Artistnetwork.tv

Watercolor Landscaping

/ Jodi / 59 Comments
monochromatic-fall-landscape-raw-and-burnt-sienna-quin-gold-10x12-300lb-fabriano-artistico

monochromatic-fall-landscape-raw-and-burnt-sienna-quin-gold-10×12-300lb-fabriano-artistico

I have really grown to have great respect for landscape, seascape, naturescape, and plein air watercolor artists!  I find these scenes very challenging, but often get the itch to try.

Most attempts have been less than stellar, but I keep trying.

One of my favorite watercolor artist bloggers, Debi Riley, recently shared a simple monochromatic landscape that was so striking in a blog post she called, “Start Easy (and don’t poke the bear).  I had to give it a try.

I mainly used Raw Sienna in various tones using the simple design Debi created.  I couldn’t resist adding a bit of Burnt Sienna and Quinacridone Gold and having it resemble Autumn (with some falling leaves made from my unavoidable “Jodi splatters,” but this was a great step  in building landscape confidence.

Doing this one gave me the confidence to give landscape another try.

This time I followed the style and tutelage of Terry Harrison, an amazing watercolor artist from the UK I recently discovered through the ArtistNetwork.tv site.

Country Lane Late Summer Landscape Watercolor 11x14 Artistico

Country Lane Late Summer Landscape Watercolor 11×14 Artistico

I had fun painting the rolling hills and trying a different way with trees using more of a stippling effect.  I really didn’t have the right  brush and subbed a scrubber instead – not quite the effect I wanted, but confidence-building nonetheless.  I am fascinated with what a difference adding shadows makes too.

I may not be a pro at this yet, but I am up for the challenge, and I am going to keep on landscaping!  Watercolor that is.  I’ll leave the tree pruning, mulching, and grass-cutting to hubby.  As long as I provide a cold iced tea every once in a while, there are cookies in the freezer, and I bake a pie now and then, I think I can get away with it…

Happy Landscaping – whichever kind you prefer!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

 

Pink Flamingo

/ Jodi / 65 Comments
Pink Flamingo Watercolor 8x10

Pink Flamingo Watercolor 8×10

Happy #DrawABirdDay!

On the 8th day of every month, many of my fellow artistic blogging friends and I enjoy sharing our drawings and paintings of birds.  Thanks Laura at CreateArtEveryDay for hosting!

I painted this pink flamingo a week or so ago and have been saving it to share for today.  I have to admit, I think this is my favorite watercolor painting I’ve done to date.

And I have to thank Laura again for calling my attention to a tutorial on the Artist Network done by one of my favorite watercolor artists, Jean Haines, who inspired this flamingo.

I just couldn’t wait to see what it looked like framed.  Doesn’t it make such a difference to see it matted and framed?

pink flamingo 2 original watercolor 8x10 matted and framed to 11x14

Pink Flamingo in Watercolor -8×10 matted and framed 11×14

I also thought it would make beautiful note cards, so I printed some up for our McKinneyX2Designs Etsy shop.

pink flamingo 2 watercolor card set

Pink Flamingo Watercolor Card Set

I love pink….
I love birds….
I love watercolor…
So creating this painting was pure joy for me.

Wishing you a day filled with joy and love and moments to cherish!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Paint

My Watercolor Journey

/ Jodi / 63 Comments

Capture

 

I really enjoyed watching a watercolor blending and shadowing tutorial recently on ArtistNetwork.TV by Sterling Edwards.  For someone who never studied art or even took a high school art class, what a great way to learn this is!

After experimenting and playing with watercolor for a about a year so far now, I still have so much to learn, and I learn something new every time I watch a video, read a blog or book, or chat with other artists.  (Charlie O – did you catch that?  I said “other” artists 🙂 )

At the recommendation of my artist blogging buddy, Laura @ CreateArtEveryday, I checked out ArtistNetwork.TV mainly with the goal of watching some great abstract pastel videos by Debora Stewart (and wowza – did she ever blow me away!).  I was then compelled to check out some watercolor videos when I came across a great exercise in color blending and shadowing called Color Techniques for Expressive Watercolors by Sterling Edwards.

In the above exercise, I did a quick sketch of the two old barn-type buildings on a 10″ x 12″ sheet of Arches 140 lb Cold Press Paper.  Then, in about 20 minutes using only four colors of watercolor paint, (Raw Sienna, Windsor Violet, Azo Yellow, and Cobalt Blue), I  blended these colors to create many shades of colors (a yellow and purple to make brown, various combos of yellows and blue to make greens, dropping in purple onto the newly created brown to create depth!) and shadowy neutrals for this simple scene.

I feel like you can really see the light and life in this painting.  It’s certainly not perfect and was only meant to be a practice, but I rather like how it turned out and really learned a lot about blending, creating neutrals, working with a flat brush, and the all important white space.

If you are looking for a way to self-learn, I surely recommend ArtistNetwork.TV.  I watched the tutorial one evening and did the painting the next.  I can’t wait to find time to watch and learn more!  Does anyone else wish there were more hours in the day to do all the fun things we want to do?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi