Free watercolor painting demo -- Kayaks

Here's the finished painting from my demo! I cleaned up a few edges, and I added in two extra kayaks in the background. I made the kayaks in the background lighter in value, color in temperature, and grayer in intensity to depict distance through atmospheric perspective. 

 If you missed my live online demo the other day, don't despair -- I just uploaded it to YouTube! It's one hour long from start to finish. Be sure to check it out, and subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all the latest updates. Better yet, follow me on Facebook, too, then you can watch in real-time when ever I paint live online!

 

I used my favorite art supplies in this demo -- Sennelier colors, Dynasty brushes, and Hahnemuehle paper. These are my "go-to" supplies that I recommend to everyone! 

More koi and other news

I'm thrilled to announce that my painting "a Tug at my Heart" is juried into the Kentucky Watercolor Society 43rd Annual Aqueous Exhibit! This is my 3rd acceptance which earns Signature Status in KWS. It is the 16th Signature Status that I've earned, although I still have not earned it from the Big Three societies. 

I wrote an illustrated tutorial for Plaza Art Store with this painting, you can see it online. 

I also worked on this small painting of Koi last week, using my Water Lily brushes from Dynasty Brush on the Leonardo CP paper from Hahnemuehle. 

The Water Lily line of brushes from Dynasty Brush are a soft synthetic hair that resembles natural Kolinsky sable more than other other synthetic brush available. The hairs are extremely absorbent and have a nice spring that is neither too firm nor too soft. Besides being vegan, they have all the characteristics of Kolinsky, but with the durability and affordability of synthetic. 

The Leonardo line of paper from Hahnemuhle is 280 pound watercolor paper that comes in rough, cold, or hot pressed surfaces. It is bright white and the cold and rough have wonderful textures. I prefer blocks, and this paper comes in handy blocks of 10 sheets. I seldom treat myself to a heavy paper, so painting on this 280 pound paper was a real luxury for me that I greatly enjoyed. 

Testing New Watercolor Papers from Hahnemühle!

I recently received a new paper to try out from Hahnemühle USA, the Harmony 140 lb. cold pressed block. The best way I know of to test new paper is to put it through all the paces -- heavy washes, lifting, masking fluid, and other forms of abuse that I inflict upon my paper in the course of creating a painting. Here's a step by step tutorial of my koi painting, and a review of the paper in the process.

The Harmony 140 lb CP watercolor block from Hahnemuehle. 

Here's my drawing of koi with masking fluid protecting parts of the paper. I also outlined the koi with a thin line of masking fluid to allow me to work the background really wet and control the flow of water better. The masking fluid reserves the white of the paper, and the thin outline helps to keep my heavy wet washes from running out of control.

I used a variety of dark colors for the backgound, and a lot of palette mud, too. You can see from the puddles and sheen how wet the paper still is at this point. While the paper was still damp, I splashed a few drops of water onto it to create a few tiny spots of blooms. 

Next I painted my lightest values on the fish, the yellow colors. Notice my background wash is still wet -- I used a lot of water!

Here I added my medium values to the koi, namely the orange and red colors -- cadmiums, vermillion, quinacrodone rose, violet, and a little sepia for the darks. Notice how light the background appears in this photo, compared to the previous photo? That's because it is now dry. I used a lot of water to create the background, and the more water you use, the lighter the watercolor paints will dry. Adding water to watercolor paint is akin to adding white paint to oils or acrylics -- it lightens the colors. 

More dark values are added using ivory black, sepia, indigo, and violet to create form and roundness to the fish. The masking fluid comes off easily, revealing perfectly preserved paper on which I can now paint.  

The koi have a freckled appearance to them, which I added with my darkest colors of ivory black. I scrubbed and lifted some areas that I had previously painted, to show some of the lighter patterns in the fish's colors.  

And finally, this is my finished painting of the koi. 

The Harmony paper from Hahnemuehle responded beautifully, and held up perfectly despite my abusive painting techniques. It naturally buckled under my heavy washes, but then dried flat. I really gave it a workout and didn't expect it to perform as well as it did, and I was pleasantly surprised that the paper far exceeded all of my expectations. The texture is quite nice, slightly toothy. The paper is surface sized and the amount of sizing appears to be quite generous, giving that the amount of water that I used and the lifting techniques all worked quite well. The color is soft white -- not overly bright, but no hint of any yellow or cream color. 

This paper is new, and is currently available at Art Materials Online. It will be available at other retailers soon. 

Keep up with all of Hahnemuehle latest products by following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Yay! Value Finders are Here!

For many years I've been telling my students about the benefits of using a Value Finder while painting. Unfortunately, these things are extremely hard to find! I finally found a great wholesale source, and now I'm offering them to my students and other artists.

