A Serious Relapse

Just when I thought I was getting better -

I have had a serious relapse of BEAS Disease (Buys Excessive Art Supplies)

I was just browsing around on E-Bay and there was this auction for 90 tubes of Winsor Newton 5ml watercolors and some how I bid on them- and then I guess I won the bid -and then I got all these tubes with 56 diffefent colors--for about 25 or 26 of the colors I got a single tube -for 24 of the colors I got two tubes -and for 6 colors I got three tubes -

but they are luscious and I have been experimenting see Brushy Creek #3 or4

And they were a great buy $107.00 which included shipping -

Brushy Creek #3 or 4

I have worked from this reference photo several times I have done it in pastel in colored pencil and this time in watercolor - I'm not happy with the scan - it seems if you get the darks right you don't get the highlights if you get the highlights the colors are off but this is as good as I could get - close but I like the actual painting much better than I like the scan- 5.5" x 8" on strathmore 140 lb cold press about an hour or so of working time not counting drying time no preliminary sketching

I'm proud I quit working on this before it was finished or ruined WOOO HOOOO!!

September Virtual sketch date

My first virtual sketch date except I don't think I registered in time - next month I will -

I just saw Susan's and loved it-- Here are my two little water color sketch versions - in the first one I did not have a reference just memory from looking at the picture in the second one I had printed out the picture to have a reference -(computer and studio are at opposite ends of the house so I can't just look at my screen)

I did light sketches with gray watercolor pencil for both but went back in with a micron on the first one because it looked dull

now this is more like it (I think)

I couldn't listen to the debate any longer so I tried one more time to get this -I'm sick of it-- but this was quicker and I think better than any other try -at sketching this particular scene.

My goal with these sketches is not to make great paintings but to acquire the ability to sketch a good approximation of a scene - I want clean lines and color in a fairly short period of time - so this try is much closer to my goal than any others I don't know why this is so difficult for me but this try was better and took under 10 minutes



I used a timer when I did this sketch - micron pen time was under 10 minutes and the painting part was very close to 10 minutes- I have been saving these dried out sunflowers for a month so I could sketch them and tonight was the night.

Both done in my home made accordion fold sketch book small page size 3.5" x 5.5"

Never Ending Vista in Watercolor & Brownies

Another very small (4"x7") version under 30 minutes --but this time in watercolor - much better than my first (never to be seen by anyone) trys of this in watercolor --

I think doing it in colored pencils, which I feel comfortable with, helped me understand how to do it in watercolors which I still am just learning to use- it is still not as sketchy or as quick as I would like

(I was baking heavenly brownies so I did this while they were baking after I cleaned up my kitchen mess - I had 27 minutes to paint )

Here is a great Chewy Fudge Brownie recipe
2/3 cup cocoa
12 TBS butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour

Butter & flour 8x8 baking pan preheat oven to 350 F

Melt butter and cocoa in sauce pan over low heat stir until smooth remove from heat and let cool a little - stir in vanilla, eggs, sugar and salt then add flour and mix well- spread in pan and bake about 45 minutes until top is dry and toothpick inserted in center come out barely clean - cool and cut and ENJOY

These are very very rich and moist MMMMMMM good I wish I could share them with you all

The Never Ending Vista (revisited) in colored pencil

The Never ending Vista (revisited)

Is a 40 minute 4"x7" piece of mediocre art a sketch or a drawing?

A favorite spot of ours in Wisconsin-- I did a larger version in colored pencil this was an exercise in speed - but it was not as speedy as I wanted it to be it took about 40 minutes to do this little 4x7 sketch - I tried it in watercolor and am not posting due to the extreme terribleness of the water color painter (me) -

I did a larger version in colored pencil about a year ago here is a link to the larger version which took about 8 hours working time -

Never Ending Vista original 8 hour version

Neanderthal valley - Not as seen on TV

I have become a slug-- I am not posting -- not that anyone cares if I post - but I care because the whole point of this blog is to do it for me-- I want so much to learn quick sketching techniques to capture the moment and not slavishly copy my reference photos - and make up tight works of art -

- I sketched this in ink with a ball point pen while we watched a national geographic special on neaderthals last night- Kind of an imaginary landscape- I quickly painted it tonight so I could post something- I do like it and hope I can do more like this - I am becoming more comfortable with the paints and I do think they encourage speed and looseness

