Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

The Pitt Pen

For my pen and ink watercolors, I always use a Faber Castell's Pitt Artist Pen. It is an india ink pen which is also waterproof.

Waterproof is important when drawing with ink and then painting in watercolor over the top. If your ink is not waterproof when dry it will bleed and look messy.

The Pitt Pens can be purchased as a set or purchased individually. They also come in different sized pen nibs:

S - Super Fine

F - Fine

M - Medium

B - Brush Tip

Rural New York

Seen Better Days

by Michael Squier

Original Watercolor with Pen and Ink

Size: 11 x 15 inch

I have been teaching watercolor painting classes for a number of years now. After a few years of teaching, my husband started taking my classes. He enjoys sketching old barns in india ink and coloring them with watercolors.

We do a lot of traveling to and from the Adirondacks. One day instead of taking the thruway, we decided to set our GPS to shortest route to see where the roads would take us. Instead of a 3 hour drive, I think it took us 7 hours. Joining us on this adventure in the backseat of our convertible were our dog and cat. They too, thankfully, enjoyed the ride. We travelled through rural upstate New York. It is beautiful farm country. I took tons of photos of beautiful scenery, mainly farms. It is amazing the sites you miss by traveling the highways. Upstate New York is filled with tons of farms. Many of which have seen better days, including the one shown here in this watercolor painting. Seeing the sites of these farms, makes one think. You really should support your local farmers by purchasing locally grown produce and products they offer from honey, to syrup, to wool and more.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Pen and Ink and Watercolor

When drawing with pen and coloring with watercolor it is important to use a waterproof, bleed-proof, india ink pen. I like to use Faber Castell's Artist Pitt Pen. I draw the image first, wait a few minutes for the ink to completely dry and then paint in the colors. Another key is to use transparent watercolors. If you use opaque colors chances are you will cover up the ink lines.

1. Draw first with india ink.

2. Paint with transparent watercolors.

Simple as that and makes a cute little painting. Don't worry about filling in every inch of paper with the paint because that adds to the character of watercolor and ink.

Simplicity

Daisy Sketch

by Rita A. Squier

2.5 x 3.5 inch

Art Card

Watercolor, Pen & Ink

Sometimes you just need a little simplicity in life!