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Sunday, November 13, 2016

Fun with Paper

I drew on and painted postcards. (The colors are less nuanced and more childlike. The red is saturated blue-red, and overall feel is more vibrant. The pic below is a better indicator.)
I painted these (and this many more) to use in collages. I needed orange bits.
And I used up orange in my tiny travel watercolor set, and nearly finished red. I know nothing about conventional watercolor use, but I love the idea of using my tiny kit; it makes one feel artist-y. It's silly to try to paint inside the line in more or less even saturation, like gouache, but these paints are wonderfully saturated and this is what I've been doing. I practiced on scrap paper so I can learn a little more about the paint, but it's oh-so delicate. And just when I thought I could make pale, watery areas, I'd find "mistakes", and you know, with watercolor, you can't have do-overs.
And then my paint set; it's made by a reputable Japanese company with a website and prices for all sets and replacements, (a third cheaper than most brands,) except I can't buy online, and they don't state an email address nor a fax number as their contact. I might try one of the vendors at Amazon.co.jp, the price doubles as I haven't found a way to combine orders, and I'm only asking them to send to Mom. So until I go home next I'll have to mix with my student-grade watercolor and gouache, but that's OK, I'm still practicing. I'm glad I experienced something I've only read about; good paint is really full of pigment with not a lot of binder.

I like making up my own flowers, but what really interests me are faces and figures that tells a story; the reason why I love gesture drawings. I'm hoping I'll move on to those this summer. For now, though, I really get a kick out of making small books: these are my latest watercolor-practice books; I used other sketch pad covers because I wanted to include the word "(S)tudents".

I'm still struggling with layers and when I try to do second and third layers with paint I seem to obliterate previous layers. When I add colors as unintentionally as possible, I pick the least attractive to destroy any kind of harmony, almost as a challenge to myself. Although sometimes I find in them old-fashioned Kimono color combos, even.

I've been enjoying the Art & Artists blog's series on American Folk Art, especially portraits. They're devastatingly folksy/outsider and encouraging for me to give people doodles a go.

This is how I survived the months leading up to and following The Election. I'm trying to wean myself off of news feed. I'm finding the notion of liberal prejudice interesting, as I probably am guilty of it.

4 comments:

  1. Nice watercolor work.
    Oy, the election. Decided to go off FB now. Can't see or read anything about this mess we've gotten ourselves into. Horrible things are happening already. This country might burn to the ground before it's over.
    Not hopeful at all.

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    1. Thanks, Connie. I have been fondly remembering your bookbinding phase. I loved the books you made. On my part, my books are pretty OK, but filling the inside is such slow, hard work. And because of my eyesight, I have my nose stuck on the page and always forget to step back to view. Still learning.

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  2. Hellooo- lovely experimenting - when I went to water colour classes my teacher said never do any more than 3 layers - and I know my friends who do beautiful stuff use the resist thingy that I can't remember the name of lol lovely experimenting

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    1. I've got another set of watercolors, courtesy of my former colleague in Japan, and that, again, is a new learning experience. Never mind, it's all good.

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