4x6 Value Finders, $5 + S&H

4x6 Value Finder (red acrylic)
$5 plus $4 shipping and handling




You can save on the Shipping and Handling charges by buying direct from me at my demos and workshops, although I only bring a limited number of them with me to events so there is always the possibility that I may sell out early and there may not be enough to go around.

When you look at your painting through the Value Finder, the deep red color works as a filter to cancel out colors and show you the true values of your painting. It works equally well when you hold it up to look at your subject through it -- it will filter out the confusion of colors and allow you to easily see only the value transitions of what ever you are painting. These are ideal for plein air painters and studio painters alike, and work for every medium. 

Paint with me in Spain!

I've just been booked (yesterday!) to teach a watercolor workshop in Costa Brava, Spain -- and it's already selling out fast! There are only 8 spaces left! This plein air watercolor painting workshop is May 1 - 8, 2017. The itinerary includes museums, medieval villages, botanical gardens, castles, fishing villages, and the beautiful coastal seashore of the Costa Brava in northern Spain.

Sign up NOW to reserve your space, before it's all sold out! Contact Jackie at French Escapade tours for more information or to sign up!

Do you know how to identify a good art instructor?

(Annie Strack teaching plein air painting in Spain)

My new watercolor class started yesterday at a local arts center. I started my course with the basic lessons about art materials -- I explained the different types, grades, uses, properties, and care of the various materials we use in class -- paper, paints, brushes, and more. How the materials are made, what the ingredients mean and why they are added, explanation of art and painting terms, and on and on and then moving on to drawing and design before getting into painting techniques.

(Annie Strack filming for television)

Most of my students have been taking watercolor painting classes from other art teachers at that center for years, and after the class they confided in me that everything I taught was new to them! Their previous teacher/teachers just SHOWED how she painted, but never EXPLAINED her processes -- like what makes a good composition, or why she choose certain colors, or the importance of values, or how color temperatures work, etc., -- nothing.

(Annie Strack giving the keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society)

My students lamented that their other teachers had never explained the differences between artist grade and student grade materials. Or the difference between washes and glazes. Or how to mix colors, or clean their brushes properly, or the difference between opaque and transparent colors, or, well, anything. They were so grateful to finally have an experienced professional teacher, and they eagerly soaked up knowledge. 

(Annie Strack's students at Nunez College)

Sadly, I've seen this all too often. A person can be a great artist, and at the same time, have little or no knowledge about art. There's nothing wrong with that. But being able to paint beautifully does not mean that they automatically possess the ability to teach art. I’ve watched lots of talented self-taught artists paint, and many of them have no idea how they create – they “just do it.”

(Annie Strack teaching at Delaware Watercolor Society)

Some of these artist can enjoy great success, and their paintings are featured in magazines and even win top awards in major juried exhibits. These are the idiot savants of the art world. People who were never taught how to mix colors or hold a brush, and yet they can produce a beautiful work of art through intuition -- without understanding how they did it.

(Annie Strack teaching watercolor painting techniques in New Jersey)

It’s like the people who can play an instrument “by ear,” but can’t read a note of music. Their music can sound perfect, but if they don’t know what key they used, or can’t tell you the name the chords, or show you the difference between flat and sharp, then they can’t teach you how to play the instrument.

(Annie Strack's workshop students in Mississippi)

Anyone can call themselves an artist, and any artist can call themselves an art teacher. This is why it’s so important for students to make sure that their teachers are good teachers, as well as good artists.

(Annie Strack's students at the Bayou Lacombe Art Center)

I'm seeing some of my former students are advertising that they are now teaching workshops and classes, even though they've only been painting for a short while.

(Annie Strack teaching a workshop in Ocean City, Maryland)

Although I make it look easy to my students, art and teaching both require training and practice. Someone may copy my lessons or paintings, but they can't teach from experience that they don't possess.

 (Annie Strack's students and Yves-Marie Salanson of Sennelier in France)

I have decades of training, knowledge, and experience, and spent years perfecting lessons and developing instructional materials for artists. It's better to learn my material directly from me, rather than from someone who has taken a workshop from me or just watched me demonstrate a technique.

(Annie Strack teaching at at Rowan College)

Before you sign up for an art class, make sure the instructor has demonstrated knowledge of whatever it is that she is teaching. Besides experience teaching in legitimate and prestigious venues such as schools, art centers, arts supplies stores, and artist organizations, look for teachers who have glowing references and recommendations.

(Annie Strack's workshop students in Charleston)

Most art instructors publish tutorials and lessons, and you can usually find samples online and in print. Look at their online videos and check out their DVDs. Read their tutorials that they wrote for art magazines, for art supply companies, and online blogs. You need to see evidence like these examples that prove the artist's teaching abilities. If you can't find any evidence, then it probably doesn't exist -- and that is a BIG red warning flag! 

