit more wet than gesso, so the paper warps more too.

At the end, I ended up applying gesso first, then wc-ground over that.

Watercolor on wc-ground lifted off completely, even after a full night of drying, showing the white surface underneath. That’s fine with mistakes, but it made it very hard for me to layer colors. The colors simply lifted off or moved around, which made them very muddy. When not layering though, it worked well enough. I couldn’t get any definition on small things like the girl or the cat.

I sanded down the gesso paper just a little to get a smooth surface. Watercolor on gesso lifted off too, but much less with some drying time in between each layer. Watercolors tend to slide on gesso, but I could layer on colors with caution. In the large areas, I could keep the subtle colors with ease. The girl was a little better here, but I had to use pencil for the cat.

Overall I liked gesso better for my journal, even with its limitations. Wc-ground would be great for fixing small mistakes in a painting. The colors stick on gesso more with proper drying time. The covering and sealing up is much better too. Both of these qualities were lacking on wc-ground. Additionally, since I have to use gesso to cover the writing/work first anyway, I might as well stick to that for my converted bullet journal.

If you are using a clean surface and do not paint watercolor in layers, you might like the wc-ground better. Always remember to a couple of small test paintings first.

Here is the same painting on paper only.

Art Journal

Ever since school, I have always used a planner. Last year I hand made this book for my planning. Instead of discarding it, I converted this bullet journal to an art journal. I am mostly using Tombow dual brush pens for colors and various pens for drawings. I am covering up the previous dates and writings with darker marker, bits and pieces of discarded paintings, darker washi tape, printing and drawing paper, and now occasionally with gesso.

I only work on it for 15-20 minutes before bedtime. Sometimes I draw one day and color it the next day. I am filling the pages with random small drawings, paintings, writings of my own, and occasional quotes. It has been really wonderful for calming my mind before sleep.

Little watercolor cards

As part of my art study, I started painting these little watercolor cards more regularly. A lot of times it takes a while to get what is in my head down on paper.

Tiny Alpine Gentian flowers grow in the meadows at the Sierra mountains – a reminder of cool weather and the gorgeous outdoors.

A Hot spring – somewhere in the mountains that is in my head.

My friends came up with a couple of beautiful names. Fluttering by Kim and All Aflutter by Dixie. The Butterfly Effect is what I came up with afterwards, after reading more about it.

I really love the art of sword and archery disciplines. This little painting of a scabbard took close to two days to draw and paint. According to me, scabbards are blessed by dragons and imbued with special powers. The butterflies light the dark path and the oak leaves warn the carrier of this scabbard of nearby dangers.

The Girl and Her Cat – she wants him to get under the umbrella. He needs to go into the hedge to find the thing they came here for. “Also, cats don’t get sick from a little rain” was his answer.

With increased study load, I am forcing myself to take more breaks so I don’t repeat another crash. I hope these photos, art and the stories brought you much joy and respite. I will wrap up here with these four lines I wrote along with this painting –

Life is wonderful in my boots,

Exploring from roots to shoots.

Into the mountains, here I go,

Finding myself, no friend nor foe.

Until next time,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.