Artist, do you Look without Seeing ANYTHING??? Painting & Drawing Tips

I love the flowers in our Neighbourhood.  

Many of my neighbours have lovely flowers, from Spring to Fall.  They really add a special sparkle to my walks.  

Some times it is just nice to Draw Flowers - Wild Roses 

But I realize now, I didn't really SEE THEM!! . . . 

As my regular reader are aware, one of my more recent blogs was "Why Collage Fodder is good for Watercolour Painters".  I talked about making collage fodder out of mushrooms.  It was a wonderful time for me.  I really enjoyed drawing and painting all different kinds of mushrooms. 

Which then led me to look at other fodder . . . .

Which led me to flowers. . .

You know what it is like when you start traveling down a trail on the internet.  But the flowers really excited me and I decided I wanted to make my own library of flowers. 

That's when I found out how blind I was  . . .

Lilies in a Garden 

Don't get me wrong.  I know my nature.  Well trees anyway.  Bark. Shrubs. Berry bushes. Ferns.  Moss. Even Mushrooms.  

(BTW you are welcome to join me for an Outdoor Sketching Class to sharpen your drawing and visual skills.  I take small groups out throughout the summer.  See more information at bottom of this post. ↓↓↓↓) 

But when it came to flowers I didn't know anything.  Even my favourite ones.  What, you wonder, do I mean.  I didn't know the number of petals. Petal Shapes. The centers, were they flat, large, small, sunken, did they have stamens.  Nothing.  

Picking a few flowers to draw has way more information than a photo 

Things are different now. . . .

Poor Max thinks I am a slacker, as I pause on our walks to check out flowers to add to my book.  Take a sample.  Snap a picture.  There seems to be a whole world out there I was missing.  

It is nice to see them from different angles

My focus is the drawing.  For most a basic circle starts me off.  Then focus on the ratio of center size to the whole flower.  Next fit the correct number of petals inside the circle.  

The Flowers come alive with shading and details

After that, I try to make the flower face different ways.  Moving the center around inside the circle helps.  

Started to play with little designs - Chamomile 

Once the shapes are good it times to add a few shadows and other details.  

These Poppies invited me to play with a bit of design. 

Before you know it - You're playing with design. Mixing flowers together.  Adding little extras.  Feeling pretty good. 
I bought a little book, 5.5 x 8, with thinner paper than I usually use so wouldn't be tempted to paint.  I just wanted to enjoy my ink work. And I am.  

My eyes are open now.  I am really seeing those flowers. . . .  

Walks are still little slow, as there are sooooooo many to see.  

Who knows, maybe you will get into 'the flower' mode too.  If you need some help, check out my classes below.  

  

Outdoor Sketching Classes - On Now!!

Outdoor Sketching Classes are 2.5 hr sessions and located in parks in North Surrey and North Langley.  Beginners to Advanced are Welcome.  Mediums supported: watercolour, pen, pencil, watercolour pencils and coloured pencils.  You can sign up to as many sessions as you like.  Class Size: Max 3.  $50 per session.  

Class Dates: 
July 7 & 28: 10-12:30pm
Aug 4 & 25: 10-12:30pm
Sept 1: 10-12:30pm 

Arrangements made for inclement weather.  
You are welcome to contact me for help in organizing your supplies for an Outing.  

 I am available for booking special outings for you and 1-2 of your friends. 

Gift Certificates are Available

Contact Wendy to register 

 Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

Contact Me for:

1. Private Drawing Lesson: (3 Sessions 2.5 hr each $250)  North Langley, BC (Walnut Grove) 

Do you want your animals to breath, your flowers to sparkle or your people to walk?  Whatever subject your like to paint or draw I can build a drawing program for you.  Private Lessons allow you to focus on the skills you wish to develop.  Wendy is a experienced teacher, providing a calm, relaxing experience as you learn how to use the principles of drawing.  Beginner to Advanced are welcome.  Special rates for younger students.  Contact Wendy for More info

2.  Online: Teaching, Mentoring or Critiquing Your Work - Don't live in the Fraser Valley,  I would be happy to tailor a program just for you online.  Drawing and Painting Lessons, Mentoring you on your Art Journey or Critiquing Your Work with an Eye to Move It Forward.  Drawing & Painting Lessons: 2-30 sessions $75.  Mentoring or Critiquing 30 minutes sessions $25.  Flexible schedule and sessions can be longer or shorter depending on your goals. 

