Good watercolour paint brushes are not cheap, so we need to take good care of them. Here are a few things you should avoid doing to increase the life of your brushes, especially the natural fibre ones:
- When done painting, do not leave paint to dry on your brushes. Some of the paint can be near the ferrule and be more difficult to remove and causes paint brush hairs to be further apart - which means that you'll lose the point of your brushes
- After washing your brushes, do not store them with the point up. The water will flow down the ferrule and cause the paint bush hairs to spread and the brush will lose its shape. However, you should reshape your brushes by tapping them to bring them back to a point and then laying them flat. Never squeeze the water out with your fingers.
- Never leave you brushes sit in a container of water. In addition to bending the brush hairs, the wood of the brush will swell which will likely cause the ferrule to become loose.
- You will likely ruin you brushes if you use them for acrylic or oil paint since they will not behave the same afterwards
- Never use your brush to apply masking fluid.
- If you are storing your brushes in a sealed container, make sure they are bone dry to avoid mold.
- When travelling with brushes, make sure the bristles are not bend as it may be difficult to re-establish their shape. To reshape the bristles, you can use gum Arabic and let the brush sit for a few days. When time comes to use it, rinse in warm water.
- Be careful when re-wetting very dry paint. This is rough on your bristles. You should first spray dry paint and then stroke it.
- Don't use your good brushes for scrubbing paint off paper or force the hairs back against the ferrule.
- Don't use harsh soap as this may damage the bristles as it removes the natural oils.
- Do not load a brush full of
paint and then raise the tip so that the paint runs to the ferrule.
This week's artist find is Son Do
I'm entering an extremely busy period at work and may therefore need to reduce the frequency of this blog to save a few hours per week.
Have a great week,
Danielle
There’s no denying that waterfalls are absolutely exquisite. They’re gorgeous, refreshing to look at, and a wonderful display of mother nature. Every time, I travel I try to get to waterfalls. An area that I go camping has beautiful flowing creeks with waterfalls.
Don't you just love water scenes painted in watercolours? and especially waterfalls? The white of the paper does wonderful things for light. It's as if when water moves it picks up bits of light that provide wonderful contrasts and highlights. What's there not to love with white sparkles?
I enjoy scenes of flowing rivers and small waterfalls. Here are some tips for painting waterfalls:
- soft edges will contribute to the sense of moving water
- more definition at the top and less definition shows water gaining momentum
- mist at the bottom of the waterfall also gives the illusion of water in motion.
- alternate soft edges in water with hard edges of the rocks.
- avoid perfect geometric shapes
- avoid equal number of dark and lighter streaks in the water
Waterfall glow with differences in values and shapes. There are also some abstract shapes that are difficult for new painters (like me). Anyway, I'll be practicing waterfalls this weekend.
Here is a Tom Jones video about painting waterfalls: http://www.jerrysartarama.com/art-lessons/Medium/Watercolors/Watercolors-Waterfalls.html
Today's artist find is Jane Hofstetter.
Have a great day
Danielle
This blog is not about the benefits of using masking fluid. It's about a particular problem with using masking fluid.
If you use masking fluid, you likely have noticed that after you paint over it and then remove the masking that you have added hard edges to your painting. The edge also has more paint then the surrounding area. Some may like that look and in those cases you don’t have to do anything more. However if that's not what you're looking for, this situation can be easily rectified with a gentle touch. Use a brush with soft bristles and clean water to softly brush the hard edge using a soft fine brush and clean water to soften the edge.
If you paint on rough paper, it is also likely that you have ragged hard edges. In these instances you certainly want to soften and even out those edges to the shape you want them. Otherwise, the edges become an annoying distraction.
You can also use Q-tips (cotton swab) to gently remove the surrounding paint. Make sure that you constantly turn the swab so you are not reintroducing paint to the area. This softening technique requires practice.
Another option is to remove the masking fluid after a couple of layers of glaze. Once removed, add another glaze over the exposed area so that the glaze automatically softens the hard edge.
Have a great week
Danielle
When analyzing some of the paintings that I admire, I can't help noticing how all the colours go well together to create a great sense of harmony. This is visually very satisfying.
There are several different components to any painting and any or all of them can come into play when one considers its harmony, or lack thereof. This feeling of harmony can be the effect combining similar or related elements such as:
- Adjacent colors
- Similar shapes
- Related textures
Some people believe that using large rounded, fairly symmetrical shapes within a composition denotes balance and harmony. In any event, the consensus seems to be that sharp angles are to be avoided for harmony. Often times, the design helps bring about unity and harmony. At the extreme, too much harmony and little contrast creates monotony. A balance must be struck between areas of harmony and areas of contrast.
Have a look at these paintings of Joseph Zbukvic. I feel the harmony in most of his paintings. He uses a number of techniques to create feelings of harmony. The use of a limited palette gives these paintings a tight color harmony and an overall warm or cool color glow. Also grouping the subordinate shapes reinforces the focal point.
Trying to keep the area of contrast smaller than the large harmonious area achieves a visually satisfying balance.
Do you also notice a sense of rhythm in these paintings: boats or people. Skilled painters like Zbukvic overcome the challenges of disparate shapes and guide the viewer through the work in beautiful rhythms hence creating harmony.
There is much to learn from examining the work of masters such as Zbukvic. Translating those observations into practice takes lots of practice and time.
This week's artist find is Charlene Madden. Thank you to Tam-Tam for recommending her.
Have a great week
Danielle
