With a new term of watercolour classes starting soon, here are a few simple tips to help you start your watercolour journey!!

​Always ...

1. Have plenty of drawing paper handy for practicing.
2. Take notes in class, always carry a notebook or sketchbook.
3. Squeeze out new tube paint at least weekly so that you don’t have to scrub at dry paint (aka bird-poo) and damage your brushes.
4. A white porcelain dinner plate is the best palette ever, use cling film to cover when you have finished.
5. OR use a palette with a lid to avoid dust and stray animal hairs in your pigment (my Bertie loves sitting in blue!!).
6. Prepare your brushes with a quick swill in water so they’re ready to load with paint.
7. Use a kitchen sponge or old tea towel to moderate the water content in your brush.
8. Keep a hand towel close-by to control stray drips of water from your hands.
9. Paint standing up for as long as possible.
10. Sit for more control when adding calligraphy and detailed strokes.
11. For tubes proving difficult to open, run the cap under hot water and then use pliers gently.
12. Practice drawing; if your shapes aren’t quite right your picture won’t look right.
13. Keep spare sheets of watercolour paper handy to practice washes, colour dropping, shapes and investigate new pigment before you venture onto your painting.
14. Make colour charts with your pigments – colour wheels, value scales, practice mixing greys and greens, opaque, staining and transparent pigments and brands.
15. Wash out and dry your brushes gently, lay them flat to dry.

 
 ciao bei pittori!!

I thought I would tell you one of my dirty little art secrets …

I use scrap paper to sketch on.

All these beautiful sketch books I’ve acquired over the years and I still prefer a scrap of paper!!

When I first started coming to Italy I decided I needed a more methodical approach, 4 months of painting immersion and thinking time! Somehow I've ended up with a couple of softcover sketch and notebooks, maybe that's what I could get at the time - never again!! Most often I like to sketch/write with my book on my knee, if I'm standing, a hardcover book is essential. let's hope the lesson is learned!!

You just reminded me, Dad used to staple books for me and apparently, one day as he was finishing a new one for me, guests arrived and I announced to them "my Daddy's a bookmaker!" Mum just about had a kanipshin!!

I've changed my MO to compensate for my knee (which is a lot better btw!) and the heat. But I have to say that because of this blasted ginocchio problem my fitness is right out the window. I've done a few paintings on location but now I'm painting in my studio. My usual practice al momento is to have my colazione out and sketch while I’m partaking – not necessarily what’s in front of me but whatever’s on my mind or an idea I’m fooling about with. 

I brought my usual A5 moleskin sketchbook to Italy and as usual I also brought a wad of Zeta paper folded up and jammed in my work bag. I’m amazed that this year, I’ve done more sketching (in and out) than ever before. I’m so pleased because it’s been a hard trip with bugs, knees and heat and all!!

The funny thing about the scrap of paper is that, when I had my business, I would walk into my client’s office with my PDA (I was on top of the technology game back then) but I would fish around in my bag for a scrap of paper to write my notes on. It got to a point where I would walk in and my client would automatically rummage in their waste bin and hand me a scrunched-up envelope! I tried so hard to up my game with the flashy PDA but back then they were very limited and nothing more than a piece of paper in disguise! Note to self, don’t upgrade until everyone else has tested them first and the upgrade model has been released!

It’s a bit of a shame to use scrap or loose paper. It’s harder to record and archive the action, that said, I can lay my hands on any sketch or working quite quickly, I know it will be in the nasty pile. However, a sketchbook is an easier, more methodical approach to record keeping ie dates and evidence that “this is my original work". If you don't want to show people the rough stuff, have 2 sketchbooks, 1 for the workings and nasty stuff and another for more developed work to show people.

I promise to be more organised with less rubbish bin fossicking!! Magari!!
 
ciao bei pittori!!

It’s great to be back in Lucca where there’s a painting on every corner and more! Hence I’ve been choosing colazione caffe’s for sketching out opportunities.

Yesterday’s sketch afforded me 2 discoveries for this subject, both based on chiaroscuro, a chequerboard if you like. Aka alternation = light/dark, light/dark, light/dark. Given that some of the dark might be not so dark and some of the light might not be so light – in other words, a full range of values is required – every shape should have a different value to it’s neighbour – this difference might only be a 1% variation.

So what were the 2 gems I discovered?

1. There was a dark cast shadow on a building to which I could “impose” light value people
2. a light value umbrella overlapping and interlocking with this same cast shadow.

Even though the sketch and the painting will be contrejour, I will be able to use similar values to tell my story. Values make the impact, colour is just cosmetics.

Something more to think about, these shapes did not conveniently place themselves correctly for me, I made them happen, as I was sketching these wee ideas presented themselves to me so I pushed them into my painting concept – I’m the artist!!

non ferma cari amici!!