(Annie Strack teaching artist materials at Plaza Art Stores)

The funny thing is, the bad classes are often the same price as the good classes. Would you rather spend your time and money in a class where you won’t learn anything, or would you rather spend that same time and money taking a class from a professional artist who has the knowledge, experience, references, qualifications, and credentials that prove her worth as an extraordinary teacher?

(Annie Strack teaching for the Louisiana Watercolor Society)

Don’t sign up for a class just because the artist is a remarkable painter, make sure the artist is a remarkable teacher, too! 

(Annie Strack teaching workshops at Jerry's Artarama's annual Art of the Carolinas)

Same goes for those of you who book the workshop artists and hire the art instructors – the good teachers don’t cost you any more than the bad ones, so do your homework and get the good ones!

(Annie Strack teaching for the Philadelphia Watercolor Society)

There are a lot of art teachers to chose from -- make sure you choose an artist who has a strong background in teaching art, has demonstrated her abilities by winning tons of awards, is recognized as a top artist by her many prestigious Signature Memberships, has actually studied art, and is vastly knowledgeable about artist materials and supplies. 

Annie Strack helping students learn how to make paint in Italy

Art Tip: How to paint a Sunset

One of my most popular 1-day workshop subjects is "How to Paint Skies." I teach my students how to paint a variety of different atmospheric conditions in skies, such as different types of clouds, sunny weather, rainy skies, stormy skies, fog, etc. My students always enjoy painting sunsets, which are the most difficult because of the multiple colors introduced to the wash.

The most common mistake that watercolor painters make, is layering colors or letting the wrong colors mix on the paper, resulting in the odd colors. For instance, both yellow and blue can be found in the sky during a sunset, but if the yellow and blue are layered or mixed on the paper they will result in green -- a color that is not found in the sky.

(Sunset, 9x12 WC, $125)

The second biggest mistake artists make when painting sunsets, is not painting the colors in the order of the color spectrum. The colors in a sunset (or sunrise) follow the same spectrum order as the colors in a rainbow. The color closest to the Sun is yellow, the next color is orange, then red, with violet being the color that appears furthest from the light source. The sky might be dark blue or light blue depending on the position of the Sun. Values will also deepen as they get further from the light source, with the lightest value being the light source, itself.

The third mistake artists make, is not realizing that sunset colors only appear on clouds. The sky doesn't reflect the colors -- the colors are reflected on particles of water, which is why the colors appear on the clouds.

In this demonstration painting, I started by painting a wet-on-wet blue wash for the sky, and blotted out the edges of the clouds. Then, starting with the Sun's position in the center of the horizon, I used yellow ochre and worked my way outward using cadmium orange, permanent red, and dioxide violet. Some of the colors overlapped each other, which is fine because the overlapping colors are analogous so the order of the color spectrum is still maintained. A few more cloud layers were blotted out while the colors were still wet. To create the reflection in the water, I did the same thing but without the blotting, and I kept the water movement horizontal in appearance.

I teach this in workshops pretty often, so keep an eye out for a workshop near you!

Watercolor Painting Tutorial, Boats and Reflections

I started this painting a couple of months ago, but then I got distracted by classes and workshops and I didn't get around to finishing it until Friday at my Open Studio event. I had quite a crowd coming and going all day at my studio, and I always seem to get more work done when I paint in public!

Drawing the details. I draw as much as I can see, and a few things that I can't see but I know have to be there. I draw a suggestion of the reflections, but that is always likely to change as I paint.

I masked out the boats and painted in the sky and the lightest values of the water, using magnesium blue, cobalt, and payne's grey.

I used a wet into wet technique to create the dark background of the trees with indigo, payne's grey. sepia, yellow ochre. I also splattered paint, and dropped some intentional water blooms into the background to move the paint around and add interest.

As I worked on the trees and background, I also worked in the reflections at the same time, while I had the same  color on my brush to match the background.  

I used a Faux Squirrel Reservoir Liner brush from Dynasty Brush to paint the cypress trees in the background. The brush made it easy to loosely paint the branches and moss.

At this point, I wasn't happy with the vertical lines created by the reflections, so I wetted a few spots and wiped the paint out. I then went back and added more of the blues. It worked, and the water now appeared to be more "wet."



After the water and the background were done, I peeled off the masking fluid and began to paint the boats. I used my Faux Kolinsky from Dynasty Brush for this -- the brush has lots of spring and it's very responsive, and it keeps a fine point while holding los of water and paint.  

Some of the boats in my reference photo are different colors, with varying trims and canvases. I decided to make all the hulls white, and all the trims and canvases ultramarine blue.  

To add the focal point, I used the complimentary cadmium orange on a kayak in the "sweet spot" of the painting.  It looked a little off, so I added a red life ring on the boat next to it so that the orange didn't seem so isolated.

