Best Wishes for the New Year!

I would like to thank everyone and wish you all a wonderful new year!

A new year, a new beginning... I hope we take this opportunity to leave behind old habits that were not serving us well, and reinvent ourselves.  

I know I will try harder to dedicate more time to my painting ( to family and friends first of course! :) 

I will leave you with this beautiful quote by Rumi, "Be melting snow.  Wash yourself of yourself."

All the best for the new year! 

Winter Birds

It is the end of autumn.  This morning I woke up early.  I opened the window and was greeted by a few birds chirping on the far away tree.  The crisp air felt refreshing on my face.  Yesterday's grey sky was replaced by a bright clear one with the sun making an appearance.

I completed the morning cleaning and tidying up and my yoga routine.  Then I took a shower and felt ready to enjoy a cup of tea.  After breakfast, I set up my work station to start a watercolor painting.  I knew I wanted to paint some birds today.  

It was fun to try different color schemes.  Each season has its own beauty and feel about it.  I know I will paint birds again sometime.

I wonder what you are working on.  :)

Watercolor Palette Ready To Use

My new watercolor palette is ready to be used.

Starting from the top left, are yellows, earth tones and reds.  Again, bottom left row begins with greens, blues, violet and gray.  I have left one empty pan between each color family just to keep them nice and organized.  Also, if I choose to add any other colors in future, I have the option to do so.  For now, I am happy with this current palette.  :)

My Current Watercolor Painting Materials

I have been looking forward to writing a detailed post about my current art materials, as requested by several subscribers.
Here is my YouTube video where I talk about what art materials I use currently. In general, I suggest that you try different professional artist grade materials and find your own favorites.  However, to share with you my personal findings thus far with regards to watercolor paints, are Winsor & Newton professional paints as well as Daniel Smith.  It is best to start with smaller tubes and once you are certain of a "keeper" color, you may buy the larger tube next time.
In my video I talk about this new empty watercolor metal box that I have purchased, as well as empty half pans in order to create my own palette.  Besides its good quality and great price, I like it particularly for its unique white color.

The watercolor palette is (Jackson's metal folding watercolor palette) in white. (update:*black is available currently!)
The brush I use is ( size 8 Round Jacksons Studio Synthetic Watercolor Brush).
The paints are (Winsor & Newton, and Daniel Smith).

If you are interested in buying some of the products that I use, then please make your purchases using this link, in order to help me receive a small commission from their website. :)  I would love to hear from you and what materials you bought!

Color is a personal matter.  Also, your preferences may change as you change as an artist.  However, it is recommended to start with a set of primary colors (yellow, blue, red) in order to create your own mixes. Having two sets (both warm and cool) is the next step.  Then there are a few earth tones and useful colors to add that would suit your style and interest.


Below is a list of my current colors:

(Winsor & Newton ) :
New Gamboge
Winsor Lemon
Rose Madder Genuine
Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Olive Green
Green Gold
Viridian
French Ultramarine
Payne's Gray

(Daniel Smith) :
Naples Yellow
Organic Vermilion
Raw Umber
Manganese Blue Hue
Cobalt Teal Blue
Carbazole Violet

I hope these information have been helpful to you.  Happy shopping! :)

Book Recommendation

For those who like floral paintings, I recommend "The Watercolour Flower Painter's A to Z" by Adelene Fletcher.  It includes step-by-step instructions with beautiful finished paintings.

Last year, we chose this book to work from, with my students.  Here are a few of the demos I did using this book.

The next time you go to your local library, look for this book and perhaps others that you find appealing to you.
Happy painting!

Learning by Imitation

Learning art by copying other artists' work is a common discipline.  Particularly if you are a beginner, studying the work of great artists whose work you admire, will allow you to be better informed, thus creating fascinating work of your own. Just as a musician is inspired by the great composers, or an author is well read, a visual artist should be exposed to great examples also.  However, creativity will come to fruition, only if we apply what we learn to our own work.

From time to time, I will share with you some of my studies inspired by the work of other artists.

Continuing with the theme of studying trees, here are two watercolor paintings (from left), that I practiced, inspired by William Henry James Boot, an English artist born in the mid 1800s.

This experience allowed me to construct a painting using a different color palette than my own.  It made me think about why I was drawn to it in the first place!

Let me know about your experience of learning from other artists.

Autumn Trees

It is November.  The air is cool and crisp.  Golden brown leaves swirl around on the sidewalks.  Morning walks are fresh and calming.  

It is time to be out and about with your sketchbooks studying trees with their interesting poses.  When sketching trees, just a portion of it is sufficient to make an interesting composition.  Below I have prepared a series of steps that you could follow to do a simple line and wash study.  

I am using a pencil, pigma micron pens 01 and 03, and watercolor paper, french ultramarine blue and new gamboge yellow paint.

Start with a pencil contour drawing, marking some texture and shadow patterns.  

Once you are happy with your drawing, go over your outline with your 01 pen.

Next, using your 03 pen, darken your shadow pattern.

Now, it is time to add your wash.  To keep things simple, choose a cool and a warm color.  Apply your cool color on your shadow patterns and soften some of the edges.

When this is dry, add your warm color.

This is it.  You may use my drawings to practice if you wish.  If you are going to post it online, please link it back to my blog.  

Here is another example.  Experiment with different cool and warm colours.  Let me know if you give this a try.  Happy painting!

-Miss Bronte

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."― Nathaniel Hawthorne