In addition to touring Scotland, painting a bit and learning Scottish history, today some of us got a chance to practice Scottish battlefield moves.
Art Supply Shop Pilgrimage
Some people seek out landmarks, religious sites and museums when they travel. I like to seek out those kind of places too, but my favorite place to find in a new city is the art supply shop. I am always searching for a new brush or paint color or ink pen or some type of supply that I have never seen before. Also I enjoy going to these art shoppes because they are not big box stores like many of our art supply stores in the U.S. They are like the one I visited in Edinburgh this week, a quaint shop with windows filled with tempting supplies.
In this shop I purchased a 6" metal ruler, a tube of burnt sienna watercolor paint and a new kind of brown ink pen. I used no coupons and nothing was advertised buy one, get your second one 50% off.
Royal Botanical Gardens
Note to self: have Rick build a gazebo just like this one we saw in the Royal Botanicals Gardens. It would be prefect in our backyard.
Finally Have A Picture Hanging In A Museum
We visited the National Portrait Gallery today. They had a station set up where you could draw a self portrait. When you finished their were clips and wires to hang it up. Now I can say I have a piece hanging in a Scottish museum. Right?
Edinburgh, Scotland is Filled With Endless Watercolor Painting Subjects
Wouldn't this make a nice painting? There are beautiful doors everywhere in Edinburgh. I had to explain to Rick about how I liked to bring photos home of inspired images when I don't have time to sit and paint them on the spot. He wasn't quite sure why I was photographing every one's front doors...
How to Happily Create Comissioned Paintings
I finished this tryptic painting for a client yesterday. Creating this work was a positively joyous experience.
Comissions can be a lucrative part of an artist's income stream. However in an artist's eagerness to sell their work, its easy to become too much of a pleaser painter. A pleaser painter is a term I just invented which means you want to please the client and paint whatever they want in whatever colors they want. If someone is paying for a work of art it is understandable that they need to be happy with the painting, however we artists need clients that love our style of painting and trust us to take their ideas and imput and create our painting our way.
A contract needs to be given to a client stating specifics like: once rough drafts are okayed a non refundable deposit must be paid, what the final cost will be, art material are included in the price, completion date and how many small changes are included in the cost + the cost of additional changes.
I must admit I had no contract in place for this painting (below) but the client gave me a deposit, asked for only one minor change and trusted me to do the painting my way. I am sure that's why doing this painting was such a positive experience for me.
One last positive thing my client did was to match her new bedroom accessories to the colors in my painting!
Have you had any experiences with commissions that we need to know about?Send them to me in the comment section.
First Official Watercolor Wandering Class a Big Success!
Yesterday I met up with 2 ladies at the Art Lounge on the 101 in Encinitas for my first watercolor wandering workshop. I equipped them with their necessities: a recycled mint tin filled with 6 colors, a thimble sized water container, a water brush, a small journal and some artists tissues. After a little classroom instruction they were ready to wander.
We meandered to Rhino Art then to the coffee shop. The students worked really hard and produced great watercolor work.
The best thing of all was we all laughed and chatted as we painted and I forgot it was a class (I did remember to teach though), it seemed like I was painting with old friends.
Watercolor Tryptic on Canvas
I am painting a typtich for a commission. The client wanted a large original watercolor painting on a canvas. I had to figure out how to do this. Its been a good learning experience. First I learned about Golden Absorbant Ground from a wonderful clerk at our Artists and Craftsmen shop in Hillcrest in downtown San Diego. I was looking for something called Fredrix Watercolor Canvas but that wasn't carried in our local shops in San Diego. Actually I think the Absorbant Ground is more versatile. However, you need to paint at least 3 layers of it on the canvas.
The painting is almost finished. I just got some feedback from the client and need to make some slight changes.
I will post the finished painting soon.
Cooking with Watercolor
I can't help myself, I am seeing watercolor still lifes everywhere in my house. I look around and see some objects I left out on the counter from my breakfast. I start to put these items away but am stopped by my need to admire their colors and shapes and how their color harmony. I never get around to putting these things away, because I decide to get out my paints and paint them. Have you have similar artistic encounters like mine? Can you please tell me about them in the comment section, so I can show your comment to my husband?
Watercolor and Sushi
At lunch on Saturday my sushi bowl posed for me.
