A Watercolor Journey

Cathy Johnson Sketching Workshop for Strathmore

2012-03-01T08:04:00.001-04:00

Along with 2,415 other people (the number grows every time I go to the site!), I have signed up for this free watercolor sketching workshop that Cathy Johnson is giving for Strathmore Papers, part of their Online Workshop series.

Since I've been really remiss in my watercolor practice lately, I thought this would be a good way to get "in shape" for Barcelona, which is now only three months away!

We got the first videos and the first lesson today. Cathy is a very good, easygoing teacher.

There was no assignment required as such, but after Cathy demonstrated how she painted a favourite basil plan, the message was to paint a favourite thing and to try spattering and lettering -- two of the techniques that she demonstrated today.

My favourite "thing" these days is my piano, so I think I'll try sketching that... wish me luck!

More About Art and Watercolour Classes in Montreal

2012-02-21T09:49:00.000-04:00

"Shovel", a watercolour sketch by Montreal artist Shari Blaukopf (© Shari Blaukopf)

Many people find this blog by searching for art or watercolour classes or workshops in Montreal.

If you're one of them, I have some excellent news for you!

First, since I started following the international group called Urban Sketchers, I have discovered a myriad of fabulous artists and art opportunities, not only in Montreal, but all over the world.

One of my favourite sketchers is a Montrealer, and she happens to be offering watercolour workshops this summer. Her name is Shari Blaukopf, and you'll find her at her blog, The Sketchbook, where she posts the beautiful watercolour sketches that she creates every single day. Click on the Summer Workshops link at the top. Then you could sign up for her weekly email where she posts everything she has painted during the week, along with a short description which often turns out to be a mini-lesson.

I actually found Shari through Marc Holmes, another Montrealer who is an Urban Sketcher. Marc is an amazing painter, but I don't know if he offers workshops. Here's a link to his own blog, Citizen Sketcher. He has an "About" page, so you could contact him and ask him.

My last bit of news is that since my last trip to Montreal, a major art centre has opened its doors there. It's called the Montreal Art Center and though it doesn't seem to be offering watercolour training yet, it has some other excellent classes. Prices are the same as the Visual Arts Centre, i.e., $200 for eight weekly classes. One feature that impressed me is that they're offering studio space for artists at a very reasonable monthly rent. This is sorely needed in Montreal due to the gentrification of all the old downtown industrial buildings, some of which were chock-a-block full of artists of all disciplines.

And finally (and thankfully!), the Visual Arts Centre is still THE place for watercolour classes of every kind. They have even added some offerings this year, for both the fall/winter and summer sessions. Check out their attractive new website.

ANOTHER EQUIPMENT TEST

2011-10-22T18:55:00.001-03:00

Learning how to draw presented an opportunity to do another equipment test.

One of the assignments in Keys to Drawing, the book that I'm using to learn to draw better (see my previous post for a review), was to draw a green pepper. I actually went to the store to buy one -- I even chose the one with the most lumps and bumps, to increase the challenge.

The darn object was so interesting that after completing the assignment -- which consisted of two drawings in pencil -- I was itching to do a watercolour version.

My experimental palette was short on green pigments.

It just so happened that I had just received three tubes of green M. Graham pigments -- a sap green, a hooker's green and an olive green, and that I was also wanting to get some practice in using waterbrushes. I own two of those brushes of different brands (a waterbrush is a brush with a water reservoir in the shaft, like a fountain pen -- see photo, left), and up until then I had not been satisfied with either, except when painting very small subjects or creating washes when sketching with water-soluble pens.

Watercolor on Moleskine 5" x 9" Sketchbook

This is how my experiment came out.

I drew the outline with my olive green Staedtler Triplus Fineliner water-soluble pen, and for the pepper I used the sap green and a bit of hooker's green in the darker parts. I used the olive green for the shadow.

You can readily see that I was unable to obtain a smooth effect with those waterbrushes, and that's the reason I don't like them.

As for the pigments, for being half the price of the Winsor & Newton ones (unless you buy the huge 37-ml tubes when they're on sale), I'm no expert but I can't find any difference in quality between the two brands. I've never used W&N's greens, but I notice they use the same formulation.

CONCLUSIONS

I'm not in the habit of using convenience colors, but having decided that it was probably a good idea, I'm disappointed in at least one aspect of both the sap green and the hooker's green: they are staining colours. They remind me of some chromium oxide green that I used to have, and that I threw away when I was "pruning" my paint drawer last year. I found the olive green a bit dull, but maybe it's supposed to be like that. I can see using it in a landscape, though if I just add a bit of brown madder to the sap green, I get the exact same colour.

I read somewhere that all "good" greens require three basic colours, and these greens already contain two, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with sap green and hooker's green when I add other pigments to them.

On the other hand, I suppose I could premix some non-staining greens and have them there, ready to go. I'm trying to find a Canadian supplier for empty pans and half-pans; that would be a good way of making up a supply. I could then follow Cathy Johnson's advice and stick them to my palette with some rubber cement, or make up some little cups out of sugru. Food for thought...

As for the waterbrushes, even though a certain online watercolour instructor seems to make it look really easy to work with them -- maybe they're good for the kind of fiddly work that she specializes in -- I will continue to carry one for sketching in the field, and I think they're fabulous for creating washes with water-soluble pens, but for working in the studio I'll stick to my regular brushes, thank you very much.

Improving My Drawing Skills

2011-10-19T19:51:00.001-03:00

In order to be a decent painter, I need to improve my drawing skills.

Over the years I've bought at least half a dozen "how to draw" books, including the famous Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain. None even comes close to Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing.

When Left Side of the Brain came out -- way back in the late 80's I believe -- I bought it, did several exercises, and then I got bored. My drawings did improve, though. Then I lost the book.

Last month, I ordered the revised edition. I'm sure it's still very valid, but I found it boring again.

Keys to Drawing is very similar in many ways, but it's never boring. I can't explain it; perhaps it's just that I like the examples better. Or the way it's written -- less stuff about how the brain works and more about how to draw.

This is a substantial book -- 224 pages -- and it's the closest to a good drawing course that you'll ever find in book form.

Moreover, it's recommended by one of my favourite watercolour painters, Charles Reid.

If you like Charles Reid, you will like this book. Buy it! It's only $15 at Amazon.

NOTE: If you click on the image or on the link below and buy it I'll get a few cents' commission, but that's not the reason I'm reviewing Keys to Drawing. It's because I really like it and I want you to know about it. Check it out, have a "Look Inside", read the reviews, and then decide.

My "Paint My Numbers" Project

2011-10-09T08:17:00.001-03:00

This article really belongs on my home renovation site, but since it has to do with art, I thought I'd post it here as well.

Long ago, I had decided to paint my numbers -- my house numbers that is -- to fill the big gap that had been left by the removal of the front door. For years I lived with that gap, but finally, this summer, the house got painted, and this weekend is Indian summer, the perfect time for this project.

(All photos will enlarge if you click on them.)

Playing with the design on photos of the house.

Earlier this year, I had been playing with the design on some photos of the house that I had printed out. I had even consulted my friend, Jane Evans, who is an artist and a designer. She had some excellent suggestions for both the number and the green around the windows. (You can see on the photo how I tried two different ways of framing the windows with green.)

Sketch of design on foamboard.

I needed something rigid to make a stencil that I could play with until I was satisfied, that I could then cut out and trace on the wall.

This had to be something that was easy to cut neatly. I settled on foamboard from the dollar store. The boards were 20" x 30", so I joined them by taping them on the back.

This worked really well.

