Watercolor Painting Supplies; My New Favorite Brushes

Anyone that is into some sort of art or crafts can tell you the same thing.  We are obsessed with our supplies.  We are constantly looking for that perfect supply that will make everything we do better and quicker.  Most of the time we are just wasting our money.  In this case however, I really have found my new favorite watercolor brush.  Kolinsky Sable is supposed to be the best for watercolor painting.  They are extremely expensive and the hairs are very soft, which, I really do not like.  I prefer a spring in the brush.  All natural hair brushes for watercolor painting are very soft, Sable, Goat hair Squirrel hair and so forth.  These brushes I found at Dick Blick.  The are a new invention from The Princeton Brush Company.  They are called Aqua Elite and are a synthetic Kolinsky Sable blend.  They hold a lot of water and paint and have a nice spring to them holding their shape very well.  I bought two brushes a few weeks ago to try them out and fell in love with them.  Yesterday I bought the rest for my collection.  They have many more types and sizes of brushes in the Aqua Elite line, but these are the brushes I use for all of my work.  You never need every brush or every tube of paint to do your work, just pick out what you prefer and have at it.  The most expensive brush was the mottler on the far left, it was $24.00 US.  That is really inexpensive for such a good quality brush.  Try them out and see what you think, just remember, never buy everything unless your sure.  Start with one or two brushes you use a lot and see if you like them.  You can always add to your collection as you go.

Watercolor Painting; Less Is More.

There is a saying I learned going to art school.  "When it comes to art, less is more" I have no idea where that saying originated from or how old it is, I do know however, that it is completely true.  Everyone who has created art has, at times, struggled with the concept of when is my painting finished.  Most of us try to imagine and then paint that last detail that we are so sure will make this a masterpiece rivaling the Mona Lisa.  The harsh reality is this, when we over work a painting, it looks over worked.  It looks flat, it looks too complicated and for the most part, it looks like bad art. Knowing when to say when has always been difficult for people.  For the life of me, I do not know why, but I can tell you, I suffer from that affliction as well.  This painting pictured here is actually a victory for me with the less is more concept.  I only used a select few colors and added only a select few landscape elements.  Once I put the matt over the painting, I knew it was done.  Now don't get me wrong, this will not rival the Mona Lisa, but it is aesthetically pleasing.  It is simple in construction, but when you look at it, it doesn't cry out that anything is missing.  Word to the wise.  When you begin to search for something else to add to your painting, stop.  Put it aside for a few days.  When you come back, put a matt over it, even if it is an acrylic or oil painting.  I know you don't use matts for those mediums, but it still gives you a frame like impression of your work that will help you decide if your work is in fact finished or in need of something else.  Always stop before you are sure it is done.  Stopping too soon leaves you room for changes, stopping too late means your work is ruined.

Watercolor Sketching; Sketching Flowers

Yes, I am fully aware that it is almost December and all of the flowers in the Midwest are gone until spring.  I also listen to Jimmy Buffet music in the cold weather as well.  Why would I do this you may ask, well, I will tell you.  I HATE THE COLD WEATHER.  Yes, I do.  I listen to tropical summer music and paint flowers to get my mind into a place where I want to be.  I have mentioned before about using your art as a way of story telling for the viewer.  Well, as it happens, you can also make up stories yourself.  Whenever I paint, my mind does a little wandering.  Oh yes, I am still concentrating on my work, but I still drift off now and then to a place, time or situation that makes me feel good.  For instance, in January when it's five degrees outside and the wind is blowing and your face hurts three seconds after you go out, I may imagine myself someplace warm, maybe sitting on a beach painting a seascape.  I might be thinking about the great Fourth of July Holiday I had last year in Baileys Harbor, WI and painting on the wharf.  It may sound juvenile, but to a degree, the emotions you have while you are painting can come out in your work.  Yes, I am telling you the truth.  Always put yourself in a mind set of peace when you paint.  If you feel happy, your work will reflect it.  If your stressed out and angry, your work will also reflect that as well.  Remember, your inner artist is actually painting, make sure they are happy.  If you can get past the laughter you are doing at this moment and try it, you may be pleasantly surprised.  Your paintings can reflect you, and often times, you are not even aware.

Watercolor Sketching; Hello You Fine People

My brief dive into our political climate.  Wouldn't it be great if we treated each other the way we treat watercolor sketches of people?  We look at this sketch book page and we see people.  We do not define or identify them in any other way, just people.  Oh well, I can dream, can't I? 
In a previous post, I was talking about storytelling with your art and how adding people helps make storytelling not only possible, but something that really can not be avoided.  Once a viewer sees a person in a painting, they automatically start trying to figure out what they are doing there.  It may not even be something the viewer is conscious of, but it does happen.  For the purpose of this post and the fact that my main medium is watercolors, we will discuss people in that realm.  Watercolor people do not have to be defined.  Facial features are not necessary unless you want to add them. Skin tones are irrelevant and clothing choices never have to agree with the latest fashion styles.  The only thing necessary in order to put people into your paintings is to practice.  You really don't have to practice intensely either.  Take thirty minutes and one sketch book page.  Do not use pencil sketches first for your figures at all.  Make sure they are spontaneous strokes, have fun, make up stuff as you go along and NEVER EVER worry about what they look like.  Your goal is to create a believable person, not an identical likeness to Joe or Nancy.  Put on some Jimmy Buffet music, get your brush, paint and sketchbook out and enjoy.  In all seriousness, the more fun you have painting, the better you will become.  Learn to take what you do serious and try your best, but never obsess over your work and never get anxious about it.  When you start to stress, stop, do something else and go at it again later.  Maybe turn the music up a bit louder.  Remember, you are creating a world within your art.  You are the only one you have to please.

Original Watercolor Painting; What Is This All About?????

Here is an original 4" X 6" abstract landscape watercolor painting.  Say that fast five times.  For most of my life, I did not like abstract art.  I didn't get it, I didn't want to get it.  It looked like a mess of colors with no purpose.  Then I started to create art.  Once I started to create my own art, some abstract art started to make a little more sense to me.  This painting here for example.  This is obviously a landscape painting.  What I did for this look was to paint the whole piece wet into wet.  I wanted blurry edges in some places and hard lines in others.  I wanted soft light in one area and deep color in others.  I wanted to exaggerate nature.  To me, abstract art is taking something and exaggerating its characteristics.  The degree of exaggeration is completely up to the artist, but make no mistake about it, there will be exaggeration.  In this painting, I wanted the colors to define the different elements, not the shapes.  Yes, depending on where one color starts and stops defines a shape, but that is the job of color in this instance, not the shapes themselves.  Ironically, I find that abstract paintings take less time to paint, but more time to plan.  They really are not as spontaneous as they may appear.  If you miss a little on a realistic painting, chances are you can save it.  Miss a little with an abstract painting and it throws everything off.  I still paint abstracts less then any other type of paintings I create, but lets just say, I have found a whole new level of respect for the artists that produce abstract art.

Watercolor Sketching: Thumbnails Anyone????

Have you ever been in front of a blank canvas or paper and not have a clue what to put on it?  Have you ever had creative block?  Have you ever wondered, what now when creating art?  If you are like most of us, you answered yes to all the above.  Well my friends, I have a solution.  I would like to tell you it was my idea from the beginning and no one had ever thought of it until I did, but that would be stretching it a bit. 
Do small, quick thumbnail watercolor sketches in your sketchbook.  Make sure they are quick, and you do not draw anything first.  Paint to paper immediately.  The reason for quick and for no drawing is to allow your inner artist a chance to create.  When we do things in a spontaneous manner, we usually get a very creative effort.  As artists (all professions and parts of everyday life really) we tend to over think things.  If we do quick sketches with paint and no pre conceived pencil marks, we get a real sense of what our inner artist wants to create.
Just for clarity, our inner artist that I refer to here and forever as long as I create art is that part of us inside our soul where the real creative genius lives.  Yes, everyone has a certain amount of genius living deep within ourselves.  The only difference between us and lets say people that are at the highest level of their profession is their ability to quiet their minds and listen to their inner artist.  Quick, small, spontaneous sketches are but one of many ways to get our brains out of the way and allow for real creativity.  I do realize this sounds a bit absurd, but I tell you, your inner artist is real.  Your inner artist is alive and well and waiting for you to allow them to do their work.  In art, like many other things in life, we learn the basic skills needed.  Once we learn those skills, we then practice them.  We practice until we can not practice any longer.  As we get our skills to the point where we do not have to think through a painting, that is when our inner artist takes over.  You will find that there will be times where the painting almost paints itself.  When you feel your hands moving and making marks on the support without much thought if any, then you know who is painting.  Allow your inner artist to thrive.  It is difficult since we as humans do not like to relinquish control, but think of it this way.  You are still the one creating the beautiful art, your just allowing a part of you to create that most people never realize is there to begin with.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

