Why I do What I do

It started as jealousy...

So in about 4th grade, I started noticing my oldest sister getting better and better at art and this reallllllly made me irritated.

I started practicing and practicing and still in 5th grade, saw my art at a kindergartners level; cute but not her level.

Now, keep in mind my sister is 5 years older than me, so of course shes more advanced.

When I reached 6th grade (took forever), my sister started taking art classes at this small cute place called the Waterloo Art Studio. 

This place was awesome cuz it was right down our street and our mom could watch us walk down. 

Of course once she had taken classes for a month, I started complaining saying I deserved to be in that class also.

My grandma complained saying "oh you won't stick to it".... "its just a phase, you don't actually like art". Things to that nature.

Now, minus the rude comments I got from everyone, I must've eventually annoyed them to death cuz in less than a month I was in that same class. 

Mary (our teacher) gave me this challenge of drawing a still life image (drawing something thats right in front of you).

I drew it like a straight boss. Drew a tea pot and some other random stuff and I killllllled it.

I ended u in my sisters level class right off the bat. 

As you could image my cockiness went through the roof.

My sister ended up not going anymore after a few months and wouldn't you know, I stuck to it.

A couple months in is when I found my favorite medium is in fact, watercolor.

Since I was Marys favorite student (kidding), we always went to the local park and would paint flowers or whatever else we saw. Its one of my best childhood memories.She would work with me and teach me new tricks as long as I dished out artwork!

This woman Mary was literally my inspiration and quite frankly, the reason I never gave up art. She believed that I would stick to it when no one else would. She believed I had talent when I thought I didn't. Shes the reason I know as much as I do. She helped me master watercolor and even learn about other types of art! I really do owe a lot to this woman!

Side note, my sister did eventually go to college for art and still does artsy stuff to this day. I would be taking a class now in art but sadly, none are available at my school! One day though. I still paint in my free time!

Below is a recent piece I did that is sharpie outlined (I always outline in sharpie for some reason hahaha) and watercolored. It is Hindu inspired (like a lot of my art is) and one of my favorite pieces!

Here is another (kinda???) Hindu inspired piece! I'm really into the third eye and into inner awakening and personal self exploration! This is a charcoal/pastel drawing ( to show you I'm not all watercolor all the time! Gotta switch it up!)

Here's a cool piece! This is a picture of a snail with some trippy imaging on his shell. This is pen and ink (old school like Ben Franklin did with a feather!) and watercolor! One of my favorite pieces also!

Style & Ideas

 Style & Ideas

I love color, and the gray scale. 

When I say that, I mean I really  like color and gray. 

Tones of color are the prettiest to me and really easy to make in watercolor! You simply mix a gray and white then add the color of your choosing! Color is amazing because to me, color is an expression of happiness and who doesn't love to be happy? I know I do! Color is all around us and its so cool that we can transfer certain colors back on paper. With art, the possibilities are endless!

Now, how I work is probably waaaaaaay different than how you or anyone else would work. I have to be really interested in what I'm painting before I paint it. I HATE being told to paint something specific. It never comes out right to me. When I start something, I have to finish it right then and there. I could spend anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours just painting something. I either won't stop till its done and if I do stop, I will not finish it. That is one problem I'm trying to fix. I have a lot of artwork I have started but I loose interest so fast, its no wonder I never finish!

Below are 2 of my favorite pieces I did. The one of the girl I did when I was really interested in fashion in 11th grade. I even applied to fashion school! Like I previously stated, I loose interest fairly easily so as you may guess, I changed from wanting to be a fashion major to psychology and don't plan on changing that for awhile.




The second piece is one of my all time favorite! Its such an inspirational quote to me for I used to read his books as a child. 
"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."- Roald Dahl
This painting was relatively easy to paint but has so much meaning behind it. I literally live by this quote. It reminds me to look forward and be as optimistic as humanly possible. Hopefully when you just now read it, it inspired you to apply it to your day to day life.

Brush Styles

Different Shapes of Brushes

For watercolor there are many different types of brushes made for the different techniques, each do a certain task. 

Versatility

Round Brushes

The most versatile and most used brush is the round brush. The shape is useful for small details or broader strokes.  

Flat Brushes

These brushes aren't as versatile as round brushes but the can be used for both washes and linear strokes.  

Detail Work

Spotter Brushes

This brush is a small brush with short bristles for control, aka retouching brushes. 

Rigger Brushes

The rigger brush got the name "rigger" because they were/are used for painting the rigging on ships. Rigger brushes are are round brushes with long bristles. They can hold a lot of paint and are used for a fine point or continuous lines. 

Wash Work

Mop, Hake and Oval

These brushes are round brushes. They have large heads which are good for blending, using a lot of paint, or to cover a large area.

I use all these brushes and more! My personal favorite is the more detail oriented brushes because I like to do that type of paintings (most don't but I do!). I use spotter brushes for EVERYTHING. And when I say everything I mean everything. The background, foreground, the everything ground basically. Honestly, brush preference really depends on who you are as a person and your style preference, this is just to help you know what the main brushes are actually intended to be used for. You can really use them however you wish which is the cool thing. Cool thing about art is you just go with the flow, you don't have to use everything as specified by teachers or google or whatever. 

So do you.

Types of Washes: The Basic Techniques

photo credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8TdJA1P-nY

Wet on Wet

This technique is one of the most basic ones and is really good to use when trying to create a blurry or moody effect. 

Steps:

1. Use a spray bottle and wet your surface (or simply a brush! Just make sure area is wet!) with just water.

2. Simply paint over top of area and the paint should look like its going outward.

Wet on Dry

Wet on dry is another basic technique. It is used when you want a hard or sharp edge on your painting. 

Steps:

1. Make sure paper is dry!

2. Put moisture into brush so that paint will flow when out on the paper but not to wet that the color behind it comes up!

Dry Brush

The total opposite of wet on wet. This technique is mostly dry paint on a dry surface. Use this way when making objects in the foreground.

Steps:

1. Dip brush directly into paint and continue to paint normally on a dry background.

Dry on Wet

The exact same as dry brush only the surface is wet. Use when trying to make a texture.

Steps:

1. Make sure background is wet!

2. Dip brush directly into paint and continue to paint.

Flat Wash

The first technique you should ever learn in watercolor (you probably have done it). A flat wash is a even layer of color. Use for anything you need to fill in,

Steps:

1. Wet brush with water and paint.

2. Move brush across paper with equal pressure and evenness throughout.

Graded Wash

A step up from the flat wash! As the name states - this gradually lightens in saturation with each stoke. Use for anything.

Steps:

1. Use moderate amount or water and paint to start.

2. Have high amount of pigment and with each stoke, add more water to brush for a lighter hue. (Do opposite it you want to go light to dark)

Variegated Wash (1 & 2)

This wash allows you a paint something that changes color (ex: a s sky). Done right, a color will shift from one to another, combining when they meet. 

Steps:

1. *Make sure you keep paper angled and keep up with clean water*

2. Begin at top of where you want it and make a stoke with one color (repeat twice or more depending on what you are painting). 

3. Rinse and pick up a new color.

4. Paint so it touches the last stroke you made (make sure it is still wet so it blends!).

5. Finish with the last color you use.