Tag: direct watercolor

Poppies! and other pretty watercolor stuff 3/29/19

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I keep coming back to this “type” of sketch… obviously my favorite, what I think I do best, and most comfortable to me. I will be taking a watercolor class in April to try to strengthen my ability to do looser paintings, without ink or pencil, but I imagine this type is actually “me”.

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A. Gallo watercolor, Fabriano 100% cotton paper 140 lb, uniball deluxe micro pen

I love these poppies! I’d frame them, but this is actually for a watercolor swap, so I’ll have to do another for myself! My partner is new to watercolor, and I wanted to show her several different ways of painting. So I also did this leaf on a notecard for her, painted directly:

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and this little notecard (I used some stickers for inspiration!):

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None of these required pencil sketches first, they are all pretty basic.

Which do you like the best?

Spring Tulip 3/20/19, and da Vinci Quill Brushes

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This is direct watercolor using A. Gallo watercolor paint on Arches 100% cotton cold press paper (in the book I made in a previous post), using one of my new favorite brushes, the da Vinci Casaneo Quill Brush, size 2. (This is an Amazon affiliate link, and I get rewarded (a little!) if you purchase through this link, without it costing you more… but shop around! I haven’t checked prices on these elsewhere recently. It is $29 right now, but I only paid $21 a few weeks ago… maybe try to wait out a price decrease?)

 

Quill brushes are sized differently than round brushes (though both are round!) and a 2 quill is maybe like a 6 or 7 round brush. A pretty convenient size. The brush is soft, keeps a beautiful thin tip, holds a ton of water, and this one snaps back nicely. It is actually made from synthetic fibers, and I was surprised by the water it holds. … the brush head itself isn’t as long as I thought it would be. I wonder if that explains the snap back that it has? So far i have enjoyed it immensely, and love the size 0 I got just as much.

This afternoon, I was reading this blog post by a friend of mine, Chandra, from Swap-bot, … She takes beautiful photographs, and always has such thoughtful things to share. I was inspired to try painting one of her tulips tonight. Ok, it turned into something very different, but it’s all good practice! If it looks unfinished to you… that’s because I don’t really know what I’m doing yet. I’m more comfortable sketching in ink, and filling in.

Happy first day of Spring! Go paint a tulip or something anyway!

🙂

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