Week 3 - Kate Johnson's online watercolor class

This week's lesson is on "Earth, Pebbles, Sand, Rocks, Grasses and Weeds" and the reference photo I used is from Death Valley. I painted this on a Cotman sheet and it is 8 x 5. It sure was fast and easy to paint of this paper after working on the canvas and the hot press recently!! The pigments used were all WN and they were Burnt Sienna, Payne's gray, Indigo, Raw Umber, Sap Green, Cad Yelow Pale and Cad Orange. I masked the little plant, then I washed the background and then used several colors for wet-in-wet splatter. After the rocks were painted, and before I removed the mask, I dry splattered very finely with a toothbrush. It was a fun exercise and I enjoyed working on something rather simple.

Watercolor 2 Class - week 2

Week 2 of Kate Johnson's online watercolor class was about water, reflections, and foliage. The reference photo for this was one I took of a pond at Butchart Gardens. It was done on Arches block, hot press, 7 x 10. I absolutely love Arches blocks, but am not crazy about hot press paper. But, like many materials I don't care for, I am determined to try, try again!! This project was tedious - I used multiple layers of glazing in many areas and it was almost entirely done wet-in-wet. The foreground is supposed to be waterlily pads -- a plant I am very fond of and have not been successful (either here or on other works) at getting the foliage to look like what they are supposed to be!! On a positive note, I was pleased with the variety of greens I was able to mix - another of my weaknesses that I really worked on here.

Kate Johnson's Watercolor 2 Class - Lesson 1b

Now THIS was fun!!! It's done on Yupo, which I haven't worked with in MONTHS and it was just a delight. Same reference photo and same DS paints as the one done on Canson--what a difference that Yupo made. For those of you not familiar with this strange watercolor "paper," it is not paper at all, but plastic. The paint obviously cannot soak into the plastic and so it just kind of floats and flows basically wherever it wants--I DID control some of it by tipping the sheet. I'd never tried salt on Yupo, so this was a first. I did the water first and loved the salt on it so much, I repeated that technique on the greenery of the mountains. The other technique I used is a bit of spatter on the mountain on the left. I used DS Buff Titanium for the misty clouds and dropped some pigment down on the mountain tops after they had dried completely. Since Yupo is plastic, it's a bit tricky to add layers because as soon as you put a wet brush on the dry area, the existing paint rewets and wants to run all over again. I did this tricky "layering" on the water also. I love the darker areas on the mountains and those were created simply by letting the paint flow and settle -- just a little coaxing on my part by tipping the paper. This affect is purely a Yupo kind of thing, which is why I really delight every time I use it. It certainly makes me loosen up any "control issues" I have with my painting. LOL!!

Kate Johnson's Watercolor 2 Class - Lesson 1

This week's lesson is on the four "S's" -- spatter, scrape, salt and sponge. The reference photo, taken during the Alaskan cruise my dh and I took at the beginning of this month, is of a misty fjord. This version is done on Canson watercolor paper and the techniques I used were sponging, scraping and salt. It was done with DS paints, which are just yummy!! I had some struggles with this and it DOES look a bit overworked. I used DS Buff Titanium to try to get the misty clouds at the mountain tops and got a bit more "run" than I wanted. Sponging in the greenery was tricky as it was such a small area to try to control that sponge in - ha ha. I DID tear the sponge up into small pieces, but oh my!!

My friend, Lin, over at View From the Oak gave me this award! LOL! I don't know how "rockin" I am, but I'm flattered she thought so!! Here's how the game works. . . I need to give this award to four of my friends. All of their blogs are on my blogroll, please do pay them a visit!!

Irene, who was a blogging art buddy and moved to a MERE 6 MILES FROM ME so now we are face-to-face art buddies! Check out her wonderful blog, Just Crazy About Dogs.

Mary, at Emma Pod blog, we share a past life of working in the medical field and therefore having a rather sick sense of humor sometimes!

Andrea, who lives in Wales and reminds me so much of an old, dear friend whom I lost to cancer several years ago. I always smile when I visit her blog, Andrea Joseph's Sketchblog, and see her invitation to share a cup of tea!

Casey, from rue Manuel bis blog, is a huge art inspiration with her ink and loose watercolor style that I envy so!

So ladies, you are hereby Rockin' Bloggers!!

P.S. I don't know if I did it right, but it worked. . . I saved the photo icon in My Pictures and then uploaded it to my blog.

Alaskan Cruise

My dh and I are off tomorrow morning for a cruise to Alaska. I'm taking some art supplies and plenty of SD storage for my camera! We fly from southern California to Seattle tomorrow and then set sail on the 3rd. I'll have time in Seattle tomorrow afternoon to grab a taxi and take a trip over to the Daniel Smith store -- I just might be as excited about THAT shopping excursion as I am about the Alaskan excursions!! I'm looking forward to all the sightseeing and with our hot summer temps, I'm also looking forward to coolness.
We'll be celebrating my birthday while we are gone--actually we'll be in Victoria on that day and Buchart Gardens is on our schedule. So YIPEE!!