Reviving the Strathmore Class--Free! (Lesson 3)

Reviving the Strathmore Class--Free! (Lesson 3)

Hi all...years ago (2012! Time flies!), Strathmore Papers asked me if I'd be one of the artists in their series of free workshops, and of course I agreed!  Watercolor Sketching is one of my favorite things.

There's little enough I can do to help those who are housebound, self-isolating, social distancing or quarantined, I think now is a good time to make the class easily available again, so for the next few days I'm going to link to one of the 4 lessons...

By the way, I LOVE referring to our social distancing as being "artists-in-residence!" 

So, HERE is Lesson 3--this one's on 3 different ways to work with watercolor, direct application with no underdrawing, one with a pencil guidelines, and one an ink drawing with washes over--two different approaches.  There's no one right way to work, explore and choose whichever fits your vision for the subject.

I just did a light pencil underdrawing on this one of my husband reading one of our favorite books...

For this one, I worked very slowly to add the pattern in the carpet, no underdrawing...fun!

(I'm sorry I can't find the original art that I used in the videos, but I'm hoping the ones I find to share here will be inspiration enough to get you started!)

And don't forget, I have a LOT of free how-to videos on my YouTube channel...there will be more available in the coming weeks. https://www.youtube.com/user/KateJosTube

Reviving the Strathmore Class--Free!

Hi all...years ago (2012! Time flies!), Strathmore Papers asked me if I'd be one of the artists in their series of free workshops, and of course I agreed!  Watercolor Sketching is one of my favorite things.

There's little enough I can do to help those who are housebound, self-isolating, social distancing or quarantined, I think now is a good time to make the class easily available again, so for the next few days I'm going to link to one of the 4 lessons...

My beloved old Prang paintbox, with my own colors added...

They're all on my YouTube channel, of course, and you may have seen them already, but this may make them easier to find!  Who's got time for all the searching?  (Oh, wait, maybe we do, just now!)

The first lesson is HERE. And I hope you enjoy it...it's on Getting Started.

I have no idea where the original art is on my computer, the search function didn't help, so I'll include a few pertinent images that you may find helpful!

These are the colors I most often use, though seldom have sap green in my kit any more...

I love making up my own paintboxes!  It can be really simple--as you can see, this is pretty much the primaries plus Burnt Sienna and Indigo...and you can make literally dozens of mixtures.

Have fun, all!

And don't forget, I have a LOT of free how-to videos on my YouTube channel...there will be more available in the coming weeks. https://www.youtube.com/user/KateJosTube 

Lighten up!

I find that over and over I try to simplify my gear and lighten my load--and since I want to be prepared for almost any sketching contingency, it's not that easy! 

Recently I've been exploring the fun little Pocket Palettes from Expeditionary Arts--and Maria Coryell-Martin keeps refining and offering new types, formats, and kits!  Check out her "toolkit" page at the link...

Here you see the original palette on the left and a newer model with a brushed steel case (I think she's offering a traditional black one now too, but I didn't see it on the page.)

I know it's silly, but I'll keep carrying the original shiny one because sometimes a girl just needs a mirror...or a signaling device...or...and the little bag it comes in protects the finish!

The very first ones had small pans, like those on the right in the filled palette, but many of us like to work with a larger brush, so Maria added the square pans.  Perfect! 

Two Original California ACEOs in watercolor

Two original watercolor ACEOS by Cathy Johnson.

Choose one or both--they'd make a wonderful set, displayed together.
All are of San Francisco's Ocean Beach one perfect autumn day.

I was asked to speak at the Sierra Club's first international gathering in 2005; it was exciting and wonderful, and afterward, breathing a huge sigh of relief, we went to the ocean and played like children in the surf.

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ACEOs are a fairly new phenomenon, but I've been fascinated by these tiny paintings for several years. Because of their small size and affordability, I've been able to own original paintings from several artists whose work I admire a great deal.

