Color the Emotion

Pick a few colors and create without stiffness.

Pink Inspiration

This week is full of pink art inspiration. I hope that this post will get you to find your pinks and start creating sweetness!

Dreamy Pinks in Colored Pencils

First, one of the journal spreads that we will create at Fun Botanicum, the newest class.

Pink art journal spread. Colored pencil art by Paivi Eerola.

The softness that you can create with colored pencils is divine and you can highlight that with sharp strokes. The versatility of colored pencils always amazes me. With one pencil you can create the whole value range from light to dark so a few pencils go a long way. I like those shelves of individual pencils in art supply stores because it’s like picking candies!

Pink Handdrawn Playing Cards

These cards are from the class Magical Inkdom. They are drawn with a black pen and then colored with watercolors.

Pink handdrawn playing cards. By Paivi Eerola of Peony and Parakeet. From her class Magical Inkdom.

My husband asked when he saw me drawing these:
– “Playing cards? What’s the game?”
– Well, these are like collector’s items! And you can invent the game yourself!

Because if you make more than one, isn’t that like a little oracle deck? You can ask yourself how you feel by picking a card that reflects your mood.

Lots of Pink Petals

I am already waiting for summer and see my pink peonies bloom in June. If I was a small fairy, I could live in those petals!

Pink peonies as pink inspiration.

Petals, petals, more pink petals – that’s how the flowers are constructed! These are from the class Decodashery.

Pink gouache flowers from the class Decodashery by Peony and Parakeet.

Pick a small brush, some pink gouache paints or watercolors, and paint small spots in layers!

Red and Green are Pink’s Best Pals

Here’s more pink gouache art – a small journal cover that also has reds and greens.

Journal cover in pink, red, and green. By Paivi Eerola of Peony and Parakeet.

I love this color combination. Each color makes the other shine brighter. I can almost taste the colors when I look at them.

Pink Glow in the Dark

Pink is also a wonderful color with darks. You can paint a pink glow that makes the image look romantic.

Restless Heart. Pink glow in an oil painting. By Paivi Eerola, Finland.
Restless Heart, oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm

Here’s a blog post where you can see process pictures of this painting.

Powder Pink Inspiration

One night my husband showed me new Swatch watches. I wasn’t so interested at first, but when I saw the photos and got the concept, I got so inspired that I am using that inspiration for the new series of oil paintings!

Here’s the new pink Swatch called Mission to Venus. I am definitely going to somehow incorporate all this into a painting! Not literally, but conceptually.

Bioceramic Swatch in Pink. Mission to Venus.

The powder pink with decorative details speaks of a beautiful adventure to me.

This watercolor painting has powder pinks too.

Floral watercolor painting by Paivi Eerola of Peony and Parakeet.

I painted this one a few years ago when my mission was to find the best way to paint flowers freely in watercolors without using a reference. I have a class about it too Floral Fantasies – Watercolor Edition!

Pinks and Other Pastels

What about selecting some acrylic paints and going wild on an art journal?

Art journal spread in acrylics. Pink and turquoise on dark background. Pink inspiration from Peony and Parakeet.

Add darks on the bottom and let dry. Then mix white to the colors and have fun with pastels. Use different brushes to have some variety in strokes as well.

You can be rough like above, or go in a more delicate direction with thinner brushes.

Lovestory, an oil painting on canvas by Paivi Eerola, Finland.
Lovestory, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Black with pink is also a great color combination!

Pink Inspiration – How to Go Deeper

If you are a color-oriented artist as I am, pink is never just one pink. Challenge yourself to make all kinds of pinks from light to dark, from warm to cool, and use them all in one painting. Nature doesn’t select just one pink, so why would you?

Pink tulip photo.

The same goes for shapes, lines, and ideas. The more you embrace the variety, the more exciting the art-making becomes, and the more you create. Restrict supplies and increase imagination!

Paivi Eerola and a spread in her colored pencil journal.

I hope you have an adventurous Pink Inspiration Day!

P.S. You can still sign up for Fun Botanicum and make wonderful colorings of plants!

8 thoughts on “Pink Inspiration

  1. Hi Päivi!
    I believe in synchronicity and there is something going on with this Pink post that I feel a connection to. Many little girls seem to be drawn to pink–I remember that I certainly was, but that was long ago! I wished that my name started with the letter “P” since I thought that it would somehow, magically, connect me with the colour pink. But back to synchronicity. A day ago, I found a small pink card displaying the word “romantic” within my huge stash of papers and I felt would fit perfectly as a collaged bit in a piece I’m working on in my sketchbook. Well, of course I lost it and after a hard search with no results, I gave up and tried to convince myself it wasn’t important. But I kept seeing pink here and here and there-so frustrating!! The final “disaster” was seeing your email that said P-I-N-K. Only moments later, I picked up an art reference book and the pink card fell out; it seems I was using it to mark a page! So I guess you might say I did have an “adventurous pink inspiration day” that ended well. But what does it all mean? It is not a coincidence to my way of thinking. So I guess we shall just have to wait and find out!
    Thank you for all these uplifting pink ideas!

    1. That’s a fun story, Lynne! On Friday morning, I had no idea what to write about, but these images kept calling me, so I thought not to overthink but go with the flow. That fits well with your events 🙂

  2. Wow, what a wonderful inspiring post! Your imagination and the array of enchanted creations you share are so uplifting.

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