Snow Day Watercolor - November 30

 

Join us Nov. 30, 2022 at 6:30pm PT

Ready to have a fun hour with other creatives painting watercolor? Live online and interactive. Free.

Join me on what is predicted to be a rare PNW snow day this Wednesday, Nov 30 at 6:30pm PT

Paint along, ask questions about watercolor materials, methods, etc. Get some unique tips and hacks from experienced artists.

Comment or email me (michelec12@gmail.com) with YOUR NAME AND EMAIL to get free access to our live interactive watercolor tutorial on Zoom.

You may leave the comment, “Snow day, yes!” if I already have your email address and I will send you the details and links.

What’s next?

After I get your name and email address, I will send you the Zoom link for Wednesday, 6:30pm PT

You will need:

A stable Wi-Fi connection 

A laptop with webcam, tablet or smart phone

Optional: AirPods, headset

About 5 minutes early on Wednesday, you may join the free Zoom meeting. I will let you in from the waiting room. Make sure your video is on and your audio is off until you want to speak. Smile and wave to greet your art friends. Text where you’re from in the Chat.

For approximately the next hour:

1. Enjoy the demonstration by Michele
2. Paint along (have paper, paint, brushes and water ready)
3. Ask questions about watercolor
4. Give us your live snow report

Can’t wait to see you on Wednesday!

Inktober 2019 - Day 8 - 13

Day 8, 9, 10
 Frail, swing, pattern

A frail broken butterfly wing, a golf swing and a sewing pattern

The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings. - Author: Joyce Kilmer

Day 11, 12, 13

Snow, Dragon, Ash

A snowy mountain, Seattle International District dragon, cigarette ash

Snow, trees and the Stillaguamish River

I'm putting my dagger brush to good use in the studio today. Now that most of the residual snow has washed away, I want to preserve some of the winter beauty while the memory is still fresh in my mind. It just so happens that I haven’t done my “trees “ or “river” prompts for February World Watercolor Group Challenge yet. I’m almost all caught up!

The dagger works as a watercolor wash brush, yet has a fine tip for details and fine lines. I let the brush do most of the work. This is about all the preliminary drawing I did. I scanned it darker so it would show up but actually the pencil is very light.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me?"

I doubt that Macbeth had to feel guilty about killing a good sketch, but that quote came to mind as I prepared to use my "dagger."

The brush with the shorter tuft is called a dagger, a longer one (also made for watercolor) is called a sword and the very long tuft but shorter handle seen above is a dagger striper. I have had the latter for decades. It's usually used by sign painters and car paint detailers for long, thin lines.

Douglas Fir Pine Cones

See my Instagram feed for a quick video of how I use the dagger brush for creating soft edges for snow shadows,

Trying out a new bleed proof disposable fountain pen.

I think my ink started to freeze while sketching out in the cold today, but it was the only viewpoint that I wanted for my pine cone sketch for WorldWatercolorGroup prompts. I'm all out of sinc with the calender now, so I'm just having fun catching up. Three more days to finish the February daily drawing challenge!

How's it going for you?

Snowed in on Sunday!

It’s cold out there 

Just when I was looking forward to sketching in Seattle with USK Seattle, we got 4” of the white stuff over night. Snowed in in February! Winter is not over yet!

UPDATE: I am honored that my sketch has been Explored on Flickr and as of 12:13pm Sunday 2/25/18 has over 8K views!

Looking out the window to see about driving conditions 

The sun came out and so did the birds! Little Junkos hopped all around the seeds we put out for them.

So nice to see sunlight and shadows again. 

Explored on Flickr!

I painted this and posted it on my Flickr Photostream yesterday. I am honored that it was Explored and now has 2.9k views. (Update 8:30am Saturday-6.1k views)

Studio Snowscape with Salt Wash

See my Instagram for short video on salt wash

Having some 5x7”” fun in the studio today. I started out with the idea of posting a simple video tutorial on my Instagram feed, but the techno gremlins got me. Actually, the first video post came out great. You can view it by following the link in the caption above.

Here's the finished landscape before adding figures and the chimney with smoke. See my Instagram feed for the final version.

Closeup of salt wash while wet.

A few tips:

• I'm keeping to a limited palette of Fr. Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna
• I don't usually tape all around the page but this is a small 5x7" and won't be affected by wet paper expansion
• Make sure you brush off all the salt once the wash is dry. Salt particles are abrasive to natural hair brushes.
• Salt water takes longer to dry than fresh water, so your paper needs more time to dry than usual.
• Since the salt effect wasn't as pronounced as I would like, I added light blue spatter and Uniball Signo White gel pen for more snow at the end.

21 Drawings for Monday

It's the first day of the One Week 100 People global drawing challenge. I decided to use a new black Pocket Brush Pen by Pentel on my second sketch below. The pen has cartridges that can be replaced and I figured it might be a good idea to have some backup this week. I imagine I will be using a lot more ink than usual!

