Category: Water Color
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Watercolor Paper
Recommendation Let’s just get right to it. If you are a beginner, and you just want to know what you should buy… I recommend buying paper that is: Summary Watercolor paper is hands-down the most critical supply when it comes to watercolor. You can get away with inexpensive brushes, or even inexpensive paints, but nothing…
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Deb McCowin
My Mother-in-law passed away quite suddenly the day after Christmas. Her passing was very difficult, but we were fortunate to be surrounded by family for the week to celebrate her life and grieve together. I learned a lot about life from her, and I will miss her dearly. It isn’t fair that she was taken…
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Cedartown High Weight Room
Nick Chubb wrote one of the most touching things I have read in a long, long time. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/nick-chubb-nfl-football-cleveland-browns In tribute to his statements, I made this. Use it for whatever you want, modify it however you want. As long as you don’t sell the stuff you use it for. If you are going to sell…
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Covered Bridge
American Electric Power used to surface mine coal in McConnelsville, Ohio. Then, in the 1940’s, AEP Stopped mining and turned the land back to nature. Over the next sixty years, they planted 60 million trees, and built dozens of camp grounds, each with dozens of primitive camp sites. They maintained the entire area, reserving it…
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Good Riddance GoDaddy
in Water ColorAfter six years of wrestling with the fractal upcharge that is GoDaddy, I finally broke yesterday when they said “We charged your card $2,000 for the next five years of hosting.” Um – no. For the past five years years, I’ve dealt with GoDaddy – oh, you want SSL? That’ll be $149. Oh, you want…
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Nom nom nom
I am taking another watercolor class at the Canton Museum of Art, and in that class we painted an elephant with butterfly ears. The point of that class was to teach us how to use a grid when drawing. I haven’t used a grid for a drawing in quite a while, and it was interesting…
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Erie Sunrise: #1 First Video!
This past summer, I spent a week on vacation with my wife’s family in a house on Lake Erie. One morning I woke up very early to go fishing. It started raining lightly, so I ended up going back into the house and enjoyed a cup of coffee while I waited for the sun to…
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Cardinal in Early Snow: #1
I painted this cardinal tonight. It is based on a photo I found online, but I can’t find it now – I will do my best to locate the photo so I can give credit to the artist who took the photo. I’ll update when I find it. EDIT: The photo is the January, 2020…
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Farm Road: End of Year 5
When I started watercolor painting, I painted the same thing every day for 30 days. I chose a photo of a farm road that I took while driving around Berlin, Ohio. It’s not a particularly amazing photograph, nor is it a particularly great composition – but it’s what I used. I learned a whole hell…
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Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class: Week 6
In Week 6 of the watercolor class that I took a few weeks ago at the Canton Museum of Art, we worked on a seascape. The majority of the classes were dedicated to a critique period where we reviewed the works that class members had painted the week before, and this was the first week…
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Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class: Week 5
This week in the Watercolor Class we discussed the technique of “scraping” when painting. This is a technique I have tried to use a number of times, but I regularly am frustrated by it. I don’t think I really “got” it, but I do think I was able to get the results more reliably. For…
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Taking Stock
I am laying awake in bed tonight – I’ve been laying here for two hours now. I want to sleep so I can start another day, but I don’t know that another day will make any difference. I feel grey tonight. I feel exhausted and a lot sad because I am not sure that I’m…
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Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class, Week 4
In week four of the watercolor class, we focused on color theory, and edges. I know about half of a percent of everything I should know when it comes to color theory, so this was really beneficial. In the assignments for this week, we were supposed to paint a piece of fruit, over and over.…
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Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class: Week 3
This week in the watercolor class I am taking at the Canton Museum of Art, we worked on glazing, and working with negative space. Negative space is one of those things that really confuses me, so I am glad to have an exercise that forces me to experiment with it. Aspen Leaves Our assignment this…
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Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class: Week 2
Last week, we focused largely on critiques, and exploring how to create depth and contrast by glazing. There were two assignments: 1) Create a monochromatic version of a painting by a master. 2) Find a subject of my own, and paint it at least five times emphasizing different colors in each version. For the first…
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Spiker Park Duck Pond
After dropping Winnie off at dance the other night, I drove to Spiker Park and set up my easel next to the duck pond. I drive through this park on the way home, and I always feel like I take it for granted. It really is a pretty urban park and it gets a lot…
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CMA Bust
A few weeks ago, I went to the Cleveland Museum of Art with my sketchbook, and some pencils. I sat down on a bench looking at a bust, and spent five hours trying to draw it. This was an incredibly valuable exercise – it’s something I definitely want to try again. It highlighted two really…
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Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class: Week 1
I enrolled in a watercolor class at the Canton Museum of Art. Last week was the first class. In that session, we covered a lot of the basics about what materials are used to paint in watercolor, why those materials are used, and a little bit about some of the techniques you can use to…
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Getting Better
Some of you who have followed this thing for a bit know that I struggle with depression. This year been very challenging for a number of reasons, but I am doing everything I can to get better. A few months ago, I participated in an intensive outpatient therapy group to work on things. I met…
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Gesture Practice
A big part of my recovery is focused on doing things. I spent a lot of time trying to reset by taking time away from things, and just slowing down a bit. Now, part of my next steps are getting back into things, though I’m trying to do so without putting so much pressure on…