It's here! My instructional video about watercolor pencils.
Please enjoy, and, as always, if you have questions, you can email me. mr.geckos@gmail.com

you can watch it on youtube here...https://youtu.be/C8Ia1Cdt6Fk

A Beautiful Poem

I recently had the privilege of teaching a lovely woman named Robin Thomas. She came back the next day for another class, and had this poem to share, which she just wrote the previous day, after our lesson.

Vista

The vibrant colors of your landscape stay with you throughout your life. Your sojourn is yours alone. Your canvas is colorful, blended so well, the gentle brush strokes of time wash together showing the strength of you, the beauty within. The colors muted with the passage of time. Rivulets run through leaving your canvas streaked, damaged but redeemable.  The strength, color and beauty of a closely woven foundation is yours to share with all its astounding vistas.
By Robin Shari Goodman Thomas
9/17/15

Thanks, Robin. What a beautiful poem!

Happy holidays, and here's to a wonderful new year! Yupo painting!

Hello all. I hope everyone is painting away 2014. I hope the new year finds you all well, and I hope to see you here in beautiful Sedona again next year. 

I recently picked up some Yupo paper (which is not really paper, at all). to experiment with.

I first did a traditional watercolor painting, which I was not entirely pleased with. Yupo is polypropylene, and as such, is not absorbent at all. Therefore, the paint tends to puddle, and pool up, making it rather challenging to control.

As I have a pad of 20 sheets, I continue my experimenting with watercolor pencils, which, surprisingly worked quite well on the somewhat slick surface. So without further fanfare, I present my first painting on Yupo paper for your pleasure.

Feel free to pick some up yourself, and see what it's like.

Let me know when you're coming, and I can arrange a special Plein-Aire session.

Art

Experimental Water Media Exhibit- NAWS 2014

White watercolor pencils- are they worth using?

My watercolor pencil students know that I recommend General's Kimberly brand as a good artist grade watercolor pencil. The basic 12 pencil set has been a staple of my workshops for quite some time now. The colors in the set lend themselves to the Sedona landscape quite nicely. I purchase sets in bulk, and my latest shipment came with a substitution of the "straw" color with white. I have always derided white as being a worthless pencil, especially in a small set.
Now, I am usually not one to complain, but I figured that if no one spoke up, the company would never know. I searched them out on line, and sent them an email explaining my opinion, and position regarding white pencils.
I received a response very quickly, urging me to call a specific person at the company. I called, and talked for some time with the very friendly customer service rep, and fully explained my concerns and needs.
In just 2 short days I received a package with replacement straw pencils along with a few extra items.
I really appreciate this fast and friendly response to my inquiry. I will continue to use, and recommend General's Kimberly pencils to my students and colleagues. I find them very comparable to brands costing twice as much.            
My question to you is, have you found any use for white watercolor pencils? They are not opaque. If you need to tint something, just add some water to dilute the color.
Maybe I'm missing something here.

A couple of recent pieces, using General's Kimberly Watercolor Pencils. Enjoy!

Few things get me to work like a deadline. Our local watercolor societies annual "spring exhibition" is fast approaching. This piece was started just about a week before the deadline. 
I went for a hike in Sedona, looking specifically for a tree that I remembered from a few years ago. It was on the "Soldier's Pass" trail, so I called my good friend, and avid photographer Brent Jones, and we went out in search of my tree. I recall on my earlier visit, my tour guide friend told the tale of how this was one of the trees that were the inspiration for the evil apple trees in "the Wizard of Oz".

Well, for some reason, as cool and interesting as it is, it just didn't inspire me for my painting, so we continued on, looking for "It".

The Soldier's Pass trail is a big loop, and towards the end, I finally found THE TREE!

This was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I had taken pictures of about a dozen different trees up to this point, but I had the feeling that this was my subject. Unfortunately, the sun was now below the mountains, and I was left with a flat light. Since I had a very limited time to complete this piece, I decided against coming back another day, as this was Sunday, and it's back to work for me on Monday morning.

So, to start this project, I first decide what sort of technique to use for the best results, as "there is more than 1 way to skin a cat". I really enjoyed working with Jeanne Hyland's wet on wet style, and I thought I would capture her technique and pass it along as best I could.

I started by drawing my image onto a 16" X 20" piece of Arches 140 lb. cold press with a Derwent Imperial Purple watercolor pencil.

The paper is laid on a sheet of Masonite, then corrugated plastic, upon that, a wet shammy cloth .This will insure that the piece remains wet during the entire process.
Saturate the paper on both sides until it will no longer absorb water, this will take several coats, over 1/2 hour or so.

Now it's time to add some color, I start with Daniel Smith quinacridone gold, and sienna. Really splashing it on.

Then I throw in some quin purple in the shadows. Next, I wipe off excess color that has bled out of the edges using a paper towel.

Next I begin bringing in the values with a very thick "Lukas" Van Dyke brown, using a #10 round brush. 

As the paper goes from soggy to damp, it becomes much more workable, so I get more details, using the Van Dyke brown, and neutral tint.

I begin using a damp 1/4 flat shader to lift some color out, creating highlights.

All the time adding details, such as branches, bark texture and such. Once I have my image nailed, I grab a stipple brush and pounce in the needles, and some background foliage using verde green, sap green, Van Dyke brown, and permanent blue.

I go back in once again to the bark, toning down the warmth of the exterior areas, and to deepen some shadows, giving a little more depth and dimension to it, using neutral tint and quin purple.

Well, that's it! I am still waiting to find out if this piece makes it into the show. It should be a good one, as we have some incredibly talented people in our group, and we're bringing in Robbie Laird as our juror. You can see some of her work here www.robbielaird.com


Thanks for reading, and as always, I welcome comments, and feel free to submit any work that you'd like! And keep PAINTING!
Art