Lastly, I added the reflections of the orange and the red in the water, and this is the finished painting! I haven't titled this one yet, and I'm open to suggestions. This 14x20 painting will be going off to juried art shows soon, but it is available for pre-sale at $1095.

Painting Trees in Watercolor

I had a very productive class yesterday in my studio, focusing on drawing and painting trees! Here are some of my demonstrations from my workshop.

 I started with drawing basic shapes and "scribbles" and showing how those shapes could then be arranged to depict trees and shrubbery. I demonstrated shortcuts and tips to help my students remember simple shapes and ways to draw realistic trees with just a few lines and scribbles. We worked with pencils and pen and ink in our drawings.

After my students had drawn several types of trees and were confident in their skills, I moved on to painting and showed how to use and mix a variety of colors that "read" as green, and help keep landscape paintings from appearing too monochromatic and flat. I taught how to create blooms of texture with a wet-into-damp technique, how to use salt to depict the look of foliage, how to create details by lifting paint, and tons of other techniques.
We also had time for me to demonstrate how to use values and color temperature to create depth and visual interest. This class is always popular, so I'll be teaching it again soon!

In the meantime, be sure to check out my other upcoming workshops at my Kennett Square Studio, and if you can't come in person, you can always take my basic watercolor classes on-line at Artists Network University -- where I teach classes year-round and I have a new class starting every few weeks!

Tips for using watercolor masking fluid

One of my favorite tools in my paint box is masking fluid, also known as liquid frisket. Masking fluid is a liquid rubber product that is used by watercolor painters as a water resist - in other words, it preserves the white of the paper and protects it from paint. These tips will help you use your masking fluid well and get the maximum benefits for your paintings.

1. Masking fluid that is old or contaminated will be difficult or even impossible to remove from paper. For best results use fresh fluid, and write the date on the bottle when it is first opened. Discard any unused products after one year, or sooner if the product has become difficult to remove from your paper or if it's colorant  has left a stain on your paper. Also, paper that is very old will have deteriorated sizing, and that, too, will affect how your masking fluid adheres. Always use fresh products for the best results. 

2. Never EVER shake bottles of masking fluid, it will incorporate air into the fluid which will shorten the shelf life of the product, and make it more difficult to use. Instead, gently swirl or stir the liquid until thoroughly mixed. Adding a pair of small glass beads, marbles, or steel ball bearings into the masking fluid’s jar will help you to mix the fluid easier.

3. To apply the fluid, use a brush that has plastic bristles. The kind that are often found in dollar stores in the children’s or toy section, and usually come in a package of a dozen or so for around a dollar. The stiff plastic bristles allow for maximum control, and can be trimmed with scissors to any needed shape. The plastic bristles do not absorb the fluid, making it easier to clean and reuse. 

4. Apply masking fluid generously. The thicker you apply it, the easier it will be to peel it off later. Thinly applied masking fluid will be difficult to remove.

5. Even with the plastic brushes, it is still best to rub a little liquid soap into the bristles before using them with masking fluid. The soap creates a barrier between the brush and fluid, and makes it easier to clean.

6. Make sure your paper is perfectly dry before applying or removing masking fluid. Never apply it to wet or damp paper, and never try to remove it from wet or damp paper.

7. If you spill or spatter masking fluid somewhere where you don’t want it (such as on your workbench, floor, or other areas of your painting), don’t try to wipe it up. You’ll only end up rubbing it into the surface, making it even more difficult to remove. Instead, let it dry completely and then peel it off.

8. Once you’ve applied the fluid to your paper, don’t leave it on for more than a week. The longer it’s there; the harder it will be to remove. Also, heat will harden masking fluid and make it more difficult to remove, so don’t leave your painting in a hot place or apply heat from a hair dryer while the masking fluid is on your paper.

9. When you’re ready to remove the masking fluid, use a rubber pick-up tool. This inexpensive square tool is made of crepe (aka: gum) rubber and will stick to the dried mask to pull it off your paper with little effort and no damage. 

10. Exposing your masking fluid to air, water, soap, and other contaminants will cause it to go bad faster, so the more you use it -- the faster your bottle of fluid will deteriorate. Decant your fluid into a smaller nail polish bottle to keep the large bottle fresh longer. The nail polish bottle already has mixing beads and a self storing plastic brush that never needs cleaning. It's also a perfect size for traveling. 

(Masking fluid decanted into a nail polish bottle)

This photo shows plastic brushes, steel ball bearings, masking fluid (aka: liquid frisket), and a rubber pick-up tool. To see how masking fluid is used, click here to see a step-by-step tutorial of one of my recent maritime paintings...

Watch this short video for more masking fluid tips!