ATCs are artist trading cards, and that's how the movement started out--but many people who were not artists wanted to collect these little jewels, too. So ACEOs were born--still the size of a playing card, but "artist cards, editions and originals"
were created to meet this need.

Some ACEOs are prints and some are tiny original works of art, as are these.

(To appreciate the detail, click on the images to see them even larger-than-life--on your screen they will look larger than they do in reality.)

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I had to laugh at this one--all along the beach are signs saying "dogs must be kept on a leash." Here's yet another dog who can't read!

"Beach Walk"
ORIGINAL watercolor
on archival paper
3.5 x 2.5 inches

The boy and his dog were so free...I loved watching them.

"Beach Walk"
$20

Can't you just hear the gulls calling? The headlands are soft with a fog off the ocean; the sound of waves pounds the short. It's primal...


"Pacific Dreaming"

$20

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People are collecting and displaying these tiny paintings in ingenious ways--framed and grouped together, piled in baskets, in scrapbooks--however they want!

I hope the idea allows you to own an original work of art--get your feet wet...

They will come to you in sturdy, protective sleeves for mailing, and of course I will be happy to combine shipping for more than one purchase!

"Tryst Falls"--a plein air watercolor

"Tryst Falls"
 A Plein Air Watercolor on Archival Paper
9" x 12"

Painting on the spot offers many delights and challenges. Beauty is all around us, filling our eyes and souls, singing its siren song--"paint me if you dare"! Details crowd around us, clamoring for attention; the light changes rapidly. The wind picks up, or dies and suddenly we're hot!

I love the challenge, and some of my favorite paintings have been done on the spot--and sometimes I'm just not quite happy with what I've done. Just because you've started a painting on the spot doesn't mean it's set in stone and Must Not Be Touched. Satisfaction in the end result can be important, too.

I often put a painting aside for a few hours...or days...or weeks. If I'm still happy with it, that's marvelous! If not--by then I can usually tell what I need to do to come closer to what I responded to originally.

In this case the waterfall was glorious--sparkling, roaring, moving with energy that could move mountains--but my original painting was overdone and dull. I washed back the edges to form a vignette and focus the eye on the waterfall (as you can see in my art tip #93!), and added more color for a lively sparkle.

I featured this painting on a recent art tip on fixing watercolors--you can find it on my website at http://cathyjohnson.info, at upper left. (If you're not already getting my Art Tip announcement newsletter, you can sign up there, too--we're up to Tip # 100, believe it or not!)

This is one of my favorite places to paint--I've done many of the falls and environs, and have yet to be bored...

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Mini-demo

I used a combination of techniques for the waterfall itself--liquid mask, painting around, and lifting the mist at the left with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and clear water.  Make sure to blot away the loosened pigment quickly!


Here, you can see I used a bit more scratching, with a sharp craft knife to give a bit of sparkle.  You'll want to use a good strong paper if you plan to do much lifting or scratching...


I used the Mr. Clean eraser, which is actually a fine-grained manmade sponge found in the household cleaning department of your grocery or discount store, to make a softened vignette effect on the final painting.  It draws the viewer's eye into the center of interest, where I kept the lightest and darkest areas, as well as the most detail and action.

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This painting is offered unmatted and unframed to keep costs down. It will come to you carefully wrapped via Priority Mail, in the US. Insurance included in the shipping cost

$250

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I love painting on the spot; it's always a challenge, and I see things I can't, in a photograph. I share some of my love for this kind of work on my CD that was done mostly in the Shenandoah Valley, where my husband used to live.

I'm glad I captured some of that spectacular scenery, and the wonderful memories...

 

It's $15.99 + shipping, if you'd like to explore the wonders of painting on the spot--or of the Shenandoah Valley!