When I first started painting, I really tried to keep my studio tidy.  In the beginning, my studio was a TV tray in the living room.  Never the less, I always thought things should be organized.  They should be, but sometimes, something can look completely chaotic, and still be very organized.  Let me introduce you to my watercolor pallet.  This is the pallet and colors I use for my studio work.  It is comprised mainly of Daniel Smith watercolor paint (great paint by the way) and a plastic butchers tray from Hobby Lobby.  After each painting session, I would take a wet paper towel and clean the mixing area of my pallet until one day it dawned on me, those color mixes I worked so hard to get are now gone and I have to start all over again.  My colors are laid out starting with my yellows and ending with Paynes Gray.  I now leave my mixes in tact.  I use them daily and for the life of me, I do not know why I did not see this much earlier in my art career.  Even though this may look like a mess, I know where every color and mix I use is.  I can mix more colors easily because the color I want is still there.  Matching colors is much easier.  I still keep my studio very tidy, but my pallet remains a symphony of perfect colors masked by perceived chaos.

Original Watercolor Paintings; How About A Couple Of Birds

Using photo reference

I have always loved birds.  Something about their colors and their confident posture makes them beautiful animals.  When painting birds, you can get really tight and realistic or very loose and borderline abstract.  Because of their colors and the way they seem to blend into each other, both techniques work.  Getting reference material to paint birds however, is much more difficult then you may think.  Really, how often do birds land near you while you have your camera ready to snap a picture in the perfect pose?  How about never.  Since I live in the western suburbs of Chicago, I am near Brookfield Zoo.  They have an indoor bird exhibit that helps with taking photos for reference.  The other way is to use others photographs and draw them free hand making

made up bird

sure not to copy the photograph exactly.  You can not use someone else material without their permission unless you give full credit to the owner of the material.  If someone takes a bird picture for instance and you draw gestural and make your own scene, you are probably ok.  Your painting can not look the same as your reference material.  There is also another way to accomplish a bird painting or any painting at all.  Make it up as you go.  Really, look at birds anatomy from books and online.  Once you have studied their body, draw free hand any shape that resembles a bird.  Use your own color schemes, your own proportions, your own everything.  You never have to worry about copyright violations and it will look artistic which is the actual goal anyway.  It takes some practice, but it is the best way, not just for birds, but for any animal out there.  Never be afraid of something looking silly.  Use each attempt as a lesson learned and pretty soon you have developed your own species that may be really cool to paint and for people to view.  You never really know until you give it a try.  The Cardinal was from reference materials, the other bird is, well some kind of bird I made up.  I don't know if this is close to some bird species or just my interpretation of a bird.  I know it was fun to paint and no one can say I copied anything.

Original Watercolor Painting; Sunlit Bluffs

How easy is it to imagine yourself right here?  A camper or tent, possibly a little log cabin, or maybe just an area you pass on a peaceful hike in natures beauty.  Landscape paintings have always called to me.  I realize that when a person paints a particular place, many others can do the same as well.  It is however, the landscape painting within your own soul that no one else can replicate.  I rarely paint landscapes of places I have been to or seen on the internet or television.  Yes, I may borrow a particular waterfall or mountain range peak to insert into a painting, but buy and large, my landscape paintings are made up.  I take the elements that draw me to landscapes to begin with and paint those.  If you look closely at this painting, you would probably get a sense of me as a person.  I love light, the peaceful melody of natures songs blowing in the wind.  I enjoy the relaxation of a quiet river flowing, and I truly enjoy the complete harmony that nature gives us. Yes, I am a 53 year old optimist.  Most things we see or hear are grim, full of no humanity and complete helplessness.  We get angry because we feel there is no hope.  I still believe.  I try to convey peace within my work.  I concentrate on the beauty of the world, not the ugly underbelly.  Paint the beauty my friends.

