Trading sunshine for showers

Rain floods the fields and dramatic skies rule the fall landscape

The kids are back to school, Labor Day Sales are over and the predominant weather has shifted from dry and sunny, to moderate temps during the day and much cooler nights, as well as more cloudy days than sunny ones. Summer is my favorite season here in the Pacific NW and I hate to see it end!

Another thing I will miss is the time to go out sketching on my own and with friends and colleagues. My goal for the summer was to fill an entirely new sketchbook. I can say that my new Stillman & Birn Beta has been there the whole time, as well as my handmade, Sketchbook Project, and a new little Pentalic Aqua. So the accumulated collection has filled more than one sketchbook!

Now I look forward to using all that recharged creative energy to teach my watercolor classes.

PS. Never fear, we have some fantastic weather coming up through the end of October.

"Flooded Fields 3" - Corrective Measures

Here's the third of 3 installments of my new watercolor demonstration video, "Flooded Fields".

It's commonly thought that you can't make corrections in watercolor....once it's on the paper, it's there for good. In Part 3 of my new video, I show you two reasons to change the "finished" painting and the methods you might use to accomplish it. Get ready to use an X-Acto blade and paint over the entire foreground of a "finished" painting.

There are a few tips on color mixing and brushwork, too.

Please let me know what you think. Once you watch it, don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you "like" it. Thanks for watching Parts 1 and 2 and for your kind words and comments.

"Flooded Fields 2" - The Foreground

Here's the second of 3 installments of my new watercolor demonstration video, "Flooded Fields". Please let me know what you think. Once you watch it, don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you "like" it. Thanks for watching Part 1 and for your kind words and comments.

Tomorrow, I will post Part 3.

Flooded Fields

Flooded Fields
Original Watercolor
by Michele Cooper

I've just finished the rough cut of my video of this painting. It's got lots of unorthodox watercolor tricks, like painting the darks first, using a knife blade to recover whites and testing out washes over the "finished" painting.

Would you like to see the video? Stay tuned!