Watercolors

Julie Shoemaker asked:


Painting landscapes with acrylics is both relaxing and rewarding.  Let your personal style come through and you should find this a great hobby. Acrylic paint is a medium that can look like an oil painting or a watercolor painting when finished.  It depends on the artists’ style and how thick they apply the color.  Either way, starting out by painting landscapes helps to get your feet wet in the world of painting.

You can learn to paint a landscape on canvas paper, canvas board or stretched canvas.  I always suggest practicing your techniques first on an inexpensive canvas or acrylic paper.  I am a sort of perfectionist with my art, and tend to become frustrated easily.  By practicing first, then applying it to the finished piece I feel more comfortable.  You may be satisfied without practicing.  Painting is about what makes you feel good! 

Keep your supplies handy.  Have your spay or mister bottle handy to keep the acrylics moist, keep a water supply handy for the brushes, and always have paper towels handy.  

Let’s create a simple landscape painting.  Lightly sketch in a horizon line with pencil about ¾ of the way down the canvas.  In this case out emphasis will be the sky because only ¼ of the painting is land.

 Wet the sky with white gesso.   Add some color to the same brush and starting at the top, use criss-cross strokes and blend down to the horizon line.  Use any color.  Daytime skies can be blues & purple.  Nighttime skies can be these colors just darkened with reds and oranges near the horizon.  Blend the colors as little or much as you like.  Now your sky is done. 

Now it’s time to create your land or hills.  Chose a medium to light green and with horizontal strokes lay in the distant field or hill.  Keep things interesting by sloping it.  Change the green slightly by darkening it and add a couple of more layers of fields as you work your way forward.  The darkest layer should be in the front of the painting. 

That’s it!  Anything else you add to your painting is a plus.  One or two distant trees would be neat or maybe just a single bird in the sky, low to the horizon. 

I hope this little lesson helps inspire you to have fun painting landscapes with acrylics.



MICHAEL

Jim Black asked:


This is the Best Tip on removing mistakes in Watercolor Painting.

No this is not the best…….It’s the greatest.

Don’t like what you see in your Watercolor Painting.

Remove a tree, fix a barn, change the sky,remove a hill and the rest of those mistakes.

The “removing” of an area in a painting only came about by, and was discovered through persistence, and aided by a little bit (yes you guessed it) LUCK.

“Basotect” is the product that will remove most of your mistakes. Never heard of it, it is right under your very nose. This is the chemical name, it’s sold under…….?

What is it and how does it works….. It is a white sponge, when dipped in water it breaks down the product into microscopic polymer abrasive, that grabs the particles of pigment in the spaces that a regular sponge or brush cannot do. In other words it lifts off the paint into the sponge.

Basotect has only recently started it’s career as an eraser, although this special sponge made it’s debut almost 20 years ago in a wide range of applications, soundproofing insulating in music studios, and automotive industries. There are no chemicals in the sponge so no handling properties can be expected.

After 30 years of instructing students in Watercolor Painting it is a lot of fun for me to pull out my little white sponge and remove a mistake that they make. Or for that matter which I made.

Oh I nearly forgot, this product is on your grocery store shelf called “The Magic Eraser”, it truly is magic.

Jim at www.jims-watercolor-gallery.com



ELVIS

Sylvan asked:


I’m looking for a good downloadable guide on learning watercolor painting, useful for beginners and teachers alike. My intrests are as much in abstract watercolors as they are in nature paintings.

STEPHAN

Current Catalog asked:


Several kinds of designs are available for personal as well as business checks nowadays. There is much more choice of designs as far as personal checks is concerned. It has been adopted by many people and has been a big success. You may know what design you want but you will have to find agencies who issue designer Checkbooks with personal banking checks. 

Sometimes it is not very easy to decide on the check design for your next set of checks. There are several organizations that have been authorized by the banks to issue checks and offer a huge choice of quality check designs for individuals. Price of the check orders differs according to your choice. 

You can go to the websites of these agencies and review the latest check designs online. It could be your first chance of ordering checks with design or you may be looking for more designs for a fresh order you will get a lot of options on the internet. 

It has become stylish to get personal checks designed and manufactured as it can be customized to your interests. There are some very well liked themes like fine art, cartoons, watercolors, sceneries, animals or geometric. You also have the option of taking fun checks which will have motifs like rainbows, teddy bears, planes, motorcars games, toys and fantasy. In fact if you want something very exclusive you can order checkbooks with famous paintings or your favorite characters. There are a few agencies come with offers of Limited Edition design personal checks. There are also some special checks which are embossed with guidelines that can be felt for the sight-impaired. 

There are individuals who find it easier to order designer checkbooks online but you must check the background and the credentials of the online company.



DARYL

MistysFrosted asked:


I have one, the Aquarelle Arches Watercolor Block, and I have many pads and paper and have not been able to figure out what the watercolor block is for. Is it just one solid block with one top piece of paper that you work on and keep as your canvas, or should I separate the paper-looking things and use them separately? I don’t know what the darn thing is used for. Help!
I know it isn’t the same as a regular watercolor pad, because I have lots of other watercolor pads with numerous papers in them, so I wanted to know what the difference is or if there is any.