Cooley Lake Sunset, plein air

"Cooley Lake Sunset" a plein air landscape 9" x 12" Watercolor on cold press paper Sunset at the lake is pure magic, even in winter. I worked from my car in the rapidly chilling air as I watched the resident Canada geese come in for the night, chatting companionably to one another. Cooley Lake is an old oxbow of the Missouri River, slowly succumbing to the inevitable eutrophication process of filling in with mud and decaying plant matter, becoming ever shallower. It is a Missouri Department of Conservation natural area, now, and open to the public, a lovely place to watch birds, butterflies, and other wildlife, and spend time with your sketchbook or paints. I chose prismatic colors the capture the chilly winter light, and worked very fast--darkness comes so early in midwinter! ----------------------------------

Mini-Demo

Sometimes you don't want to take time for resists to protect the lightest areas in a painting; when the light is changing so rapidly it just was not an option, so I painted around the sun's path on the water, using a bit of drybrush work to enhance the illusion of the sparkle of light on water. A few "ripples" added with a darker gray-blue and a small round brush reinforced the feeling of the still water. You can see the prismatic color, above--I used mostly yellow ochre, cobalt blue, permanent rose, and a touch of granulating manganese blue hue. I was careful to preserve believable lights in the distant pools, as well, painting in the shape of the land once the first washes were completely dry.

A small round brush used barely wet with color and just skimmed over the surface of the paper suggested the bare trees in the distance, while wet-in-wet worked to capture the warmer distant shore.

----------------------------- This sketch will come to you unmatted and unframed for ease of shipping; I wrap with care and send via Priority Mail for most dependable shipping. $155  

Autumn ACEOs

Three Autumn ACEOS
2 1/2" x 3 1/2"
watercolor on cold pressed archival paper

Take one or choose them all--they work together as a set, but each one will stand alone, as well. Of course I will be happy to combine shipping if you want the set!

Note: Silhouettes is SOLD...

"The Watcher" peers out from between the grass stems--wary, or simply curious?

SOLD

"The Watcher"

"Silhouettes" explores the grace and variety of grasses in late fall and winter.

"Silhouettes" (this one SOLD, and thank you!)

"Brother Crow" appears aloof, but come a step closer and he's OFF!

"Brother Crow"

SOLD
$25

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I've been fascinated by the tiny paintings called ACEOs for several years, and because of their small size and affordability, have been able to own original paintings from several artists whose work I admire a great deal.

ATCs are artist trading cards, and that's how the phenomenon started out--but many people who were not artists wanted to collect these little jewels, too. So ACEOs were born--still the size of a playing card, but "artist cards, editions and originals" to meet this need. Some ACEOs are prints and some are still original, as are these.

People are collecting and displaying these tiny paintings in ingenious ways--framed and grouped together, piled in baskets, in scrapbooks--however they want!

I hope the idea allows you to own an original work of art--get your feet wet...

Three Winter Night ACEOs--SOLD

ORIGINAL

watercolor on gessoed paper
3.5 x 2.5 inches

That was fast! All three of these are going to a good home, to be displayed together. Thank you!

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I was experimenting with painting with watercolor on paper treated with gesso--it makes a beautifully malleable surface and creates effects not possible any other way. I've used a variation on this technique for decades--it's exciting, unpredictable, and allows a great deal of lifting and restating. I did a large painting with this technique for my latest book, and this little card-size painting just for the experience.

I had prepared two sheets of good watercolor paper by slathering it with gesso, with loose, random strokes to encourage a variety of textures, even patting it with my hand here and there while it was still wet. Once the gesso dried, I painted over both sheets with watercolor, which sits on the surface and makes wonderfully interesting textures. I used one sheet for the larger painting in the book, and found particularly interesting passages that would make good backgrounds for the ACEOs. I cut them to size, then painted the tiny landscapes on them, lifting where necessary and flooding in the cadmium orange on the one with the owl.

A great exercise for the imagination!

----------------

I've been fascinated by these tiny paintings for several years, and because of their small size and affordability, have been able to own original paintings from several artists whose work I admire a great deal.