3.  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

Pros & Cons of Using a Blow Dryer on Watercolour - Painting & Drawing Tips

 Water!!  The BIG unknown in Watercolour.

It's great at the beach on a warm summer day.  Not so nice when it is still falling after 3 DAYS!! 

Explosive Colour - Watercolour 

As a Watercolorist, you are continually dealing with it when painting: too wet, too dry, too damp, not wet enough, not dry enough.  You know what I mean. 

So along comes a Blow Dryer. . . . 

It seems like the answer.  NOW you are the Boss.  You can take control.  Actually, not so much. Sure you can speed up the drying process so you can keep going BUT at what expense!!  

I do a lot of Plein Air work and Outdoor Sketching so actually getting paint to dry isn't a problem there.  The wind or sun is happy to dry it up quickly.  Some times toooo quickly.  But in the studio it is a problem.  There is no sun or breeze to help you along.  

So what is the problem with the Blow Dryer? ? ? . . . 

Let me explain with some Visuals as to what is happening with the 3 most common techniques I use. 

(I would like to give credit to Liz Steele and her post Lane Cove Tree Chopped Down and Thinking about Watercolour. She is analytic about painting techniques like me.  She has inspired me to create a visual for what is happening in my painting process to better understand when to use or not use a blow dryer.) 

The Blended Edge

The Blended Edge - the sharp edge of blue outlining the leave needs to fade off into the leaf below

This is used in the foliage of Explosive Colour to create the leaves in the background.  This is done by putting down paint (in the painting it is blue) to draw a leaf.  The one side of the painted line  is sharp to create the leave but the other side needs to be soft and fade off like a lost edge into the background colour.  

The Blended Edge: running a wet brush along the edge of slightly damp pigment

For the blended edge the painted line must be nearly dry (barely damp), then a brush with clear water is brushed along the edge.  Some of the water will seep into the pigment edge and draw it out.  Sometimes a a second brush of water along the first is done.  It helps to draw the water and that bit of pigment further away from the thicker dried pigment.  Thus creating that soft, disappearing edge. Drying the pigment before it moves would prevent this from happening.  

It does take practice to do the Blended Edge., If there is too much water or the existing pigment is too wet then everything runs into the pigment and a bloom appears.  Painting this picture gave me LOTS of practice with this technique!!

Glazing

Glazing - painting another colour over an existing colour so the underlying colour shows through 

This is a very common practice in my work.  It allows you to add depth to your colours and to change them.  In my flower you can see underlying colours showing through my petals and you can see how some of the petals were darken with subtle colour changes.  

Glazing - The wet paint is brushed over the dry paint, creating its own layer

When you look at the pigment story with the water, it is easy to understand what is happening and why things can go wrong if the glazing colour is dried quickly.  

The first step is to make sure the bottom layer is dry. (a good place to use the blow dryer)  The second step is to brush a wet brush with a  little pigment on it over the surface.  Then let the pigment settle over the surface. (best to let it do it things than dry it quickly) Often glazing requires many layers to bring about the subtle changes that you want.  

A SIDE NOTE:  When looking at the visual you can see why it is so important to not overwork the area when you do a glazing layer.  (technical term is Fiddle with It) Overworking the glazing area cause the water  and pigment to mix with the layer below.  Not a good thing.   

Mixing Colours on Paper

Mixing Watercolour on Paper

''Mixing watercolour on paper can take many forms: dropping wet into wet; dropping wet into damp; and adding wet to the side of damp pigment are the most common.  These are all techniques I use a lot.  When you think in terms of the tiny little pigments and their dance in the water, the drying process become crucial. Pigments are not all the same weight so some will drop quickly to the paper and settle in between the tooth while others will float about and settle more slowly.  This will certainly affect the resulting colour.  The wetness and dryness of each pigment also plays a part.  

