Sunday 18 September 2016

Chilled out Sunday

Afternoon to you all I think my little body is finally trying to recover from last weeks drama as my body is shattered, I slept from 11pm last night till 2.30am and then got up to deal with something on facebook after I got a private message, on groups I admin on so I done that and stayed up till 8am and then went back to bed as my head was bursting.
And I have been in bed until now 5pm almost.
But I am up now and going to do some watercolour projects tonight.
I have been following someone on youtube for a little while now and his youtube channel is The Spin Doctor he is a fantastic artists who has recently started a series on beginners watercolours, I had actually mentioned to Lindsay AKA The Frugal Crafter a few weeks back about doing this type of series to start with very very basic painting and techniques and work through similar to the style Cinnamon Cooney is doing with her Acrylic Painting classes.
and then I saw the Spin Doctor had posted one and I honestly had the angels above my head singing hallelujah. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for and he teaches them so well, no fancy arty farty talk just genuine grounded wording that we can all understand.
He posted episode 2 last night which I watched and am going to work on tonight.
it is brush exercises and a very basic painting.
He does also have a website where he has invaluable downloads for you making your own colour wheel, and gives instructions on how to do that. 
http://www.the-spin-doctor.co.uk
I would 100% advise anyone starting on this wonderful new adventure to check out his website and his channel for details and follow his suggestions.

I intend to get a bit to eat, a small glass of juice and then stick on some music (my only difference from the spin doctor is I am not a classical music person, I do like light classical vanessa mae etc) so for me it will be some soft easy listening michael buble, phil collins, elton john, pink, celine dion, alanis morrisette a variety of easy listening songs/ballads that arent too tiring to listen to or too big that you want to lose yourself and sing along with them x 

I will add on my blog tomorrow what my outcome of episode 2 looks like x 
wish me luck -
Changed my mind and decided to post on here x I am not happy with the clouds and sky they definitely need much more practice and I will be trying this again tomorrow and they day after until I get the result I want but just want to share the episodes lesson that I have done so you can all see and hopefully give you some encouragement that even Leonardo Da Vinci had to start somewhere x


Exercises part 1

Exercises part 2

colour Mixes used 
Top is Intense Blue/Phalo Blue & Ultramarine
Alizarin Crimson with a tiny spot of the grey mix beside it
Ultramarine with a small amount of Burnt Sienna to give a blue grey colour
and finally Alizarin Crimson with a small amount of Ultramarine


My outcome the sea I really like I can see the dark and light shades to give you the feeling of movement, the sky colour I like but the clouds and the alizarin crimson sunset colour isnt right but it is something to work on and as a first composition of sort I am ok with it, lots of flaws but all workable with to improve



Lots of Love and Hugs Karen xx 

2 comments:

  1. Karen - thanks so much for your very kind words! That's a great start and you've already spotted the areas to improve yourself.

    You've got all the colours mixed perfectly and that's the hardest part as you know, so really well done for getting all of those right! I would probably spread your clouds further apart as their locations have made it hard for you to deal with your red-blue boundary - and you need to blend that red-blue edge better for the sunset - make sure the two paints are still wet when you paint the boundary. If you have a very soft goat-hair brush which some people have (this Graduate one is £2.50 http://amzn.to/2cAbfQb or a whole set of three for £3.27 http://amzn.to/2cIgt8y - I have all of these and I use the flats all the time), you can, whilst that area is still wet, brush over it with a dry goat-hair flat to soften and blend out that edge, which works nicely. You'll need to wash goat brushes in cold water only or the hairs shrink and come loose - and wash them in cold water with a baby shampoo or other very basic, cheap shampoo before use otherwise hairs loosened in shipment will come out on your work.

    Your clouds have a bit of a "halo" around them - careful how you blend them - but you'll get that one with practice. The shadowing in the middle of the clouds is spot-on though. You've got a lovely set of glazing on the sea with the purple mix - well done.

    You're totally right to keep doing it over and over until you're confident with it. Once you keep doing that and can refer back to your older ones and see the improvements. As this series moves on you'll tackle more advanced projects in different styles that use different methods - you'll soon see what you enjoy the most and then you can focus on the things you love - if you check out the Description on this video, it's got the shopping list for next time as you'll need some masking fluid and an applicator for it - but that 45mL bottle is going to last you for YEARS even with regular use so it's a good investment and pretty economical!

    Well done!!!
    TSD

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    1. Thank you Rich for your time you have took to leave me a critique it is very much appreciated. yeah the sky is all wrong and will need a lot more practice but I have gave myself a bit of confidence with the sea as I thought that would have been my problem area so I am pleased I at least mastered one technique. Shopping list is being purchased ASAP, although it will likely be next week (this is my poor week, the joys of adult life and bills) but yeah I will be keeping at it and practice makes perfect (well maybe not perfect but passable haha) Thanks again for your time and knowledge.
      Love Karen

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