Thankful time...

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; 

they are the charming gardeners 

who make our souls blossom.
- Marcel Proust 

I've been missing out on giving my blog some love lately,

 as I've been consumed with the joys of teaching watercolor, 

building my website, and planning online classes…

seemingly...a "never ending process" these days.

This time of year, always brings pause for 

thoughtfulness & thanks.

I can't tell you all how grateful I am, for the support, from so many 

on my artistic endeavors. 

There is so much joy that comes from this artistic life 

and the connection to all of the lovelies 

we meet along the way...

you are all the ones 

that make my soul blossom.

In that spirit…

here's a tutorial on how to watercolor a "couple" of pears.

Afterall, what's one pear without the other?

A quick sketch and some water wash on the sheet ( I used arches 130LB)

Then a little leaf green- loosey goosey.

A little water where you want the color to go and some cad. yellow.

we're working light to dark… the leaf green has yellow properties.

more cad yellow...

A  little quinacridone gold in spots where you see the bruises and the darks on the pear.

A little cad red medium glazing over the still wet yellow...

Building up the cad red a little...

A touch of leaf green for some sparkle… 

careful, as it will get a little brown when mixed with the red. 

A light hand is best… a little brown will be ok, but too much will look muddy.

If it gets too muddy, lift it lightly with a corner of paper towel and add more.

The cadmiums aren't as transparent as other colors.

a touch more….

Quin gold over the wet cad red …gives that pear a little texture, 

almost like the rough skin on a pear.

Introducing…. indigo over the wet leaf green area. 

The darks are going down!

(I normally might go to ultramarine, but indigo has a dark blue black feel- 

looking for some drama here.)

a touch of leaf green again...

a little more indigo...

Drying down… the color fades a touch as it dries…

quinacridone started in the stems… 

For the stems… a little clear water first… 

a touch of quin gold over the water.

Then some paynes grey ever so lightly dropped into the stem.

Paynes + Quinacridone Gold make a beautiful earthy branch, twig, stem color.

This image also shows me adding a touch of cad over the dry area.

Finishing some paynes gray over the quin gold on the green pear's stem.

Background time… a wet wash in order to drop some complimentary color on...

I'm feeling some turquoise, 

to add some glow and enhance the color in the pears...

Viola! 

Signature time… or whatever style you prefer to finish with.

I chose a little rubber stamp today.

Two haPPy friendly pears with a glow of color.

My gift to you! 

haPPy Fall…Winter…

Season of Blessings…

Season of Giving.

At Long Last… and a Video too!

 Finally… at long last… woo hoo!

Thank-you, thank-you, everyone... for being patient with me.

 This is the second installment of my blog series… 

step by step watercolor.

In my last post, I had shared a bit about what kind of materials 

I like to use when painting my watercolor sketches, 

as well as a bit about my palette. 

I mentioned that I would do a colorful veggie sketch...

but actually was inspired by this lovely bunch of flowers I found 

at the Ballard Farmers Market, while visiting Seattle.

(No worries...I'll definitely do a veggie sketch on another post.)

I decided to put a little video together, so you'd have 

a true step by step experience.

The biggest take away I believe, will be 

the way I like to use my color wet into wet,

 and glaze over color, 

both, when wet & dry.

Many have asked me how I get such vibrant color…

I do believe it's the combination of mixing paint,

 to create great color

(not straight from the tube all the time)

as well as layering, 

one on top of another.

And of course, leaving some sparkling white of the paper 

to keep those little shimmers of highlight, on your subject.

Here's a little

step by step...

Take a peek and see what you think…

Flower Watercolor Sketch Video

The sketch in this video is done in my Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook ...

a perfect paper for watercolor and glazing.

Next post will be another glazing process- maybe veggies… 

then we'll roll into some how to's... of the script handwriting 

that I like to do on my sketches and my signature block.

Stay tuned…. 

Feel free to leave any comments or questions... 

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