Watercolor Sketches

 These small, quick sketches of European village scenes are fun and easy to do. I try to make them simple. They are a great way to try out different colors and values. And of course, I can always use drawing practice. Perspective is important in these little sketches so think about the angles of the doors and windows. Make the doors and the windows in the foreground bigger than in the background.

Start with a simple pencil drawing. Add a colorful watercolor wash over the buildings. When this is dry, start adding layers of color to get a variety of values.

I will often add pen and ink to my village sketches.

    

New Watercolor Palette Loaded and Ready to Paint!

I finally made the choices for 40 colors on my new watercolor palette!
I made a color chart for each color.  I always recommend making a color chart of the colors on your palette because sometimes you can't really tell what the color looks like sitting there in the well.

On my chart I list the manufacturer as well.  Then I get the chart laminated a Staples so that it will hold up and not fall apart if it gets wet.  I abbreviate the manufacturer names as follows:
Daniel Smith = DS
Winsor Newton = WN
Sennelier = Senn.
Holbein = HB
Schmincke = Schmin.
I hope you can read the chart that I made shown in these photos. 

Yellow

Starting with the color yellow, I took a look at all the tubes of paint I own.  I have a lot of tubes of paint!!!

The Best Travel Art Tips for Summer

Check out this great online article by Jeannine Stein -  "Best Travel Art Tips for Summer".  She has put together 23 ideas from various artists, including me :), on how to create art-on-the-go!

Jeannine says - If you’ve seen the July/August 2017 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors, you may have noticed this on the cover: “23 Tips for Creating While You Travel.” Yes, we’ve loaded this travel and adventure-themed issue with a lot of techniques, projects, and ideas for creating art on the road, and we aim to deliver on our promise. So here are the 23 tips, and where in the magazine you can find them. We hope you find these useful for all your summer art adventures!

Mixing Fun with Fun

Helen and I traveled to France, Spain and Portugal to paint and do a bike tour.  We took our watercolor art journals along with us and found fun places to relax and paint.  One of our first stops was Saint Jean-du-Luz, a cute fishing village in the southwestern part of France.  This area is known for it's Basque influence, sea food and beautiful, sandy beaches.  We painted postcards to send home to family and friends.

Postcards from Saint Jean-du-Luz

Helen's postcard of boats in the port.

Pinterest

Fun Ideas for your Watercolor ART Journal, Part 3

I am always looking for fun, unique ways to add to my watercolor art journals.  While I travel, I always pick up brochures, free maps, coasters, wine labels...  Then I add them to my journal pages.  I also paint little paintings of what I see along my journey.  These all create a lasting memory more precious than any photo album.

Try these ideas!

· Doodle or create Zentangles.

· Connect your writing and glued items with lines, dots and squiggles.

· Collect and add business cards, tickets, postages stamps, cut out words and photos from brochures, wine labels, paper money and postcards from your travels.

Italian Memories

Sifting through my many photos, I am feeling nostalgic for the lovely Orvieto, Italy.  I miss the warm glow of the sunsets, the bouncing light of shadows on the walls, the rolling hillside, the arches and the brightly painted ceramic pottery.  

I miss the angel statues and the cobbled stone streets.

 I miss finding hearts in unexpected places....

 The fun times we had together:

Orvieto - Thank you!

Fun Ideas for Your Watercolor Journal

In the summer issue of PAGES magazine, I give you another fun idea for how to add interest to your watercolor journal.  This article is about how to use black gesso.  I hope you enjoy trying this cool technique!

A Treasure Hunt!

Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat is hosting a blog hop treasure hunt starting today, April 2, 2014!  Today is the first day of the treasure hunt and my blog has one of the secret words you will need to solve the final puzzle.  There are many prizes to win and the grand prize is a free workshop of your choice!  

To learn how the treasure hunt works and to see the prizes please visit Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat.  If you would like to sign up for the NEWSLETTER, you will get weekly updates on where to find the next treasure hunt words.  

This is my second year teaching watercolor classes with this unique online workshop.  You will paint along with me in the comfort of your own home with my personalized videos. 

This year I am teaching two workshops:  Watercolor Toolbox and Watercolor Fun.  Watercolor Toolbox is perfect for someone that wants to start watercolor painting.  Watercolor Fun will take your watercolor painting skills to the next level.So start your treasure hunt here on my blog page.  Look for the secret word.  I hope you have fun and will keep my fingers crossed that you win the free workshop grand prize!