Hello friends.

Yesterday I said I was going to post my Chinese brush doodles that I did day before yesterday.  It was really a lot of fun!  However, as you can see, I do need a lot more practice!  I only used ink and will not be adding watercolor to my doodles for a while yet.  The kit I have came with six basic colors of watercolors.  I haven’t tried to use them yet, but I’m not sure that they will be much different than what I already have.

Anyway, the first things shown in the book are basic techniques:

1.  Holding the brush – this is interesting, because I have to hold it straight up for many of the strokes!  My fingers have to grip it completely different than I learned for using a regular watercolor brush.  I like it, though.  It’s unique.
2. Practicing strokes.  The different strokes are called:  Line, long dot, dot, rice, curve, blend-and-tip, slide, and press-and-lift strokes.
3. Then it shows how to use watercolor paints and create a value scale.
4. And finally, warming up.

The two warm-up exercises are how to draw bamboo and how to draw a Koi fish.

Here are my very first doodles where I only tried line and long dot strokes and then attempted to draw bamboo.

Then I attempted to draw a Koi fish.  I really want to practice this kind of fish a lot more, because I want to paint it in watercolors with the Chinese brushes as well.

Of course the fish I really want to learn how to do that is demonstrated in the book also is the goldfish.  Why, you may wonder?  My son is 19 years old.  Ever since he was barely over a year old, my mom began giving him Goldfish crackers for a snack.  He still eats them to this day.  And I think they are still his favorite snack!  Thanks, mom!  So I can hardly wait to try to paint one for him.

That’s all for today.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.  My daughter starts school on Monday, but this year my son will be helping with the driving until she gets her license.  This means I’ll have more time for painting!  Yay!

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

Hello everyone. Forgive me for not having anything new yet to show you in the art of Chinese brush painting or wet-in-wet.  Here’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!

I have just gotten around to ordering this set today.  So I haven’t been experimenting much with my other new brush yet.  I tried doing a couple of things with it, but alas I have no idea what I am doing!  So…..I went to my local art store and looked to see if they had anything available like more Chinese brushes, the ink, a book, etc.  They had nothing. However, the kind lady there looked it up online for me and was going to order this very set for me from their supplier.  I intended to order it (she had the order written up and everything,) but before I did,  I went looking around,  found a couple of new watercolor paint colors I have been wanting to try for a long time but hadn’t found there yet, which are:  Opera Rose (I love that name!) and Manganese Blue Hue, purchased them, and…yes….walked out completely forgetting to order the kit!!

I didn’t realize what I had done until after I ran another errand or two.  (That darn memory thing!)   By that time I was halfway home and stopped at the post office.  So I called to see if I could go ahead and order it over the phone, but for whatever reason they can’t do that anymore.   I didn’t have time to go back before I needed to get home, though.  I had also forgotten an ice chest for my cold stuff from the grocery store and it had gotten pretty hot by then.

So here I am ordering it from somewhere else online instead.  Normally I would have taken the time to go back to my local retailer to give them my business, but the next day my daughter had to have her wisdom teeth taken out, and I have been nursing her through it.  However, if she feels better today,  I may have a little time to escape to some paper and my new paint colors which I haven’t tried yet just to…..PLAY!

I think it is important that artists take time to play.  Most of the time I get so focused on trying to learn something new like a technique I’ve read about but haven’t done yet or learning how to draw something I’ve never drawn before, that I forget to just PLAY with my brushes & paints.  Doodling is really fun, yet I find myself not doing it nearly enough.  I tend to get too serious and concentrate too hard.  So I think I may start keeping a watercolor doodling journal of some sort and see what happens!

I also ordered some Sumi Rice Paper to see what it is like to draw on in pen and ink.  The Chinese brush painting kit comes with paint as well as an ink stone and an ink stick so using those will be something very different for me to learn.  Anyway, I have always loved Chinese art.  It is elegant and amazing!  I don’t know if anything I attempt will come out anywhere near looking elegant, but as with anything, learning something new takes TIME!

So what have you been learning that is new lately?  Tell me about it!  

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

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!  🙂