The design is ready to try on the house.

I used a pushpin and some string to draw the big circles and some plates for the smaller ones. I used coloured markers of different colours for the different tests, so that I'd know exactly where to cut.

I cut everything with a blade cutter. It was very easy to get a neat cut.

Then I pasted the cutouts on the wall with painter's tape to have a look. That's when I realized that my sun/moon pattern was too big, so I redid it.

Tracing of the design with non-permanent markers.

When I was happy with the position (which I tested with a level), I traced around the designs with non-permanent markers of the same colours as the design would be. That way, the outline would just blend in.

Closeup of tracing.

You can see it better on this closeup.

I had to give up at that point because a certain bee was way too curious about my hands. I finished the next day, after locating the insect repellent.

Partially done -- what's wrong with that "3"?

Here's a perfect example of why you should always step back from your painting.

Taking a photo has the same effect. Anyone can see there's something very wrong with that "3".

Close-up of corrections to the "3" on a photo

I printed out the photo, then I used a white gel pen to reduce the top line's length and the diagonal line's thickness; I also rounded the angles and added an orange flame inside the sun's rays with an orange marker.

The result seemed a lot better to me.

The final result. Good enough!

I used some of the house's white paint to cover the green I didn't want, added the orange flames and another coat of dark blue on the sky.

I also painted a blue eye and a red mouth on the moon.

Later today, I will add another coat of white over the mistakes (if you enlarge the picture you will see where), but generally I'm satisfied.

The full façade in October 2011

Next spring, I will use the leftover green paint to go over the window frames, as I find the present shade of green tends to look black under certain lighting conditions -- as it does in these photos.

(As you can see, a neat lawn isn't a priority for me!)

Why don't you try painting your own house numbers? It's a great way to personalize your home!

By the way, did you know that you can get sample sizes (8 ounces) of just about any paint or colour at Home Depot? For this job I ordered flat exterior paint in green (two pots), yellow, blue and red. With the three primaries I can make just about any colour I want. I have another project in mind for a big empty wall at the back of the house...

Sketching Practice

2011-10-04T10:59:00.002-03:00

I've been looking for a difficult subject for my sketching practice.

I had settled on some shaggy mane mushrooms: yesterday I noticed that the recent rains have brought them out, and I was going to go and pick some today, but first I was going to sketch them.

Shaggy Mane Mushrooms

This is what they looked like last year.

Their scientific name is coprinus comatus; they are sometimes referred to as "inky caps".

They grow in the same spot every year, and luckily nobody is interested in them, so I get to pick as many as I want to eat.

The mycologist who guided the mushroom hunt that I wrote up earlier gave me a good recipe for shaggy mane mushrooms: (1) Pick them very small; (2) Cut them in two lengthwise and freeze them on a cookie sheet; (3) Bag them and store them in the freezer. OR: Cut them in two and sauté them fresh. P.S. Never mix shaggy manes with alcohol; that's a toxic combination.

However, it's been raining all day, and the rain is no good for either occupation.

Camera Bag. Pen and Watercolor on Moleskine Sketchbook

So I looked around and settled on my camera bag.

I sketched it directly in ink in my Moleskine Notebook. There's something liberating about drawing in ink; knowing you can't erase forces you to really concentrate, which helps to turn on the "R Mode" that Betty Edwards describes in her book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

I applied watercolour (Maimeri Payne's Grey). The white dotted lines are from a white gel pen. I worked quickly.

It's a bit off, and the camera didn't render the grey well (it's kind of bluish in reality), but it was very good practice and I like how it turned out -- free and loose, as un-photorealistic as possible. I like the way drawing in ink forces you to leave your corrections there, for all to see.

Click to enlarge, if you like.

June 2012 in Barcelona

2011-09-29T14:19:00.000-03:00

View of Barcelona from the top of the Sagrada Familia Basilica.

I hadn't yet returned from Montreal this summer that I had already planned to spend June 2012 in Barcelona, with a side trip of one week to the south of France for a watercolour workshop.

I am an unconditional fan of Antoni Gaudí, the wild architect who designed the Sagrada Familia Basilica, which I visited in 1969 when it was still a shell (though its construction had begun in 1882). Now that it's almost finished -- it was inaugurated about a year ago but construction is expected to continue for several decades -- I want to see what his successors have done with it, though I already like what I've seen in the pictures.

I also look forward to revisiting Gaudí's other buildings and Güell Park, with its mosaic dragon -- all perfect sketching subjects.

Because of my newly-found passion for sketching, this is going to be quite a different trip. Add to this the fact that I now speak Spanish fluently, and you have a different person visiting what must be a different place after forty-some years... no wonder I'm excited about this!

I had tentatively booked a place in a workshop in the South of France for the last part of the month, but after looking into travel insurance I realized that I couldn't make that commitment at this time. They required a large deposit and a final payment a full two months before the workshop, and the refund policy was not generous at all, and travel insurance did not cover the kind of circumstances that had me worried.

There were other things that bothered me about that particular place, such as having to rent a car because they no longer wish to provide transportation to the painting sites. It makes sense from their point of view, since most of their clients drive in from other parts of Europe. As of next year, they're even opening a campground for those who come with their RVs. I'm not sure I'd like to vacation in a trailer park, and the thought of driving in France isn't something that brings a smile to my face.

As for Barcelona, there's a very tempting apartment that I could rent for the whole month of June for 750 euros -- that's about $1,000. Since sketching is my new passion, I could easily spend a month sketching there, with the occasional side trip to other Spanish towns.

But could I resist flying to Paris once I was over there? That's my dilemma right now.

My First Real Journaling Pages

2011-09-20T11:04:00.002-03:00

When I got the invitation to a mushroom hunt in the Shediac area (Cocagne, actually), not only was I excited because I'm crazy about wild mushrooms, I also saw it as an opportunity to create my first "real" journaling pages -- real as opposed to the assignments that I carried out last month in Montreal in the sketchbook class, and the ones that are part of Laure Ferlita's excellent online Artful Journaling class that I'm taking right now.

I didn't have any illusions about being able to sketch mushrooms in the woods: I was sure that was out of the question due to the large number of participants. But when our guide began his presentation, I realized that instead of just taking notes, I could make little sketches of the mushrooms in his slide presentation.

Here's a page from that project:

Click to enlarge.

I drew the little mushrooms in permanent ink, then filled in the colours back at the motel, using my guidebook as well as sites I found with my iPad.

Too bad I didn't plan to do this in advance. I could have allowed a bit more space for the drawings, and set each one in its own little frame maybe. Next time I will.

Click to enlarge.

I had brought back some of the enormous mushrooms that had been picked by the group, so I could paint them.

As soon as I got home, I painted this one quickly in my other sketchbook. It was just going to be a draft, but I never got around to doing it again, so I cut it out and pasted it in my Moleskine.

The camera rendered the yellow a bit too yellowy, and I shouldn't have put the red on top, dry-into-dry like this, especially since I used Brown Madder, which is sort of a shiny pigment -- but like I said it was going to be a draft, and if you don't enlarge it it doesn't look too bad.

* * * * *

I had booked the motel room for two days so I could spend the next day at the main pier in Pointe-du-Chêne, and maybe at Parlee Beach as well, filling pages and pages of my Moleskine sketchbook.

That was overly optimistic! I forgot that I had to allow time to drive back home during the daylight hours (I have night blindness), and how long sketching actually takes when you're new at the game.

I never made it to Parlee Beach, but I am thrilled at having produced this page of small sketches.

