A few weeks ago I went out plein air painting (outdoor) with a few friends….I tried painting a misty scene in a forest, and I just had all kinds of troubles! So it’s time to get back to practicing in my Sketch-a-Day …. I’ve been working with so many other mediums lately I haven’t been watercoloring. I’m setting a goal to FINISH the book by end of summer – if I do daily paintings that should do it, so let’s hope! Today’s the first day on the bandwagon.

Tutorial: QUICK wet in wet practice watercolor sketch (realtime)

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Brushes

There’s no brush that’ll turn you into the painter you want to be; believe me I tried that! That’s how I discovered my love of real sable brushes, though, so even if it’s taking years to make progress, I’m glad I made the investment in them years ago.

The Winsor & Newton #8 brush is back in production apparently – or at least back on Amazon! It was gone for eons and I kept looking for a substitute;  I have some DaVinci rounds but they aren’t quite as spectactular as my WNs. 

And the Maestro needle is by DaVinci; I’ve bought a bunch of others and just never found one that is the equivalent. 

Water management

The bane of a watercolorist’s existence: water! Trying to work out how much is too much, how much is not enough. Gah!

But the RULE to remember: watercolor pigment will keep moving into anything that’s WETTER than it is. So if you want something to stay put, it needs to be thicker than the water/pigment already on the page. And if the page is very wet, even thick pigment will soften as well. 

That also means, conversely, that if you use pigment mixed THINNER than whatever is on the paper, you’ll get blooms and blossoms, also called cauliflower. That’s because the wetter area is moving INTO the drier area.

Wet-on-Dry

For final touches, wet pigment on dry paper will give you crisp lines and edges, since there’s no water for it to blend into. My tip for final touches: don’t paint every area to the same level of detail as every other one. Allow all that nice wet-in-wet to show through – it’ll also give the appearance of light when compared with the darker final details.

Question for the watercolor peeps:

In July, just over a month away, we celebrate World Watercolor Month once again! I’m trying to plan my content ahead and squeeze in some filming in June; my sister is coming for a nice visit soon, and I’m doing a bunch of home improvement right now, but I’m hoping to slide in some filming on “rest” days (this old body can’t paint walls every day anymore so I’m alternating projects a lot! ha)….I’d love any suggestions you have or questions you’ve been wishing someone would answer! Leave me a comment if you would, thanks!

Supplies

1. Sketch a Day by Lake Michigan Book Press
2. Artist tape 3/4″ 
3. House of Hoffman Palette 
4. Daniel Smith watercolors used:
   1. Sap Green
   2. Green Apatite
   3. Phthalo Blue Turquoise
   4. Cobalt Blue
   5. Green Gold
   6. Payne’s Blue Gray
5. Brushes:
   1. Winsor Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 Round #8 
   2. Da Vinci Series 17 Maestro Long Needle, Size 9 

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