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Fun with Watercolor: Sometimes It’s Best To Use as Little Water as Possible
To finish today’s sketch I used as little water as possible with my watercolors on a non-wet-media paper. This post shows you the ink sketch, the painted face, and then my decision to paint a background of color behind the face. What this post can’t really show you is how much fun I […]
The Piecemeal Portrait Tutorial That Wasn’t
To keep myself drawing while I’m working out what my post-cataract eyesight will be I’ve been videotaping my sketching sessions. I find that the resultant videos allow me to look again at my process and ask myself questions about the progress I’m making with my eyesight. It also takes the focus off of whether or […]
Some Dog Sketches on Canson 180
What better way to test a paper than with some dog sketches on Canson 180? In the sketches today I used a Sailor Fude Fountain pen (containing Platinum Carbon Black ink) and watercolor to make quick sketches from dogs on the Sktchy App. The scans show paper buckling caused by the wet […]
What Is a Study?
Artists often make “studies” of a subject before they jump into working on a painting or detailed drawing. Why is it useful? Why is it important? I think a study is a notion of the bright sparkly possibilities ahead. When we look at a subject we recognize something and try to get that […]
Upgrading Your Paper Choices for Sketchbooks, Visual Journals, and Art
To get the best results when sketching and painting it makes sense to use the best quality materials that you can afford. Then upgrade those materials as your budget allows. Recently a blog reader wrote in saying that she had upgraded her art supplies to artist level watercolors (mostly Daniel Smith), purchased some quality […]
In Context: Looking at the Arteza Watercolor Book Part 6
This isn’t strictly an “In Context” post. I don’t have things written on these pages and I’m going to show more than one spread. But I’m keeping it in context because these are all from the Arteza Watercolor Book and all these posts together constitute my review of that commercially bound sketchbook. […]
In Context: Looking at the Arteza Watercolor Book Part 4
Since there is no writing on this page in my Arteza Watercolor Book—direct brush painting with watercolor. I used a 5/8 inch flat wash brush and also a size 10 watercolor round for some of this. I should have worked a little harder to make enough wash for the background to not […]
In Context: Looking at the Arteza Watercolor Book
A short while ago I started testing the Arteza Watercolor Journal. Amazon recommended it to me because of something else I had purchased. I’m giving you a link to Amazon above because it’s the only place I know to get it. I’m not connected to Amazon in anyway except as a customer, so buy it […]
Project Friday: Go Ahead, Paint on Lightweight Drawing Paper
If there is one thing I would like to communicate to blog readers it’s that you need to go ahead and paint on whatever paper you have at hand. Simply because in the process of making the paint stick to paper that isn’t meant to have wet media on it you learn something about the […]
Registration for Textures Class Closes Friday
I enjoy pre-painting journal pages with a variety of media. I work ahead in my journals this way. Then when I turn to a pre-painted page I use that page to challenge myself to come up with a visual solution. It’s a lot of fun, and a great way to build layered, rich pages, with […]