Pretty Orange Rose, Pretty Pink Rose, and Pretty Peach Rose, all needed a different background I thought, also greener leaves, and wanted to get rid of my negative painting I attempted when I originally created them. So happy I decided to change them. I have been looking into impressionist panting and find it very interesting, thus was my attempt for the backgrounds. The top three ‘before” pictures are greeting cards and prints of how I first painted them, and the “after” pictures are what the paintings look like now, the originals. What do you think? Do you think they look better with the impressionistic background?
Rose designs revised
Three more paintings revised with impressionistic backgrounds. Pretty Orange Rose, Pretty Pink Rose, and Pretty Peach Rose. Vicki Achard / Watercolor Artist
Hope I am inspiring someone out there to keep on painting. There is always something to learn, something new to try to make those paintings just the way you want.
I am happy with the revision of “Helleborus”, or as some know this flower as “Spring Rose”. I changed the background, lightened up the leaves and some of the flowers, and added more flowers to the table cloth. I have a few more paintings I did in my early days of painting I want to revise and will share those with you now and then. What do you think of the revision, (the painting below the first one)?
Helleborus I – design #161
My first painting of “Helleborus”, painted 2016, one year after I first started painting in watercolor. Check out my revision of this painting, done May, 2023, below this one.
Helleborus II – design #334
“Helleborus”, REVISED!! May, 2023. I love it now. Don’t give up on painting!
Painting can be a challenge, but we all learn along the way. I have such a love of color, nature, paper, and design and love to create beautiful art for all to enjoy. I love to share God’s beauty and share that with others, one painting at a time.
Need new art for your walls? Now adding three new beautifully matted prints of my pressed floral work listed on the SALE Shop of our website. Spring is when I like to change things up a bit in my home and new art can bring in some cheer and bring nature indoors.
“Meadow Fantasy” – Dragon flies are such a wonder to me. I created this thinking of days while walking through the Nature Center feeling so delighted.
“Meadow Fantasy” – print by Pressed Floral Artist, Vicki Achard. Mat colors are Brown Sugar, outer and Grey Beige inner. Ready for your 11 x 14″ frame.
“Treasured Memories” – Beautiful roses and a butterfly was handcrafted to create this composition with movement and beauty.
“Treasured Memories” – Print by Pressed Floral Artist, Vicki Achard. Mat colors are White Elephant outer and Biscotti inner. Ready for your 11 x 14 frame.
“Bountiful Wreath” – What a delight this was to create. Delphinium and pansies are among various flowers and foliage – so bountiful!
“Bountiful Wreath” by Pressed Floral Artist, Vicki Achard. Mat colors are White Elephant outer and Heather Mist, inner. Ready for your 8 x 10 frame.
This beautiful collection of Spring cards can be yours to share a note of caring; someone’s birthday, anniversary, thank you or for any occasion. Envelopes included. To purchase this Spring Collection of greeting cards, go to our SHOP page.
From left to right, top row: “Bowl of Pears”, “Purple Iris”, “Friendly Visitor”, Bottom row: “Purple Pansies in my Garden”, “Daffodils with Dew Drops”. All are reproductions of original watercolor designs by Watercolor Artist, Vicki Achard. Greeting Cards are 5 x 7″. Envelopes included.
Hope everyone is enjoying this last bit of winter. It’s been o.k. for me, the fallen snow is always so beautiful. I’m always happy when we can get that Spring fresh air though, when we start to see all the beautiful Spring flowers that bloom and bunnies running around – those friendly visitors.
I started painting animals A – Z and was going to make a string of “Alphabet Animals”. I was making it for my grandchild for Christmas. I had so much fun! I started to think how toddlers and children a little older than that would love this as wall art. They would be able to see this every day and it would be such a good learning tool for them.
“Alphabet Animals” – limited edition matted prints
I collaborated with Tom, my husband and he arranged all the animals in order, created this beautiful border and alphabets on the bottom. I thought displaying the whole alphabet would be so beneficial to the child, also I wanted the space filled up! Inside story – I had mentioned an animal to the right of the letters would look great. I had to go on an errand, and as I was driving I thought, hmm, that alligator I painted would also be nice on the right side of the letters, but it’s painted the opposite way of how it would look good by the letters. So I gave up that idea. How nice though I thought, the alligator starts with the beginning letter of the alphabet and the zebra would be on the right, the animal that starts with the ending of the alphabet. When I returned from my errand, Tom had done exactly the same thing I was thinking of, and also he was able to turn that alligator around! I was shocked we had the same idea, but didn’t communicate that to each other! I can’t wait until Tom mats and frames this!
