“A Little Bit of Everything”. A Peek Inside the Book and Free Coloring Pages

I’m soooo excited to announce that my new (and first!) coloring book is now out and available for purchasing on Amazon (and at local art shows if you are on The Outer Banks), it’s called “A Little Bit of Everything” Coloring Book, it is priced at $11.99 on Amazon (click on the book title to be directed to the Amazon link), which makes it a great stocking stuffer or small gift for this Christmas. I called it “A Little Bit of Everything” because it is a fun compilation of different themed illustrations (florals, whimsical scenes, mandalas, patterns) with different levels of complexity, some have larger blank space, some have lots of details to color, there’s two different sizes of images, most are one large image per page but a few pages are two horizontal images per page. The book has already been a success at the Holiday shows here on the beach and they have been purchased for and by people of ages ranging 7 to 70 (ish?) (I didn’t ask the lady her exact age but I would guess she was in her 70s, she told me that she wanted to color to improve her memory, I thought that was a wonderful use for my book and it made me really happy!).

 Below is a sneak peek of the book:

Do you see what I mean when I say that the book has a little bit of everything? I have a confession to make, even though I am an artist, I didn’t find the idea of coloring a pre given design all that appealing, but I gave it a try with my own book for the sake of trying different pens and markers so that I could recommend the best ones to color this book with and to my surprise I really enjoyed the process and I’m looking forward to coloring more pages! Here’s a time-lapse video of me coloring one of my favorite pages:

To color this page I used tons of different markers and pens, both for the sake of experimentation and because lets face it, I’m addicted to art supplies and as an artist I just want to try as many as I can all the time. Here’s a list of what I used on this page:

Stabilo Point 88 Fineliners

Staedtler Triple Fineliner

Paper Mate InkJoy Gel Pens, Medium Point

Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pens, Medium Point

Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Crayola Twistables Colored Pencils (you don’t need to spend a lot of money to color!)

Copic Ciao Markers  (these are my favorites but they are on the pricey side)

I’m sure I will be trying more markers and pens in the future and I will share here when I do.

Would you like to download and color a couple of the pages of this book for free? Just head to the downloads section of my website by following this link:  Carolina Coto Art/Downloads

I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek and I hope you treat yourself to some coloring this Christmas!

 

 

 

Finding Shapes in the Clouds

A couple of weeks ago I shared one of my new pieces: “Balloon” in this post . It’s funny how that painting came to be. I have my little work area just next to our kitchen, I was quickly doing dishes after dinner but had my mind on these three small paintings I had started that day, and I was looking at them from the kitchen. The one that was going to become “Balloon” was laying flat on my desk, it was only a background at that moment, random brush strokes, and I had not idea of where it was going. As I continued to wash dishes and look over at it on my desk, the random brush strokes transformed so clearly into an air ballon. I though: “yes!!”, that’s what that painting it’s going to be. I love when that happens, but in reality, it happens so often. Even if you sketch first (I sometimes do before starting a painting, very often don’t), the sketches are so often the result of that lightbulb going off in your head after seeing something or doing something that is just part of your routine or your daily life, in moments that we would consider not creative. Seeing that Air Balloon so clearly in those random brush strokes made me think that sometimes making art is like finding shapes in the clouds.

By the way, I thought that was a cool quote, and I looked on the internet and I couldn’t find it anywhere….did I come up with a cool quote and a cool painting idea on that same day? it might be! Should I claim it? (I know, I’m being such a dork now, maybe I’m the only one that thinks that’s a cool quote, but you know what?  I’ll claim it anyway ;) ):

“Sometimes making art is like finding shapes in the clouds”

Here’s some of my new minis (5×7 inch paintings) that have balloons in them, and now I’m off to find some more “shapes in the clouds” and hopefully come up with a few more paintings before I leave for Costa Rica this coming Wednesday to participate in Viva el Arte.

“Orange Ballon”. Acrylic and acrylic markers on wood panel, 7×5 inches.

“Clouds and Balloons”. Acrylic and acrylic markers on wood panel, 5×7 inches.

“Big Balloon”. Acrylic and acrylic markers on wood panel, 7×5 inches.

Happy weekend!

 

Behind the Scenes (Or the Headless Dancer)

A couple of weeks ago I finished this big painting, there was quite a bit of fun involved in painting it. I would like to share some images of the processes and a couple of videos that were the result of waaaay too many hours of painting.

The painting is called: “A Tree Full of Dreams” and I had no idea of what it was going to be when I started. I very often don’t sketch before starting a painting and just let it “tell me” what it is going to be.

This is how it started:

Then progressed into something kind of different, but keeping the drips and many of the “flowery” elements:

Then this happened after many many hours of painting one day:

Some “Chicken in the Corn”  (that song is awesome!) headless dancing:

And then I HAD to record a few other dance moves with and even “awesomer” song (doesn’t it just make you super happy and gives you this urge to dance??…love it!)

After many hours of painting and a few headless dancing videos, this was the final result:

“A Tree Full of Dreams”. Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches, $1200, 2014.

I had some fun setting it up on virtual rooms to offer it in my online store:

I even grabbed some elements from it to make a couple of patterns (and I will probably be making more), and added them to my Society 6 store, they look kind of cool in some of the products they offer, it’s always exciting to see your art in products :)

I hope there’s some dancing involved in your day! ;)

Til next time…