Shapes and Colors Revised

I had time to look at the composition with fresh eyes this morning after uploading the video demonstration of this scene yesterday.

Diablo Lake View

Compare the revised version of the lower left hand corner of the composition (above) to the initial one (below) as I left it on yesterday's YouTube demonstration.

While I think either one can work in the sense of a sketch on location, I enjoyed working with alternating simplified shapes, colors and values to develop that corner a bit more. The danger is knowing when to stop. The purpose of the sketch is to gather the shapes and colors into a unified whole while retaining the immediacy of a fresh experience with nature.

How would you have done it?

Initial shapes ready for watercolor. See my demonstration on YouTube

Day 9: Shapes and Colors
Creating an impression is all about the shapes you use. With a few circles and some horizontal and vertical lines, you can create a stunning beach scene. I was inspired to paint an alpine scene instead.

Day 9 Climbing Mountains

Climbing Mountains and New YouTube Demonstration

Day 9 of World Watercolor Month
The prompt for today is climbing mountains. I think this phrase fits both metaphorically and realistically because it seems like you’re climbing a mountain sometimes while trying to develop your watercolor skills doesn’t it?

After our sketching session we looked over the results.

A whole group of us climbed to the outlook past Buster Brown field during my recent Watercolor Nature Journal Workshop at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. Along with the demonstration and my sketch of Rita already on the page, I added another little vignette showing the view below. I managed to indicate the bridge across the distant edge of the lake.

New Watercolor Demo on YouTube

I’m also using this sketch to fit the prompt of “shapes and colors” for day 9 of the FireflyWatercolor Challenge. The idea of the challenges sparked my creative  muse. I had just visited the North Cascades National Park and wanted to do something about that rather than a beach scene. (saving that for later, though). I concentrated on interlocking the mountains, lake and surrounding forest shapes in the composition and distinguishing them in atmospheric perspective through color.

If you would like to see a video demonstration of my process please visit my YouTube channel here. Give me a thumbs up if you like it!

After recording and uploading the video, I looked at the sketch with critical eyes and decided to develop the lower left c orner a bit more. See tomorrow's post.

Getting Wet, Day 23

Okay so I actually painted this one the day we were supposed to! Wait! No! I'm two days late!

We're in Chicago for a visit with family and to attend the 8th Annual Urban Sketchers Symposium. This is the Buckingham Fountain, straight out the front door and across the park from our hotel.
Well, this month is crazy busy and I feel as though summer is slipping through by fingers, literally!

Summer colors

Day 22 - summer colors 

Nothing says summer like an ice cold slice of watermelon! That red, juicy color is so much fun to paint in watercolor!

Summer Skies

Front seat sketching, on location and out of the wind. 

We are so used to dramatic skies here in the Pacific NW that it's been a challenge to be inspired with plain old boring blue skies for the past month. Even though I painted this watercolor to fulfill the Day 5 challenge for World Watercolor Month, I actually had to wait for day 20 before being inspired.

It finally did rain a little today. I drove about 5 minutes from home to park at a soccer field where a perfectly inspirational summer sky was waiting to be painted. Without any preliminary drawing I used my #10 Escoda travel brush and Prima watercolor set on 140lb Fabriano Artistico CP watercolor paper.

Day 13 - Popsicles

These are all my favorite flavors. It was a special treat to buy Popsicles when we were little. With 6 children in the family and very hot summers in Eastern Washington, you would have had to own  a franchise to keep up with the rate of consumption we would have achieved. 

My Mom kept the sticks from store bought Popsicles, washed them in hot soapy water, then used them in homemade "popsicles". No fancy popsicle freezer forms for us! We made them in squares from Kool Aid in aluminum ice cube trays. At the time, my favorite flavor was grape.

Summer Views

Here's a fresh watercolor for Day 11, Summer Views, for the World Watercolor Month challenge.