And thanks to Donnna aka the happy painter for sharing her link to the Painting and Drawing channel They have several great watercolor demos -

http://www.thepaintinganddrawingchannel.co.uk/prog-2.html

I'm having more fun now

I finally have time (because I gave up cleaning house and doing laundry) to play around with my watercolors and its getting to be fun - thank you Capt Elaine for the link to How to Draw and Paint

http://www.how-to-draw-and-paint.com

I've been watching the watercolor lessons and they are very helpful - trees and distant hills etc. I watched my favorite PBS show this morning "Landscapes Through Time" with David Dunlop-- he talked about soft focus distant hills & lights and dark - he does oils but the basic principles are the same regardless of medium - so I did a couple of soft focus hills with skyline -in the handmade 3.75" x 5.5" accordion fold sketch book - - but then I saw the tree tutorial and put the tree in front of the hills - I'm having fun and learning lots -

I really needed to see someone actually painting with watercolors - how wet is the paper how drippy are the brushes what size brushes etc. you just can't get all of that from books - the videos are very helpful - wish there were workshops close by-

Rebecca Revisited & Lessons learned

So - I have done about four of these of Rebecca -- I'm just trying to learn how to use the paints - I guess what I am doing is some kind of wet in damp - I think doing the light micron pen sketch first helped me to not overwork the watercolor -- but it's so very hard to -step away from the painting and STOP -

Then there's the paper thing -- this one is in the moleskine watercolor sketch book and so far I think I like this paper better than any thing else I currently have its softer-

But the best part is this was real quick and not muddy-- now to learn how to do quick little landscapes with out overworking -

LESSONS LEARNED - Less is more and- Simplicity is very very difficult - at least for me

Messing around with Daniel Smith

Got my Daniel Smiths in but then was unable to play with them until Sunday. This scan does not do them justice they are very bright and clear. I didn't get much done with thm yet except this color chart -no mixes just the straight from the tube colors with water - then lifted a stripe down the middle.

My sister Jan but it might look more like somebody else- Sorry Jan it was just a quick sketch

first sketches in watercolor moleskine

I used to hate to start a new sketch book because I wanted everything to be really great and then if one sketch went badly I wouldn't work in it anymore. So now my new way is to put something really bad in it right away and then things only get better and you can't wreck it because its all ready messed up.

So this brand new moleskine watercolor (my first) got really messed up - I got things upside down and sideways - So now I wont be afraid to mess it up because it was messed up from the start -- but I do like the apple and the blueberries the peach and the kiwi.

These are done with inktense and watercolor pencils - I ordered 20 tubes of Daniel Smith water colors they are on their way -- wooo hoooo they shipped out today--I can't wait to try them out on the paper in this book.

A Learning Experiece & my favorite poem

Another page for Mandy's Journal this one was not assigned -- just do whatever you want to do.... I wanted to include this poem somehow -- I just LOVE this poem - at first I thought about illustrating all the little images -- stars, birds, grain, etc. - but I realized that would get way to busy and the images would be too small.. so I went to a local cemetery during my lunch to find angel statues - its a huge cemetery but I only found one angel she was at the grave of a very young woman who died around 1917 --I sketched the angel with colored pencils but when I went to write the poem -- the wax in the colored pencils severely inhibited my ability to write the poem

Lesson learned don't plan on using ink over color pencil - Here is a photo of the angel

Ten minute experiment

I set the timer for ten minutes and first sketched this spent hibiscus with water color pencils - then I gave myself another ten minutes and used my Pitt Brush Pens-

I was able to get a lot more depth with the Pitt Brush Pens - I used the grays for a value sketch and then went in with the colors over that -the pitts sketch was under 10 minutes and I felt like I wanted more time to go back in and develop the darks with the watercolor pencils

- I think so much is about learning to use your tools--

My Style ?

Another page for Mandy's journal project I was supposed to talk about my style -- I don't think I have one. These pictures show two extremes of me --the Hammered Dulcimer Player Me and the Old Lady Biker Me.

