Currently Browsing: Watercolor 614 articles
Influences: Why It Helps to Recognize Them
A couple days ago, after running some errands, I stood outside on my front porch and sketched the neighbor’s tree. It’s an immense pine. I think it’s a Scots Pine. A huge trunk, huge branches breaking off of the main trunk creating “clouds” or platforms of foliage. (None of that is visible in my sketch […]
TV Tips: Chef Shows—Lee Anne Wong
I’m a fan of competition cooking shows where leading chefs compete for prizes, money, titles… I have always enjoyed watching cooking shows since seeing Julia Child on PBS. (I most enjoyed her shows with Chef Jacques Pepin later in life.) In season 3 of “24 in 24” Chef Lee Anne Wong competed. I first saw […]
Short Painting Sessions Yield Impactful Results
Don’t let your internal critic, or your busy schedule tell you there’s no time to paint. Pick up a brush and soften some dark-valued watercolor (which can be diluted for lighter values) and make a quick sketch. Focus on the shadow shapes you see, don’t think about anything else. Even if your end result isn’t […]
In Context: Mixed Media Chickens
Sometimes it’s late and you want to get one more sketch in. I find this especially true when I’m trying to take a looser approach. Past bedtime—too tired to be fussy about details and accuracy—it’s a great time for one more sketch. But if something isn’t keeping you up I suggest you get to bed […]
Limited Palette Portrait
This weekend think about limiting your color choices so that you can maximize your color mixes. Here’s a portrait with the colors I used listed. Four pigments resulting in a lot of different mixes. When you mix with a limited palette your color mixes have a relationship to each mix that is also on your […]
Warm-up Sketches and Studies
I don’t think people spend enough time doing warm-ups and studies. I think part of the hold up is that people listen to their internal critics and buy into the “it’s got to be perfect” baloney. But part of the hesitation in doing more studies and warm-up sketches grows also out of a worry over […]
Simple Things to Sketch
There are a lot of simple things around your home to sketch. What you choose will reflect on what you’re interested in. Shapes, colors, values, negative space. Subjects around us keep us practicing for other subjects we’ve yet to meet. Enjoy exploring your home for simple subjects which yield greater understanding of all those skills […]
Television: The Big Bang Theory
For various reasons I’ve been rewatching shows I watched when they first ran. These days with all the streaming possibilities it’s hard some days to remember what TV used to be like, with the three networks and seasons, and summer re-runs and everyone in the office watching the same top shows. Then of course we […]
Mixed Media Portrait Supplies
Sometimes you work in watercolor and you pick up some color pencils too. It’s fun, why not? Especially if you spent your childhood working with color pencils. I started this portrait of a fairgoer from Earth’s World using a black grape Prismacolor pencil. (It’s not black, it’s not overly strident. I enjoy it. I also […]
Staedtler Pigment Brush Pens with Color Ink: A Brief Review
Since the internet and phone are always paying attention to everything I do sometimes they suggest things they think might be of interest. Typically what is suggested isn’t what I’m interested in at all, because I am interested in what I’m interested in and usually nothing tangentially related. But the other day the internet suggested […]