The Frustrations of Watercolor Painting

It's spring break. The deadline for entering art in the California State Fair is April 23, so I've been painting. I spent three days working on a watercolor from a photo I took at Table Mountain, and today I was nearly finished. But the wash I'd done for the sky was nearly colorless, so I decided to redo it. Bad idea! First the trees I'd already finished began bleeding into the sky. I decided to leave a bank of clouds behind the scene to avoid this problem. Then the wash I was doing for the sky had a white blemish, probably from my fingerprints from handling the block. I tried to patch the white blemish unsuccessfully. Then I tried to do a wash on the clouds to add some shadows, but they came out too heavy, so I attempted to scrub and blot them. That didn't work well, so I used a little sandpaper, which left an unsightly texture on the cloud. Next I tried to erase over the sanded area, and a whole chunk of paper came off. I don't think the painting is salvageable anymore. I certainly don't want people at the fair thinking, "This artist doesn't even know how to do a wash!"

Aaah, the frustrations of working in watercolor! I think I have no choice but to start over. Baaaah!

Art Hiatus

The school year has begun and my paint supplies gather dust in a cupboard. I really should continue doing watercolors throughout the year, especially since I am only teaching two hours in the morning right now, but I keep filling up my free time with other endeavors such as swimming laps and singing in Women's Ensemble. Maybe I am only a hobbyist and not an artist after all. Or maybe when the cold weather sets in, I will get out my paintbrushes again.

Pardon the Dust

Still working on the gallery. Don't worry, it will be up soon. Please check back again.

Learning acrylics

I'm currently working on an ocean scene using acrylics. This is probably a good medium for me to experiment with because it forces me to work fast. I hate to waste paint, and it dries so fast, even with gloss medium! Normally it takes me many hours to finish a painting, but I am nearly done after two sittings because of the paint drying issue. It should be posted soon.

Representational vs. whimsical art

Just read about an artist who started painting in her late fifties, got discovered, and is now making a decent living at it. The funny thing is that she is doing these simple, little whimsical scenes of mountains and villages. All her work looks alike--no perspective, trees look like lollipops, flowers are colored dots. That would sure be easier than spending hours trying to make something look realistic. Maybe I should change my approach...