I feel incredibly fortunate that my husband and I can take a day off and spend it meandering around some of our favorite places. This is the summer view at Bay View State Park, where the tide is exceptionally low right now. The little weather beaten float has its own pedestal of mud and seaweed for a view all the way across the Bay. There's a brisk breeze but the air isn't too cold with a windbreaker on....and it smells so fresh! 7-10-17

I decided to try out my new 6x12 handbook Field Watercolor Journal. It was a generous gift from a student in my spring classes. Skies wet in wet and drybrush techniques are a bit tricky with this paper but watercolor pigment lifts beautifully for highlights.

We are not too far from the Breazeale Interpetive Center, where an art auction will feature one of my watercolors. Proceeds benefit the Padilla Bay

Taking a summer break, Now and Then

I'm combining two day's worth of #WorldWatercolorMonth sketches in one post. Life has been busy!

Day 7 & 8 for World Watercolor Month 

Day 7 - Friday night memories bring me back to the time when my husband and I were dating. We used to go out for pizza and beer on Fridays and maybe even a movie. At the time, this was a relatively economical date to go on! We lived in a smallish town and after a while they knew what our order would be as soon as they saw us walk into the restaurant.

That was then. Now you could feed a family of four on what some people spend at Starbucks every week. We have our own espresso machine at home, which has paid for itself many times over!

Day 8 - I'm not a total Scrooge, however. When Starbucks came out with this yummy looking drink, the Iced Coconut Milk Mocha Macchiato, I absolutely had to try it! It looks so delicious and perfect for cooling off on a hot day. Yes, it was good, but I've had one now and I'm satisfied.

On the Boardwalk, LaConner

Calico Cupboard and south end of the boardwalk. 

From a sleepy little fishing village in winter to a vacation destination, LaConner certainly wakes up in summer. Calico Cupboard has always been a local favorite but, with the new "boardwalk" and its corner location, the line of bakery/restaurant customers sometimes goes halfway down the block.

The boardwalk is not actually made of boards anymore, but a wide aluminum grating. The new waterfront access now encourages people to amble along the back side of shops, boutiques and restaurants on the Main Street. There are always a couple of pickup trucks parked outside. After lunch, or on cloudy days, activity around the boardwalk sometimes slows down long enough for a bakery treat from Calico Cupboard after a quick sketch or two.

For Day 5, Summer Skies, please see my post here.

Sand & Seashells

Combining "Sand" and "Seashells" from the daily prompt for World Watercolor Month. Ha!

Just kidding around. I'll post my real watercolor later today.

Just a few of the "found" compositions made by the tide and foraging crows and seabirds.

Here's a quick sketch for #WorldWatercolorMonth and an iPhone snapshot. Okay, gotta go. Company coming tomorrow!

In the Shade

The prompt for day two of world watercolor month is, "in the shade" which couldn't be more appropriate! We are experiencing a beautiful sunny week of perfect 75° summer weather.

Just got back from a trip to the nursery and I'm  going to let these flowers rest in the shade while I have my lunch. I'll come back and add watercolor in a little bit and post the results on Instagram for #WorldWatercolorMonth. Then as the day cools off I'll plant them in the pots waiting for them out on the deck.

This is also a "momentcatchers " weekend. Candace Rardon hosts an online gallery the first weekend of each month for creatives around the world. I shouldn't wonder if this moment is shared by a good number of artists in the summer hemisphere this weekend.

Wild and Free

I skewed the first day's prompt a bit for World Watercolor Month to fit my little watercolor and graphite sketch from my North Cascades sketchbook.

As an artist, I've always enjoyed looking for the person behind the brush. You can see pencil marks in the watercolors of my heroes, John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. For me, it's an added bonus.

I trust you will get something extra from this intimate little sketch, pencil marks, over washes and all.

Day 4 of World Watercolor Month - 4th Free Watercolor Video

Just for World Watercolor Month, I have made 5 short YouTube video tutorials on easy how-to watercolor techniques and I will post them here each day. That way you can learn how watercolor works as you do your daily practice. Follow this link to today's free short video tutorial.

Today is Day 4 and I imagine that by now you may have created some lovely color swatches and then some rather grungy puddles of "mud". So as long as we are going to make muddy colors, let's make some glorious ones! Grey can be be a luminous color. Watch the video for tips on how to mix them.

