Day Nine and Ten of 30x30 Direct Watercolor

I just got these finished for Day 9 and 10 of the #30x30DirectWatercolor2018 challenge and stepped quickly inside as it started to rain. I should have waited, because a beautiful sun break happened after the rain. On the other hand, you just have to know how to paint in diffused light if you're going to make watercolors in the PNW.

Working on Timing and expressive Brushstrokes

I feel fortunate that I have so many choices from my garden right now. I love Delphiniums for their unusual blue colors and interesting shapes all along the stem. You get to see every stage of the flower as it blooms from bottom to top.

Definitely wet on wet. Still wet while snapping a photo.

I tend to take a photo almost the instant I finish signing the painting. I sign the painting while the last brushstrokes are still wet.  There's a reflection from the sky in a bubble of wet paint, which you can probably see if you look closely at the center of the right hand stem.

Some watercolor effects after completely dry

Some watercolor effects take place while the painting is drying and aren't recorded in the snapshots that I take for social media. The Kilimanjaro paper takes much longer to dry than some other papers I use and causes a variety of surprise effects in the process. You can see this above, where I took another photo before posting this article.

Paper, Scissors, ROCK your DIY Folded Pen

Sunday Painters, I haven't forgotten about you.

This is what I have been doing today and I thought you might like to try it, too! Recently, some of my urban sketcher buddies have returned from attending the 6th International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Singapore. One of the instructors there taught them how to make a Folded Pen from soda cans.

I couldn't wait to see if I could do it, so I combined a few references I found online and came up with my own process that works so easily! (See links to those references at the end of this post.)

On the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words, here are the materials and steps that I used to make my folded pens. Tap or click to Zoom photos.

Note: If you prefer a shiny aluminum nib, just fold the soda can back the other way.

Here are a few finishing touches and the results!

Please follow these links for printable instructions, templates and YouTube tutorials. Thanks, guys, for the inspiration!

1. Erica, at Paperwhite Studio, offers a free printable PDF with instructions and templates.
2. PopCanPen dot com has step by step photos galore!
3. Here's a video demo for those with a short attention span and lightning fast cognitive ability.
4. I love this video, which shows you how to use your new folded pen!
5. My Instagram post with a photo of my very first one! My grandchildren took it home with them, so I don't have it anymore.

And, finally, an apology to you professional calligraphers out there. I won't be taking over the lettering world anytime soon. I just want to play around with this and see how it might work with my sketches. :)

What are you waiting for? Get some stuff out of the recycle bin and get started!

Stay tuned for watercolor and folded pen experiments!

Finishing Touches

Since our usual Anacortes Sketchers Monday outing was cancelled today for fair weather, (only in the PNW!) I will post the two finished pages from yesterday.

Just a few accents here and there were added, but I definitely needed to add the clear blue sky!

I stood on the sidewalk on the way out to write the Chinese Calligraphy. I don't write or speak Chinese, so was a bit worried that my attempt would read incorrectly. I am relieved to read comments on my Flickr page that it turned out fine. 

On this page, I decided to explore the Yin Yang aspect of the garden.