Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Travel Palette

With the weather warming up, it is great to have a travel palette. I found this nifty little travel palette it has 18 small wells you can load with lots of colors. I prefer to squeeze my watercolor paints from a tube into the palette, leave it open to let them dry. This takes about a week. This palette, originally called a Hommee palette (I think it has a new name now), is great because the lid hinges and it has a rubber ring around the lid so nothing leaks when latched closed. It also have a removable tray inside the lid. There is plenty of room for mixing colors. This palette, a few brushes, a small water container and some paper is all you need to carry with you to paint on the go.

Butterflies

Butterfly in Violet Blue

by Watercolor Artist Rita Squier

A whimsical butterfly, a 5x7" original watercolor painting.

This fun little expressive butterfly and others can be found in my

Etsy Shop: http://squier.etsy.com

Spring is Here!

Pink Posies Bouquet

by Watercolor Artist Rita Squier

The calendar officially says Spring is here. The sun is shining brightly, it is going to be a gorgeous weekend. Time to open the windows, let the light in and enjoy the inspiration of the season.

http://squier.etsy.com

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Staining Colors & Lifting Dried Colors

Here is a simply way to figure out which colors in your palette are staining colors and which colors are easy to lift. Why is this something you may want to know ahead of time? If you are doing a painting and you make a mistake and you have a created this handy little chart you will know if you should go through the troubles of trying to lift the color out. Some colors do stain the paper and no matter how much time you spend lifting the color, it will not come out. Some colors will lift easily and you will be back to the white of the paper.

For this chart, I created about a 2 inch long swash of each color in my palette. I allowed the paint to completely dry. Then using an old brush and clean water, I scrubbed a small spot on each swatch. One color swash at a time, scrub with the old brush and clean water, blot with a clean dry tissue occasionally. This process can be repeated over and over on each individual color.

You will notice some colors have lifted out completely allowing the white of the paper to show again. Other colors are staining and no matter how many times you repeat the process, the color has sunk into and stained the paper.

Butterflies

Butterfly in Green Blue

by Artist Rita Squier

Simplicity in itself can be an art form. The warming weather has me thinking towards spring time ... flowers, butterflies, birds.

This butterfly watercolor painting is available in my

Etsy Shop: http://squier.etsy.com

Winter Watercolors

Wintertime Snow

by Watercolorist Rita Squier

As winter begins to fade so will the snow. The memories of the fresh wintertime snow, will be just memories until next winter. Ahh, the beauty of fresh fallen snow.

This is a lovely little watercolor the size of a postcard, 4x6" painted on 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper. It is matted in a white museum mat and slipped inside a plastic sleeve. It is ready to frame in a standard 5x7" frame.

Available in my Etsy Shop: http://squier.etsy.com

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Creating Your Own Palette with Tube Paints

Here's a quick tip ... which can be considered to be frugal and save money on watercolor paint. Squeeze fresh from the tube paint into the wells of a watercolor palette. Use a palette knife to stir and level out the paints. Then tap the palette a bunch of times on your table top, to get the bubbles to rise to the top in the more fluid colors. Place your palette in a warm, dry relatively dust free and out of reach of pets place ... such as the top of your refrigerator.

Tube paints allowed to dry in a palette will last longer than using the paint fresh from the tube. There will be less waste. It is super easy to swipe a clean brush filled with water across the top to clean up a dirtied color. If you dirty up color squeezed from the tube, you will need to squeeze more out from the tube if you want fresh clean color. The tube paints dried in your own palette free up easier than pan paints with the swipe of a wet brush or spritz with a little clean water for some brands.

It will take about a week for the paint to dry up and be ready to use, depending on humidity. This way you can create your own palette of colors.

A Little Escape to the ACEO Seaside

Seaside I

by Artist Rita Squier

Wouldn't you just love an escape to the seaside right about now? I know I certainly would.

Not only is this an original watercolor painting but it is also considered an Art Card often times called an ACEO or an ATC.

ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions or Originals. ATC stands for Artist Trading Card. The only requirement for them is the size which is 2.5" x 3.5", the same size as baseball trading cards. They were created for artists to trade amongst each other. Art lovers wanted them too and if they are bought and sold they are considered ACEOs. They are created in pretty much any medium.

All of my ACEOs are original watercolor paintings. This one and more are available in my Etsy Shop: http://squier.etsy.com

Just a warning ... once you buy one, you will want more! It is a great way to purchase a little piece of affordable art and start a collection.

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Layering the Colors in Your Palette

Layering colors is another way to create even more colors with the existing colors in your palette. You can expand the number of colors you have simply by layering them. Layering works best with transparent watercolors. You will have to really water down opaques colors for this process. To layer color, you paint over top of an already dry color. You can use the same color to deepen the color or you can use a different color to create a new color. You can't easily mix a layered color. The bottom color will glow through the top transparent color, this also creates a bit of depth to the color.

I created this chart on a quarter sheet of watercolor paper (11 x 15"). I counted the number of colors, in this palette there are 10. I drew 10 evenly spaced single lines in pencil, leaving some extra space at the bottom of the paper. Then I left a bit of space on the left and drew 10 evenly spaced vertical lines in pencil.

Using a 1/2 inch flat brush and following the pencil line with one edge of the brush, I painted a long straight horizontal line of each clean color. I allowed this to completely dry. Then I repeated the same process with each clean color painting vertical lines overlapping the already dried lines of colors. When this is dry, use an india ink pen or pencil and label each color on the ends. At the intersections of each color you will be able to see the variety of new colors you can create simply by layering the colors in your palette.

Abstract Watercolor Painting

Ink Drips

by Artist Rita Squier

One of the abstract paintings I created in a class I taught on abstract watercolor painting last fall. It was such a fun class!

The painting is 11x15", 140 lb. watercolor paper with artist quality watercolor paints and india ink.

More paintings done in my classes can be seen on my website:

http://rasquier.com/class

Art in the Park

Art Fairs ... Thing of the Past?

Last summer, we signed up for several art fairs ... indoors and out. We created what we thought were esthetically pleasing booths, one for indoors and one for outdoors (as seen here). Yes, it is nerve racking preparing for the first show, worrying about weather for the outdoor shows, but in the end ... it was fun.

As for the shows themselves ... it was great to connect with other artists. It was fun watching the people wander around the art fair. Talking with people who were actually interested in our art was great. However, the overall turn out of visitors seemed to be low. Talking with other artists who have done the shows in the past, they said the turnout was a lot smaller. People seem to be "just browsing". With the shift in the economy from bad to worse, what will this summer bring?

Are art fairs a thing of the past?

I hope not. It is a fantastic way to get people out and about in the fresh air. Take in the sights of creative artisans displaying their wares to the world. Supporting local artists by purchasing goods directly from them. We all have rent to pay in one way or another.

Original fine art is so important to keep alive in our culture today.

For the Love of the Adirondacks

Citrine Forest

by Artist Rita Squier

A beautiful watercolor landscape, inspired by the Adirondack Mountains and lakes in Upstate New York.

The size is 11x15", painted with artist quality watercolor paints on 300 lb. archival, acid free, watercolor paper.

This painting is available for sale.

Punctuation Series ... Continued

Pennies

by Artist Rita Squier

It is more important than ever to save those pennies!

Then spend them on original watercolor paintings!

Find more of my Punctuation Series in my Etsy Shop!

http://squier.etsy.com

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Learn Your Palette - Color Mixing Chart

This chart is an excellent resource to have on hand. It is great for learning how the various colors in your own palette mix and react with each other. It also shows you the numerous colors you can create at a glance. I have created one of these charts for each of my palettes.