My daughter and I laugh hysterically when I put on my biker helmet -- and my sister can't look at me when I put it on because they both think it is not me at all - I just think its silly and fun-- All the little boys that see it have to tell me how much they really like my helmet - I believe them.

I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 52 -(I am 59 now and in the photo above)-I really love the way it makes me feel when I ride - it reminds me of when we had a horse (her name was Cowgirl) and I would go galloping through the fields bareback (Cowgirl was bareback I wore clothing)

http://www.1001journals.com/journals/3107/

Mandy's original post was Message #54272 New Dutchie introducing herself.

My first real Journal pages

This page was done as part of an assignment for Mandy's journal project. Mandy recruited participants from around the world in the making of a journal that is part of the 1001 journal project. I volunteered to make some pages to be a part of her journal. Her journal will consists of Art Journal pages from 15 different contributors. She has sent out pages with written assignments for us to do. Some focus on technique, some on soul searching, some on observation. Contributing journalers then send their finished pages back to Mandy and include an assignment for her to do when the package is returned to her. My completed journal pages are on their way back to Mandy in the Netherlands.

This is one of the seven pages I was assigned. It is a map of my day -

I am not really a "journaler" or "collager" I am more of an "eater" and "drawer" ... but I really enjoyed the assignments and it was a fun and different experience I can't wait to see the whole journal. Some of the journal pages are -- well more personal than I am on my blog but ... they will be up for all to see when Mandy puts them up in her journal.

http://www.1001journals.com/journals/3107/

Mandy's original post was
Message #54272 New Dutchie introducing herself.

Water color questions is it me or the paints?

this is a small-- 4" x 7". Sort of quick-- under one hour no hair dryer. Watercolor on canson water color paper the smooth side. Painted with very cheap ($11.00 for 24 larger tubes) reeves brand watercolors from hobby lobby- I'm not sure if its me, just the way watercolors are, or the paints. To me it looks muddy and sort of gritty not sparkling bright colors like I see in so many posts - I'm sure that my inexperience with any fluid art mediums is a large factor but I also wonder if better quality paints make any difference and if so what brands are you all using --- Thanks comments and suggestions greatly appreciated

Moleskine Storyboard Notebook

One of my purchases during my recent bout of BEAS disease *(Buys Excessive Art Supplies) was a Moleskine Storyboard Notebook there are 82 boxes 2.1875" x 2.75" or for you metric types 5.5 cm x 7 cm. I have labeled each of the first 82 boxes with EDM challenges 1-82. I have completed six of the challenge boxes with little drawings. Actually the bag is not yet done and the lamp is overdone -- never-the-less --I plan to complete the remaining 76 boxes -

But.... there are 152 smaller boxes- four per page - on the last 38 pages. They are 1.1875" x 1.435" or 3.7 cm x 3.9 cm - What were they thinking? those are really very tiny boxes - I don't know if I can work that small - what can I do with the last ONE HUNDRED FIFTY TWO tiny boxes??? --bug drawings?? any suggestions will be appreciated.

Something Dangerous / Boogies enemy

One of the bad things about Oklahoma --- Scorpions live here !!!

These things are just plain creepy we have them around our house and our little nine pound Shih Tzu has been stung twice by them - He now knows not to mess with them and growls when he sees one

Watercolor on a 140 lb cold press Strathmore Watercolor postcard

Inspired by Starrbaby Sorra

My apologies to the artist I got her painting upsidedown and sideways but I am not as uninhibited as she and my washes are only an approximation of her clear bright colors and sweeping gestural strokes -

I loved this post http://wistex1129.blogspot.com/2008/08/sorras-watercolor.html by Starr and was inspired to try my hand at a quick sketch - While cleaning the house today everytime I made a trip into my studio I added a little more - I still have two more bathrooms to do but this work is done!

Watercolor & watercolor pencil on canson paper. Thank you Starr & Sorra-

EDM #61 a grouping of 2 or more similar objects

These are old (antique?) brushes from an estate sale, they were given to me several years ago by my sister Jean-- this is the first I have used them -- they were wonderful models they stayed put and never moved unless I told them to. This is watercolor pencil and ink in my moleskine -

PS -- I have found that lightly rubbing a white eraser over the moleskine sketch book page removes the sizing and prevents the washes from beading up on the page. This is easier for me than mixing washes with a little soap.