Jeff’s Blog

My parents sent me a gift certificate to the Dick Blick art supply store, so today I went shopping.  I went there with the intention of buying a set of good colored pencils and few black permanent markers in varying thicknesses (including a brush tip, which I’ve never used before).

As I perused the aisles lusting after much of what I saw, I came across a Niji waterbrush.  I’ve read several blogs that espouse the wonderfulness of these things, so I grabbed one.  I wasn’t sure how well I would like it, but I figured for six bucks, how wrong could I go?

Promptly after I finished my shopping, someone in my stomach decided to stage a minor uprising — no doubt in protest over being fed a spicy burrito instead of a salad.  I was certain that I wouldn’t have a chance to play with my new toys.  But no matter how badly I feel, I couldn’t resist spending even just a few minutes playing.

This is my entry for Everyday Matters Challenge #39 — Draw your toothbrush.  I’m beginning to notice a preponderance of mouth-related subjects recently; I wonder if I should speak to someone about that.

Since I’m not feeling 100%, I didn’t spend much time at all on this.  The perspective is way off, the line is sketchy and weak, the colors are wildly inaccurate; but that wasn’t the point tonight.  Tonight was all about playing with my brush-tipped marker and my waterbrush.

I’m not sure how I feel about the brush-tipped marker yet.  Since I wasn’t fully engaged in the drawing process, I probably shouldn’t rush to judgment on the merits of this new tool.

However, I am absolutely in love with the waterbrush.  I know my work has not been particularly colorful up to this point.  That’s in large part due to me just not being able to work quickly with my watercolor set.  This little wonder is a plastic miracle.  There will still be a lot of black & white work coming from me (the foundation of a good painting is a good drawing, and I still need to develop the basics), but I guarantee you will be seeing a lot more color work in the near future.

The colored pencils are still in their tin.  They require sharpening before I can use them, and that seems like entirely too much work at the moment.  Maybe tomorrow night I’ll feel a little more energetic and will be able to do something with them.

Here is my palette — an entry for Everyday Matters Challenge #190. It is a Winsor & Newton Cotman travel set that I picked up at Dick Blick a couple months ago. It hasn’t seen much use yet, but I think that will change.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Arches watercolor paper, so today I bought a watercolor block of cold-pressed 140 pound paper (7 x10 inches). That’s what I used for this painting. I really like not having to prep the paper in any way. It’s nice to do a painting without fighting with curling paper.

Here’s that candy dish from yesterday, this time in color.

I don’t have much experience with watercolors, so this was a bit of an experiment. I’m a little disappointed in the scan… in real life, the interior of the bowl is a little easier to distinguish.

This was painted with a simple two-color pallet — Alizarin Crimson and Viridian.  Yes, I know, red and green is soooo cliche for a Christmas theme; that’s why I tried to keep the green really toned down to almost a gray.  And besides, it’s not “Christmas”, it’s “Winter”, remember?!

I certainly muddied the red in the hat, and I didn’t really achieve the 3-dimensionality of it. But I learned quite a lot, even from this simple sketch, and I’m sure I’ll figure this stuff out eventually.

First, I learned that I need to be more patient and let the paint dry before going back in to add shadow.

Second, I learned that I need to mix a lot more color than I think I’ll need. Trying to match a mixed color after-the-fact is something that is probably best left to the masters.

Third, I learned that I can counteract the page curling by getting the back of the paper wet (I’m working in a Canson spiral-bound watercolor pad, and I didn’t want to go through the whole “tape it to a board” process).

And finally, I learned that I quite enjoy watercolors; though it does add quite a bit of time to the whole process, and it seems mistakes are not exactly easy to correct.