I was kind of sorry that I hadn't worked more neatly, but then I looked at the journals of some famous artists, and many of them are not neat at all.

I concluded that if you're a neat person, your journals are going to be neat, and if you're more like me, then your journals are going to be neat one day, and sloppy the next!

Anyway, I was looking at a way of unifying this page, and I checked books and websites, and one idea I found was to paint the background, like this:

Watercolour on Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook, 5" x 9". Click to enlarge.

I like it much better with the Prussian Blue background around the sketches, and the pale yellow on the sign.

I find that this does unify the whole page, and makes the sketches stand out even more.

It also hides some of the flaws.

I'm glad I tried this because it was sort of the ultimate test for the Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. It's amazing how well this rather thin paper withstands just about any amount of water you put on it. It buckles very slightly at first, then it recovers.

At around $25, it seems expensive, but since the paint doesn't bleed through, you can use both sides of the pages -- giving you a total of 72 pages, costing a mere 35 cents each. It's cheaper than making your own, really.

* * * *

Years from now, when I look at this page, I know that I will remember that weekend so much better than if I had taken photos, including how I was so busy trying not to trip in the forest that I never spotted a single mushroom.

On the nicer side, I will remember getting excited at the colourful buoys hanging from that pyramid of lobster traps. I will remember chatting with the lady in the fake pirate ship souvenir shop with the plastic palm trees; she happens to be an "expatriate" from Montreal, like me, so we had a lot to talk about.

Best of all, I will remember watching the fishermen on the pier, and their strange pivoting movement, their bodies gyrating from left to right and right to left, again and again, in an attempt to lure the fish to bite, as I sat there on one of the benches, eating my lunch, and then sketching and painting using my new Cotman watercolour travel set, feeling awfully lucky to have found someone willing to move so little for so long!

Next time, I will try to work more neatly, draw some lines and stay inside them, and leave more space between the sketches! Fortunately, I had drawn in a frame for the title of the Shediac page. I added the lettering when I got home -- I wanted the title to be done with care, and if you see the influence of Cathy Johnson there, it's no coincidence -- I just got her new book, Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures, and have found it a great resource for a beginner like myself.

Viva México! Happy Independence Day!

2011-09-16T10:03:00.001-03:00

Viva México (1995), Watercolour on Arches Paper, 15" x 11" (Click to enlarge.)

I remember painting this in Dennis Pohl's class at Instituto Allende in San Miguel, 16 years ago. I don't know if I'd have the patience today!

How I miss you, México! Happy Independence Day!

Artful Journaling, an Online Course

2011-09-14T15:17:00.001-03:00

I had signed up for both of Laure Ferlita's Artful Journaling online courses (Foundations and Explorations), and this week was the first installment.

While in Montreal last month, I had learned how to make a simple, hand-sewn sketchbook, so I decided to make one with what I had on hand: some sheets from a 9" x 12" block of Curry's own 140-lb cotton paper for the inside, and the rough cardboard that they use for shipping for the cover.

Unfortunately, using sheets from a block instead of tearing large sheets into smaller ones means that you don't get the attractive deckle edges.

Here is the cover:

Handmade Sketchbook, 6.5" x 9.5"

The blue part was designed in Photoshop, printed on matte photo paper, then glued. (Now I know better than to use glue from the dollar store -- it shows through the photo paper!)

The type is actually the same shade of brown as the little squares. The font is "Angelina".

For the border, I got inspiration from a new book on Lettering that I just got. I used a flat brush, watercolour and a fine black marker.

Here is the interior:

Interior of Handmade Watercolour Sketchbook, 13" x 9.5"

I had given my first sketchbook to my niece as a birthday present (she's an art student), and had forgotten the sewing diagram, so I wrote the teacher, Lorna Mulligan, and she very kindly sent me a little sketch.

The sewing doesn't show up very well because I used white thread.

You may notice that my paper doesn't line up perfectly -- something to watch out for next time.

I'm pretty pleased with it anyway.

I will review the course when it's over. Stay tuned!

Review of Winsor & Newton Cotman Field Plus Set

2011-09-08T14:52:00.001-03:00

Click to enlarge.

This is the Cotman Field Plus Watercolor Set that I ordered for sketching and journaling.

Curry's had it for $40 plus shipping, which was about the same as if I had ordered it from the US.

The problem with ordering from the US is that unless the supplier ships by the US Post Office you're likely to find a delivery guy at your door demanding some outrageous brokerage fee if you want your merchandise.

I had ordered this particular model after checking out everything that was available out there -- in m price range, that is. I liked all the features, including some that other sets just don't offer:

Click to enlarge.

    ◆    Three separate mixing trays;
    ◆    A small water bottle that fits into its own little space when put away, and can hang from the palette when you're working if you wish (as in the right, on my photo). The bottle holds 1/3 of a cup, enough to fill one of those little cups six times;
    ◆    Two water cups that clip right onto the palette, with four slots to choose from;
    ◆    Thumb rings on both sides (the one on the right is for lefties);
    ◆    A good selection of pigments in half-pans;
    ◆    A small synthetic brush and two different slots for it;
    ◆    A compact design. When closed, the kit measures 5-1/2"x4-1/2"x1-1/2" (14x11x4 cm) and weighs 8.6 oz (243 g).

Those were the Pros. Now for the Cons.

1. The kit I got had two major flaws: (a) it didn't close properly, so that if you turned it upside-down, everything would fall out; and (b) the bottle leaked.

It turned out that Winsor & Newton had received a defective batch from the manufacturer, and a replacement shipment is on the way. W&N promised to replace my box as soon as the new ones are available. (They offered me the option of receiving another model instead, but it didn't suit me.) In the meantime, they have sent me a replacement bottle, which doesn't leak.

2. Remember, this is a Cotman set. Cotman is Winsor & Newton's "student" line. So that the pigments are not "artist quality", but they're good enough for now, as I learn to sketch on location. When I'm ready to switch to artist quality, the half-pans are the same size, so I can just switch the pigments that matter. Or do what many artists do, just squeeze some tube colour into the empty pans.

Click too enlarge.

One pigment that doesn't work is the Cobalt Hue -- it just looks like a weak Ultramarine, as you can see on this sampler that I made. The idea of having two blues is to have a cold one and a warm one, and so I replaced the Cobalt with Prussian Blue from the Artists line (top, right).

I doubt that I will ever use the Chinese White. Should I want a white paint, I would use gouache, or maybe one of those gel pens which I have yet to try. I'm tempted to just fill that slot with another green pigment.

Winsor & Newton were very nice about the whole thing, though they took forever to answer my email. I had to ask Curry's to give them a little push.

I haven't had good luck with Winsor & Newton products lately: a couple of months ago I purchased several tubes of their watercolours and received a mail-in coupon for a free sable brush. The brush -- a No. 3 round from their Artists Water Colour Sable line -- arrived very nicely packaged in a large tube, but unfortunately it was defective. It's very thin, and the point is double and it ends in a curve. It's unusable. I suspect that's how they get rid of their "seconds". I hope I'm wrong, as that would not be worthy of that famous name.

Art Classes in Montreal - Conclusion

2011-09-05T19:40:00.002-03:00

WHAT DID I TAKE BACK HOME FROM FOUR WEEKS OF ART CLASSES IN MONTREAL?

"Montréal, août 2011", mixed media, 9" x 12"

No. 1 -- As indicated by the photo on the left, I came to the realization that what I can do with my watercolours is Sketching and Journaling. (I know, this is more like a scrapbook, but hey, I'm just a beginner!)