I love working with Tom, it’s been a lot of fun since 1998, 3 years after I started Nature’s Best. What has been best for us working together is staying in communication. I know because sometimes it gets so busy it’s hard to do, and then that’s when trouble comes! I have learned patience, another key element in working together.
My grandchild (don’t want to spoil the surprise and tell you which one in case my children are reading this), but I decided to give at a different time. I actually painted something else as a Christmas present for this grandchild, and can’t wait to give this other painting to my grandchild and family.
I love Christmas and making gifts and giving. I hope you are having fun preparing for this holiday.
Offering an 8 x10 limited edition pressed floral art print called Bountiful Wreath – the last image left of an edition size of 20.
$20.00 Matted or $55.00 framed in one of our quality frames in various woods, gold frames, or metal frames in silver, gold, or black. Tom has 23 years of experience framing and cutting mats and only uses the best quality techniques and materials for your picture.
Also offering an 8×10 Limited Edition beautiful pressed floral design called Love Wreath. This is also the last print of an edition size of 20. This one is not matted as yet. Below is an example of how you might want this matted and framed.Another option is to have a neutral mat on top like Bountiful Wreath. For the inner mat I think green or maroon would be nice. This would be the same price as Bountiful Wreath. We have been doing “porch pick up” with masks on. The other option is to use our Holiday Special we are offering – free shipping. Just give us a call at 248 321-7460 if you are interested.
Hope you can watch this video. I will show you how to make five tags for your Christmas gifts with materials and tools you may have in your craft room. I will add these five to my already made twenty totaling twenty-five. I like to start in September making my bags and October making my tags. With the decorations, meal preparations, and any other activities that will happen during the holidays, I like to have my gift wrapping done so I can enjoy everything else about the holiday.
I love to make some of my Christmas gift bags out of recycled paper. I start making the bags and organizing the presents now, so when the holidays are here I’m not scrambling to do everything at one time; the decorations, dinner, events, etc.
I hope you enjoy this video watching me make the bags and can take a few ideas to make your holiday less chaotic and more enjoyable.
I had fun making these four Get Well cards. I used my Shape Cutter Plus by Fiskars to cut and frame the design on the card. I cut it on an Alvin GBM1824 self healing mat.
I used my oval and rectangle shapes for all my designs.
This photo is just showing you what one card looks like before I put color on it and adhere the design. All these designs are from what I call my “decorative art collection” or papers that for some reason or other didn’t make it to the final print stage. Sometimes they were printed as a “trial run”. Nothing gets wasted in my craft room and I love making cards with these papers to create designer handcrafted meaningful cards for your caring and sharing.
I used a piece of burlap behind the sentiment and used a Tim Holtz Distress ink pad – color, Tea Dye and Memento Rich Cocoa for color. I use a stencil to make the leaves by Stampendous called Etchling stencils ET019 Ivy NR, I bought it years ago. I used Memento Bamboo leaves for color on the leaves.
My four completed Get Well Cards. Stamps Used: Get Well Soon had no name on it. getwell SOON is from Studiog.
I also made five sympathy cards the same way. Stamps Used: With Deepest Sympathy by Stampabilities, May you find comfort in your loving memories. by inkadinkado, You’re in my thoughts and prayers by Stampendous. I buy all my stamps from Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics.
These handcrafted cards will be posted on our SHOP page on our website. (Give Tom a little time to get them posted.)
Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the Summer!
I wanted to show you my finished paintings I started on my video posted June 23, 2021 – Materials & Tools I use to Paint in Watercolor. I started the paintings and talked about some materials I was going to use to complete the paintings. The video was made to give you some ideas as to what tools and materials you could use to paint in watercolor.
Sunset on the Beach, Frankfort, Michigan and Carnations and Leaves painted in Watercolor by Vicki Achard / Nature’s Best Art
I hope you can watch this video on my Artist Blog or YouTube channel to help you start your watercolor journey as well as my video posted May 26, 2021, Paints, Palettes, Brushes, & Paper.
Watercolor is such an exciting journey. Since I started painting, 2015, I have picked up various tools and supplies to get the end result of a painting I have in mind. In this video I talk about using masking fluid, toothbrushes, sponges and lots of other materials. I hope this helps you to accomplish how you’d like your painting to look like. I also show you what I found to help squeeze that last bit of paint out of your tube paints.
I will show you in this video what I will use to begin these two paintings in progress. I hope to complete them in about two weeks and will post the end results on my Artist Blog.
