Here’s one of my watercolor palettes. Isn’t it beautiful? ❤️ I squeeze paint from tubes onto the palette and let it dry.
The squares in the middle are paints I bought separately, called pans. They’re magnetized, so I just plopped them down.
Once everything’s dry, I rehydrate it by spraying all the paints to soften them up. In a minute, they’re ready to go! You never want to use watercolor directly from a tube.
The last pic shows my clean palette. I never go onto the paint itself when I’m cleaning up; that’s too expensive - just around it. Now it’s all ready for the next time. #watercolorartist
A nice cold day. Good for walks and fires and watercolors. It’s not often I get a chance to sit down and paint for pure joy. The other day on a walk I looked up and saw sweet gum boughs and thought, ‘I could paint sweet gum...’.
Recently I got some new watercolors that are highly sedimentary and some have mica in them to add some pizzazz. Likey! I am a tried and true fan of Golden’s QOR watercolors; they are simply the best. But recently I purchased some handmade watercolors from Ruby Mountain Watercolors and am wholeheartedly impressed!
This shows my little sweet gum design from start to finish. You would also note that you can see light pencil lines. I’m a big fan of understanding the process and love to peer into paintings and figure out how they were done. Those light pencil lines in my work are your first clue!
Testing out the paints. I always do this on nice paper and find a way to repurpose it; cards, bookmarks, ATC cards, etc.
Ruby Mountain paints. Look them up! Well worth it. I think my dive into handmade watercolors may cost me dearly....
Finished piece. :). Happy
Oh my lucky, lucky students! I have used every watercolor under the sun and when Golden Paints came out with these QOR colors a few years ago I switched without a backward glance. Perfect for professional artists, perfect for everyone else too. I absolutely adore teaching watercolor to others.
These QOR sets come ‘High Chroma,’ ‘Earth Colours’ and another one which is called something like ‘Traditional Colours.’ I have a nice set of 12 with a bigger tin. The wells are in the lid - you can see the lids have different sized circles in them. Perfect. They just make so much sense.
DID YOU KNOW.... you should never use watercolors straight from the tube? Squeeze them onto your palette and let them dry. When you’re ready to paint, re-hydrate them with a squirt bottle. If you use it straight out of the tube it will waste paint. A tube of watercolor paint, used correctly, can last for YEARS.
I couldn’t resist the lilies at Kroger’s. Well, I did resist buying them, but couldn’t resist photographing them. This is a diptych, two pieces that together make one. You can see how my watercolor progressed. My shoulder is starting to feel a little better and my head is clearing enough so that I can do a little painting these days. Yay, finally! It was Jamie Wyeth that said ‘Painting is as difficult as brain surgery. It’s not that relaxing, but that’s the discipline.’ I have thought of that quote so many times this summer as people have asked, “Which shoulder did you have surgery on? Oh, the left, and you’re right handed? Good! That means you can paint!” I just smiled, but alas and alack, not so. I agree with Jamie Wyeth. But now, NOW... I am coming back!
Oh my goodness I love watercolors! I usually use tube watercolors but am stepping out and trying some liquids for a change. Yes, because the bottles were pretty; that’s a valid reason for purchase.
These bottles glowing in the sun really do make me want to get busy!
Sometimes even one color will inspire me, then I’m off painting again. What inspires you?
This is, I think, the most honest art form for me. When I’m tired or worn out, in a hurry or just needing to lay down some color, it usually comes back to something like this. And it always seems to be an expression of flowers, to which I am so deeply and intricately connected. The layers of color, the compliments and the bleeds satisfy me in a very deep way. Not to mention the highly pigmented, super bright QOR watercolors made by Golden.
Here’s a typical scene in my studio. My Yeti filled with tea, of course, and some acrylics ready to start a new painting. As you can see, I also have my sketch pad out. I often keep a pad nearby to work out problems or record colors. Often I’ll clean off my brushes onto the pad as well, or do a mini painting similar to the canvas. Anyway, as you can see on my IPad, I’m looking at some photos of kalanchoes from our garden. Spring is inspiring!
What you see on my sketch pad is the first layer of paint. On the canvas and on this pad I plan to do many layers with clear glazes, so that you can see through the colors. Not sure at this point, but I’m guessing there will probably be about 12 layers. I’ll know when I get toward the end, of course.
Dang. I was going to drink that. Paint water coffee. This happens on occasion and you would think I’d learn. ApparentlyI never do. Well, it wasn’t wasted; I just used the coffee to cover a couple pages to get a nice background neutral stain going. Art that not only looks good, but SMELLS good! Coffee artists arise!
Finally! And once again, it’s... bum de da bum... Teeny Tiny Art Time! Hooray! This little baby reflects just how much work it takes to 1-grow things, and 2- make art. Oh the things we create when the wheels in our little heads spin. Colorcatstudios101.etsy.com is my website if you’d like to check out my other work.
Sketchbook moments. My sketchbooks are my idea and recipe books which I refer back to all the time. Here, experimenting with some neutrals using Pitt pens, QOR watercolors and those awesome Molotow chrome markers. The neutrals make those little bright spots all the more sweet. Like coffee and chocolate. Uh... hold on, I hear the coffee and chocolate call....
Anyway, I tossed some salt in as well to add texture and interest. I like it!
I love doing quick watercolor sketches of people. This was a demo for mixed media in my classes. First, I laid it out with a fine point pen and went to bigger nibs as I corrected. Not much into the erasing thing. The background and hair were layered with gesso and painted. Nice textures and interest are created with gesso and it moves and separates the sedimentary paint pigments. I like it! Yes, I do commissions.
My floor is covered with my morning’s work; I have to quit because 1) there is no more room to walk, and 2) watercolor paper is expensive! Moving my students into watercolors now. Teachers do a lot more homework than their students, trust me on that one.
