Just add Water, Silly.: Sunset In Nanaimo

Well, I'm trying to finish my SBS homework from Prashant's class last week. I've gotten a little behind because of an ongoing family crisis. Actually, it's been interesting to do art through worry. I always wished I'd experience the calming effect that many get from art. I know Danny Gregory talks of that in his books. I wanted to find that peace. It seems I have, continuing to work on homework through the last week helped keep my stress level lower. I'm surprised that just three weeks of classes has changed the kind of artist I am, the way I approach art and the enjoyment I extract from the art I do.

I was supposed to do a sky painting a day for five days. I just couldn't fit that in but I did work on learning about watercolor and the movement of water and I got this sunset done. It's out on the Sound in Nanaimo. I learned that I need another, darker, blue in my palette and that I can make an adequate turquoise using Ultramarine and Viridian. I do love learning. :o)

After I finished the painting, I used the opposite page and wrote down what exactly I did. I'm using this Zeta Stillmann & Birn sketchbook exclusively to learn all about watercolors. Here, I realize the water needs to be darker but I also knew that adding too much black to the ultramarine would muddy it too much and not give the effect I wanted. So, my travel palette will need a darker blue, hopefully one that works better with my reds (cad. red, alia crimson) and opera pink to make an adequate purple. We'll see, this is what all the learning is about. Time consuming but so cool to finally know that at the end I won't be so darn hit and miss with watercolors.

Today, I was working on learning a new technique. I saw in one of the teachers' sketchbook that they used grey paper, then painted in white gauche over the grey paper, using the paper as the shadow. Such a cool look, but I wasn't sure I could pull it off. I started by painting a page in my Moleskine using Payne's grey, one of my favorite greys. I wanted to draw up my dream car. I've wanted a Volkswagon Beetle convertible for years so I jumped in and tried the technique. It was interesting and fulfilling to actually get it to work. I used more Payne's grey to darken the shadows and black for the darker parts. I decided to go with the Sharpie water-based white pen to make the highlights and it worked PERFECTLY. Such a great pen! Then, I used a new technique from this week's class by Jane LaFazio. She instructed us in composition and we were shown how frames can really improve a page. I've found that both adding some writing to a page and/or adding a frame to a page can totally transform it. In fact, I've gone through my previous sketchbook pages in both Moleskines and added frames and words to emphasize a drawing. Here's my Bug!

Well, that's it for today, I'll be back soon with another painting in my Moleskine. Actually, I'm working on this week's homework, all about food, composition, frames and positioning to improve the look of your art, lol. Did I mention, I LOVE Sketchbook Skool?? In fact, you'd have to call me a groupie, I actually bought a mug from the SBS Zazzle store. I think I need therapy!! Hehehehe.

I'm going for a coffee, wanna join me? One lump or two?? Talk later, K? Good!
Best,