Tag: interest

Watercolor 365 – Daily Tips, Tricks & Techniques

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books, Painting

Today, I visited my local Art and Craft shop, Eckersleys Art & Craft to spend a gift voucher I received for Christmas.

When I receive a gift voucher I always like to buy something memorable. It would be easy to spend it on more paints etc but those paints get used up and there’s nothing really left to show for spending the voucher.

Whilst surveying the shelves in the Art shop, I came across a book called, “Watercolor 365 – Daily Tips, Tricks & Techniques” by Leslie Redhead.

Buying any sort of ‘How To’ book can sometimes see us buying things we’ve already bought. They are so many books out there about Watercolour, when one buys a book, often the same material is conveyed, albeit sometimes in a different way.

Upon closer inspection I found that the ‘Tips, Tricks & Techniques’ contain: 

  • 52 Mini step-by-step instructions
  • 52 Q & A’s
  • 52 Troubleshooting tips
  • 52 Bits of creative advice
  • 52 General tips
  • 52 Definitions
  • 52 Exercises

I was impressed enough to buy the book. It looks very interesting and in viewing the book there are a quite a lot of things that I didn’t know (I’m not a full-time Artist). I believe I am going to enjoy using this book to help me in my Watercolour journey. Thank you, Leslie for producing this book. 🙂

Written by David Johnson

24 January 2021

Gauging Improvement

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Sometimes along a journey you wonder whether you are improving or not. I remember this happened with Toastmasters early on. I was going along to meetings, writing, rehearsing and giving speeches, taking on roles etc and after three months, I wondered it was having an effect?

A colleague I worked with at the time suddenly said one day, ‘David, you are appear to have greater confidence these days, what’s the secret?’ I knew then that going to Toastmasters had started to affect me in a positive way.

With my Watercolour sketches I have wondered the same thing, although it is easier in one way to gauge improvement as I have tangible evidence in the form of previous Watercolour sketches.

During lockdown last year I did 120 YouTube tutorials in a row and occasionally, I do more. One of the ways I am trying to gauge improvement is to go back to a tutorial but not actually ‘do the tutorial.’

Instead, what I do is sketch the image and do the painting without watching the tutorial. This way, I am trying to gauge what I can do without the step-by-step instruction to see how close I can get to the one I did when I did the tutorial.

Today’s Watercolour sketch (Day 727) is an example of that. I did the tutorial (Nil Rocha Art) back on Day 500. I have added a couple of shrubs and there are some other elements which I have changed but I am pretty happy with the result. I would love to reach the skill level of the tutorials. More practice required!

Day 727 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day – Without the tutorial
Day 500 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day – With the tutorial

I’m happy with my progress with Watercolour in general and with Line and Wash, however, I am looking forward to the time I can do a face-to-face Watercolour course with a professional. I was due to start a 10 week course like this when Covid hit.

I’ve been using Winsor & Newton Cotman Half-Pans for over two years now. I’m thinking that maybe it is time to jump to Artist quality paints and have purchased a set of Primaries.

Still have so much more to learn. Still having so much fun! 🙂

Written by David Johnson

23 January 2021