The reason that I had signed up for that Essential Sketchbook class was that I am planning on doing a lot of travelling and, frankly, photography doesn't have the same appeal any more. As much as I used to love films, negatives, contact sheets and fine prints, I find nothing sexy in digital cameras.

And if it comes to recording your trip, nothing stirs up the memories like a little sketch. Add some words, a bit of fancy decorating, and you have an art journal, something that, apparently, the whole world is passionately engaged in, judging by all the books, tutorials, blogs, websites, workshops, etc.

(Click here for my impressions of the Essential Sketchbook course.)

No. 2 -- I discovered watercolour pencils, watercolour travel kits, and, especially, water-soluble pens and waterbrushes. Water-soluble pens are great for sketching on the go, anytime, anywhere. You can carry all you need in one pocket! As for watercolour pencils, I saw a demo by Laure Ferlita I think -- or maybe it was Cathy Johnson? -- about making a tiny palette by creating little squares of colour on watercolour paper, and using that as your colour supply for small sketches on the go. It works! Clever! (Speaking of clever, this girl Laure Ferlita [I keep wanting to combine her two names and call her "Laurita", like we would in Mexico], she runs this business/school/project called "Imaginary Trips". You sign up for a fake trip and make a journal out of it.)

I'm constantly amazed at how creative people are, in so many ways.

No. 3 -- I finally realized the importance of value -- the relative lightness or darkness of a certain area in a drawing or a painting -- without which volume simply doesn't exist. Thanks to Lorna Mulligan, who taught the classes -- this concept finally sunk in, and more importantly, I began to apply it.

No. 4 -- I gained a certain hope that if I practice enough, one day I will be able to draw. No matter that I used to have this ability -- I was admitted at Ecole des Beaux-Arts at age 16, after a very difficult test that only the top 200 out of 2000 had passed. I'm sure the ability is still there, buried under mountains of insecurity.

No. 5 -- I became determined more than ever that what I want to do for the next few decades is to travel as much as I can possibly afford. Travel, take art workshops maybe, sketch, make journals... but for now it's nice to be home and make pink apple jelly with the apples that grow wild everywhere in my small windy village.

No. 6 -- I got a trial run on what equipment is essential when travelling by plane (last year, I had gone by car); in fact, did you know that watercolour tubes are considered to be a liquid, and therefore they are subject to the same restrictions as your mouth wash? Luckily, I was in time to have my suitcase pulled back from the check-in so that I could put the watercolours in there. (It was that or the garbage can for those 20 tubes!) In addition, since we were working en plein air, I also got a trial run on what equipment I should take -- or rather, how much I can comfortably carry, and how much I can use once I'm on location.

No. 7 -- One of my favourite parts was learning to make my own simple sketchbook. I can't show it that one, because my niece, who is an art student, celebrated her 22nd birthday while I was in Montreal, and so I gave it to her as a present. But I've made another one, and you can see it here.

What I didn't gain, however, is some experience in handling watercolours. There was very little encouragement to use them, and I avoided every opportunity to make a fool of myself, so I used other mediums almost all the time. Pen and wash became my favourite alternative, and that's fine. I've ordered a bunch of great books, and I will spend the winter following the lessons in them, in preparation for a watercolour workshop in the south of France, next June, that I've just signed up for.

* Well, not four weeks full-time! Essential Sketchbook was two evenings a week for four weeks, for a total of 24 hours, and Plants and Flowers was four hours for four Sundays, for a total of 16 hours.

Plant and Flower Painting Course in Montreal

2011-09-05T16:28:00.000-03:00

Quick Watercolour Sketch Inside the Greenhouse, 8.5" x 5"

Before your make a face like my friend Louise did upon seeing this, let me point out that it was supposed to be a quick sketch done directly in watercolour without a previous pencil drawing -- just an impression of the inside of the greenhouse.

Each class of this Plant and Flower Painting Course (which was given over four Sundays in August by the Visual Arts Centre, and taught by Lorna Mulligan), met at the Westmount greenhouse, which is just a few blocks from the school.

Strangely enough, most of my flower pictures were produced as part of the Essential Sketchbook class, which was also taught by Ms. Mulligan. The two classes just got intertwined in my mind, but that's okay.

The last class took place on the Sunday of Hurricane Irene, so I skipped it. This reduced the course by 25% but that's life. I was already kind of disappointed with it: I expected more of an emphasis on how to paint individual flowers, or "flower portraits", as they are sometimes called. Instead, we were pretty well left on our own to create our own project in the greenhouse, with some demos and critiques in the classroom after the greenhouse visits.

Lorna is an excellent artist and a very good teacher, and I picked up enough good advice from the Sketchbook class to have made the trip worthwhile.

Here are some of my other flower and plant pictures. Click on them to enlarge if you wish.


Anthurium. Watercolour, 8.5" x 5"

Fushchias. Water-soluble pen, 8.5" x 5"

Ground Cherries. Watercolour and gouache, 8.5" x 5"

Very Old Jade Plant. Water-soluble pen, 8.5" x 5"

Watergrass. Water-soluble pen.

Art Classes in Montreal

2011-08-13T15:45:00.015-03:00

My previous post should have been titled Art Classes in Montreal. The Essential Sketchbook course at the Visual Arts Centre is more about drawing than about watercolour, and that's as it should be. So far we've used mostly pencil, ink pen and water soluble pencil, along with some watercolour pencils and ordinary watercolours.

This is a much more productive experience than the Halifax one, and it mostly has to do with the instructor. As I had hoped, Ms. Mulligan is not only a good artist, she is a good teacher, and she gives a lot of homework, which is very important to me, because for some reason I perform much better on my own than in a classroom situation.

Except for the still life, these pictures were all done at home. (Pardon the quality, I only brought my cheap point-and-shoot camera on this trip.)

Click to enlarge.

A Still Life Done in Class

The object of the exercise was to get us to use at least three values (in this case, a white, a mid-tone and a black).

We had to use a water-soluble pencil or watercolour pencil. I used the latter.

Yes, the white bottle was that much taller than the other objects!

Click to enlarge.

Assignment from Wednesday's class

Lorna gave us some sheets with photocopied examples of tiny black and white photos that we were to reproduce strictly with ink markers -- no pencils or erasers allowed!

Don't ask me why, but if you want to torture me, give me a pencil and an eraser! Oddly, I find myself much less inhibited when correcting is not an option. (I've done my best drawings with a computer mouse.)

I went and purchased three more ink pens, so this assignment turned into a marker experiment as well.

These are the pens I used:

Top left and centre: Staedtler Triplus Fineliner
Centre left: Pilot Drawing Pen 01
Bottom left: Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.5
Top and bottom right: Pigma Micron 05

These are the main differences that I found between them:

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner has water-based ink, so it's not waterproof, but sometimes I would want the ink to run, as in this test:

Click to enlarge.

I also applied water to the marks on the birches above, and also to their background.

The black has a purplish tone, which is kind of nice, and the line is not too fine and not too coarse. Comes in many different colours.

The price is only about $1.50* I think. Oh, and if you stain your clothes, the colour will come out in the wash.

Pigma Micron 05 is waterproof** and fade-proof (archival quality). For fineness, it's about the same as the Triplus Fineliner. I enjoyed using it. I paid $3.95* for it.

Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.5 is indelible, waterproof** on paper and lightfast. The line is a little thicker than the others. It cost $3.59*.

Drawn with Pilot Drawing Pen 01

Pilot Drawing Pen 01 is light resistant and waterproof** and I don't know if it comes in different thicknesses, but this one is extremely fine, which is great if that's what you want. I can think of a lot of times when I would want a very fine line. Cost: $2.65.

