Hello friends.  I just wanted to share that lately I have been wanting to learn some new painting techniques, namely, Chinese brush painting and more about the wet-in-wet technique in watercolors.  I bought a new paint brush for doing Chinese painting in ink.  My husband already had a bottle of ink, but I am learning that in this type of painting a block of ink is used.  You can chip pieces off of it  and add as much water as you want to it because it dissolves in the water.

I don’t know if the brush I bought is not that great or if I am just having to get used to how it is shaped, but it felt very awkward in my hand last night.  However, I am going to keep practicing with it and maybe buy a block of ink to try.  I did not dip it in the ink bottle, though; I poured a little out on a saucer.  I read a great book called “The Tao of Watercolor” by Jeanne Carbonetti that I checked out at the library.  She really inspired me to learn more about some of the beautiful techniques she uses.  (I’ll probably try to find this book to buy eventually…)  Anyway, you can read more about Chinese painting here…..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_painting

Also, I have done some wet-in-wet painting, but I have not always liked my results.  So I have been reading another great book I checked out at the library called “Wet-inWet Watercolor” by Gail Speckmann.  These are both very inspiring books for me right now.

I hope to be able to master these techniques over time.  I also am hoping to have a lot more time at home this school year since my daughter will be learning to drive and hopefully get her license so she can drive herself to school!  I find that in the summer it takes me a while to get into a routine of sorts so I can get more artwork done.  I feel I haven’t accomplished as much as I wanted to this summer, but it has been relaxing.  So perhaps I needed the rest a lot more!  I hope everyone is having a great summer.

Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug!  🙂