Spring

Beija-Flores

| Gisele

I’m sipping on my coffee, thinking about how accomplished I feel after finishing one more painting today. I’m fantasizing that painting is my full-time job, and that living off my art is making me rich. Is that what all artists must dream of? Fortunately, I’m a little more realistic than most artistic souls…

Free-handed, dry on wet.
Beija-Flores is the plural of the compound word ‘beijo-flor’, which in Portuguese means ‘hummingbird’.
This is another piece to celebrate the month of love! It’s just too cute.

My favorite part about this painting is the lack of hard lines. The aquarela really feels like water. I love how the paint dried up, so maaarblelous…

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

G.

Friendship Lily

| Gisele

I have been MIA after going through a big loss. That’s a story for another post. But after months without touching my brushes I was presented with an opportunity to resume my work.

My mom had asked me to paint a birthday card for one of her best friends who is turning 60 years old. She said her friend’s favorite color is yellow. So I decided to paint a yellow lily.

You can find more videos of my painting on TikTok: gisele.t_
‘Lírio da Amizade’ – by Gisele T.

I’m happy to be back. Hopefully I’ll be working on some more pieces this week.

I know, it’s been so long, I feel rusty and have a lot of self-criticism when it comes to this card, but I put a lot of love into it so I’ll just be thankful for what it meant to me and to my mother.

Have a wonderful day!

Gisele

Mother’s Day Card Inspiration

| Gisele

As Mother’s Day approaches us I thought I’d share a small inspiration I painted a few weeks back.

I started off with some wet-on-dry shaping the orchids the best I could.
I added the leaves and some details in yellow.
Because the idea of a card sometimes makes me think of sparkles, I used some gold paint to add bright points over the leaves and petals.
With the same gold paint I painted letters and thought the custom word would add a special touch to it.
‘Mãe’ means Mom in Portuguese.
My beautiful and amazing mom and her card! I gave this card to her on her birthday back in February, she said she loved it (…moms gotta be supportive! Lol).

I hope you all are having an amazing time working on your art. I have had some hiccups in life that sort of made me take a break from painting, but I have some more of my work to share in the upcoming weeks and hopefully will be back to spending time with my brushes soon.

Sending you positive vibes!

G.

Carmelitas

| Gisele

I’ve been insisting on the transparency technique. It’s going to be a long way before my paintings look like what I envision them to be, again, for the simple reason that “less is more” hasn’t yet become a constant for me. But when I look at this, I can see a light shining at the end of the tunnel.

Carmelitas – original watercolor painting.

Not much to report on this one other than the fact that the lines are off on purpose and that I love this color combination.

Life has been hard for me lately. I will share more eventually, just not quite yet. I didn’t think I would be capable of painting at all, but I was wrong, thank goodness. Painting is not, in my opinion, an exercise to be forced to, but it should be used as a life vest as much as needed…

Hope you have a great weekend,

G.

Tulle

| Gisele

Perhaps the problem before was that I went for the whole garden when truly I should have started with one single flower.

Wet on wet freehand watercolor painting. It took me about 30 minutes from beginning to end. Inspired by the blouse I was wearing today. And it put a big smile on my face.

Note to self: less is more, at least for right now.

G.

Brazilian Toucan – ‘Tucano Tupiniquim’

| Gisele

I have been missing home very much lately. It’s been almost three years since I last visited my home country. So I decided to start a new series of paintings that remind me of it, and that make me feel closer to it.

Here’s my inspiration, a picture off the internet.

One of the exercises I’ve been doing is to watch and replicate. The very first paintings I have done required outlines as step one. I was not confident enough to freely strike the brush onto paper. I needed some sort of assurance that the work would be “under control”. Eventually, I learned different techniques of watercolor painting and I’ve been able to freehand paint ever since.

I started by painting the toucan’s chest – wet on dry. Always start with the lightest areas of your paint, if needed use the paper as your white. I love using white paint because of its texture and finish. Art is all about personal preference.
As I waited for the chest to dry out I began painting its beak. Honestly, it was my favorite part. I love the yellow and orange combination.
As the other parts were still drying I worked on the branch that my toucan would sit on. (The weather has been nicer here in the Midwest, one of the signs of it is the paint taking longer to dry – it means the humidity levels have gone up! Thank goodness!)
Then it’s time to work with the black paint. I started off with the smaller details on its beak, eye and then body. I purposely left some areas unpainted and used the paper as my white for some highlighted points, dimensions and texture.
Painting the foliage around the toucan was fun and so relaxing. It was the step that didn’t require much precision. All I needed was my carefree imagination and a combination of greens and yellows that felt good – that was easy, green and yellow are the National colors of my home country. I just painted the leaves away…
‘Tucano Tupiniquim’

“Tupiniquim” is the name of one of our tribes. We often refer to ourselves, our culture, and anything we love and enjoy from our country as tupiniquins. It’s a culture for us. So, there it is! My Tupiniquim Toucan, a little bit fluffy, but a very happy one!

I hope you enjoyed it!

Gisele