Watercolour Surprises Many - Painting & Drawing Tips

Watercolours live in a world of their own.  Soft and delicate, flowing and loose, dark and strong, BUT Always standing on their own.  

Ready to surprise you . . .

WHISKY JACK ON THE TRAIL - $200 -  8 x 10 Watercolour on Wood Cradle

My painting Whisky Jack on the Trail is everything a watercolour can be: her feathers are soft and delicate (I feel it has to be a 'she');  the distant bush is flowing and loose, suggesting many things in the distance;  and the cedar branch is strong and bold, providing a safe perch for my little bird.  Surprising too, is she is not framed, rather she is mounted on a 1.5 inch wood cradle, so she is hang-able but well able to stand alone.  (You can read more on wood mounted watercolour here . . .)

My Whisky Jack is hangable but also at 8 x 10 inches, able to sit on shelve

Have you considered new ways to present your work? . . .

Trying new things is a way of putting new life into your work.  Sometimes it leads to new directions and sometimes it brings home lessons useful to your present work.  My work on limited pallets with my ink helped me with my little Whisky Jack.  Matching colour to value (see last post) gave me direction in changing things up with this painting. (There was no pinks in the reference picture)  I used my pinks to give that soft glow to the painting offering contrast to the rough, dark blue, greens and oranges of the cedar branches.  I was very excited to see the results.  

Last post of the year . . .

Ready to Wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for the coming year.  I look forward to time with family and friends during my Christmas Break.  I will be back January 3rd with lots of ideas for Painting and Drawing Tips for those new Artsie Projects you have in mine.  Let me know if there is something in particular you would like me to focus on.  I am always open to new challenges.  

Special Opportunities Coming Up in the New Year:

Marketing Workshop - Let's Get Your Art Out There!! Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019 10-3pm with Wendy Mould, AFCA.  

Need a focus for your Marketing Strategy?  Unsure where to start, where to head next?  Marketing takes so much of your time away from the Studio, learn where to focus your energy and ways to maximize your time.  At the end of the day you will have plans and be ready for Action.  Cost $84 Working with Wildlife Artist Wendy Mould, AFCA bridges the gap between the Entrepreneur and the Artist in the Marketing World. Contact Wendy to Register. 

Just in Time for Christmas - My Dog & Cat Lover Christmas Cards  Instant Download Cards so you can Print and Give, right away.  Etsy - WendyMouldsArt

Max was very happy to see My Dog/Puppy Cards, of course he was my Inspiration!  Esty Store - $12 for the 3 Pack. 

Excited to share my Cat/Kitten Cards as instant digital downloads at my Esty Store - $12 for the 3 Pack.  

Artists reading this post also find the following valuable:

3 Ways to Turn Drawing Despair into Action here

Drawing a Seagull Part 1 and Part 2 Starting here
Playing with a Very Limited Palette here

 Be sure to like and share my posts.

You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email or Like my Facebook Page.

Have a great Artful Day,

Matching Colours to Values - Painting & Drawing Type

Have you ever decorated a Christmas tree with kids? Magical Moments!

THE FAMILY GATHERING - Coloured Inks - Nearly Finished

When our kids were very little we got the tree ready in the evening and enjoyed the joy and excitement as they added the decorations the next day.

 Then they got older.

No more surprises of a ready to decorate tree.  They wanted to help with everything. Right, you say,  as it should be.  But the first time didn’t work so well.  There was tears and frustration.   You see, there are moments in decorating that only 1 person can really do it- fitting the tree into the stand.  Putting on the lights. 

And the worst of it is, they must happen first . . . . when all the excitement is bubbling in the air.  Practical stuff, boring stuff. 

I realized what was happening, who wouldn’t, tears were falling because they ‘couldn’t touch the tree till dad was done’. Anyone could see things needed to change.  I quickly redirected. “Let’s make popcorn for the chains”. A bit corny now in this day and age, but it was kind of fun.  Making chains with popcorn and cranberries was fun and if you had lots of chains they looked kind of neat on the tree.  It became a family traditions for a few years. 