That big spiral pad was awkward to use, and I got bored with those tiny pictures, so I decided to go out and find my own subjects, and to use my expensive, compact (5" x 8") Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

I didn't have to go further than two blocks to find these gems.

Montreal is full of fascinating architectural details -- you just have to look up (though you then risk being knocked down by a crazy cyclist!)

(The house detail on the left was done with the Staedtler Pigment Liner 05 and the one on the right, with the Pilot Drawing Pen 01. The one below was drawn using a green Staedtler Fineliner water-soluble pen.)

What I learned from this outing is that the ink pen is the ideal sketching medium. All I took was my pad, a couple of ink pens, and my small folding stool which I bought at the Army Surplus store. It has a convenient pocket and everything I carried fit into it, including my wallet and keys. For traveling, the stool fits in my suitcase.

For a complete travel kit, I would add a small watercolour field set (reviewed here), and/or a few watercolour pencils, plus a lead pencil, for notes -- all of which would also fit in the stool pocket.

When I got home, even though I had been drawing out in the fresh air for four or five hours, I was still gung-ho, so I drew this plant in ink, and then I applied watercolours to it.

None of these is a masterpiece, just a pleasant record, and so much more fun than snapping photos. And when you draw something, you really see it.

And that's what sketching is all about.

Click to enlarge.

Probably the most nerve-wracking class for everyone was the day we went to the park to do quick sketches of people.

We had to use an unsharp pencil, which I think is a good idea, because it prevents you from trying to make a detailed drawing.

And of course you had to work really quickly, because people were moving! That's why my best drawing in this one on the left, of one of my fellow students!

Click to enlarge.

My favourite sketch is the little bicycle on this page.

The bits of colour are from watercolour pencils and waterbrush.

Click on the link for the follow-up post to this one: Art Classes in Montreal: Conclusion. (And here is the link for my impressions of the Flower Painting course.)

* Montreal retail prices, August 2011.
** All those inks will bleed if you apply water right away.

Watercolour Classes in Montreal

2011-07-12T11:26:00.008-03:00

Now that I've let off steam about my recent workshop experiences, I can set free my enthusiasm for next month's watercolour classes at the Visual Arts Centre, in Montreal.

This will be the second year that I spend a month in my hometown of Montreal, visiting with family and taking some classes. Last year, I studied Dreamweaver and Photoshop at Concordia University, and a watercolour class, given by Stephanie Reynolds, at the Visual Arts Centre.

The class was at night and I was so tired from those full-time courses at Concordia that I didn't really produce very much. My best work was Montreal Cityscape. I also remember a still life with a disastrous red cabbage and some really nice blueberries.

But I came back more determined than ever to play with watercolours (with which I had had a brief encounter in Mexico 15 years earlier) and to try and master this most difficult of mediums. Almost as soon as I was back home, I ordered all sorts of books, set up a studio space, and started this blog.

I also resolved to take no other classes but watercolour this summer. So, as soon as the Visual Arts Centre's summer program was published, I registered for two of Lorna Mulligan's classes: Watercolour Plants and Flowers, and The Essential Sketchbook.

I hope Ms. Mulligan the teacher lives up to the admiration I have for her as an artist. And I hope to have some time to practice in-between all the other activities that I have planned for the month!

I'll let you know how it went.

About Watercolor Workshops

2011-06-20T08:23:00.003-03:00

I've just returned from a 3-day watercolor workshop, and I want to set down my impressions about watercolor workshops in general before the memory of this one fades completely.

This is about watercolor workshops but a lot of it can also apply to watercolor classes. I define a workshop as a brief course given by an artist and/or art teacher, usually with a specific theme ("landscape painting", "the south of France", that sort of thing).

And of course what I write here applies to any kind of medium, not just watercolors.

What is the Purpose of a Watercolor Workshop?

It was only after I had been back for a few days and noticed that I hadn't touched my paints that I asked myself what it was that I had hoped to find in that landscape painting workshop.

I'm not naïve enough to have expected that the instructor, Ron Hazell, would wave a magic wand and I would suddenly turn into Jeanne Dobie, Ann Blockley, or Hazel Soan. But there's no shortage of landscapes for practising on around here, so why wasn't I out there painting, or at least taking photos or sketching?

What was it, then, that I was expecting?

Suddenly, it hit me: enthusiasm! excitement! Why hadn't I felt an uncontrollable desire to unpack my material and start painting as soon as I got home? Worse still, I had felt it only once during the workshop: during one of his lectures, Mr. Hazell said that sometimes he is asked questions like "how do you paint a car?", the (correct) answer being to go home and paint your own car. Then he said we should paint our own car that evening, and bring the result to class the next day.

"Great, an assignment!", I thought. That evening, I parked my car in front of my motel window. I even manoeuvered it into an interesting "pose", with some foreshortening so that I could show off about that. I turned the wheels to make the composition more exciting. I set out my materials and drew the car really big, so that it filled the whole width of the page, then added the colours... I was so entranced that I forgot to have dinner!

The next day, it turned out that I was the only student who had taken the assignment seriously. I couldn't believe it! I now realize that the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the other students (most of whom were "regulars" at this artist's workshops) were probably the reason for the instructors' own lack of pizzazz. (Or was it the other way around?)

Regardless of how imperfect it turned out, that painting of mine was the highlight of the whole workshop for me. It beat all the slick demonstrations of the international artist's savoir-faire, and it made me realize that if the teacher's purpose is to show off his or her own abilities, instead of helping you develop your own, then it's just a waste of your time and money. There are plenty of DVDs with slick demos out there.

Next time, I will read the brochure more carefully.

Upcoming Ron Hazell Watercolour Workshop in Nova Scotia

2011-02-04T15:19:00.005-04:00

I'll be taking a watercolour landscape workshop from Ron Hazell, the artist who created this beautiful painting, this coming May (2011). I'm looking forward to it!

You can see more of his work at his website: http://www.ronhazell.com/

My First Real Exercise from the New Course

2010-11-01T16:09:00.002-03:00

I don't know why I chose this weird rock scene for my first exercise from the Watercolour Secrets course. I mean, I don't like rocks and mountains as much as Bob Davies seems to.

It didn't turn out too badly. The reflections are convincing enough and I like the small blue puddles in the sand.

It was good practice even though this is not the kind of scene that I will paint when I've reached a certain skill level. And I do acquire more control over the brushes and the paint with every picture I paint.

Copying the Masters

2010-10-31T10:41:00.003-03:00

From Ron Hazell's "A Summer Morning" - Watercolour on paper, 9" x 12"

In art, the tradition of copying the masters goes back very far; I wouldn't be surprised if there was never a time when it didn't exist.

So I hope that if Mr. Hazell ever sees this, that he will feel flattered, and not accuse me of copyright infringement!

I chose this painting because I loved the colours, and because it contained some puddles and Mr. Hazell is a master at painting them. (I discovered my passion for puddles when I lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where my favourite painter, Dan Rueffert, was rather famous for putting puddles in most of his paintings. I googled him today and found that he's very much alive and painting, but not so many puddles any more. Click here if you want to see one of his recent puddles.)

I admire Ron Hazell very much. I'm glad he lives only a few hours away, in Halifax, because I hope to take one of his workshops next spring.

A few weeks ago, I purchased one of his DVDs; I'm sure that watching it helped me paint this copy though I resisted the temptation to put it on while I was doing the actual painting.

It's not a perfect copy -- it wasn't meant to be, but what I like about it is that I was able to capture the light, the strong light that appears to emerge from the street between the first and second buildings on the left and to flood the sidewalk and the big gateposts on the right, and to bleach out the leaves of the big tree.

