Today’s warmup exercise: Working with the same colors and previous warmup exercises (Scales, Limber Session), namely yellow ochre, cadmium red light, cobalt blue and the gray resulting from mixing the red and the blue. I tried variegated (meaning, ‘a variety of colors) washes today. The lesson I followed in the Tate Watercolour Manual, Lessons from the […]
Today’s warmup exercise: Graded washes have a real application in watercolors. Today I practiced with the ‘gray’ mixture I concocted in my first (published) warmup exercise (Scales). Instead of gray, it is purplish. After I painted the first graded wash (that deposits more pigment at the top of the picture) in the small sections of […]
Today’s watercolor warmup: Today, washes were on the agenda as per the Tate Watercolour Manual, Lessons from the Great Masters by Tony Smibert and Joyce Townsend. The lessons in this book are supposed to lead the reader/practicer to learn techniques of the masters. I am very much looking forward to that. Here is my chart of washes: In the […]
I haven’t played the violin in many years, but I remember playing scales. Scales and arpeggios are the basic building blocks of music, that is, music with which I am familiar, anyway. I hope to play again some day, but I know that I will have to start from scratch, trying to play each note […]
Today’s experiment: I have the wonderful opportunity to practice drawing and painting my grandson in his presence! I am not used to drawing from life, relying instead on photographs. It is quite a different experience. William is always in motion. As I am just getting the correct contour of his forehead in profile, he faces […]
We had to drive back to San Jose today. It’s 350 miles more or less from LA. We took the scenic route back that takes us right next to the Pacific. Ordinarily it is wonderfully clear, but today it was a bit foggy off shore. Joy and I love to see the ocean. It occupies […]
It is almost fruit season out here in California. By that I mean painting fruit in watercolors. My wife got me a book about how to paint vibrant watercolor and I am starting from the beginning. Well, almost the beginning. The first chapter was about how to paint an apple. One of the interesting steps […]
Today’s watercolor experiment: I decided to continue following the advice of Leonardo DaVinci who said, “Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain [where] he is going. …” Yesterday the goal of my practice was to ‘glisten’. The subject […]
Today’s watercolor experiment: I was very happy with yesterday’s experiment, thanks to inspiration by Maurice Sapiro’s Flash Point. So happy in fact, that I tried again today. Repetition When I become interested in something, or inspired, I tend to obsess. Perhaps this trait developed when I was a child learning to play the violin. Practice, practice, […]
I started a watercolor class today. I’m looking forward to learning more about what I can do with that medium. I also thought, since I am reacquainting myself with the basics of painting, I should also think about how to portray basic emotions. Connecting with basic vision As I have mentioned in previous posts, I […]
