In the Country

 

 

This was supposed to be done for World Watercolor Month, July 25 "Farm Life" but I didn't get it done in time. It could also qualify for the prompt on July 27 "Clouds in the Sky" which was yesterday. I guess I'm a day late for that one too. I was supposed to try to get looser, but I don't seem to be getting there. I did this in a small sketch book (5x8) because it was supposed to be just a sketch. I kind of overworked it in places, but it didn't turn out too bad. I almost gave up half way through. I recommend watching Jenny Moed Korpela's summary of all thirty paintings that she did for 30x30 Direct Watercolor for June in which she advises not giving up:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtwI-jf3FTE&t=1639s

Beach Bicycle

This was supposed to be for Monday's prompt on World Watercolor Month, "On the Beach." Lesson learned: If you are not sure of your placement of an object don't use the darkest color you have. I messed up the perspective on the black wheel of the bicycle and I had to make some repairs. I hope they aren't too bad.

Peturnias

I was going to try to do the World Watercolor Month challenge, but I did this July 7 and I think it qualifies for yesterday's prompt, Beautiful Blooms. I need to practice doing flowers a little more. I don't think I got enough contrast in the lighting either. But here goes anyway:

Just Peachy

Here are the peaches I did for the watercolor challenge #30x30Watercolor2018. I got 58 likes which was very encouraging.

I Think I'm Back

I think I'm back to painting again. I took a rather circuitous route to get there. I had cataract surgery in October of 2016, but it took about  a year to adjust to my "new" eyes. I had some reaction to the surgery (macular edema) that took six or seven months to clear up and then I had to adjust to new glasses. I can't see really up close like I used to, but my distance vision is good (with glasses) and colors are spectacular. That's what got me enthusiastic again. I did a lot of perusing on You Tube to keep me distracted while I was recovering and discovered "Junk Journaling." I think it was the color that sucked me in--in addition to an attic full of "junk" that I could use for journaling. Then I did some bullet journaling which led me to decorate a planner that I custom designed for my use.  While searching for videos on You Tube, I ran across videos for watercolors. So I started doing watercolors again. Through some art groups on Facebook, I found out about a 30 day challenge for watercolorists. I didn't do the whole 30 days, but it did get me started--along with a sample set of Daniel Smith watercolors. ( 238 colors on dot cards which are so much fun to test.) However, I think I started out with using my watercolor pencils first. I have several different brand sets and I wanted to see what the difference was between them. So I did an apple sketch eight times with each different set. Here they are:

 

 





 The last apple was done with watercolor markers. I didn't like them. But I did learn the value of painting the same thing over and over again. It is good practice. I did a pair of peaches for the watercolor challenge which turned out pretty good because I had practiced the apple sketches--round fruit.