Best Way 4 Beginning Watercolor Buildings
Find a photo of a building taken straight on so you don't have to worry about perspective. OR stand directly in front of a building and draw and paint it.
The building in the photo was taken last year by me in Spoleto, Italy. I have been wanting to paint it since I saw it the first time. The combination of the old building and the clock caught my eye. I did the painting Wednesday night as an example for my Escondido Adult School class. Our painting topic was beginning buildings.
Please notice that the clock time in the photo doesn't match the time in my painting. I change all clock times to 3 pm because that was my favorite time when I was a middle school teacher.
Using "What If?" To Increase Your Creativity
To generate more ideas for your paintings and projects it helps to ask yourself "What If?" What if I painted the leaves of this tree purple? What if i used white acrylic paint in my watercolor painting? What if I built a rack to hold my paintbrushes from palette wood? What if I moved our bed into my studio and my studio furniture into our bedroom?
Using the phrase what if is a great way to generate novel ideas and get yourself to think more creatively.
I teach "what iffing" in all my art classes and use the strategy myself. In fact, I used in tonight.
What if I painted my shoes with chalk paint?
Try asking yourself what if questions and let me know how this strategy works for you?
Painting and Writing for Journaling
Answering who, what, when, where and why in my journals beside my watercolor sketches these days. Why? Because I want to better remember the details of the moment when I painted something and to know why I took the time to paint it.
I think recording details in writing about what I chose to paint will make my painted memories stronger and help me recall them.
Recorded my lunch today in paint and ink.
Watercolor Window Painting Class at Art Lounge on the 101 was Fabulous
Today, I taught a class of lovely people how to paint all kinds of windows. Windows are are one of my favorite things to paint. The class paintings were all very successful and these students all have a bright future in window painting.
Great window painting ,
This art critic couldn't take his eyes off it.
This class member worked so hard that she needed a nap.
I love teaching at Art Lounge on the 101...
Value Sketching Around the House
Value seeing and sketching requires lots of practice. Pencil shading will give your line drawings values. I try to add pencil shading in just 3 values; light, medium and very dark. I let the white of the paper be the white or lightest value I see.
I started out my sketch this morning with a corner of our family room. I tried to sketch what I saw directly in front of me.
I suppose if you wanted to you could produce more definitive value sketches using a light pencil like an HB and a darker pencil like a 4 or 6B, I didn't use 2 pencils for my sketch. I grabbed the nearest pencil a 2HB. I find if I get too fancy with my supplies I don't do much drawing.
Can You Paint Watercolor on Canvas?
Yes.
Practice Painting At Lunch
Desperate to find time to paint I found you can combine burritos and painting. In fact, salsa containers make excellent paint water holders.
Learning More About Mary
This is Mary, Queen of Scots. She is a fascinating figure in European history. Her life was full of drama and intrigue. I am reading up on her before I leave for Scotland. There are many books written about her in the historical fiction genre. Does anyone have a favorite author of historical fiction who has written a book about Mary you liked?
Portable Painting Box
What would you do if you were staying in a nice hotel and they said it was okay for you to paint in their dining room but their tables were covered with white linen tablecloths?
A. Set up you painting supplies on top of the table cloth and push the table setting off to the side.
B. Take everything off the table and place it on the floor so you could not worry about getting the tablecloth dirty.
C. Sit with your pochade box on your lap and paint happily in your travel journal.
The correct answer is: C.
Are you wondering what a pochade box is? It is a box usually made to attach to an easel that holds your painting necessities, is a portable size and allows you to paint anywhere. Pochade is a word derives from the French word "pocher" meaning to sketch.
At first I was going to call my portable painting box a portable painting box, then I decided lap easel was a more descriptive name. However any name with lap in it might be misconstrued, so I am using the interim term "Pochade box" until I come up with a better name. Have you got any ideas for me?
How to Blow Up A Watercolor Painting
First you paint a small watercolor painting, say "8 1/2" x 11". Scan it and you may want to edit it a bit too. I used the free program Picassa 3 to crop,straighten and edit my scans. Then you join Costco Photo Center and upload your scan of your painting. You choose from the sizes they offer and also whether you want your canvas to be wrapped around wood or made into a poster or something else they offer. You pay online (but your piece is returnable if you don't like it) and they call you when its ready.
You pick it up at Costco where its wrapped carefully and waiting for you. Than you take it home and hang it on your walk.