Mixing colours on paper:  placing wet paint beside a slightly damp pigment

 In the example above I have diagramed the situation of placing a wet colour beside a slightly damp colour.  This is something I do often when plein air painting my leaves on a tree.  I place one colour down, (For example a dark green) then when it is nearly dry I put a bit of yellow beside it.   The edge of the green mixes with the edge of the yellow giving me a lighter yellow green but still leaving me with a yellow area on the leaves and a dark green area.  3 different colours and values with 2 brush strokes.  Definitely speeds up the process when Plein Air painting. A blast with the blow dryer would certainly not help this process.  

So yes there are times to use a dryer on you work.  Making sure your undercoat is dry before glazing is crucial.  However, even then you need to wait a bit until the pigments have completed their little dance and settled into the tooth of the paper before using the dryer.  But for most other techniques you need to let things dry naturally so that water and pigments can mix and play and settle.  

Myself, I seldom use a blow dryer.  I move to another area of the painting and work there until things dry; stand back and study things (always a good move); quit for lunch; or work on something else.  In the end, using a blow dryer or not is your call.  It is all about the effect you are looking for.  

Thanks again to Liz Steele for inspiring this blog.  

Further Reading:
3 Ways to Mix you Watercolours on Paper - posts includes a video with more explanation and a reference picture to paint along with.  

Outdoor Sketching Classes - On Now!!

Outdoor Sketching Classes are 2.5 hr sessions and located in parks in North Surrey and North Langley.  Beginners to Advanced are Welcome.  Mediums supported: watercolour, pen, pencil, watercolour pencils and coloured pencils.  You can sign up to as many sessions as you like.  Class Size: Max 3.  $50 per session.  

Class Dates: 
June 9 & 16: 10-12:30pm
July 7 & 28: 10-12:30pm
Aug 4 & 25: 10-12:30pm
Sept 1: 10-12:30pm 

Arrangements made for inclement weather.  
You are welcome to contact me for help in organizing your supplies for an Outing.  

 I am available for booking special outings for you and 1-2 of your friends. 

Gift Certificates are Available

Contact Wendy to register 

 Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

Contact Me for:

1. Private Drawing Lesson: (3 Sessions 2.5 hr each $250)  North Langley, BC (Walnut Grove) 

Do you want your animals to breath, your flowers to sparkle or your people to walk?  Whatever subject your like to paint or draw I can build a drawing program for you.  Private Lessons allow you to focus on the skills you wish to develop.  Wendy is a experienced teacher, providing a calm, relaxing experience as you learn how to use the principles of drawing.  Beginner to Advanced are welcome.  Special rates for younger students.  Contact Wendy for More info

2.  Online: Teaching, Mentoring or Critiquing Your Work - Don't live in the Fraser Valley,  I would be happy to tailor a program just for you online.  Drawing and Painting Lessons, Mentoring you on your Art Journey or Critiquing Your Work with an Eye to Move It Forward.  Drawing & Painting Lessons: 2-30 sessions $75.  Mentoring or Critiquing 30 minutes sessions $25.  Flexible schedule and sessions can be longer or shorter depending on your goals. 

3.  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

Why Collage Fodder is good for Watercolour Painters - Painting & Drawing Tips

 

I recently entered a NEW WORLD!

Some of my Mushroom Collage Fodder 

A World I never knew existed.  In a way, I think I felt like a Scientist that just discovered a New Star or a New Species.  How could I have missed this ? How long has it been in Existence?  Where did it come from?  

I know I am not a Collage Artist but really.  I do get around in the Art World, how did I miss this.  

Collage Fodder?? !!

What is it?  It is any material that can be used for Collaging.  Of course we have all seen work where artist are collecting, cutting, ripping and gluing things to make interesting new Art Work.  But I never really thought about Artists actively making the stuff they were going to cut up.  It always seemed like they 'collected it'. 

Well Artists do. Make it that is.  And it is the Collage Artists secret way of having TONS of FUN.  They make all kinds of things: patterns, flowers, people, leaves, writings, you name it. Not only make but sell it as well.  It is themed, colour coordinated, stylized, and more.  As I say A WHOLE NEW WORLD.  

No, I am not becoming a Collage Artists, but  . . . 

There is tons that can be learned from making Collage Fodder and using it in your work.  

NB.  My video "Why Should Watercolour Artist make Collage Fodder?"  has more information and ideas on Collage Fodder. Be sure and Check it out.   

Collage Fodder 101

 Right now my thing is Mushrooms so that was my  Collage Fodder Theme.
  

