Tag: Dr. Oto Kano

Thirty Days of Everyday Life, Friday: watercolor techniques

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I watched the next Oto Kano youtube video, 8 Advanced Watercolor Texture Techniques, then tried a few in my journal. The Magic Eraser worked fine. BUT… the bubbles. Oh, the bubbles.

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The blue was my first WET attempt. It soaked through to the other side and left NO bubble shapes. The red was my second, too much paint, attempt.

Next I added too much soap… ugh. I even tried a few drops of glycerin. I don’t know enough about glycerin to even know why I thought that might work, but it was sitting on my table from when I’d used it to mix a pant of white gouache. It didn’t help (surprise!)

I thought I’d sail right through “bubbles”!  Anyway, I did end up with something bubbly looking, and if I try a few more times I think I could get it.

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But… I’m not that interested right now. It’s fun to know it is an option, though. Oto has suggested several other textures I may try, just didn’t today.

(I have to admit, now that I’m looking at them dry, it’s kind of interesting. The paint turned rather opaque in the process!!)

In other news, we met the family at The Bier Garden. YUM! But I didn’t have room to sketch anything from the evening here after the bubble incident, since I’m trying to stick to one page a day. Or since I’m lazy?? Whichever.

How was your Friday?

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Thirty Days of Everyday Life, Thursday, Day 23: Clara gets ponytails!

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Thursday Emmett and Clara spent the day at a doggy spa, getting bathed and groomed. They’ve basically been kicked out of the three previous groomers, because they are huge, and maybe… well… less ‘compliant’ than people would hope. Really, they are just big and strong and exhausting. They adore water but despise baths, go figure. This time, there were no tears (human) when I picked them up, thankfully, but we were asked to schedule them separately next time (which I had suggested in the beginning, but no one ever believes me)

It turns out both dogs decided to pee all over themselves just as the ladies were finishing up their three hour routines… which had actually already taken 5 hours. So, we added another hour. In all honesty, I told her do whatever she needed, seriously just towel off their backsides if necessary, but I guess their work ethic prohibited that.

Anyway… we haven’t been banned, so that’s something. However… they really weren’t trimmed the way I was hoping, either. Don’t misunderstand, they look good… but I had specifically asked if they knew how to trim newfies feet and ears. And they did get a LOT of shedding undercoat off, an impressive amount, but they didn’t trim their ears like I’d hoped. (Still, the dogs feel soft and fluffy, smell good, seemed to enjoy themselves, and we aren’t banned, so I’m calling it a $300 win. Yeah, $300… and that’s not even above the average compared to other groomers… think twice before bringing a newfie into your family. Today we got 3 months of heart worm and flea/tick preventative, and an ear check, and spent $700. Seriously… they are worth every penny but DO CONSIDER FINANCES before bringing a newfoundland home. Be sure this is where you want to invest your time, and your retirement fund. )

Back to the grooming… Clara is a BEAUTIFUL girl, and I’m sorry her sketch looks like this. I’m still trying to figure out how to sketch them. But I had to try to capture the pink ponytails they gave her. So adorable! Very Punky Brewster. (Do you know her???) They lasted only an hour or two.

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By the way, they were weighed at the vet: Emmett is down to 139 WOO-HOO WAY TO GO EMMETT!! And Clara is up to 125 (no comment there, but you look mahvelous dahling) I’m not 100% sure about the scale, because it has weighed low before, and I believed both of them weighed a bit more. But it’s close enough, I guess, and we were really trying for under 140 for Emmett…

I watched this youtube video by Dr Oto Kano, and tried out these basic texture techniques. I’ve used them before but wanted to really focus on the technique.

Dr Oto Kano is an artist I support on Patreon.

This video describes 8 ways to add texture, for the beginner watercolorist… I played with table salt, plastic wrap, a gift card, and made scratches with a needle, and will watch the more advanced video next.

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Sunday/Monday, January 7th and 8th, 2019

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We spent Sunday putting away Christmas decorations… and pared down our collections a LITTLE. Then we took the dogs to Williamsburg for a walk (uh… after bathing Clara, who dipped half her furry body into a HUGE deep mud puddle of her own creation. A newfie bath is not a small challenge) We had trouble in W-burg finding a place to seat us outside. This was odd because it was warm, like 65 degrees, and several restaurants offer seating for people with their dogs. But the crazy restrictions they were suddenly presenting us with!! We ended up frustrated, and just having pizza at home.

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Not much of a sketch, but that’s about all I could handle by pm.

Monday’s most important activity didn’t get recorded in pictures… Emmett and Clara were groomed!! (this doesn’t sound like such a big deal… but last time I took Clara she bulldogged on us and they called me back after 30 minutes to come get her. Bulldogging is our term for when our humongous fur babies decide not to move. What are we gonna do, pick them up? We CAN’T physically do that. So mostly if they decide not to move, they don’t move. (Mark can always get them to move, but I’m sometimes at a loss, and I can’t blame the tiny girls at the doggy place) They also passed their assessments and could then play with all the other dogs for a few hours in group play. They suffered through the grooming and came home happy, clean, and tired. Clara was already missing one new hair bow when we arrived to pick her up. THAT’S what I should have drawn.

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But I didn’t. Monday’s sketch is of the video I watched on youtube on Dr Oto Kano’s channel, comparing 11 different ultramarine watercolors. She always presents some well researched ideas. I really enjoy what I learn from her, and if you are interested in technical aspects of watercolors, beyond “how to paint” videos, you should check out her channel. I’d like one day to have a youtube channel myself! If I ever come up with anything unique to express.

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A new favorite watercolor trio?

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Daniel Smith Quinacridone Lilac

Holbein Marine Blue

Holbein Aureolin

I’ve linked all of the above with the best prices currently on Amazon. (As an Amazon affiliate, if you purchase them through these links instead of searching them, I get a few cents without costing you anything extra. If you aren’t purchasing them soon, however, I suggest you check prices a little, because they do fluctuate)

I was more impressed with each of these, and with the secondary colors they produced, than I expected to be. The blue is really gorgeous. Well, all three are. They are a little more vibrant in person than in this photo.

I’m planning to use these three as my primaries in my current travel set. (Not that I travel much, but there is a local group urban sketching opportunity soon!) The browns were more difficult for me to get, and keep consistent, but I think that was me, not the paints. Once I found them, I liked them quite well. I couldn’t get a good black shade easily, but that also might be me… I did get a gray I liked. In fact, I got a nice purple tinted gray, and a nice blue gray as well. And a sort of ugly-interesting green gray I haven’t decided about.

To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about Holbein in general, but these two are nice. I found these through Dr. Oto Kano’s channel, specifically this video, listing her favorite 8 colors. (Not necessarily all for the same palette, but her favorite colors overall.) I think I also found my paint storage solution from one of her earlier videos. She used a white board, I used pegboard.