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. 

watercolor sketchbooks with toned paper!

A couple of years ago I started using an ivory toned watercolor sketchbook from Hahnemuehle and I immediately got hooked on toned paper. They just sent me two new watercolor sketchbooks, one in a lovely shade of cool grey and another in a warm soft brown.

These arrived yesterday evening, and I couldn't wait to open them up and get started!
You can order these books now at Wet Paint. In Canada, Above Ground Art Supplies and Gwartzman’sArt Supplies have ordered it but it's not yet on their website. These are the first stores to roll them out.

Using toned paper allows an artist to use the paper to provide some of the color in the painting. It's especially fun with pastels, gouache, or other opaque media. I used traditional watercolors in these paintings, accented with opaque white from a felt tip pen. On the right side of the photo is the fact sheet -- it's printed on glossy white paper, and you can see the color differences in this photo between the white of that paper, and the grey and brown paper in the sketchbooks.

I used the beige paper to create a sunset effect in this scene with a lighthouse, by leaving the paper to provide the color for the sky and some of the water. A white pen provided a bit of white for the lighthouse and it's reflection in the water.

In the beach scene, I let the grey paper color the sky and added a few brush strokes of payne's grey to create a dark stormy cloud. I left the paper color for the sand, and just washed it lightly with sepia to warm it up. Lastly, I added the whites of the crashing waves with a white pen.

The sketchbooks come in two colors, cool grey and warm brown. Each color is available in three sizes: 4.13 x 5.83 inches, 5.83 x 8.27 inches (that's the size I used in these photos), and 5.51 x 5.51 square. The 60 pages of 95 pound paper is acid free and age resistant, and has a slight texture that's just a little smoother than standard cold pressed. The books have a color coordinated linen cover and matching elastic band, giving it an elegant sophisticated feel. Although these would make fabulous gifts for any artist, I'm keeping both of these for myself. 

Want to keep up with the latest products from Hahnemuehle? Follow them on Facebook! There you will learn the latest news and updates. 

Hahnemuehle Watercolor Blocks

Awesome news! Hahnemuhle is sponsoring my next workshop in Charleston by providing a 9x12 block of their Cezanne line of watercolor paper to each student in my workshop! I love the Hahnemuhle Cezanne papers, and this is a wonderful treat for my students to each get their own block of paper! 

Cezanne watercolor blocks by Hahnemuhle 

Winter Semester Classes at the Community Art Center in Wallingford start next week. There are still a couple of spaces left in my watercolor class, so hurry and register if you want in! This class fills fast with returning students so there is very limited space for a few new artists to join in each semester.

Annie's students at the CAC

And in other news, there is just ONE SPACE left in my plein air trip to France with Sennelier! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for artists to go to Brittany on the invitation of the Sennelier company. There will be a wait list, and there is always a chance that a few artists will be selected from the wait list to go on this trip.

Summer School

Every summer I teach a semester of classes in my own studio in south east Pennsylvania. The curriculum is painting and drawing lessons that are completed in each session, and students can come for a day or a half day, and pay by the lesson -- instead of committing to a whole semester. When the students arrive I usually give them a choice of lessons, and let the day's class decide which lesson we will cover that day.

This week, our lesson was one about color theory, and each of them painted a couple of complementary paintings based on their own palette colors. Pigment properties are always part of every lesson, as is composition, perspective, drawing, etc.

My summer classes are sponsored by Hahnemuhle, who has generously provided my students and me with 12x16 blocks of their Cezanne watercolor paper. I've lost count of all the times that Hahnemuhle has sponsored my classes and workshop! They make amazing papers for artists, printers, and photographers, and the papers are so wonderful that it's hard for me to pick a preference! My students were totally thrilled to get a fresh new block of paper at the start of the class!

My demonstration paintings from this week's classes...

Hahnemuhle Zig Zag Sketchbook!

Here's a little something that I painted in my Zig Zag book from Hahnemuehle! I haven't painted in the big book (top) yet, but I did fill up the little book with a panoramic watercolor seascape.

The little book is tiny -- with each square being just 2 inches, for a total length of 20 inches. It's perfect for a panoramic painting like this! The small size also makes it a perfect little keepsake or a special gift. The paper is wonderful -- bright white with a cold pressed texture. Like all Hahnemuehle watercolor paper, it has a generous amount of sizing that makes it easy to lift paint or erase marks without damaging the paper. The hard cover is elegantly cloth bound and enclosed with a red elastic band.

I haven't yet decided what I want to paint in the larger Zig Zag book. Plus, the paper is double-sided, meaning that both sides can be used. So, I can also paint on the reverse side of this, as well! The possibilities are endless! This is a fun little book to take along on travels, as I can play out a panoramic scene or fill it with a series of vignettes to tell a story of a special trip or a memorable experience.

The book comes in a variety of sizes, all of which are perfectly suited for tucking in a pocket or bag for traveling artists. They make wonderful gifts, too! This item is fairly new on the market, and so far, I've only seen them for sale at Blick Art Supplies. 

I've been working on the various watercolor papers from Hahnemuehle for over a year now, and I'm hooked. The quality is exceptional. I like my paper to have a generous amount of sizing, and all of the Hahnemuehle papers fit that bill. The paper is easy to work with as it is extremely durable and doesn't wear down to excessive erasing, lifting paint, or scrubbing. It releases masking fluid perfectly and tape is easily removed without tearing or lifting fibers. Colors remain vibrant, and don't sink in, bleed, or fade as they dry. I'm going to share some of the paper with my students in my upcoming Summer workshops -- see ya there! 

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. 

Plein Air Essentials for Watercolor Painters!

