Secret weapons...

So many people have asked me "how" I make my watercolors

that I've decided to make a nice and long post about it
and share it with all of you.
My "secrets" to nice & bright watercolor paintings:

::WATERCOLORS::
I buy Cotman Watercolors in a tube by Windsor & Newton.

These are the 12 colors I use
(I buy them separately, not in a set):

-Turquoise 654
-Cobalt Blue Hue 179
-Prussian Blue 538
-Indigo 322
-Permanent Rose 502
-Cadmium Red Hue 095
-Cadmium Orange 089
-Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue 119
-Yellow Ochre 744
-Burnt Umber 076
-Ivory Black 331
-Chinese White 150

::PAPER::
-Acquarello Watercolor Artistico Extra White
(extra white makes colors look brighter)
100% Cotton (Grana Satinada, Hot pressed) by Fabriano
You can buy it here.
or
Aquarelle Fontenay 100% Cotton
(Fine Grain, Cold Pressed) By Canson.

I buy these in blocks because
I like the fact that the block is glued
on 4 sides and it prevents the paper from warping
from the humidity of the watercolor.
It does warp a little but if you let it dry completely
on the block before ripping the page out
it straightens back again perfectly.

::HOW::
First, I sketch, then when I'm happy with my design
I draw it with a very sharp extra hard pencil (a 6H usually)
directly on my watercolor paper.

I keep my watercolors
on a plastic palette like the one shown above.

Then I start to color in the lines with my watercolors.
I use synthetic round pointed brushes, these are
really good.

I never took a watercolor class...
I'm pretty sure that helped me develop
my own style of painting.
I'm totally enamored with this medium.
I also paint with oils but watercolors are my favorite
and what I'm most comfortable with.

My collages are made with my own images,
usually discarted watercolors
that I cut up and paste or old journal pages.
(yes, I do actually cut them up)

Hope this helps anyone
that wants to give watercolors a try
& inspires you to get creative!
Thank you for all your lovely comments on my work,
it's really a pleasure to share it with you guys :o)
Oh!, the illo I made for this post was made with ink,
watercolors and a photo
of my trusty palette.

Down under...

This is a little experiment.
I'm drawing with a soft No.2 pencil (I usually work with a very hard 6H pencil),
coloring all the different elements with watercolor
and giving the whole drawing a watercolor wash
with the background color (in this case: turquoise mixed with white).
I'm loving that as I apply the background wash it picks up a little of the watercolor
from the different elements and the colors mix up a little.
Did that make any sense?

Watercolor Box

Vintage English watercolor box.
A wonderful & thoughtful gift from my lovely friend Julia.

Goldfish on Kraft

I did a little experiment today.
I used some kraft paper instead of my usual
watercolor paper and drew the little fishy
with a nib and my white acrylic ink,
then gave it a wash in watercolor
and this is the result.
I've always been a HUGE fan of kraft paper
and I think I'll be doing
lots more drawings on it
from now on.

Plumeria

I went with Manolo to buy some things from a little hardware store near here
yesterday afternoon and there was the most beautiful Red Plumeria tree in bloom
just outside the shop. I brought a couple of buds home and made a quick watercolor sketch with a dark navy background on my new hand●book journal.

Peacock Tree

Peek at a new watercolor I'm working on.
I made the pencil drawing today.

I'll watercolor it later tonight.
I always feel a compulsion to paint
when it's raining outside,
the grayer the day the better.
What kind of day inspires you to paint?

Watercolor...done!

9 x 7 inches.
Watercolor & acrylic inks
on Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed paper.