ATCs are artist trading cards, and that's how the phenomenon started out--but many people who were not artists wanted to collect these little jewels, too. So ACEOs were born--still the size of a playing card, but "artist cards, editions and originals" to meet this need. Some ACEOs are prints and some are still original, as is this one.

People are collecting and displaying these tiny paintings in ingenious ways--framed and grouped together, piled in baskets, in scrapbooks--however they want!

I hope the idea allows you to own an original work of art--get your feet wet...

And again, a huge thank you to my buyer, whose excitement and enthusiasm are contagious!

Watkins Mill Sunday--plein air sketch

Detail, below...

"Watkins Mill Sunday" 9" x 12" a plein air sketch watercolor and Prismacolor pencil on cold pressed paper

I love painting quick, fresh washes over a colored pencil sketch! I did this one as part of a series at Watkins Mill State Historic Park, on a hot summer day. We don't often see sailboats on the lake, so it was a real treat to watch this one skim silently over the water. I think the pale waves and simple reflections really suggest the heat of this particular summer--it was often in the 90s or low 100s when I'd finally give up painting and go back to the AC!

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This sketch will come to you double-matted but unframed for ease of shipping; I wrap with care and send via Priority Mail for most dependable shipping. $50  

Cooley Lake House--originally in The Artist's Magazine

"Cooley Lake House" 9" x 12" watercolor on cold pressed paper

Did you ever have one of those times when everything just went right--things fell into place, your tools behaved as you wanted them to, and the colors of the world just sang to you? That's how I felt when I did this painting--it just worked, for me. The beautiful, honest old farm house with its broad, inviting porch is no longer there--it was on a new Missouri Department of Conservation acquisition, Cooley Lake Wildlife Area, and it was considered to be an "attractive nuisance," liable to be a danger or a target to vandals. I'm glad I painted it and its old barn before it was gone. This is on an old oxbow of the Missouri River, before the channel moved, perhaps in the 1953 flood; what a view that would have been from the house! We've been there many times to watch the herons, ducks, and thousands of snow and Canada geese. It's much quieter now, as eutrophication has filled in the lakes until they're quite shallow, but it's still a great place to paint. ---------------

Mini-demo

While watercolor is still quite damp, you can use the handle of an aquarelle brush, a cut-up credit card, or your fingernail to push color out of the way to make lighter areas. Here you can also see a bit of spatter, some wet in wet work and even a tiny bit of salt to make the texture of the rough grasses whispering in the wind... A figure, carefully painted, suggests the quiet and isolation. I scratched a bit of detail in the upper edge of the grassy area, can you see it? Drybrush work with varied greens made good foliage; I connected the leaf masses with fine, dark lines to show the trunks and branches.

This is a favorite place to paint; I've done dozens at the wildlife area. Painting in a series or in a specific locale helps to ground us, and there's never a reason to be bored--nature is too varied and interesting!

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This painting will come to you matted but unframed for ease of shipping; it also allows me to keep costs down and make art available to more people! I wrap with care and send via Priority Mail for most dependable shipping.

$175  

Mini-demo

Hi all...well, I'm amazed at your response already, so I thought I'd show you what I mean...I put it on this post http://cathyjohnsonart.blogspot.com/2009/06/waiting-for-first-snow.html, on the painting that sold already, but I had the detail shot of the upper right part of the painting...

This is what I had in mind, more or less. I hope the italic and ------- lines set it off a bit.

Suggestions welcome, for doing that, though!

Waiting for First Snow--SOLD

"Waiting for First Snow"
9" x 12" image size

original watercolor on archival cold pressed paper
framed and matted

I began this painting as a demo at one of the Art Crawls in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and continued to develop and refine it later, at home. Everything seemed to fall together, as it sometimes does, and I had it matted and framed.

This will be on my new watercolor CD, since I took demo shots of it...

