Colour Mixing Wheel.....

This after noon I found a colour mixing wheel in my bookmarks. I have ignored it until today. When I found it again I thought to myself this is exactly what I need to work on. In my thought, colour mixing is an art form all its own and if you can't do it you will be limited in what you can paint.


I started a thread over at Lori Andrews-Come paint with me. Asking that beginners jump in and try their own colour wheel and that the more experienced artist give some constructive critiques.


I had a hard time making my purple and my yellows seem similar. I found out that you use a lot of yellow, a bit of red and a touch of blue when you are mixing colours.

Bubble , bubble......

Kim started a new project at Drawspace, Let's use our coloured pencils. She put up this great picture of a bubble for us to try out, as well as showing the steps and colours that she used to draw it.
Well I meant to do it in CP but I have water colour on the brain right now and well, out came the paints. I tried hard to keep the layers from mounting up, but wasn't so successful. Oh well its more practice and maybe not so bad.

Maple syrup......

I ran a weekly challenge at Drawspace this week. I based it on my trip to Northern Michigan, where I visited my Cousin. They were in the process of collecting sap to make syrup. My Cousin's Father in Law worked the evaporator, kept the fire going and watching the temperature on the syrup. He was able to explain to my younger boys and myself the whole process. The boys helped out with all the different jobs. Then we were able to bring home a jug of syrup.

Maple leaf......

I was reading through a water colour thread on Drawspace, where I found an image posted by Adolpho. He suggested laying down a wash of yellow on the leaf and build from there. I found I got lost on the leafs vines, probably because even though I started slow, I sped up after awhile.

Sarah on the same thread suggested that only two or three layers of colour should go down, so I think that will explain some of the muddiness. Sarah also suggested cutting yourself some post card size papers and keep practicing, which sounded like a great idea.

I am using 140lb strathmore CP water colour paper, I wet it down and then taped it. It still buckled, I am thinking this is because I didn't soak it, just ran it through the tap water. I'll try soaking it next time. Oh, might also be because I taped it too close to the edge, or the paint tape I have isn't strong enough.

April 2009 VSD......

I haven't done a virtual sketch date in a while. There is a whole new way of signing up, so if I can figure that out, I'll be doing good. Here is my sketch I am working from. The original photograph is from Jeanette. I am showing the sketch first because it goes down hill from here.

Here is my horribly overworked flower done in water colour. I figured I was done but got to thinking what would it look like with a background.


For all that I just swabbed in the background with no finesse, it does show that the background was needed to finish the picture. Good thing to know for next time.

Lilac Breasted Roller, Botswana, Africa.....

Drawspace has a new water colour challenge this week. Marisa put up some beautiful pictures with lots of colour in them. Like this Lilac Breasted Roller from Botswana Africa.
I did this water colour painting in my moleskin sketch book. I really am enjoying using water colours. It is fun to see how quickly a picture can take shape. Although I do find that I need to get some patience for giving the paint time to dry and thinking out layers of colours.

Ballet Dancer Standing....

This is my copy of Ballet Dancer Standing by Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas. They say it is good to try to copy the Masters and I guess I would have to agree. Especially when you are trying to teach yourself.

I can see that my head is at the wrong angle and my torso is too long, which is why my dancer looks like she is standing up with her head turned. Rather than slightly bent over with her head turned and down. So many other things as well, but I guess that is what practicing and sketching is about.

Don't you love the suggestion of a male dancer behind her?

Water colour.....

While I love water colour as a medium, I had no particular desire to try to learn it anytime soon. But... I am a firm believer in 'when opportunity knocks, answer the door'. Well opportunity knocked with a new website, Lori Andrews, Come Paint with Me!
Lori is offering free online water colour demonstrations, as well as downloadable, paid for lessons. There is an upcoming class near the end of April and Lori has let us know what we will need for materials.

While I am waiting on the class and the new materials, I decided to use what I have. I received an easel a while back and it came with some water colour paint tubes and I had some Dollar store paint brushes. (which I really like, although maybe just because I have never used a real brush).

Overall I am pretty happy with the picture of Bob. While by no means perfect, it does have some of the aspects that I like about water colour. I can see that learning to blend colours is going to be an art form all of its own.

Robofest....

My son William was in a robotics competition last night, Robofest. His team won and made it to the world finals, which luckily for him is right next door in Michigan.
It made for a great place to do some sketching. While William never seemed to be in a good place to sketch, the one little boy on the team sat still for a while. My husband Jim, a coach, stood watching the kids so I was able to get him in in bits on the right.


The same little boy and one of the Moms from another team. The team was huddled around the playing field and I thought I would be able to sketch them but they moved around too much. I should have brought another sketch book or some blank paper. I didn't want to fill up my sketch journal but could have easily sketched for quite a bit longer and at different times during the day.

Boot camp......

Let's Make Art has started a Boot Camp.

Ten to twenty minutes of exercise a day - five days a week. That's what it takes to keep in shape!

Well I have the ten to twenty down, now to just get that 5 days a week in. The first week I did two days, the second I did one day, the third I did 4 days, and this week I have 2 so far.

Just before I got the invite to join Boot Camp, I found a great sale on some moleskin sketch books. That gave me the perfect opportunity to get started right away. It also allowed me to try out a journal of sorts. I love what Dee Farnsworth does with the weather report. There are some others that I love too, I'll find some to show next time I show my sketches.