Watercolorist's advice

Dustyn told me to consult local watercolorists several weeks ago.  I didn't really have anything to show, so I was hesitant about it.  After we did the second group critique, I felt I should get some advise since I felt better about my watercolor.

I met Ms. Aline McCracken at the Batesville Area Arts Council last Friday.  I told her what problems I am encountering.  Before she started giving me advice, she said, "we are learning something every day." I felt very encouraged by her comment.  I am going to get more advice every Friday.

Her advice:
Use Arches 140 block.  18x24 is big enough (I have samples of 22x30.  There were three kinds of Arches watercolor paper; cold press, hot press, rough.  I chose rough since the texture feels so good.  I ordered a block.)
Mr Clean's original scrub (Sherry told me about this scrub, so I went to Wal-mart, but I couldn' find it.  Do they mean a big bathtub scrub?  I have to go to Kroger if they have it.)
She said if the paper is good I can literally scrub it; some scrub the paper in the bath tub.
I told her I have trouble with dark clouds; she suggested I get ultramarine blue and burnt umber, so I ordered. 

I am looking forward to have my order delivered, hopefully on the 26th.  Today I am going to try to paint clouds after a stormy day.

Spot practice

When my sons were taking music lessons, they were encouraged to practice spots where they couldn't play well.  I wanted to paint the burning sunset I saw in Marion when I was going to change highways from 64 to I55 last week. I applied this spot practicing in music to the watercolor.  I painted just the sunset on 9x12 watercolor paper four times, examining each sunset and making sure it is close to the image I had.  When I finally felt better, I tried on 18x24 paper.  This spot practice worked well;  first of all I didn't feel pressured to make the first paint perfect since I learned what color I should use.  Most importantly I didn't have to waste large paper!  Spot practice does not apply to everything, but it does for my watercolor project.

Watercolor on upright easel

So I tried the watercolor today on an upright easel.  First I thought about propping up the watercolor paper about 10 to 15 degrees, but I couldn't find any support, so I decided to use the upright easel.
I had trouble controlling the amount of water; it kept dripping down the area where I was going to draw trees.  When I watched several online watercolor demonstrations, some did on a flat surface and some on an upright easel or wall.  The professional watercolor artist knows how much water the brush should hold so that it won't run down on the paper.  I just started experimenting, so it was a fun disaster; I just have to try several times.  Some part of the sky looks really nice already, though. 

Free Art Lessons to enjoy

I was surfing on the Internet to find watercolor lessons and found many.  The first one I found was at Daniel Smith site.  For some reasons, I cannot find it from my home computer.  But I learned that I should put the paper more vertically than horizontally to avoid streaks on the paper.  I have been using paper towels and sponges to make the impressions of clouds, but from this Daniel Smith site I learned to use Kleenex paper; certainly Kleenex will give a softer impression.

Then I visited Jennifer Branch, Peter Fleming, and Roland Lee site.  I learned to plan a value pattern before I start painting among other things.

While I was trying to find the free watercolor online lessons from the Daniel Smith site, I accidentally found Jerry's Artrama site http://www.jerrysartarama.com/art-lessons/Medium/Watercolors/index.html?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=Free+Art+Lessons&gclid=CKzm0aas36sCFQtb7AodKGUrTQ which offers more than 800 free art lessons, more than 100 of which are watercolor lessons. 

One more: How to create effcts in watercolor watercolor paintings at http://www.ehow.com/how_4525147_create-effects-watercolor-painting.html

I can experiment some of these techniques tomorrow!

Copmposition

I finally figured it out that I forgot to do the composition before I even painted!  I did it when I took the Introduction to drawing and oil painting; over and over we learned the composition when we used pencils, charcoal, and India ink.  The first thing I did when we did oil painting outside was to use my hand-made square pattern with strings crisscrossing in the middle so that I could see where the focal point was and where the border lines were.

I have been painting my sky from the pictures I took and from my memory.  I sketched on a 9x12 watercolor paper and then moved on to 91/2 x13 paper.  My goal is to use 22 x 30, so I moved to 18x24, too big a jump, and I got lost.  Why didn't I buy 12x18?  I thought about changing the proposed paper size to smaller ones.

Today I finally figured it out that I didn't think about the composition at all.   I drew on my picture a vertical and horizontal lines crisscrossing in the center.  I feel a lot better about my painting today.  I started feeling comfortable with watercolor, too.

Hopefully I can start my proposed work after the fall break.  I might still change the paper size after I talk to Dustyn tomorrow.

Watercolor and Zen meditation

Watercolor is completely different from oil, acrylic, and pastel; I cannot go back and paint over.  It is more like Japanese (oriental) calligraphy.  What I write is what I get.  I cannot write over the calligraphy. 

I sketch the scenes several times on paper and in my mind, but what comes out is all different.  I tried the same scene several times, and they are all different.  I like some part of each picture, but since overall it does not look right, I get another sheet of paper and try again.  I just wonder how many times I have to practice before I can challenge my goal size, 22 x30.  What I did this afternoon is about to dry, so I am going to try again.  Hopefully I will learn to control paper, colors, and brush strokes.

I tell myself, "Don't think, just let my hand draw what I have in my mind."  But while using the brush, I am thinking, "Is this color OK? Maybe I should try different colors.  Oops, this is not what I want.  OK, I am going back to the first color. Oh, no, it is completely different from what I did first. Is the stormy sky really blue? green? purple? pink? . . . .  Many different kinds of thoughts continue to pop up in my mind.  Learn Zen meditation!!!