I also like how the blue buildings fade out gradually, creating the necessary depth.

My puddles are only so-so, while Ron Hazell's are little works of art in themselves.

I should have reviewed his puddle demonstration before painting them!

A Christmas Card

2010-10-28T19:44:00.004-03:00

We have to take a Christmas card to the last watercolour class, two weeks from now. A Christmas card that we paint ourselves, of course.

Apparently, we have a little party on that day, consisting of eating our own lunch and exchanging Christmas cards.

Of course I panicked: what if I don't have time to paint a card in time? So I made it right away. This is it:

I wanted to stay away from the snow-covered trees and snowman clichés. My original idea was a starry night sky with the stars being produced by salt crystals. But my deep indigo blue sample didn't work out because the mixture stained the paper and so the salt didn't reveal any white at all.

So I changed to Winsor Blue and this is the result. (It's actually a bit darker than here.) The letters were produced by printing the outline on my inkjet printer, directly onto the watercolour paper. Then I filled the letters in with masking fluid. That's why they're so irregular. But I think the imperfections add to the charm.

You're right: this doesn't look like a starry night at all, more like some snow flakes or some fireworks. Or some microscopic sea organisms. That's all right: it can be whatever the recipient imagines.

Of course, in my usual fashion, there had to be some humour somewhere, so this is what I painted on the back:

I think it's kind of cute.

This is a real card, folded in two with plenty of space for a message inside. The size is 8" x 8", i.e., 4" x 8" folded. It fits inside a regular envelope, which is kind of nice.

Populating Landscapes

2010-10-28T19:21:00.003-03:00

I don't remember where I first saw the expression "populating landscapes", but it seems to describe very well the action of adding human figures to a landscape as a sort of "accessory" -- as opposed to a person or persons being the main feature or the main focus of the painting.

The only problem with that idea was that I had no clue how to achieve the kind of simplified, stylized, faceless figures that I was seeing in the kind of watercolour paintings that I like: from Ron Hazell to Alvaro Castagnet, and everyone in-between.

Each artist has his or her own formula for rendering people, and that includes Bob Davies, the author or the Watercolour Secrets DVD course that I've just bought. He starts out with a small circle on top of an upside-down cone which he fills out with clothing, and that's about it. It's effective enough.

On Saturday, I took out a quarter sheet of 200-lb paper, inserted the Figures DVD into the laptop, and followed Bob's directions. These are my first attempts at the basic male and female figure:

After a few hours, I could see a definite improvement.

Sunday morning, I turned the sheet around and continued with the exercises on the DVD. First a family, then a cyclist, and finally a couple in love. Here are my results:

As you can see, I made a few corrections with gouache on the shoulders of the man on the left -- my guys' shoulders always seem to end up too wide -- and to the handlebars of the bicycle. But the couple on the right turned out pretty good right away, even the dog. I did deviate from Bob's example by putting the man's arm on the woman's back.

Speaking of Ron Hazell, he does his people quite differently, more like two cones: one for the top and an inverted one for the bottom.

For my last figure, I copied one of his women. If you look at his gallery, she's in A Summer Morning (No. 3). I think I did pretty well.

I took this sheet to the class on Wednesday, and everyone seemed to like my little figures.

I'm almost ready to start populating my landscapes.

Watercolour Secrets Course

2010-10-28T17:27:00.001-03:00

I was excited when the mailman delivered the Watercolour Secrets Course that I had ordered online. I had looked at it before but at US$95, the price was beyond my budget at the time -- I had just forked up $100 for a 10-week course in Fredericton (ten weekly 2-hour sessions, that is).

And then, a few weeks ago, I get an email from the course's creator, Bob Davies, announcing a half-price deal. $56 Canadian, including shipping.

I couldn't resist. $56 for a complete course for beginners, consisting of 9 two-hour DVDs:

Getting Started
Drawing for Watercolours
Skies
Mountains, Hills & Rocks
Trees & Foliage
Water
Buildings & Structures
Figures
Animals & Artifacts

I also got PDFs of all the sketches for the exercises painted during the course. You print them and trace them in order to be able to paint along with Mr. Davies. (Which implies a lot of stopping and starting, which I'm sure is easier with a DVD player than a laptop!)

To be precise, it's a pretty complete landscape painting course. No flowers, no still lifes, for instance. Still...

I have viewed part of every disc and so far, it's mostly good news. Mr. Davies does all the things that are so lacking in most tutorials and demos: he tells you and shows you exactly which colours he is mixing, and to which consistency. That is crucial for a beginner. He also explains what he's doing and why. He is very patient indeed!

He does skip the occasional step, a frustrating habit that all video teachers seem to have. I wish they wouldn't do that! It's usually those all-important finishing touches that get skipped, much to my disappointment.

Also, Mr. Davies needs to talk to his cameraman, who has the habit of not re-focusing the camera when he does a close-up, which results in some very blurry pictures. In addition, the part of the DVD on trees that interests me is all out of focus, and I'm hoping that Mr. Davies will re-shoot that lesson some day, because it's a very important one.

Here's a link to Bob Davies' website which has some free tutorials and other good stuff:

http://www.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/

And this is the link to the different versions of the Watercolour Secrets course:

http://www.watercoloursecrets.com/

Saint John Window

2010-10-21T13:42:00.004-03:00

"Saint John Window", watercolour on paper, 9" x 12"

I painted Saint John Window from a photo of a real Saint John (New Brunswick) window that I took when I used to spend some time there. I was going to photograph all the interesting architectural elements of Canada's oldest city, but I never finished that project.

When it came to filling in the panes of glass, I immediately thought of a cruise ship! The port of Saint John is a stopover included in many summer cruises, and I never stopped marvelling at the humongous size of those vessels, which moored a mere block or two from where I lived. They reminded me of the ocean liner scene in the movie Amarcord, one of my all-time favourites.

And should my house have faced the port, this scene would have been a very likely one.

I cropped a great deal of the wall away, and I'm glad I did.

There's a lot about it that I like -- especially the idea itself, the sky, the ship, the colours and the humour in the initial ambiguity (is the viewer inside looking out or is he outside and is the ship a reflection?) -- and I certainly had a lot of fun painting it.

A Rose is... Difficult

2010-10-16T17:18:00.006-03:00

"Coral Rose", watercolor on paper, 6" x 9"

Roses are one of the most difficult subjects to paint, so am I a masochist?

I thought that if I can paint a rose, I can paint anything.

My first attempt, yesterday, was not satisfactory. I tried to follow Bob Davies' instructions for a realistic-looking rose, which seem so simple. They're not.

I decided to try simplifying my rose -- I was using one of the photos I mentioned yesterday, taken in my little house in San Miguel. I also changed the colour from pink to peach or coral, my favourite rose colour.

Another thing I wanted to practice was shaping the leaves with just some brush strokes. They didn't turn out too badly but I didn't know what to do with them afterwards so I just left them.

I added the stem afterward the first background wash: without one it looked awkward, hanging there in mid-air.

I like the texture of the ultramarine background. I had tried that yesterday and I liked it. To get this deep blue, I had to apply the blue three times, wet into wet. I have a lot to learn about backgrounds; for one thing, I don't think they're supposed to be even all over, like this. But, hey, I have enough to learn right now.

All in all, it's not a bad exercise, because it was a good learning tool. I can spot my mistakes and I know how not to repeat them. Best of all, the rose does look like a rose -- doesn't it?