Watch today's YouTube video for tips on mixing grey colors in watercolor with the 3 color palette. 

Let's Practice!

Watercolor Mixing Grays with a Limited primary palette of just three colors. You will need:

1. Fabriano Artistico, Arches or Saunders Waterford 140# watercolor paper 
2. Pentel waterbrush, 1/2" synthetic flat watercolor brush
3. water in small plastic cup
4. 3 small tubes of artist's quality watercolor (squeeze a bit out onto a saucer or make a DIY tiny travel palette and use the lid for mixing.
5. Colors: Azo Yellow, Quinacridone Rose, Phthalo Blue (green shade)

Day 3 of World Watercolor Month - 3rd Free Watercolor Video

Just for World Watercolor Month, I have made 5 short YouTube video tutorials on easy how to watercolor techniques and will post them here each day. That way you can learn how watercolor works as you do your daily practice. Follow this link to today's free short video tutorial.

Today is Day 3 so let's try glazing, one of the 3 basic methods used in watercolor. 

Learn how to get darker colors by glazing or layering watercolor wet on dry.

Watercolor Methods Limited primary palette=glazing with just three colors. You will need:

1. Fabriano Artistico, Arches or Saunders Waterford 140# watercolor paper 
2. Pentel waterbrush
3. water in small plastic cup
4. 3 small tubes of artist's quality watercolor (squeeze a bit out onto a saucer or make a DIY tiny travel palette and use the lid for mixing.
5. Colors: Azo Yellow, Quinacridone Rose, Phthalo Blue (green shade)

An example of glazing technique, layering washes in the leaves.

Day 2 of World Watercolor Month - 2nd Free Watercolor Video

Just for World Watercolor Month, I have made 5 short YouTube video tutorials on easy how to watercolor techniques and will post them here each day. That way you can learn how watercolor works as you do your daily practice. Follow this link to today's free short video tutorial.

Today is Day 2 so let's stay with something easy. What can you make in 7 minutes?

a. Frosting

b. A 12 color watercolor wheel (say THAT five times fast!)

Watercolor Color Wheel Limited primary palette=Make 12 colors from three colors. You will need:

1. Fabriano Studio 140# watercolor paper 
2. Pentel waterbrush
3. water in small plastic cup
4. 3 small tubes of artist's quality watercolor (squeeze a bit out onto a saucer or make a DIY tiny travel palette and use the lid for mixing.
5. Colors: Azo Yellow, Quinacridone Rose, Phthalo Blue (green shade)

#WorldWatercolorMonth - It's Here!

Yay! Who's ready to have some fun with watercolor? Be adventurous! Make 31 watercolors, one a day, in the month of July. Let's play!

Help for beginners on YouTube

Just for the occasion, I have made 5 short video tutorials on easy watercolor techniques and will post them here each day. That way you can learn how watercolor works as you do your daily practice. Follow this link to my free short video tutorial.

Today is Day 1 so let's start with something easy.

Limited primary palette=three colors, wet in wet color spectrum. You will need:

1. A strip of 140# watercolor paper, 1/2" watercolor brush
2. water in small plastic cup
3. 3 small tubes of artist's quality watercolor (squeeze a bit out onto a saucer or make a DIY tiny travel palette and use the lid for mixing.
4. Colors: Azo Yellow, Quinacridone Rose, Phthalo Blue (green shade)

Learn to do this in my new 3 minute video tutorial.

July is Officially World Watercolor Month

Learn more about using watercolor to create colorful, vibrant sketches! On July 9 and 10 I'm teaching a weekend workshop for beginners in urban sketching at Skagit Valley College. More Info here.

Charlie O’Shields, the creator of Doodlewash®, is the founder of World Watercolor Month. His own love of the medium led to the creation of a blog and social artist movement dedicated to promoting and connecting the vast community of watercolor artists all over the world. The blog has featured hundreds of artists sketching and painting with watercolor on all seven continents. According to Charlie, “There’s something magical about watercolor, and it’s my passion to bring all types of watercolor artists together to celebrate each other’s work and the medium we all love!”

Find out more at www.worldwatercolor.com.