Getting Ready For Summer Workshop

I have been really bad about making time to paint lately, but when I got Shari Blaukopf's invitation to her June workshop in Kamouraska, I had signed up before finishing the article!

I've been wanting to study with Shari since her blog first came to my attention, last year. Or was it the year before? Since then, I've subscribed to her weekly blog summary. Go to her page right now, and sign up! You'll be glad you did.

But how to get back in the swing of things?

By sheer coincidence, another watercolourist that I've been following, Cathy (Kate) Johnson (author of the book and blog Artists' Journal Workshop), just launched a new mini-course, and I signed up for it. The mini-course is about ink and wash, a technique that I love.

Lesson I

The first lesson was to find a bird picture and sketch it in pencil, then in ink, and then to apply watercolor paint. There is a demo -- you can see it there on the left.

I googled "bird", printed the image of this blue and turquoise bird, and just SAT DOWN AND DID IT.

There are four more exercises in this lesson. I have promised myself to do one per day.