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MINI-DEMO:
detail from upper right on the painting above

When I want to make an area lacier and open up some light, as in these distant trees, I use a sharp blade or X-acto knife to scrape back to the white paper. I scraped the trunks and branches into the damp wash--bruising the paper makes darker lines.

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This one found a home quickly, THANK YOU!

$350
SOLD

Cyclamen

Cyclamen

8" x 9"
mineral-based watercolors on archival paper
unmatted

I enjoy painting wet-in-wet from time to time, and wanted to explore some of Daniel Smith's mineral-based Primatek paints--especially some of the more colorful ones!

I needed to experiment with these paints for the new North Light book I'm working on, a revision of my 1988 Watercolor Tricks and Techniques,
and I've just discovered you can pre-order the upcoming
Watercolor Tricks & Techniques: 75 New and Classic Painting Secrets
on Amazon! (Click on the link above to take you there, if you'd like to read more.)

This is the proposed cover...I'm pleased with it!


For the cyclamen painting, I obviously wanted to do something other than the earthy browns, blacks, grays and siennas of many of the mineral paints, and was pleasantly surprised by these. This used Rhondonite Genuine, Natural Amazonite, Serpentine Genuine, Sodalite Genuine, and Purpurite Genuine. It was an interesting experiment...

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SOLD, and thank you!

Most of the paintings offered here are unmatted and unframed, both to save on shipping charges and to allow you to suit your own taste and decor.

Doing so allows me to keep the prices down and puts original art in the hands of more people!

"Waiting for the Storm"-SOLD

Well, wow. I did this little painting for the current North Light book, the revision of Watercolor Tricks & Techniques that I've been working on for the past year. I plan to use it on a new CD of demos, when I get the chance, too--I shot step by step pictures of it all along the way.

You can read more about it on my original blog, the Quicksilver Workaholic, here: http://katequicksilvr.livejournal.com/377929.html

It's been ages since I got anything up here--I've been so busy with the book and the online classes--and it's SOLD already!
(Since it was bought by a friend for a gift, I'll keep the details private!)

Thank you! (Now I'll have to get MORE new things up! *G*)

"Puzzled Kitty"

"Puzzled Kitty" study 5" x 7" ink and watercolor on archival hotpress paper The ink lines were done a great speed, before my cat moved--he looked at me as if to say "what, AGAIN?!" Those of you who have seen my many images of Merlin in my Flickr album, here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cathy-johnson/, will recognize that look! Amazing how the quick watercolor washes give the image volume and form. This one was also done as a demo for my upcoming North Light book. $45 This painting is offered un-matted and unframed to keep costs down and to allow you to choose your own colors and styles to suit your decor. It will come to you carefully wrapped via Priority Mail, in the US. Insurance included in the shipping cost

 

"Thirsty" cat sketch

"Thirsty Cat" sketch ink and watercolor This quick little gesture sketch caught my cat in the act of drinking--I was exploring the use of water-soluble ink and watercolor for my upcoming North Light book, Watercolor Tricks & Techniques, to come out in 2010. I love the explosive quality of the lines, and how they can be softened with clear water to suggest volume! Above are a variety of experiments with the same pen... This painting is offered un-matted and unframed to keep costs down and to allow you to choose your own colors and styles to suit your decor. It will come to you carefully wrapped via Priority Mail, in the US. Insurance included in the shipping cost $30

 

Pygmy Goat Sketch

"Pygmy Goats" sketch graphite and watercolor on archival paper I love goats, always have. We had 4 when we lived on the farm, close to 30 years ago, and I still miss them! Their strong personalities and agility and curiosity never failed to amuse me... We were taking a ride in the country one day when I saw these, climbing high on a Vermeer bale, and screeched to a halt to sketch them! This painting is offered un-matted and unframed to keep costs down. It will come to you carefully wrapped via Priority Mail, in the US. Insurance included in the shipping cost

$50