Starting a new drawing/painting is exciting. . . .

But of course there is some boring stuff to do first.  Karina, my student and I, wanted to do a bit more with our pens so we started a new project.  Of course we had a challenge: Limited pallet and using dark blue as our dark.  (The one colour in our limited set of pens we hadn’t used yet.  Read more starting here  . . .)

THE FAMILY GATHERING - Reference Picture

Our first task - match colour to our Values

Sounds analytic, eh?! But really isn’t that what you are doing  in your painting.  Picking your colours, deciding what colour you will paint your flower, tree, sky . . .  Considering the value of the colour, and the colours of your shadows?  Working with a limited pallet, as we were with our pens, really forced us to confront some boring stuff, before we started in. 

First we grouped our Values

Pitcher & Pears - I grouped the values into only 3 values

In my mind, everything falls into a value range.  For example check out this jug with the pears.  It can be broken down into 3 groups: white, black, mid tone.  The marks to make the value are solid black, black stripes and white space. 

Pitcher & Pears using only 3 values to complete 

“The Family Gathering” needed breaking down. . .

  

To meet our challenge, the dark was blue.  It was also the local colour for the log. This meant our sepia was the mid value and provided the local colour of the mushrooms and the green was the light value and local colour for the moss.  Transition points were lightened by mixing strokes with two colours and also spacing the lines.  Very analytic, I know, but what I needed to internalize before I began. 

I hate doing the boring stuff. . .

No, I didn’t make a careful chart as to everything I was thinking.  I know you probably expected that but really . . . Where’s the fun in that!?  I thought about how things should be then I jumped in . . . 

THE FAMILY GATHERING - Under construction - Getting a feel for my pens and the drawing

Well, I did proceed cautiously but I did jump.

Actually my official term is ‘felt my way into the drawing’.  I tested my colour system to see how it would work on a bit of the moss, the log and one little mushroom.  Probably shouldn’t have used the mushroom front and center but it really caught my eye. 

Once I was happy with my colour/value match things happened fast and furious.  Kind of like painting when you are totally in the flow. 

Detail of THE FAMILY GATHERING - note the hierarchy of the values and their colours within the drawing. 

Well for pen work it was fast and furious.  Once I knew how my pallet works with my subject I could relax and draw.  Sure there is tweaking and refining on the way but I have an overall plan in place.  The boring stuff.  Taking that time, you know, like putting the lights on the tree before the decorations rather than after, can make a big difference to pleasure and success. 

Am I the only one that analyzes things like this?  How do you attack this issue?  Starting a new project this week so moving away from my ink for a bit.  see you next week. 

Special Opportunities Coming Up:

Marketing Workshop - Let's Get Your Art Out There!! Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019 10-3pm with Wendy Mould, AFCA.  

Need a focus for your Marketing Strategy?  Unsure where to start, where to head next?  Marketing takes so much of your time away from the Studio, learn where to focus your energy and ways to maximize your time.  At the end of the day you will have plans and be ready for Action.  Cost $84 Working with Wildlife Artist Wendy Mould, AFCA bridges the gap between the Entrepreneur and the Artist in the Marketing World. Contact Wendy to Register. 

Just in Time for Christmas - My Dog & Cat Lover Christmas Cards  Instant Download Cards so you can Print and Give, right away.  Etsy - WendyMouldsArt

Max was very happy to see My Dog/Puppy Cards, of course he was my Inspiration!  Esty Store - $12 for the 3 Pack. 

Excited to share my Cat/Kitten Cards as instant digital downloads at my Esty Store - $12 for the 3 Pack.  

Artists reading this post also find the following valuable:

3 Ways to Turn Drawing Despair into Action here

Drawing a Seagull Part 1 and Part 2 Starting here
Playing with a Very Limited Palette here

 Be sure to like and share my posts.

You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email or Like my Facebook Page.

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy