Pastels and Watercolors (and a few other art media)

[waday]

Some of my recents. Daughter “helped” with the dog bone, and I’m trying to figure out if I should just let her “help me out” more or just let it go. We were working on our art side by side, and I looked away for 2 seconds, LOL. (Sorry for the white balance, I thought I fixed it but still seems so cool.)

 

[SquarePeg]

Frame it, save it, put a little note behind the frame with the date and the story of her helping you.

 

[terri]

Frame it, save it, put a little note behind the frame with the date and the story of her helping you.

Exactly!

 

[snowbear]

Yep. Encourage her as much as possible. Anything that's "too critical" to not have the help, do another time.

 

[waday]

Thanks all. Sorry, I meant if I should encourage her to draw more on the bone to make us co-artists of this print.

We always encourage her to draw, sing, dance, play music, etc. Her current favorite instrument is the “Elsa tambourine” at school lol. Go figure.

 

[snowbear]

Sure.

 

[SquarePeg]

More snowy winter scenes.

A Rick Surowicz tutorial

Copied from a Pinterest photo

Started out as tree practice but then I liked the trees so started adding to it. The crooked house ruined it then I added the red tree lights and liked it again.

 

[terri]

So cute! The top one is my favorite, but you're obviously doing better and better with these tutorials. More and more details are getting put into these, which is always a challenge. Yay!

 

[SquarePeg]

So cute! The top one is my favorite, but you're obviously doing better and better with these tutorials. More and more details are getting put into these, which is always a challenge. Yay!

Thanks. I’m going to do that same tutorial again this weekend because I did it without watching it all the way through first and there are a few things that I didn’t do correctly and couldn’t fix so I think it’s worth another try. It was the first time that I’ve used masking fluid which was interesting.

He’s got 6 Christmas card tutorials that he just released and they are all super cute.

 

[SquarePeg]

WIP on this possible “fur” entry for the Art challenge. Needs details added to the reindeer and I still need to finish the bulbs. Can’t quite decide how to outline them. I used a technique I learned in a tutorial to make the lights glow but that was a more abstract piece and they were left as is. This needs to be more finished I think. Suggestions? I could outline in black with my pen or white? Or I could use silver paint?

 

[jcdeboever]

WIP on this possible “fur” entry for the Art challenge. Needs details added to the reindeer and I still need to finish the bulbs. Can’t quite decide how to outline them. I used a technique I learned in a tutorial to make the lights glow but that was a more abstract piece and they were left as is. This needs to be more finished I think. Suggestions? I could outline in black with my pen or white? Or I could use silver paint?

View attachment 200576

I would not outline them with pen. I would suggest using a real fine watercolor brush and pre-wet a small portion of the hard inside edge of the bulb, then use same color good and wet and place a drop in the pre-wet spot. This will add more depth to the bulb. Just do a little at a time, don't rush, after color drop is added to pre-wet area...let it dry or use a hair dryer to fix color... repeat if desired effect is to your liking. Helps to have some powerful reading glasses or a powerful magnifying glass so you can accurately follow the natural line already there. Less is more with watercolor. Nice work. Personally, I would call this finished, when I was doing watercolor and I asked myself this question, it was done. One chance only with watercolor.

 

[SquarePeg]

WIP on this possible “fur” entry for the Art challenge. Needs details added to the reindeer and I still need to finish the bulbs. Can’t quite decide how to outline them. I used a technique I learned in a tutorial to make the lights glow but that was a more abstract piece and they were left as is. This needs to be more finished I think. Suggestions? I could outline in black with my pen or white? Or I could use silver paint?

View attachment 200576

I would not outline them with pen. I would suggest using a real fine watercolor brush and pre-wet a small portion of the hard inside edge of the bulb, then use same color good and wet and place a drop in the pre-wet spot. This will add more depth to the bulb. Just do a little at a time, don't rush, after color drop is added to pre-wet area...let it dry or use a hair dryer to fix color... repeat if desired effect is to your liking. Helps to have some powerful reading glasses or a powerful magnifying glass so you can accurately follow the natural line already there. Less is more with watercolor. Nice work. Personally, I would call this finished, when I was doing watercolor and I asked myself this question, it was done. One chance only with watercolor.

Good idea thanks. So true about watercolor. I’ve “ruined” several by not stopping when I should have. Very unforgiving but I love it!

At this point I’m still learning so these don’t really go anywhere, just an occasional post on my Instagram or a share here, so if I ruin it it’s really not a big deal. I like the way the deer came out so far but not crazy about the wires so I’ll probably do this one a couple of times before I move on to another idea.

 

[jcdeboever]

WIP on this possible “fur” entry for the Art challenge. Needs details added to the reindeer and I still need to finish the bulbs. Can’t quite decide how to outline them. I used a technique I learned in a tutorial to make the lights glow but that was a more abstract piece and they were left as is. This needs to be more finished I think. Suggestions? I could outline in black with my pen or white? Or I could use silver paint?

View attachment 200576

I would not outline them with pen. I would suggest using a real fine watercolor brush and pre-wet a small portion of the hard inside edge of the bulb, then use same color good and wet and place a drop in the pre-wet spot. This will add more depth to the bulb. Just do a little at a time, don't rush, after color drop is added to pre-wet area...let it dry or use a hair dryer to fix color... repeat if desired effect is to your liking. Helps to have some powerful reading glasses or a powerful magnifying glass so you can accurately follow the natural line already there. Less is more with watercolor. Nice work. Personally, I would call this finished, when I was doing watercolor and I asked myself this question, it was done. One chance only with watercolor.

Good idea thanks. So true about watercolor. I’ve “ruined” several by not stopping when I should have. Very unforgiving but I love it!

At this point I’m still learning so these don’t really go anywhere, just an occasional post on my Instagram or a share here, so if I ruin it it’s really not a big deal. I like the way the deer came out so far but not crazy about the wires so I’ll probably do this one a couple of times before I move on to another idea.

I think this is a very whimsical watercolor. I don't think the black is bad.

 

[snowbear]

This is where WC pencils can be handy, but you still need a fine brush. Loving it, so far.

 

[SquarePeg]

@jcdeboever I tried your tip about the edges of the bulbs on this one that I finished up of our pup Harlie. I like the way it defined the bulbs without making them too fussy.

Next attempt will be to do this with the dog a bit more “loose”. Can’t quite figure out how to show a white dog with loose style... the only thing I can think of is negative painting but I haven’t ever attempted that yet.