On a quarter sheet of watercolor paper (11 x 15") you can easily create a chart for 10 to 14 colors. Count the number of colors in your palette and create a grid that has one extra square across and down. If you have 10 colors in your palette you want your grid to be 11 squares across and 11 squares down. Place an X in the top left square, this square will remain blank. Outside the grid label each color in either rainbow order or the order you have them on your palette starting with the second block. Place a swash of clean color next to the coordinating names. Then mix each color evenly on your palette with each of the other colors and place them accordingly on the grid.

Remember the game Battleship? Plot your course in a similar fashion.

For a 10 color palette, I created a grid 8.25" x 8.25" of 3/4" squares 11 across and 11 squares down. I drew 2" lines for the names of colors. All done in pencil. I also added the brand name of the paint and the type of paper to the bottom corner. I used a 1/2" flat wash brush to mix and paint the colors into the grid. For the 14 color palette, I created a grid 7.5" x 14.75" with the squares being 1/2" high by 3/4" wide.

Love the Orchid

My Orchid 

by Artist Rita Squier 

This orchid of mine, the real one ... is amazing.  Several years ago at Christmas time I had the option of buying myself a poinsettia or an orchid.  I'm not good at getting poinsettia's to re-bloom the following year.  Both plants were the same price.  I opted for the orchid.  It was just starting to bloom at Christmas time and it continued to bloom through September.  Another shoot came up and it bloomed again at Christmas time and the blossoms bloomed again through September.  It has done this for 4 years in a row!  I love this orchid plant!  

I used my own photo of my orchid in one of my watercolor painting classes.  We didn't worry about the background, we only focused on painting the flower.  Yes, painting flowers is hard, but well worth it! 

Punctuation Series, Part Two

Wow! 

by Artist Rita Squier 

An exclamation point in blue, green and yellow.

Simply fun.  

I just had to share another one of my paintings from my Punctuation Series.

Have a great day!

Punctuation Series

Question Please

by Artist Rita Squier 

A whimsical idea of a Punctuation Series popped into my head the other day.  So I decided to start on it right away.  I now have a variety of series going on all at once to keep me busy.  Question Please a yellowy-orange question mark is done on 5x7" 140 lb. watercolor paper.  This series is fun to create! 

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Choosing Colors

Choosing colors for your watercolor palette can be fun for some and frustrating for others.  Keep it simple.  A warm and a cool of each of the primary colors, plus 2 neutrals and 2 hard to mix colors green and purple.

For my classes, I suggest starting out with 10 colors: 

Warm Red - Crimson Lake

Cool Red - Primary Red Magenta

Warm Yellow - Indian Yellow

Cool Yellow - Permanent Yellow Lemon

Warm Blue - Ultramarine Blue Deep

Cool Blue - Primary Blue Cyan

Two Neutrals - Burnt Sienna & Payne's Grey

Purple - Permanent Violet Bluish

Green - Permanent Green Deep

The brand of paint I use for my classes is MaimeriBlu, an Italian superior artist quality paint.  Most of the colors are transparent.  Two are semi-transparent and also sedimentary, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue deep.  Different brands may have slightly different names for colors.  Plus colors with the same name may appear and act differently in the various brands.

My Valentine

The Valentine for My Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day!

http://rasquier.com

Postcard Sized Art

Pretty Little 4x6" Works of Art

I have painted a bunch of small watercolors in the 4x6" size.  The size of your standard postcard.  I think I read somewhere, there is a specific term for this size art.  I can't remember the term and never realized there was a specific category for it.  

I also learned a new trick today.  How to capture a screen shot.  So, here is a quick screen shot of the Original Watercolor 4x6" Section of my Etsy Shop!  

The silly little things that can bring a smile to your face! :)

Watercolor Flowers

Lovely Little Floral 

by Rita Squier

Just a little something to brighten up your day!

Original watercolor painting,  4x6" and matted to fit a standard 5x7" frame.  

 Lovely Little Floral and others too ...

are available in My Etsy Shop: http://squier.etsy.com 

Have a wonderful day!