CLIFTON

Nietzsche’s Falling Star asked:


I’m working on a painting that involves ink, watercolor and acrylic on watercolor paper. I am interested in making it a mixed medium piece and putting a collage of images on there as well..what can I use to adhere the magazine clippings to the paper? I want it to be archival and safe, so it doesn’t ruin the piece. Thanks!!!

RANDOLPH

sundothburn asked:


I know if it’s framed behind glass and out of direct sunlight, that helps. Is there anything else you can do to preserve the life of a watercolor painting?

RUDOLPH

sunflowerblack asked:


I tried to scan my paintings, but the richness of the watercolors didnt come through, and there was glare. any suggestions?

KURT

Grace Enderlein asked:


The protected bays of Tortola are the perfect spot for sailing because of the constant sunny, breezy, and balmy weather. The water is calm, and beach hopping is easy because of Tortola’s frequent beaches, and the surrounding islands’ close proximity. The beaches of Tortola have white sand, palm trees and are surrounded by volcanic mountains covered in lush greenery. There are many beaches to visit while Tortola sailing, ranging from completely private and isolated locations, to beaches busy with shops, restaurants, and music.

Traveling from west to east on the north shore of Tortola begins with Smugglers Cove beach. This secluded beach has exceptionally clear and calm water, so it is wonderful for snorkeling. There are no crowds to deal with here, and it is peaceful and remote. Visit the small, rustic seaside bar for refreshments and beach chairs on this charming beach.

Just east of Smugglers Cove is Long Bay Beach. It is one mile long and lovely for quiet walks. Long Bay Beach is considered one of the world’s most photogenic beaches with its exquisite sand, blue-green water, and dramatic setting. It is easily accessible from land, and has medium waves for enjoyable swimming. There are opportunities for quiet dining and shopping for local delicacies and treasures.

Apple Bay Beach has large waves making it a fabulous surfer beach. There are several hotels and restaurants with great local food featuring fresh fish and lots of rum punch! It is an exciting Tortola beach with music, dancing, entertainment, and activities. Visit the numerous local shops for watercolors and crafts by native artists for souvenirs.

Cane Garden Bay is an excellent anchorage for Tortola sailing because of its curved shape, sheltered bay, and generally calm water. There are many popular bars and restaurants to enjoy during a beach visit here, and the water activities are plenty. It is an ideal spot for boating, windsurfing, water skiing, and swimming.

Moving further east on Tortola’s north shore is Brewers Bay Beach, which is another calm and quiet spot. There are many coral reefs off of this beach making for outstanding snorkeling. Ruins can be seen on the beach adding to its character and beauty. Access to Brewer’s Bay on the road is a bit challenging, making this a remote and peaceful beach.

An east end beach on Tortola is Josiah’s Bay Beach. There is a small beach bar and a few close by houses and restaurants. Certain times of the year this is a fantastic surf spot, but beware of the undertow. Some seasons allow for relatively calm waters for safe swimming. Visible across from Josiah’s Bay is Guana Island and White Bay which is a fabulous anchorage for Tortola sailing.

Elizabeth Beach, also known as Lambert Bay, is one of the favorite beaches of the north shore on the east end of the island. There are spectacular views on this wide beach, and it is one of the favorite and most beautiful of the Tortola beaches.



LOWELL

Ben Jonson asked:


Watercolor painting is a kind of painting art, which generates artistic representations, normally on piece of paper with the help of pigments that are usually water-soluble. Other kinds of painting make use of oil soluble paints or dry pigment in sticks just like pastels. This kind of painting is well-known to many of us in way of child’s activity performed with color boxed set and waxed pens. Such colored blocks are actually swiped with the help of wet brush and the color transfers itself to the watered brush and there from to the wadding. Grownup watercolorists use various paints, though. On the other hand, children’s versions do not have the amount of color required to get the effects accessible with ‘artist rank’ watercolor paints.

Watercolor painting also make use of different kinds of palette particular to the shape - naturally a big flat piece of plastic with depressions surrounded by colors. You can find watercolor paints sold in tubes as well and they are squeezed into these depressions and then let to dry. This is actually the same of the children’s set of dried out colored cubes. Some painters/artists further use ‘brand new’ watercolor paint straight from the tube and don’t let it dry. This is because they claim the colors are fresher if the paint is not permitted to dry up before it contacts the paper.

Watercolor painting has a different techniques meant to different medium. The most quality is maybe the method well-known as wet-in-wet, in that huge portions of the paper are only wet, either with colored water or plain color. The brush is filled with color from the palette and either dived or caressed onto the paper, permitting the color to run anywhere it would, flowering into attractive and surprising patterns, integration with last tools of other colors and shaping fresh shades. Wet-in-wet watercolor painting is in fact hard to control, but could yield some of the most unexpected and pleasing results.

If you are fascinated in exploring watercolor craft for yourself, handle yourself to genuinely ‘artist elevation’ tubes of paint blusher. Most coat manufacturers render a ‘alumna mark’ stemma that is significantly cheaper, but these paints instrument not fruit the self results, which can be disheartening to the trio. Rather than buying a solon comprehensive ambit of cheaper paints, purchase a smaller limit of the higher caliber paints, since most any apparition can be created from mixing together two or more additional colors. For instance, you can mix a truly saturnine dim rest a cylinder of inglorious painting blusher in their coat box.



CHADWICK