I paint en plein air often and teach classes and workshops, and my new students often ask me what gear they need to come join me on these excursions. I first started painting outdoors back in the early eighties, when I worked as a State Game Warden in the Florida Everglades. Back then, I kept a small box with my painting supplies in the back of my truck so I could sketch and paint the landscape around me.

Later, when I lived in California I organized some artist friends to join me on weekends to paint the breathtaking scenery of the valleys and coastlines. Back then, we called it painting outside or paint outs -- "plein air" was not used as a noun until recent years.

The supplies I carry with me haven't changed much over the decades. Paint, brushes, and water are the essentials. I prefer pan watercolors and I keep a penknife, pencil, eraser, sandpaper, salt, and travel brushes with the folding palette. The travel brushes have self-storing handles that protect the brush when not in use. I like to use a watercolor easel such as this one, but when I was younger I would just sit on the ground and hold my painting on my lap as I worked.

I show a selection of water containers in this photo, and they all have one thing in common -- they collapse. The dog bowl holds enough water to paint a larger painting, or the smaller camping cup can can be tucked in a bag with a sketchbook to be handy for impromptu sessions. The red rectangle in this photo is a value finder. Looking through it helps artists to see values, and both in their subject and in their painting.

The right paper is a major component of painting. I like a small sketchbook such as this spiral bound one from Hahnemuehle for sketching on the go and small studies. For full size plein air paintings, I use 140 paper mounted in block form, such as this 12x16 block of Cezanne paper from Hahnemuehle.

Annie Strack teaching plein air painting in Spain

More Plein Air!

A few more paintings from last the Brandywine Plein Air festival last week!

Frolic's Ford, 8x10 oil 

Pasture at Big Bend, 8x10 oil 

 During the exhibit at Winterthur, I demonstrated plein air painting in the main tent to entertain visitors. Here I am with my half-finished watercolor demo on Saturday. The painting sold before the paint was dry!

On Sunday I demonstrated watercolor painting again, this time using a photo from my recent plein air workshop in Calella de Palafrugell as my reference. Both my demo paintings are on the "Cezanne" 140 lb rough watercolor paper from Hahnemuehle. I was demonstrating alongside my co-organizer of  Plein Air Brandywine, Yvonne Mucci; and I invited my house guest Gerilyn Gaskil to join us. I gave each of them a block of the paper to use, and both of them loved it every bit as much as I do.

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

Painting en Plein Air at Fontainebleu Park!

I just got back from a trip to New Orleans where I taught a watercolor painting workshop for the West Bank Art Guild. I had a fabulous trip, although I had to dig out from Winter Storm Jonah before I left home. I had a great group of artists in my workshop, and I'll post some photos of that next week! After the workshop, I spent some time visiting with old friends and getting in a little painting en plein air.

(Carol Hallock painting the beach  with oils at Fontainebleu.)

 I stayed at my dear friend Carol Hallock's home on Bayou Lacombe while I was down there. I used to live in Lacombe years ago, and Carol and I are old painting buddies. We both pursue the same subjects in our paintings, although she prefers to paint with oils while I usually reach for watercolors.

(Mary Monk using soft pastels to paint Fontainebleu beach.)

 It was nice to catch up with Mary Monk while I was in town! Mary is an old friend, and stayed at my house while she was painting in the Plein Air Brandywine Valley competition last year. She's always a lot of fun to hang out with!

(Carol Hallock, Mary Monk, and Annie Strack painting en plein air at Fontainebleu State Park.)

 I painted two small watercolors en plein air while we were at Fontainebleu State Park, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. It was foggy when we got there, and the fog lifted and the light changed dramatically. We stayed out painting until sunset, and I shot some fantastic photos of the changing light to use for studio paintings later!

Fontainebleu Beach, 6x12 watercolor $79.

Fontainebleu Park, 6x12 watercolor $79.

It was a busy couple of weeks and I'm still not caught up with my studio paintings, new painting courses, and other work. I've also been inundated with requests for workshop proposals -- I'm getting those out as fast as I can, and so if you've just sent me a request you can expect to hear back within 2 days. I'm adding new workshops to the Calender Page of this website all the time, so be sure to check back often to see the latest listings. Workshops sell out quickly, so if you see one you like, you need to jump on it and register before it's sold out!

Canson's Moulin du Roy Watercolor Paper!

I'm very excited to try the new Moulin du Roy line of watercolor papers from Canson! These papers have a nice surface and are available in the usual array of weights, sizes, and textures. The big difference with this paper, is that it's sized with starch -- not with gelatin. That makes it completely vegan! Using 100% plant-based materials (it's also 100% acid free cotton, too!) makes it less expensive than papers using gelatin for sizing, and artists will happily notice that those savings are reflected in the low retail price of this product.



Canson also sent a whole lot of sample packs of this paper to me, and I'll be giving these away (along with lots of other great freebies!) at my painting demonstration for the Delaware Watercolor Society on Tuesday, November 10th. Everyone is welcome to come watch my demo, you don't have to be a member to attend.  I hope I see you there!

Painting en plein air at the John James Audubon house was so much fun last week, I decided to get out my watercolor pans and paint some more. This little gem is Haskell's farm, off of Creek road in Chadds Ford. A lovely place to paint!

Haskell's Barn, 5x8 watercolor, $79.

Haskell's Farm, 5x8 watercolor (SOLD)

Also, I married my darling Park Ranger 30 years ago, today! Back then, we were living at Big Cypress National Preserve. He worked for the Park, and I was a Game Warden for the state. It's been a wonderful life, traveling to and living in National Parks around the globe. Someday, when we get old and tired, we might settle down somewhere.

Brian and Annie, 1985

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.