It got pretty cold this afternoon when I was finally able to scout out one of our local Starbucks stores. I spent 30 minutes on 6 out of 7 sketches in my Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook. I haven't used the smooth paper from the Zeta series before. My usual Sharpie Stylo pen just glides over the surface!  I had to wait about 14 minutes to sketch the girl at the drive thru window because I only got glimpses between customers. By the time I left, it felt distinctly like snow was in the air! (It is snowing outside as I post this!)

These 7 sketches were done from life on location.

This morning, I caught a glimpse of a photo from Rome, which had a few urban sketchers in it. I liked the group shot, so used it to try out my new materials.

This one's from a photo, so doesn't really qualify as an urban sketch. It was not drawn on location- a weird dichotomy since I referred to a photo of 10 urban sketchers.

4 kids in a snow flurry

The last sketch brings the total up to 21, since I'm counting partial people. These kids arrived at the North Cascades Institute for Spring Mountain School amidst a thick flurry of snow. Three out of four were delighted and I wanted to see if I could capture the various reactions on their faces as they got off the bus.

I used a reference photo from the NCascades IG feed for reference.

Periscope Watercolor Demo Today

Just finished this watercolor on periscope.tv/michelecoopart Showing a few tricks with a razor blade, white gouache, white ink, spatter and wet embossing. 

Silver light, the moon

Casting shadows as

Birches catch the soft snowdrops

-m. cooper

Thanks for watching to those who were there. If you missed it, the replay is available.

Meanwhile, outside the cosy tasting room...

A very cold day in Anacortes

I stayed a little longer on Monday to finish the color on the copper still. The sun goes down early here and I wanted to run some errands on the way home, so I finished up at the distillery around 4:20-ish. I posted that spread yesterday.

On the way home, there were tempting views I hadn't seen before of the Cascade Mountains and Mt. Baker. (I'll be back!) Nevertheless, this time I went to a spot where I know I can safely park and sketch. It simply proved too hard to resist! Today I finished it with watercolor while sipping my latte at home. Ahhhhh! Fulfillment!

Selective Focus

Sunday Painters' Challenge:
Paint a landscape or a close up in black and white or monotone. Try another composition  with color only in the area of interest or focal point. (See photo references in yesterday's post)
i.e. You may choose an area of selective color like the snow covered rose or the porch light through the trees, or the beginning glow of morning light.  Let the color fade gradually outwards.

2.5x3.5" ACEO

Even though some of you Sunday Painters may live on the summer side of the globe, you can still find a time of day (dusk or dawn) where the landscape has muted color. Try it!

Black and White

Perfect! After "Black Friday" comes "White Saturday"!

Not everyone in our area has this, but I saw snow coming down late last night. I hoped there would be a white surprise for everyone when we woke up. Here is what it was like outside the studio this morning at 8:30 a.m.

We still have family staying here with us, but if I can grab a few minutes, I will post any sketches I do on my Instagram. 

Winter Garden

At this moment, it's snowing lightly, the hummingbird feeder has been frozen solid for a week, and the chaise has an extra layer of snowy upholstery. Roads are a bit too slippery right now, but I hope I can get a few sketches before it melts away. 

Watercolor Cards Workshop Tomorrow

"Weathered"  Sold

Here's a preview for those enrolled who subscribe to my blog. :)
See you tomorrow!

Wet in Wet Snow

"Winter Walk"
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
Size 8x10"  Price: $100

Just having a little fun in the studio, playing around with wet in wet watercolor and the subject of snow. I'll bring this with me to my workshop on Sunday at Kirkland Arts Center.

Make your own Watercolor Cards

These are just two of the designs for our upcoming watercolor workshop for beginners on Dec 1,  at Kirkland Arts Center. No experience necessary, all materials provided. As you can see, one is simpler, very easy for beginners to do. The other is similar in design, but uses more colors and technique. Once you learn the technique, the sky's the limit!

More info...............If you want to continue practicing at home, I have a Watercolor Starter Kit that can be ordered in advance and taken home after the workshop.
Open to new students and returning ones. Call in (425) 822-7161, come in, or register online.

Mountain Mist

"Mountain Mist" by Michele Cooper
4"x6" Original Watercolor

This "sketchy" style of painting can be a quick way of composing the colors, values and shapes for a larger painting. The small size allows for control of wet, or damp brushwork to create atmosphere, distance and form.

Heart on a Hill

I arrived at Skagit Valley College to teach my night class on watercolor and saw a lovely little heart on the snowy hill.

Zoom into the center of this photo to see it.

Along the Winter Shore

"Along the Winter Shore"
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
10"x8"  Price: $125 with free shipping

I love the interplay of textures in the winter......the softness and sometimes roughness of the snow.....the cold misty distant shapes.....and the dark, crunchy vegetation left over from autumn.