SHE DOES IT ALL

Belinda Del Pesco is an artist that I love to follow. She works in art areas that I find so exciting. At any given time you can see fun monotypes, collagraphs, woodcuts plus great watercolor paintings.

http://belindadelpesco.blogspot.com/2011/11/monotype-monterey-retreat.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BelindaDelPescoFineArtBlog+%28Belinda+Del+Pesco+Fine+Art+Blog%29

The link above is to a good monotype lesson she recently posted.

EAST COAST

Spent the last five days in Baltimore, or more specifically, Annapolis. I went to the Navy, Air Force football game to see Kriss Proctor. I coached him here in Big Bear, so quite a treat seeing him play. The game didn't turn out as I would have hoped, but I enjoyed seeing the academy and what Kriss' life is like now.

Not much time for art except a quick watercolor study.

WATERCOLOR MADE EASY

Well...not so easy for me but love watching someone who makes it look like it is. I've mentioned before that I have become a huge fan of Sterling Edwards. I have a few of his DVD's and hope to attend one of his workshops in the near future. He does his paintings with so little effort and so fearlessly. Works with big brushes and paints with loose bold colors. Just fun!

My attempt -

TRY, TRY AGAIN

Sterling Edwards watercolors have given me the bug again. I'm going to attempt another painting. I have all the correct supplies so if it's a failure it will be easy to identify the problem.

Below is another scratchboard drawing I recently finished.

REALLY...WATERCOLOR AGAIN

Okay, I'm getting sucked in again. Watching a few Sterling Edwards DVDs has me wanting to give watercolors one more chance. He makes it look so easy. This time I'm starting with small technique studies instead of jumping in with both feet. Left is a tree study where the trunk worked well, but not the leaves.

Also started a scratchboard drawing from a picture I saw on the Internet that reminded me of a friend's dog. I'll give it to her as a gift when I finish.

NICHOLAS SIMMONS

Nicholas Simmons is an artist and musician who lives in the D.C. area. I happened upon his blog after seeing some of his fantastic watercolor paintings on a different site. His art is what I wish I could do with watercolor and has been featured in Watercolor Artist Magazine. His blog also introduces art from many other artist around the world.

http://nicholassimmons.blogspot.com

MONOPRINT AGAIN

I had just a short amount of time to spend working on something downstairs last night. I am working on a new woodblock but didn't feel like cutting so...I did another monoprint. I really enjoy these as they are fast and always a surprise. Never really know what I'll end up with when I pull the print. This one was done with watercolors again on Rives printmaking paper.

MONOTYPES

I have mentioned my serious watercolor impairment. Try as I will, I flounder from start to finish with this medium. I found a person (her blog) that combines something I'm more comfortable with and watercolors. Printmaking....Wendy Willis uses watercolors to make some great monotypes. She does multiple rubbings by taping the print paper to a plastic sheet (hinged) which she paints with the watercolor. By taping the paper to the plastic she avoids any registration problems.

I started my own practice run yesterday and, with a little more work, I think I can get the hang of this technique. Excited to work on it more tonight.

http://wswillis.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-monotypes.html

GREAT WATERCOLOR

As I've said time and time again, I try so hard with watercolor, and even more so with the loose technique it allows. I have some of my art on 'Fineartamerica.com' and another artist with work on the website was nice enough to comment on one of my block prints. When I went and looked at her art, there it was. Her name is Anne Duke, and this is the way I want to do watercolor.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/anne-duke.html

GREAT ART OUT THERE

I found another website that an artist has put on the Internet that I really like. Again, very loose watercolor technique that I find so pure. I always strive for detail when just the opposite is so much fun to view. Cameras were invented for detail, painting should allow for imagination!

http://www.kenhayes.net/Galleries.htm

ACRYLIC YES, WATERCOLOR NO

I am constantly amazed that I can paint with acrylics and end up with something that resembles what I started out to do. When I try watercolors (which shouldn't be that much different) I end up with mud. These are two of my older acrylic paintings. Both results are close to what I was trying to do!