Tea Party

I was inspired this morning to do a little experiment
and printed an old ledger page image onto a sheet of beautiful handmade Twinrocker paper & then used tea to dye it before painting this bird with the flowers.
I recently treated myself to a new watercolor set!
I got a Schmincke Horadam Aquarell set with 48 half pans
and I've been so inspired by my new color palette.
I had been using the same Cotman tubes for 15 years
and it was really great to make a change.
Tea, watercolor & acrylic ink on paper. 6" x 8"

You Are a Part of Me 5/5

Last one in the series. Watercolor and acrylic ink on paper. 5"x7"

There are five new prints @ my Etsy shop including
my favorite three of the series "You Are a Part of Me"

This new watercolor/collage and a few more originals will be up for sale at my
BigCartel shop this afternoon at 5 PM Central Standard Time.

You Are a Part of Me 2/5

Watercolor & acrylic ink on 5" x 7" handmade Saint-Armand paper.

My beautiful watercolor set. Schmincke Horadam Aquarell metal box with 48 half pans.

Fee Fi Faux Fun

Had lots of fun today making a faux butterfly specimen box

with watercolor, paper, bookboard and a couple of pins.

A perfect addition to our school/studio shelves :)
The beautiful paper-mache bird is by my friend Gustavo Aimar

First watercolor of 2009

I had not touched my watercolors
in almost four weeks!
I bought a Sennelier panoramic format
watercolor paper block
that I really liked at Dick Blick.
The paper measures roughly
9 x 4 inches.

Moths & Butterflies

A match box sized collection of some of the winged creatures
I've painted over the years & a new watercolor specimen.
I ♥ Lepidopterans

New Surface

As you've probably noticed I love trying out new things. 

This morning I used an aquabord panel instead of my usual watercolor paper 

to paint a bird on a cactus. I'm still unsure if I like it as much as I do paper, but I do like that it doesn't need to be framed to be displayed. I bought a whole bunch of panels during our recent visit to the Dick Blick art store in San Diego.

El Maguey

This is the handmade Twinrocker watercolor sheet I dyed with green tea.
Watercolor & acrylic ink. 6" x 8"
The colors are a little more subtle than the last one I did.
The dyeing process was really easy,
I just made a batch of really concentrated tea
and submerged the sheet while the tea was still hot and left it there
for approx. 30 minutes. I took it out, sandwiched it between two paper towels and left it there to dry for an hour or so. Same with the coffee.
It's going to be very hard for me to go back to plain old white paper now :)
Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Big Bird

Largest one I've painted yet. Watercolor on 640 grs. Aquarelle Arches paper.
22" x 32" One of the most luxurious papers I've ever used. Largest one I've painted yet. Watercolor on 640 grs. Aquarelle Arches paper. 22" x 32" One of the most luxurious papers I've ever used. The company has been around for over 500 years!
I can't believe I had never used it before.

Finding Inspiration

First watercolor of 2011! Inspired by our trip downtown.
Watercolor & acrylic ink on Twinrocker paper. 6" x 8"

Playing around with my lentils while picking for little stones.
They really are my favorite food :)
I'm curious...what's your all time favorite food?
***I also LOVE this L-O-V-E by Dawn

Dreamer

Watercolor, acrylic ink & collage on Saint-Armand paper. 11 x 15 inches.
I painted the feathers on watercolor paper
and used my super sharp Fiskars scissors to cut the barbs.
Inspired by the Dream Catcher I made this week.

Bible verse of the week: Psalm 98:7-8

Watercolor and acrylic ink on Fabriano watercolor paper.
Click on the image to see it BIGGER.

This week's Bible verse
was chosen by my good friend Oliver

We have created a Flickr Group
in case anyone out there wants to join us or leave a comment :)

I get to choose next week's verse: Psalm 19:1
Have a wonderful and creative week!

Illustration Friday: QUIET

This little birdy
is quietly enjoying the beauty
of the night sky...

Watercolor on paper.

I'm posting this
for STUDIO FRIDAY as well,
this weeks theme is:
"Toot your own horn!" ...time to show off our work,
so I'll make some quiet noise here and share my watercolor art.
Have a wonderful and creative weekend everyone
and thank you for visiting!