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Meow.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Creating the Color of Sand

Many people do not believe me when I first tell them the two perfect colors in watercolor to mix to create a lovely shade of sand. Beach sand.

Purple + Yellow = Sand

I use MaimeriBlu's Permanent Violet Bluish and Indian Yellow. Just a tiny bit of each and a whole lot of water.

Purple and yellow are on opposite sides of the color wheel. When mixed together you get a neutral, in this case a tan.

You can try different shades of yellow mixed with your purple to see how it goes. A touch more yellow to warm it up and touch more purple to cool it off. The major component is the water, lots of it.

Valentine

Me and My Valentine made Whoopie Pies on Valentine's Day!

I've been meaning to share the pictures and finally got a chance to do so.

A heart shaped whoopie pie ... so romantic!

Everything is better with sprinkles.

Just ask the puppy, he stole one of the giant whoopie pies right off the kitchen counter and was about to help himself to a second one. We caught him just in time. I was only out of the room for 2 minutes tops. I'm sure he would have eaten them all if he had more time.

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Don't Rush It!

Sometimes you just have to let the watercolor paint and paper dry at its own pace. If you rush it, you will ruin it!

Magical things can happen when you allow the paint to dry and leave it alone.

Resist the urge to rush back in and touch things up. Change things around. Fix this, fix that. Especially while the paint and paper is at that stage between wet and dry. That damp stage, no matter what you do, you will ruin it. You'll make it worse.

Leave it alone, let it dry and it will be better than you imagined.

Patience.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

My Color Picks

I use Maimeri Blu watercolor paints in my painting classes. I recommend to my students a set of ten colors. A warm and cool red, a warm and cool yellow, a warm and cool blue, two neutrals plus a green and a purple. With this combination you can mix tons of colors.

The colors I recommend are:

Payne's Grey

Burnt Sienna

Crimson Lake

Primary Red Magenta

Indian Yellow

Lemon Yellow

Sap Green (if available)

Primary Blue Cyan

Ultramarine Blue

Permanent Violet Bluish

I have these laid out in my palette with the neutrals on the left. Starting with Payne's Grey on the lower left (then I have one extra neutral Sepia, rarely used) and Burnt Sienna. Across the top is Primary Red Magenta, Crimson Lake, Indian Yellow, Lemon Yellow. Down the right side starting at the top is a little bit of Permanent Green Deep (an optional green if Sap is not available), Sap Green, Primary Blue Cyan, an extra color Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Violet Bluish.

It's great to have the basic ten and then add in a few of your own favorites.

If you want to go with a more limited palette, I would recommend:

Paynes Grey, Burnt Siena, Crimson Lake, Indian Yellow, Sap Green and Ultramarine Blue.

Recently Read

The Cat Who Went Bananas

by Lilian Jackson Braun

I got a Nook for my birthday last month. Just a couple weeks ago, I went to the library and learned how to borrow books using my new Nook. It's awesome! This was my first ebook I borrowed and I read it in just a weekend. It was a quick and easy fun read. In 7 days, it simply disappears from my Nook! Poof.

I've always said, I love real books. I would never want an electronic book reader. My very large, seemingly heavy duty bookshelf began to lean to one side. I removed all the books from my bookshelf, piled them all neatly in the hallway. Until my bookshelf could be repaired. The bookshelf disappeared from my office. The books are still in the hall. I have A LOT of books!

Instead of the bookshelf returning to my office, I received a Nook for my birthday. Which is fantastic.

I won't give up going to charity book sales. It's hard to pass up a $1 book and the charity can use the dollars.

But where do I put all my treasured books?

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Paint Your Own Cards

February is a month where I could go broke buying birthday cards. Whether you're an artist or just someone who dabbles in watercolor from time to time, you too can paint your own greeting cards.

You can buy a box of blank greeting cards, I've been using the Strathmore Cards. They come in boxes of 10, 20 and 100 and include an envelope with a pretty deckled edge.

I purchased a box of 100 cards with envelopes from Cheap Joe's Art Stuff online. That way I always have them handy, ready whenever I need one.

Sometimes I paint a bunch of cards ahead of time, leaving the inside blank so it can be used for any occasion as I need it. Or if I realize I need to drop a card in the mail that day, I can quickly paint one up and send it off.

Recently Read

The Rescue Artist

by Edward Dolnick

An excellent book my husband and I read out loud to each other. We both enjoyed this book.

Perhaps it's not a too recently read, I think we read it over the summer. But it is definitely worth mentioning here!