Oak Leaf

2010-10-14T13:48:00.012-03:00

Oak Leaf, Watercolour on Paper, 9" x 12" - Click to Enlarge.

Of all the autumn leaves that I collected last week (see this earlier post), this curly old oak leaf was my absolute favourite.

I couldn't paint it right away, so I photographed it, in case something happened to it.

Both the yellow and the blue shadows appeared on the photograph. They are due to the lighting, which came from above.

That solved my problem of what to do about the background.

If you enlarge it, you will see some of the very nice texture.

I think this is my best original painting so far.

Autumn Leaves

2010-10-12T10:19:00.004-03:00

Last week, the instructor asked us to bring in some leaves this week because she was going to demonstrate how to mix colors on the paper.

But yesterday I happened upon an online demo about that very subject, so I decided to give it a try.

For my first study, I traced three of the leaves I had dried and just went ahead and painted them. But I keep forgetting how much lighter the pigments dry! So I re-wetted the two large ones, and went over them again. The smaller one I left as is because some of the leaves are kind of pale. All I did to that one was to add some spatter, like the original model.

One trick I discovered is to take a very small brush and extend all the main lobes into a sharp point. I find that makes the leaves look more realistic.

My second study was this single large leaf, that I painted in class, today. I was fascinated by the paleness of the colours, their vibrancy.

At what point does a maple leaf decide it's going to put on this more subtle kind of show?

(This one will enlarge if you click on it.)

And then I painted this third study, of smaller leaves.

That poor little maple leaf sure took a beating from Nature.

I used violet for the speckles on the little yellow one. And I like the way the purple one turned out, with its very realistic veins.

(This one will enlarge too.)

I made the veins by scratching with the end of a brush that has a bevel designed especially for that purpose, apparently.

Not to brag, but my leaves were the nicest of the whole class. Yet nary a compliment from the instructor. Hm.

But my favorite leaf is not there. It's this oak leaf that I allowed to dry out in the open, where it acquired some interesting curls.

Another Exercise from Allan Kirk

2010-10-08T12:15:00.004-03:00

Le Grand café, ink and watercolour on paper, 9" x 12"

After painting Allan Kirk's two freebies, it was time to loosen the purse strings.

For my first purchase, I decided on Le Grand café, a work in ink and wash which had several things that I wanted to practice. Like all his exercises, the cost was US$4.50.

The kit comes as a PDF download, just like the free exercises, except that in this case, you get a full-size sketch with instructions for printing it on watercolour paper. I never would have thought that inkjet ink could dry completely and not smudge after wetting it, but it's absolutely true. Even generic ink like the kind I buy these days at a fraction of the price for the Canon original cartridges.

It was okay, but it felt a bit too much like "paint by number". That's not very rational, since so far in my artistic career [; )] I've traced and copied from photographs, etc. almost everything I've painted. The feeling comes from having to stay within the lines, I guess.

As with Mr. Kirk's free exercises, I was frustrated by the lack of details for the colours, and by the fact that he skipped several steps. In the last drawing, details appear out of nowhere and they are not explained. I hate that.

Still, it was good practice and I felt it was money well spent. Susie Short should take a marketing lesson from Mr. Kirk.

Here's the link to Mr Kirk's website again: http://www.stepbystepwatercolour.com/

Outhouse in the Fall

2010-10-03T20:28:00.005-03:00

Outhouse in the Fall, Watercolor on paper, 9" x 12"

Thursday I went hunting for a good fall subject for next week's class. I came upon a beautiful grassy lane at the end of which was this irresistible scene.

I printed out the picture, turned it into a "poster edge" version with Photoshop, outlined it on tracing paper, transferred it to my watercolor paper -- and then stared at it for three whole days. Where to start? Exactly what shade of brown is that background? Will I be able to make those trees appear from the dark background? And so on.

And then this morning I mixed my colors, made up a sampler, took a deep breath and applied the first wash. By 6 PM I was finished.

There are a thousand things wrong with it but I learned a lot.

What matters is the journey.

Montreal Cityscape

2010-10-02T20:42:00.003-03:00

Rue de Montréal, watercolor on paper, 11" x 15"

My brother's mother-in-law liked this painting of a Montreal cityscape so much that I gave it to her. I'm told she's had it framed. This is very flattering.

It was painted during the class that I took in Montreal this summer, at the Visual Arts Centre. The teacher, Stephanie Reynolds, laid out some photos for us to choose from, and as soon as I saw this one I jumped on it. It was so typically Montreal, and I miss those houses so much when I live away from my Montreal, as I do now.

If I could paint it again I would do some things differently, but all things considered I'm rather proud of it. And I'm glad I took a picture of it before giving it away.

French Townscape, a Fun Exercise

2010-09-30T10:05:00.007-03:00

French Townscape, watercolor on paper, 9" x 12"

This French townscape is the second of Allan Kirk's free tutorials. It was quite a bit more challenging than the window one I did last week, but I really enjoyed doing it.

I was feeling guilty for all the copying, but then I remembered that all the great painters started out by copying the great masters. The important thing is to only copy good stuff, I feel, and so I'm going to stay away from overly simplified beginners' lessons, lest I acquire bad habits.

Yesterday, I ordered a mat, just to have it around when I look at my finished paintings. It makes such a difference, don't you think? The only problem is that I can't scan the pictures, I have to photograph them. But that's okay, I've been having trouble getting the scanner to render the colours and the sharpness, lately.

The fellow cut the mat too big, so he made me a second one, and threw the first one in for free. He charged me $5. It seemed like a lot for just one, just right for two I think.

When I get good enough to show my paintings, I'll get a mat cutter and cut my own mats. A big sheet of mat board costs $14 and you get six single mats of this size out of it.

New York Skyline Beyond the Cornfield

2010-09-28T09:56:00.001-03:00

Beyond The Cornfield, watercolor on paper, 9" x 12"

There are several things wrong with this picture, but I like it anyway. I like it because there's something of me in it.

It started out as this exercise, from The Complete Book of Watercolors in a Weekend, like most of the others. The exercise is called "Cornfield".

But I thought, no way am I painting those dinky trees and shrubs in the distance again! That perfect blue sky deserved something better.

But what exciting scene could there be beyond a cornfield? A city skyline, of course! And what city has a more exciting skyline than New York City? Finding a picture of the New York skyline on the web was an easy task.

But there had to be a transition between the cornfield and the buildings. I found the answer in David Dewey's book, The Watercolor Book. It was this sketch.

It's a view of New York City from Central Park.

I had my transition.

Apart from the fact that my painting looks amateurish, the things that are wrong with it are:

When transferring the skyline to my picture, my stencil moved up a bit, which made all the buildings list to the left. I didn't notice it till I had applied the color. Serves me right for not stepping back often enough.
I'm not sure if the line between the vegetation and the buildings should be so defined. Perhaps it should be wavy, like Mr. Dewey's.
Perhaps I should have simplified the skyline.

Aside from that, there's something wrong with my scanner. It doesn't pick up the colors correctly. Those yellow windows -- another idea I picked up from Mr. Dewey -- are a lot yellower in my original. And my cornfield isn't that orange. It's raw sienna with a bit of burnt sienna. I tried fixing this with Photoshop but I couldn't figure it out.

I long for a good teacher these days, someone to guide me in these experiments.

Fenêtre en Provence

2010-09-23T19:02:00.002-03:00

Fenêtre en Provence, watercolor on Arches paper, 9" x 12"

I painted Fenêtre en Provence from a free tutorial on the Web.

The original, whose title is Blue Window, is by Allan Kirk, a British painter who lives in the South of France.