Watercolor Sketching; Ideas, Ideas and More Ideas

So, your a landscape artist, but your not really in the right frame of mind to do a finished studio painting.  Your mind is wandering with all sorts of ideas and it is making you a bit Van Gogh ish.  Fear not for I have the solution to your dilemma.  Instead of cutting your ear off, sketch a few of your ideas in your sketch book.  Regardless of how much experience we have as artists, paintings always look different painted on paper as they do in our minds.  Empty your brain by transferring your ideas from your brain to your sketch book.  Once your ideas are on paper, you can make subtle tweeks to get the composition where you want it.  Once that happens, use it as your reference for your studio piece.  Here is the best part.  Not only have you saved your ear from a bloody painful mess, but you also have additional reference material for future paintings.  Your sketch book is your idea place.  No one has to ever see it but yourself, unless you want to share it.  There is no right or wrong way to do it.  Use your sketch book to make your artist life better.  I keep  sketch book on my table as I paint a studio piece.  If I reach a point in the composition I am not sure of, I immediately do a sketch to see if my idea works.  Better to mess up a sketch book page then to ruin a studio piece you have already spent significant time on.  In art school, I to was reluctant to use a sketch book.  For some reason, I saw no value it it.  I was so wrong.  I wish sometime I could go back and talk to my younger self and explain how ridiculous that was.  Oh well, we can not go back.  We must keep moving forward and most importantly, learn from our mistakes.  Open your sketch book and get to work.  It really is a lot of fun.

Original Watercolor Painting; Saturday Afternoon Stroll

OK, I realize I live in the western suburbs of Chicago and have not moved somewhere warm yet.  Since winter is closing in, I thought I would try and warm everyone up a bit.  What do you think this is?  Maybe 80 degrees, a light breeze, maybe a Saturday afternoon getting ready to go and get some ice cream.  Yeah, that sounds good.  That is my story and I am sticking with it.  I mentioned in another post that when you add people into a landscape painting, it magically transforms from a peaceful landscape painting into a story.  Again, this can be 100 different stories to 100 different people.  I have always loved painting landscapes, I will continue to do so, but I am really starting to get into this story telling thing with a people element added.  It is fun to come up with stories about your own painting and it is even more fun to hear what stories others see.  We have too many gas stations, way too many pizza places, a Walgreen's or CVS on every corner and strip malls galore.  What we really need is an escape from stress.  We need an escape from stress that does not involve controlled substances or others, what we need are more story tellers.  We need more artists.  I bet there are millions of stories out there longing to be seen.  Make them seen.

Original Watercolor Painting; Lazy Day

What a great way to spend a Sunday morning.  With a day so beautiful, it almost doesn't matter if you catch a fish or not.  Is he listening to a radio?  Maybe he has an ipod.  Maybe he is just relaxing and listening to natures symphony. 
In the most basic of forms, art is a form of story telling.  Story telling that goes back to the cave man era.  As a matter of fact, art way back in very old times was in many cases, a form of communication.  Before there was a written language, there were small paintings strung together to tell other people what was happening.
I love story telling.  Since I was a kid, I have always loved to tell stories that interested me.  Point of fact, I tried telling stories in the more traditional manner, writing.  For some reason, I was never able to convey the story that was in my head onto the paper in a way that was interesting to the reader.  Enter painting.  I am now starting to understand that I can convey a short story in a painting as opposed to many pages.  What is even better, I can have a particular story in mind as I paint and the viewer can see another one.  Paintings are so subjective.  When people start to create their own stories from your paintings, that is when you have become an artist.  Tell your stories and see how much joy you can get.

Watercolor Sketching People and Greens

Hello Everyone;
I hope you don't mind, but watercolor sketching will play a big part in this blog.  When I was in art school, I resisted sketching something fierce.  I, for some stupid reason thought sketching was a waste of time.  Thank God we get smarter as we get older.  I have found sketching to be an invaluable asset to my work.  Sketching is allows us to practice without reservations since no one sees our sketch book unless we allow it.  Sketching is a perfect place to try new ideas to help us loosen up and think out of the box.  Sketching is a perfect way to take fears of trying new, and possible crazy things with our art.  Lastly, I have found sketching to be a whole lot of fun.
Take this page from my sketch book.  I was tired on day after work and really did not have it in me to paint a studio piece.  I grabbed my sketchbook and began to doodle some people.  A couple of different hair styles, a couple of different sizes, nothing technical, just loose, fun sketching.  Before I finished up, I thought, maybe I can try and create a few more greens for me to use in my studio pieces.  I am a landscape artist, so greens are a major part of my pallet.  So I played with a few colors to see what kind of greens I could make.  I found a couple I can use in paintings.  Wow, no energy to paint, but in twenty minutes, I found a couple of new greens to use and I am getting better at painting people.  Sketching is a really valuable practice.