1. Draw mushrooms.  Lots of different shapes and sizes on a scrap piece of watercolour paper. May sure you do several of the same kind of shape, some big and some small.  (Great quick drawing practice) 

Painting my Mushrooms - trying different colours 

2.  Paint them: This was fun.  I painted them all different kinds of colours, used glazing, blending and mixing techniques.  I tried different shadows and shadow colours.  I experimented with different colour palettes.  ( Great quick watercolour practice, not only technique but colour theory )  

The fun part - adding little details 

3.  Grab Markers: I used coloured pens and white pens.  Outline and decorate your mushrooms once the paint is dry This was definitely fun.  Adding little decorations, bringing them to life.  (Fun drawing practice with pens)

Cutting out my Mushrooms - many I shouldn't have made such interesting shapes

4.  Cut your mushrooms out. Ok this is a little slow and tedious.  But afterwards fun to see how neat they looked. (cutting practice, no real benefit to a watercolourist I know but . . .)  

5.  Use your mushrooms. 
a.  Create your own collage page in your sketchbook (Practice in composition, colour theory, painting and drawing) I had fun just playing with the colour and working with my pen.  

Tried my hand at a little mix media 

b.  Decorate a Journal Page (Practice in composition, colour theory)  Simple little things can really make your pages more interesting and inviting.  You must admit these two chubby little mushrooms bring a smile to your face.  

Little decoration on my Journal Page 

c.  Make a Cover for a Sketchbook (Practice in composition, colour theory, painting and drawing) What can be nicer than to make your own sketchbook and design your own cover. I have only 2 pages left in my last creative sketchbook, I can hardly wait to crack this new one open.  

Front Cover of my New Sketchbook

d.  Build a painting around your mushrooms.  (Practice in composition, colour theory, painting and drawing)

Using your Collage Fodder will inspire you to do NEW Things. . . .

There are many different ways to use your Collage Fodder, but no matter what, you are getting a lot of skills working with it.  And I must add having Fun.  When working on your regular work your are focused on what you know.  There is pressure to do well.  So you stick to tried and true methods.  This is not the area for experimentation.  I can guarantee that making a little Fodder and using it, will stretch you out into new places. 

NB.  My video "Why Should Watercolour Artist make Collage Fodder?"  has more information and ideas on Collage Fodder. Be sure and Check it out.   

So next time you are at loose ends, grab some paper and start your own Collage Fodder collection.  

Outdoor Sketching Classes - On Now!!

Outdoor Sketching Classes are 2.5 hr sessions and located in parks in North Surrey and North Langley.  Beginners to Advanced are Welcome.  Mediums supported: watercolour, pen, pencil, watercolour pencils and coloured pencils.  You can sign up to as many sessions as you like.  Class Size: Max 3.  $50 per session.  

Class Dates: 
June 9 & 16: 10-12:30pm
July 7 & 28: 10-12:30pm
Aug 4 & 25: 10-12:30pm
Sept 1: 10-12:30pm 

Arrangements made for inclement weather.  
You are welcome to contact me for help in organizing your supplies for an Outing.  

 I am available for booking special outings for you and 1-2 of your friends. 

Gift Certificates are Available

Contact Wendy to register 

 Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

Contact Me for:

1. Private Drawing Lesson: (3 Sessions 2.5 hr each $250)  North Langley, BC (Walnut Grove) 

Do you want your animals to breath, your flowers to sparkle or your people to walk?  Whatever subject your like to paint or draw I can build a drawing program for you.  Private Lessons allow you to focus on the skills you wish to develop.  Wendy is a experienced teacher, providing a calm, relaxing experience as you learn how to use the principles of drawing.  Beginner to Advanced are welcome.  Special rates for younger students.  Contact Wendy for More info

2.  Online: Teaching, Mentoring or Critiquing Your Work - Don't live in the Fraser Valley,  I would be happy to tailor a program just for you online.  Drawing and Painting Lessons, Mentoring you on your Art Journey or Critiquing Your Work with an Eye to Move It Forward.  Drawing & Painting Lessons: 2-30 sessions $75.  Mentoring or Critiquing 30 minutes sessions $25.  Flexible schedule and sessions can be longer or shorter depending on your goals. 

3.  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy