More new paintings, again!

December is getting off to the busy start, with classes filling up and lots of new bookings for workshops and demos. Still, I've managed to find a little time to paint for myself, in between the myriad of holiday parties and travel. I just finished this watercolor painting of dinghies, from a reference photo I took on one of my recent trips to St. John. I love the water in the Caribbean -- it's as warm and inviting as it looks! I'll be entering this painting in competitions this year, and hopefully the judges will like it as much as I.

Destiny Awaits, 14x20 watercolor

This floral is a demo from one of my classes in my studio. I have several stems of silk flowers and an assortment of vases, and every now and then I arrange them for a still-life painting exercise for my students. It's a wonderful break from painting from photographs, and I can rearrange the flowers and lighting to give my students some different experiences in colors, compositions, designs, and values. This one is on Arches rough paper, and painted with my Mission pan watercolors. I used squirrel mop bushes, which combined with the rough paper helps to give it a looser feel.

Floral Demo with Mission Watercolors

Last week, I drove down to Rehoboth Beach for the Delaware Watercolor Society's holiday party. They gave all the artists a cute little apron with their logo on it, and the Signature Members received an additional gift of a lovely tote bag. I'm always toting bags of stuff around, so a new tote bag always comes in handy!

Signature Member gifts from the Delaware Watercolor Society

Watercolor Painting workshop in Spain!

My watercolor painting workshop in Spain is almost full, there are only a few spaces left. I'm thrilled to have such a great group of artists sign up for this, and I'm looking forward seeing so many old friends on this trip as well as meeting so many new ones!

 Here's the list of art supplies that you will need to bring on the trip.

• Watercolor paints, either in pans or dried on your palette. Tubes and wet paint are inconvenient and messy for traveling, but you may bring them if that is what you are most comfortable using. I use a lot of blues (indigo, indathrone, payne's grey, manganese, cobalt, ultramarine, and anything else I have on hand) and I believe you can never have too many different versions of blue. You'll need at least two yellows -- a warm and a cool, and at least two reds --  , a warm and a cool. Additionally, I like to use a light green, a green/gold, sepia, and a violet. I fill the rest of the spaces in my palettes with an assortment of other colors, but if you have a basic split primary palette of six colors -- a warm and a cool version of each primary -- you'll do just fine. You don't need to use the exact same colors as I do -- bring the colors that you are most comfortable using. 

  

  Example of a "split primary" palette
  
  

• Brushes: I use an assortment of round natural hair brushes. I prefer large brushes, and the largest size is a #6 squirrel mop. My largest round is a #12 Kolinsky. Natural hair brushes hold more fluid than synthetics, so they will perform like larger brushes. I also use a 1" flat for washes, a liner or rigger, and a few small stiffer brushes for lifting and scrubbing. 
• Paper: I suggest you use watercolor blocks, nothing larger than about 12x16. You can bring an assortment of sizes to suit your fancy. You can use other watercolor sketchbooks, loose paper, pads, or other formats if you are more comfortable with that. 
• Masking fluid and remover. 
• pencil and eraser
• paper towels
• hat (to shield your eyes when painting outdoors)
• water container (I use collapsible pet bowls)
• salt packets (to add texture to watercolor)
• tote bag or backpack to carry your supplies to our daily painting sites

OPTIONAL ITEMS:

• Easel
• plein air umbrella
• other paints or mediums

Workshop supplies

This photo shows all the items that I will be using during the workshop. I prefer watercolor pans because they are easy to travel with and take up very little space. Most of my brushes are collapsible pocket brushes -- the cover becomes the handle.

Most of the small items fit right into my folding palettes.

Gifts for my workshop students!

There are a few things that you will need, that are not on the list, and that's because I'm bringing those items and will give them to you! These include black pens for sketching, 4x6 sketchbooks, and white pens. 

The white pens are for adding white to your watercolor paintings. The ink is opaque and archival, making it perfect for adding details and highlights.

Black ink pens are great for sketching, and drawing in details when painting watercolors en plein air.

My Favorite Art Supplies

I'm thrilled to be a contributor for the latest article on ArtistsNetwork.com! Click here to check out what I (and other leading artists, too!) have to say about favorite art supplies, and leave a comment to tell us about your own favorites, too!