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. 

Why It May Be Impossible For Me Not To Be Messy

Remember when I cleaned up my art room? I promised myself I would keep in neat and clean. I even went so far as to put everything away after I was finished using it.  

Well ........... 

Here is my art desk today. I am working on 4 or 5 different projects now.  Samples for a class on chalk painting: turning old furniture into treasured decorator items, canvas' primed for non soluable oil paintings, a watercolor painting, and 2 different kinds of boxes for carrying painting supplies. 

I don't think I can possibly put any of these things away now and make my desk look neater. If I put everything away, I'd just waste time getting it out again.  

So this is why I don't think I can substain neatness.  What about you? 

Umbrellas, Rain and Watercolor

What do the three words in the title above have in common?  All 3 abound in San Diego this weekend. These seem to be creeping into my paintings this week. 

What topics do you paint when it rains? 

Umbrella Posing in the Doorway of Podere Il Casale in Tuscany

Three Umbrellas in Provence  

News Years Resolutions and Getting More Drawing Done

This morning I arrived at my doctors appointment 20 minutes early.  My early arrival was due to my New Years resolution to be on time.   

I paniced for a moment when I realized I had 20 free minutes.  Then it came to me that I like to think of myself as a "caped crusader" for making anywhere art.  I checked in my purse and found a pencil and my trusty 3"x5" sketchbook.  Then I looked around for my cape, unfortunately I don't have one yet.  Then I remembered my mother's mink coat in the bag in the trunk of the car.  Being a DIY anywhere artist I repurposed the mink as my cape and did some serious drawing.

Make a Last Minute Holiday Gift for an Artsy Friend or Relative

It happens sometimes, that you either miscalculated on how many gifts to buy, cookies to make to gift your friends or you receive a last minute invitation and need a gift to give.

I advise you not to go into your sock drawer and pull out your slightly worn pair of Mona Lisa socks and think you can get away with wrapping them up and re-gifting them.  Instead, go into your stash of odd sizes of watercolor paper and cut, fold or rip them into sketchbook pages (your choice of size) and quickly find a piece of colored paper card stock for the cover and make two holes, thread some twine or string thru them and tie a bow. If you happen to have a coil binding machine use that to bind your sketchbooks.  Viola, you have ready made sketchbooks gifts.  Tie them with a ribbon and perhaps put a stick a candy cane on them if you've got some and you are done. Now you are not going to the party empty handed.  If you had a mom like mine, she may have advised you to never go to anyone's house empty handed....

Finding the Right Size Palette for Anywhere Art

In order to find more time and make more sketchbook style art, you need to have materials you can take anywhere and you need to find time anywhere you can.  This means that you need to have a variety of art materials to suit your painting situation.  You can have a large palette for studio painting, a medium portable palette for travel sketching and you'll need a couple of sizes of paint palettes for differing social paint situations.  You simply cannot take a large messy palette filled with paint into the lobby of a 4 star hotel and hope to paint peacefully while seated on the damask sofa in the lounge area. 

You'll need to have a  pocket, purse or briefcase size set of painting materials for painting in small, nice situations where you don't want to stand out and call attention to the fact you are painting. You'll also want to not splash paint on the white linen tablecloth, or on your dates tuxedo or your evening dress or afternoon outfit.  

My solution is to come up with an Anywhere Art Painting Kit that has a very small, light weight palette and a small light weight sketchbook of watercolor paper. With these materials and a brush, preferably a water brush so you don't have to deep your paint brush in your water goblet when you need to dampen it, you can draw and paint "journal style" (this means in a small journal or sketchbook) anywhere from your mother-in-laws kitchen to the Whitehouse.

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The materials in the photos above can be taken to places where you want to look nice, and not paint obtrusively  I think my purse looks much nicer then my Kermit the Frog messenger bag that I carry my supplies for painting in informal situations.  I am bringing the palette on the right next time, because the one on the left has paint wells that are too small to tell what color you are using. I enlarged the color wells in the one on the right so the color shows better.  Its frustrating to dip into what you think is brilliant blue for your sky and paint your sky with viridian green.

Everyday Journal

The concept of drawing ordinary things daily on the pages of a journal is definitely not new, but it's new to me. I decided I get too excited when I sit down to paint and tend to forget about leaving space for writing and about composition. I also want to draw better and the only way I can improve is by drawing often.  Pictured below are the first 3 sketches  I've made since I made my draw more often decision. 

Holiday Scotland Sale!

Inside Dunvegen Castle

We will stop by Dunvegen Castle on our April 1-10 Anywhere Art Tour of Scotland.  I am sure they will be expecting us and will have cocktails and a cake waiting for us in the pink drawing room above.  

If you are interested in traveling with me to Scotland next Spring you might want to know that I am offering a $100 discount if you sign up for the trip on or before midnight on Dec. 31, 2016.

Please email me with your questions at anywhereart4u@gmail.com 

Clean Painter's Studio

Take a peek inside my studio. I cleaned and organized it because 15 members of the San Dieguito Art League were invited to my house yesterday for tea. 

The artists like to see other members studios. The room was so messy that I had only one choice: clean up my studio or die of embarrassment.  

Have you ever seen such a clean desk? I never knew it was white. 

My friend, Gayle, who organized the tea, advised me to show some work in progress.  

There are only 3 of the projects I am currently working on now on my drafting table. The other 47  current projects are stuffed away in decorative boxes. 

Creating Holiday Gifts From Recycled And Repurposed Things in Your House

Do you need some gift ideas? Look around your house for supplies first.  

To make these mini painting sets:

I used some Altoid's tins, sprayed them with white flat spray paint, cut a panel of squares from a flourescent light panel and added a slice of sponge. Then I laminated my logo on card stock, glued it to the tin top and squirted in quality paint. *If you use very cheap watercolor paint, when it dries it cracks and falls out.

For the mini sketchbooks I cut up the odd sizes of Arches watercolor paper I had in the house and bound them with a comb binder.  

I'm bringing these gifts to a sale this Sunday at a wonderful new art school, ART LOUNGE ON THE 101 in Encinitas. I am going to continue teaching classes there in January.

If you're in Encinitas this Sunday, stop by from 12-4 and say hi.  

While I am working on my diy gifts and 27 other projects my workspace has gotten quite messy. Do you have a messy work space? If so, let me know, I need to tell my husband that I am not the only messy artist.

Nancy Holtz' Whimsical 2017 Calendar!

Are you familiar with Nancy Holtz's calendars?  She creates a calendar filled with 12 pages of her watercolor and ink drawings every year.  Holtz always designs her calendars so each page can be repurposed.

The 2017 calendar is bookmark size so each month can mark a page in your book when you're finished with the calendar.  She has included an inspiring quote on each month as well.  

The calendar is the perfect size and price for a holiday gift. $3.00 if you pick them up in person and $4.00 if they are mailed to you. I am giving them as gifts by tying them on wine bottles, stuffing them in coffee mugs and including them in gift baskets. 

Call Nancy if you'd like to order calendars  

(530) 885-1235