A Cool Watercolor Trick

Posted on April 22, 2025 by SusanG

I really wasn’t sure what to write about this week. Nothing in particular had come up that I just really needed to share. Then I thought about the painting I’m working on and how there are things I’m doing with it that are different and new for me and that might be worth sharing. So here goes.

I try to take myself on a walk in my neighborhood on a daily basis. Usually there’s nothing really notable about the walk. I might meet some of the local pups walking their humans or wave to the postman as he drives by otherwise I just walk and listen to my tunes. Once in a while I come across something that is worth pulling out the phone and snapping a picture of. Sometimes it’s just something I thought would look cool and maybe it can be used as a photo for a blog post or for an Instagram post. A couple of times I’ve managed to get some really useful pictures of some flowers. That was the case recently, though it wasn’t quite the situation expected. It wasn’t a purposeful flower.

I came across this lovely purple violet flower growing up through a crack in the asphalt. Judging by it’s size and that it had bloomed it had been left alone for a while, at least a couple of days. I’m not quite sure how I missed it growing before the day I saw it in full flower. Lost in my head as I was walking I guess. Anyway. I stopped to take several pictures from some different angles and when I got home and really looked at them I realized there was a cool painting to be made.

With the exception of one, I think, I tend to paint flowers on a roughly square shaped paper. I looked at doing that with this and quickly figured out that wasn’t going to have the impact I wanted. For me a big part of the impact of the image is this flower in the asphalt which for me means that more of the asphalt needs to be in the scene than would be if I made the flower the center of the painting. In that case I would only have a little bit of the leaves in the corner and an insubstantial rim of asphalt. So I looked at a larger less square paper in order to have more asphalt. And as it turns out better composition.

The big key here is the asphalt. I really wanted that look. However, I didn’t want to try to paint it all bit by bit, and I didn’t want it to be just a blurry watery grey/black background. I wanted the texture. And this is where the fact that I was planning on using watercolor turned out to be the advantage. There are different effects you can get when using watercolor paints that I suspect are a little more difficult to get with other paints like oil or acrylic. You have the standard watercolor technique of wet on wet, where you wet the paper and then using a fairly wet or loaded brush add paint to the surface and let it sort of bleed across the paper. You can also use this technique and then add things to the surface such as rubbing alcohol, or sand, or salt, and likely several other things, to get some really cool effects. 

I happen to have some rock salt, like for making ice cream, that I thought might work well if it would give more of the look of the bits of salt to make it look like the pebbles in the asphalt. I tested it and it did do that but it was fairly sparse because I was just doing a bit of a test. The good and the bad is that when I did it for the painting, I didn’t get as pronounced an effect as I did in my test, so there weren’t the distinct pebbles I had hoped for. As it turns out that’s ok. It really worked out well. Though, at first it was a little monotonous. There wasn’t enough variation in dark and light so I did a second pass and now I’m really pleased with it. 

The salt technique is just one of a couple of what I think of as specifically watercolor techniques or tricks that I’ve used so far on this painting. I also used a masking fluid to keep the edges of the flower and leaves tight so I would be able to paint them without the black or grey coming through. And I used a water repellent additive. I’m not sure how well it worked since I haven’t got to that part yet. But when I tested it when I first got it, it worked pretty well so I’m hopeful. That one I added some light yellow to the fluid and then splattered it a bit in a few areas. The idea is that as I paint the flower over this areas, it won’t take up the paint and will leave those tiny light colored bits behind.

I find it really amazing and a little strange working on this painting and using some very watercolor centric techniques. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve never really considered myself a watercolorist rather someone who happens to paint with watercolor. I don’t tend to treat watercolors gently. I expect them to be strong and vibrant not so much soft and delicate, though I should probably reconsider if that’s still true after my last kick painting. It’s just with this one I feel like I’m starting to actually appreciate the possibilities that come with painting with watercolor. 

Cheers.

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I Broke a Rule

Posted on April 15, 2025 by SusanG

When I started working on the latest Taekwondo kick painting I broke a rule and then panicked about it. I did something that I thought was right and cool. And then I saw it from a side angle and panicked while thinking, now I know why that’s a rule. So I tried to undo it. But…

A little background. The painting is in watercolor. In watercolor it’s generally considered not ideal to use white paint to get the paler colors, instead just use more water. White watercolor paint has a tendency to make the colors not as bright and luminous. I suspect, because I don’t know all the science behind it, that it has to do with how it’s made and that in order to get the white you have either more or larger pigment particles. Whatever the reason, it creates a sort of opaque layer when used and when colors are mixed with it they can be sort of chalky looking. That means the paper doesn’t have a chance to shine through and let the light bounce off of it. And it can make things look a little dull.

I know this rule about using white in watercolors but when I set out to do the bright areas on the uniform I decided that I really wanted to have a pale pale yellow and not just a fine tint. I wanted the white with just a faint bit of yellow to make it glow. And it looked great when I laid it down on the paper. The paper isn’t as bright white as what I was able to get with that combination of white and a touch of yellow. It added just a little extra. I thought it was going to look great. Then I saw it from a side angle with the light hitting it just right and I panicked. 

I thought I’d done this all wrong. I mean what was I thinking. That white was so messed up. I was going to fail and make a mess of this watercolor painting. So I tried, as can sometimes be done, to basically scrub it out with a lot of water. This was a bad idea. Really bad idea. I used too much water and too much scrub and started to damage the paper. So I stopped. Let it dry and then regrouped. 

What I saw at that angle was that the white paint was sitting on top of the paper. The other paints were more absorbed into the paper. And that’s what made me think I’d done it all wrong. I didn’t want that to stand out like that. It might look weird if it were shown in an exhibition, it might show up when it goes to the photographer, and what if someone looked at it from a certain angle then they’d know that I did it wrong, so I would have to take it out.

As I said, trying to remove it didn’t really go well. The integrity of the surface was compromised in the area that I tried the most to lessen the effect. I finally stopped and decided to just keep it and go with it. I did end up redoing it, (adding some of the yellow tinted white back) to a few places so that the ‘glow’ it was meant to create was back. I also had to fix the surface so that it didn’t look rough and like it was peeling or pilling. If you’re wondering how this is done, it’s done very carefully with a razor blade. You basically shave the bits that are sticking up.

I cleaned up the mess I’d made and fixed it back to how I had originally painted the particular areas. I was annoyed with myself at this point. Not because of using the white. I was annoyed at trying to remove it because I felt like I had second guessed myself and had not trusted my instincts. 

As it turned out there was no need to panic. It became a non-issue and adds the bit of pop that I was hoping for. No, you can’t see the white paint sitting on top of the paper now that it’s complete. And that’s because of something I knew I was going to do for the painting when I finished it, I just didn’t know all the effects it would have on the painting. That’s for another post. The good news is that I panicked for nothing and got a lesson in trusting my instincts.

Cheers.

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Not My Style

Posted on April 8, 2025 by SusanG

Since I was having trouble figuring out what to write for my posts, I put a post on one of the socials asking what people might like to read if they were reading and artist’s blog. I got one response. At least I got a response. The person suggested I look at DaVinci’s notebooks. Ok. Why not, right? So I made a trip to the bookstore to pick up a copy. We’re going to try to ignore that I left with 4 books and 2 magazines for now. One of the books may come up later so…

One of the magazines I bought

I am an artist. Being an artist does not require having a formal background in art, or a degree in art, or even a bit of art history. I am however at least a bit aware of history. While I admire the Fauvist movement, I’m not a big fan of the look. I like some impressionists, just not the ones that seem to be best known for it, Caillebote and Rousseau come to mind as favorites. I also like Bruegel and I appreciate the starkness of the Bauhaus movement and the technique and mind bending art of Escher. One of the things I like least when it comes to art, art history, and instruction is the idea that someone who is not the artist can ‘interpret’ what was meant by the use of a particular blue or brush stroke or whatever. If the artist didn’t leave notes then how do you actually know? I’m going to stay off my irritable soapbox on this, trust me I have strong opinions on it. And they were a factor in my youthful choices regarding school and art. Moving on.

A couple of art books

The thing about the DaVinci notebooks is that he did just that. He wrote notes about what he thought about creating art, and how one should learn and master art, and what makes a real artist, and he wrote notes about his art. The Vitruvius Man. His notes discuss the proportions of the different body parts as compared to the body itself. It is interesting. And particularly since I draw people in motion. However, as I read some of his other notes, I couldn’t help but hear the same ‘authority’ that seems to come from critics and scholars and not so much from artists. Maybe. Maybe for those who teach art that is a natural way to explain something or how to approach something. And I’ve been fortunate enough not to come under such tutelage. It would not have gone well. 

Hopefully, needless to say, that is not my style at all. I can tell you what I observe and what works for me. I don’t know if it’s ‘right’ because I believe that if it works for you, or gets the effect you want then who am I to judge. There are ‘rules’ for perspective, and proportions and color mixing and even in oil painting for fat over lean, and these things are still just guidelines. Yes, the human body is generally considered to be so many heads high, and hand is generally a certain size as compared to the face. However, those are still guidelines. If you follow those rules you get a perfectly proportioned human. If you are depicting a specific human or a human in motion with foreshortening, these ‘rules’ might not apply. And even though the fat over lean is a practical rule, if you are looking for the effect that the opposite creates, well then, it’s still just a guideline. 

Reminder of what watercolor paper I’m enjoying so I can buy more

It has taken me a long time to reconcile this with regards to some of my own art. It tends to set my freewheeling artistic side against my more pragmatic and structured or disciplined side, which usually wins out. I was comfortable with pencil because, it’s a pencil, how can there be rules of using a pencil. I mean there are people that have particular ways they use it and maybe even some that think it should be held a certain way, but since I can write with a pencil it didn’t really occur to me that it mattered how I held my pencil when drawing. Watercolors. That’s a different story.

I finally came to the conclusion that I abuse watercolors. And I’m good with that. I think I’ve written before that I don’t typically do delicate watercolor paintings. My colors are usually bold and saturated. My taekwondo paintings may be the exception to this, and yes, I did use some watercolor technique so I might actually be a watercolor artist. Wait, what? I fought the idea of being a watercolor artist for so long because I didn’t like the delicate, often washed out, colors that I associated with watercolor. And then I finally, saw some watercolors in a museum that were saturated, and I finally found a way to describe some of my approach to painting with watercolors, I abuse them.

Oil paints. I do own them.

I’ve tried oil paints, and I’m thinking about trying them again. The one ‘rule’ I will be trying to abide by is the fat over lean because of the practicalities of the rule. And beyond that, I have serious expectations that whatever I do with the oil paints, I won’t be doing something ‘right’ because, how many versions of ‘right’ are out there. Is Van der Meer right, or van Gogh, or  Monet, or Rousseau, or Caillebotte, or Da Vinci? 

All of this to say, that while I appreciate the suggestion to reference Da Vinci’s notebooks for what to write about, that’s not my style. I just don’t see myself in that role, as the ‘authority’ on what is right or wrong or the only way in art. I’ll share what I do, or try, and how I feel about the results just to share, because hopefully it’s interesting to someone. Beyond that, I’m just an artist rambling about what I’m working on and hoping someone finds it worth the read. 

Cheers.  

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You Think Too Much

Posted on April 1, 2025 by SusanG

That’s what my sister told me after my last blog post. Followed by an admission of the ‘pot and the kettle thing’. And she’s right. I know she’s right. And I told her she’s right. I think she thought I was going to fight her on it when I asked “About?”. I asked because I was curious if it was in general or specific. It’s general. And again, she’s right. 

I could sit here and write all the possible reasons for thinking too much and basically self analyze, but that would be boring to me. I have looked at it. And think I know at least some of the reasons. And that’s enough because, I’m aware of them and I’m aware that I won’t grow and move forward if I keep doing it. If I keep overthinking in a way that keeps me from getting stuff done. Not everything has to be perfect, not everything is going to be perfect and that’s ok. Because, I am human. And I’ve come to grasp that even those people, who we think are amazing and have great lives, a lot of the time there really is just another human behind that facade with dirty dishes that need taking care of, favorite food weaknesses, the same ‘saving that for something special’ quirk, and their own self doubts, and so much more.

We live in a world where we are bombarded with what to do and what not to do to be correct in how we live. I mean how many things on the socials have you seen that say something like ‘you’re doing X all wrong’ or if you want to do X you “HAVE TO” do this. And the ones I like the least, things a woman or person over a particular age should or shouldn’t do, or should or shouldn’t wear. OMG. Please! So it’s easy to overthink because of this. Because, what if you’re misunderstood and someone gets upset, or what if you do something that puts off vibes that you didn’t intend. As just a couple of examples. So yeah, it becomes easy to think too much about stuff. 

I even think too much about what piece of art I want to do. Mostly it’s about if I want to paint that particular pose because of how much detail it might have or how challenging it looks. Sometimes I worry that if I do a painting of a particular subject that I really want to paint and then share it, then people will think that that’s what I do. Or if I try a certain medium or technique. I’m afraid someone will say something like, ‘so you’re a X artist now’. Or ‘so now you’re doing these types of paintings’. And then I’ll have to justify why I’m doing that piece and if I think I might do more or not. What if I just wanted to try it, and show off that I tried it. 

So yeah. I definitely think too much about some things and it does get in the way. I’m going to see if I can break the habit and just start going with things a little more. And part of that is going to be trying not to cover everything in every post. Let’s see how that goes, shall we?

Cheers!

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Still No Clue

Posted on March 26, 2025 by SusanG

I know, it’s been more than a month since I’ve posted. I really want to post on a more regular schedule, every two weeks or even every week. It’s just not been that easy. For one, most of the time I have no clue what to write about. I’ve written or started this post 5 times, I think. I’ve even finished most of what I’ve written. Then I would go back to read what I’d written, before I posting it and I wouldn’t be happy with it. Either it didn’t have the tone I wanted or it didn’t say quite what I wanted to say. Or I decided it sounded too preachy, and I seriously do not want that.

So here I sit, trying to figure out what to write about. It’s not that there isn’t stuff happening. We all know there is. I mean if you’ve caught any of the news in the USA, even as censored as it is, you know there’s stuff happening. And some of it gives me anxiety. Anxiety for myself, anxiety for people I know, and anxiety for people I don’t know. I don’t want to write about that stuff because this isn’t meant to be a political blog. And I haven’t done the research that I think I should do to even write about it. I’d want to be as fully informed as possible and frankly, right now, like a lot of people, fully informed and my sanity are mutually exclusive. It’s not that I’m not aware. I have not buried my head in the sand. I am aware. 

Aside from the crazy that is happening in the world there is still stuff going on with me. I’m working on art, some of which I’ve posted and some I’m not quite ready to post or discuss in depth yet. That’s made trying to figure out what to write about hard because I want to talk about some of the changes I’m seeing in my art and my approach to it,  and the project that I’m working on and not talking about, has had an influence on that and I’m not ready to talk about that yet. So it’s a limbo thing. And even with that, I’m not sure I want to write about that either because announcing what I’m “going to do” sounds a little disingenuous. And it creates massive pressure and the way the world is right now, who needs that.

In the past, especially this past couple of years, I’ve had a lot of art to post, maybe not write about, but post. That has allowed me to keep up with the socials, well at least Instagram and Facebook. And I wonder if  that has set an unsustainable pace for me, art wise, so I’m trying to slow down and take my time. However, as I work on my current pieces, I find that there are points in each piece where the creating just seems to fly by. So, it’s not always easy. Sometimes, I start at one point on a painting in the morning and if I’ve been lucky enough to have the day to work on art, instead of the day job, I get to the evening and I’ve done so much that it feels like completion is so close. And that’s great, even if it is rare that, that is actually the case. So maybe “slowing down” isn’t really the answer.

What I really want to do is really focus on creating the best piece of art I can. I try to spend a little more time considering if I’ve got the darks dark enough, and if I chose a pose or position that is more dynamic and that tells more of a story than it being just a pretty picture or amazing shot. I feel like I’ve been making pretty pictures. And I want to do a little more than just that. Because I have to tell you, when that’s all they are, a pretty picture, I have a hard time getting hyped up to tell you about them. They’re nice. I had fun painting them, I maybe even learned something cool while creating them. I’m even please and proud of the work I’ve done. But I have a hard time blowing my own horn over them and saying ‘hey, look at me, I painted a pretty picture’. I know that’s what I’m supposed to do. I just have a hard time doing it. 

As far as other things going on in my world… I’m still training Taekwondo. I don’t have any real updates there. I won’t be testing again for another year so nothing else to really report. There is the day job. And the day job is the day job. It looks like I will by making another trip to Orlando for a department meeting in June, for that. I have finished reading three books already this year that I really like. One book, I finished in less that 24 hours. I’ve started reading about 3 or 4 others as well. None of them are compelling enough right now for me to just stick with them all the way through. Or, the craziness of the world right now makes it difficult to stay focused. You choose. 

I have also managed to binge watch two series. Not something I do on the regular. Aside from watching movies on repeat while I work on art, I don’t usually catch much “tv” or “streaming tv”. So to have binged two series already this year a bit of a detour. For the curious, one series is a current one on Netflix and the other one is an older one, ok older than I want to admit, on Peacock. They were fun. 

And the music. That’s a bit of a mess for me right now. I haven’t been playing much. Not guitar, or the piano/keyboard that I was starting to learn. I think it has a lot to do with teaching it. I’m a bit lost doing it. I’m not a teacher. And I’m certainly not a music teacher. I agreed to do it to get them started and to help out. Now I’m at the point that I don’t know what to teach them to keep them interested and excited to practice. I was hoping for them to get excited about playing and to start to explore things on their own as they learned enough. And since I haven’t really explained that, it’s been a lot of the same old, same old each week. I say ‘play me what you’re working on’ and then offer some notes, ask if there are questions and that’s it. That isn’t fun for either of us.

And while that doesn’t sound like it should really impact my enjoying playing guitar for myself or even plunking out something on the keyboard, it does. I think it’s because they are my neighbor and live across the hall and I don’t want them hearing me working on something and then wondering about why I’m not teaching that. Well, you gotta master the basics first. Which is a bit of the issue. Anyway. It feels weird. I guess it’s not wanting to show someone up or to show off. There’s probably a lot to unpack there. And we’re not getting into that. So I haven’t been playing, at home or out. And honestly, right now, even if I was playing at home, it’s probably not what I’d be writing about. 

So yeah, that brings us back to the start and why I haven’t been posting like I want to. Most of the time I have no clue what the heck to write about. And, even if there is stuff happening, it doesn’t usually feel like something I can really write about, or is worth writing about. It’s quite a dilemma. And with that. I think I’ll wander back to the studio to work for a little bit longer before making some food.

Cheers! 

One last thing. My sister did a thing and wrote a book and published it on Amazon. You can find it here: Fearless By Design

I get no revenue or anything affiliated with this book. I’m just supporting my sister.

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