My first wash was somewhat darker than the example, so I had to up all the other tones as well. But I'm quite happy with the result.

Other exercises are for sale on Allan Kirk's own website. At $4.50 each, they are very reasonable, and a fine way to learn to paint in this impressionist style. I plan to get a few.

A Winter Tree Exercise

2010-09-20T23:06:00.001-03:00

This winter tree was mostly an exercise in using masking fluid.

I usually don't like the way everyone seems to paint their skies with ultramarine blue but for once I felt it was justified. It gives the right feeling of a cold winter day. Brrrr!

If I were into making my own christmas cards, this would be a good subject, and the result is good enough for that. Not my cup of tea, though.

But I'm getting better at painting naked trees.

Practise, Practise, Practise

2010-09-20T22:58:00.000-03:00

Project 10 Exercise

There are a couple of things I like about this exercise:

The sky, which I did differently from the instructions. I applied the blue dry in wet, then added some water to create some blossoms. This works particularly well on the Curry's 140-lb cold press paper (I tried it on rough paper and it didn't work.)
The grass, which I painted with the same technique. I like the way the yellow separated from the blue to create interesting effects.
The puddle really looks like a puddle even though my reflection is a bit off.

With this painting, I really felt I was making progress – taking off on my own for the first time.

My Favourite Park Bench

2010-09-16T16:25:00.003-03:00

Park Bench, watercolor on paper, 9" x 12"

This park is a 10-minute walk from my place. I often take my breakfast or lunch there, and sit on that bench that has a view on water every way you look.

I did the painting from this photo which I took earlier this year. I wanted to show how majestic those trees are by including the bench. (In case you can't find the bench, it's near the lower right corner.)

Even people from around here think I shot this in BC! I'm glad that as a photographer and aspiring painter I really "see" what I'm looking at.

I'm not entirely happy with the painting but it's my first independent project, not just an exercise devised by somebody else – and it shows that I can get over my fear of the blank paper if I set my mind to it.

And I have a computer full of photos to copy!

Project 8 Painting Assignment

2010-09-12T16:19:00.001-03:00

Tunisian Scene, watercolor on 140-lb cold press paper, 9" x 12"

Project 8 painting assignment contains so many techniques I didn't think it would come out, but it's not bad at all.

I had to use two kinds of wax resist (plain wax and oil pastel), masking fluid, masking tape, and spattering! I never would have dared include all those things in one painting, yet because the eye is drawn to the plain white wall and the red door, you don't tend to linger on all the "busyness" going on in the foreground.

In fact, this Tunisian street scene reminds me of Mexico, where those kinds of textures and colours are very common.

This time, I used one of my new Curry's blocks. It was really nice not to have to worry about buckling. Another nice thing about that size is that it fits in my scanner, so I don't have to take photos of my work in order to upload the images to the computer.

Lots of New Papers to Test

2010-09-11T18:28:00.007-03:00

Thanks to Curry's shipping department's lousy handling of my watercolor paper order, I find myself with tons of new papers to test.

I had ordered a 5-sheet package of their 200-lb, 100% cotton paper – a good deal at the sale price of only $4 a sheet – and two 9 x 12 pads and two 9 x 12 blocks of their 140-lb, cold-pressed 100% cotton paper, also a good deal at only $3.69 per pad of 12 sheets.

However, all the sheets arrived with one smashed corner, and one of the blocks had smudges and dents. Not good, for a first order with a new supplier.

So I wrote Customer Service, and got a huge apology and a free replacement order. Next time, I'll be sure and ask for extra careful packing.

While looking for how to paint footsteps in the sand for my next painting, I came upon Susie Short's website, Susie's Watercolor Tips. She did have a demo on footprints in the sand, but also a short demo called "Painting the Beach, Rocks, and Reflections in Wet Sand", and wet sand being another one of my projects, I decided to try doing this painting on both papers.

First the 140-lb cold-pressed paper from the pad:

Reflections I, Watercolor on Curry's 140-lb cold-pressed paper, 9" x 12"

I like this paper a lot. The texture is quite nice, I like the way the paints perform on it, and it's ever so economical. You can see the texture by clicking on the picture to enlarge it.

And here's the 200-lb paper version:

Reflections II, Watercolor on Curry's 200-lb paper, 7.5" x 11"

I like this paper too, though I don't agree with their description of it as "cold press"; I find it quite rough, somewhere between cold press and rough. But that's okay, I like rough paper, I love the stiffness, which makes it possible to work without a board – and the price is right. (Click on the picture to see the texture.)

I'll keep testing both papers and report my findings here.

SUSIE'S DEMO

About Susie's demo, instead of just following the free one, I decided to buy the PDF download. I figured that for $6 I would get what the free demo was missing: which colours to use, some techniques, and especially, a copy of the finished painting.

This is the free demo from Susie's website:

Not bad for free stuff... however, after paying $6, guess what I got? Exactly the same thing, plus this lousy photo:

Oh, and there was also a larger version of the sketch in the first square, which I had already enlarged for free by taking a screen shot.

This is like a chef who gives you the recipe but leaves some ingredients out! Totally unethical.

Needless, to say, I have written and asked for a refund. If the famous Susie Short ignores my request, I'm stuck because last I heard PayPal won't refund you for downloads.

And if she does refund me, I'll let you know.

P.S. I had to ask for it twice, but I did get the refund from Susie Short.

A Nice Sky

2010-09-11T17:48:00.003-03:00

Cloudy Sky, Watercolor on Curry's 200-lb paper

This painting started out as a test for my new watercolor paper from Curry's, but I was so happy with the nice sky that I put a landscape under it.

In case you're wondering what size it is, here's another scan:


Cloudy Sky, Watercolor on Curry's 200-lb paper, 6" x 2" (15 cm x 5 cm)

It's 6 inches by 2 inches!

Cirrus Exercise

2010-09-05T13:39:00.002-03:00

Cirrus Exercise, Fabriano Artistico paper, 9" x 12"

On to Project No. 2.

Each project in this book starts with a series of exercises, and culminates in a painting.

Exercise No. 1 is about lifting cirrus clouds off a wet wash, using the points of a paper towel. Mine don't look anything like the example, but if there's one thing I've noticed about cirrus clouds – and we get our fair share of them around here – is that anything goes!


Rain Cloud Exercise, Arches rough paper, 7" x 11"

Exercise No. 2 is about trying to create rain clouds by letting the paint drip down, working wet in wet. I tried it with Fabriano Artistico paper first, but it wasn't rough enough. It's a bit better on Arches rough paper but not perfect, though I think the sky looks scary enough.

I enjoyed doing it anyway, and I realized that I use my fingers quite often, though I never read about that anywhere.

This is not easy! -- no wonder the book says to keep practising. I may come back to this later.

First Painting: "Summer Landscape"

2010-09-05T09:09:00.006-03:00

Summer Landscape, watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper, 9" x 12"

"Summer Landscape" is the first project from The Complete Book of Watercolors in a Weekend by Hazel Harrison and Frank Halliday, one of four watercolor books I got from Amazon last week.

The other three books are:

Watercolor School;
Watercolors Made Easy; and
The Watercolor Book

The first two are by also by Hazel Harrison. The Watercolor Book is by David Dewey. Both authors are recommended for beginners by Bruce MacEvoy in his website, www.handprint.com

The fact that I post my pictures here doesn't mean I'm happy with them. I'm just using this blog as a storage space.

But if you want to leave a comment, you can do it here or on my Facebook page, where I will be using some of my experiments as my profile picture.