Watercolor Sketchbook: Three From A Stone Series

Beautiful, Wrick. My daughter loves watercolors, I never quite got the hang of it. Her secret is to not add water, just one drop. Is that your secret, too? These are very nice. My daughter hopes to get into AP Art next year and after that, Art School. Many of the students in her class are SUPERIOR.

thank you Kathryn - i feel much as your daughter does about watercolor. it is a language of it's own. in some ways it's like cooking. it's helpful to use recipes until you gain a certain level of understanding. then you begin to cook without recipes. one drop of water at a time is a great way to learn, it sounds to me like she is well into the fun of watercolor. one drop of water is way different than ten drops of water. knowing by feel allows you to really cook. i think watercolor has a lot for me to learn yet (and these pieces are from seven years ago). fortunately watercolor is a patient friend and it will greet you at what ever pace you wish to explore it. good on your daughter, it's well worth a life long exploration, imo.

you make watercolor sound soooo easy - it has to be one of the hardest medians one can do....not enough - or too much will change the whole landscape...in a sec...its transparency is half the beauty of the end result...takes a real discipline for sure...!

aloha Donna. watercolor becomes difficult for me when i try to make it do things that are not in it's nature. if i try to make it behave like other painting mediums i might as well be trying to get a snake to rollerskate.

when i explore what IT can do, it begins to laugh and play and i can begin to laugh and play with it. the options become an exhaustive range of possibilities. that's when it's really fun.

watercolor responds differently to each surface or kind of paper. a lot like a human being responding differently to different environments. some of the things i did on the paper in this sketchbook i could not do on other papers.

it is a constant exploration. what's in store for today is part of the adventure of watercolor as well as the adventure of life. in some ways it's like finding out what kind of spirit your friend is in today. even the atmosphere will affect watercolor differently - just like rain and shine can affect the spirit in some of us.

finding out what watercolor can do is fun. expecting watercolor to be the way i decide it should be or even the way it was yesterday, is like expecting my friend to be the way i decide my friend should be or that they should be the way they were yesterday. i think it is much better to enjoy my friend the way my friend is today. when i do that it is often full of great surprises and delights. then it becomes a treat to explore and play with watercolor.

Thanks for sharing. We even got 3 for 1. Loved them and the concept

thank you Amy - i think i have a lot to learn yet, but that's a lot of the fun too.

you're welcome Trine. since these are all from the same sketchbook and series i thought it might be a little much to post them separately. if i post any of the paintings which continued from the sketchbook and are similar in many ways i may post them individually.

Wrick,
What a joy it is to read your articles and see your work. Each of these three watercolors have their own unique strengths and personalities. To me, these show the joy of experimenting and playing with paint. I imagine you thinking something like, "How does this stone look if I use this color or this stroke or this background," etc. etc.. Infinite possibilities.

Marcia you are very perceptive. you have the spirit of my process in this comment. subject matter becomes a vehicle through which to explore and play in paint for me. altho many subjects can do this, it is the subject that i feel strong relationships and connections with that allow me to explore in that infinite possibilities sense. cool. thank you.

I switched to watercolor, within last year and find it easier than oils, but some things I can't do with watercolor that I could do with oils. What I have found is that by doing multiple washes on certains subjects like animals they are more realistic. For things like tree leaves, I found that the most natural leaves come with a real sponge and just plopping multiple layers of paints on the sponge. For sky and water just load water on the paper and then let the paint do it's stuff, you can even get reasonable clouds just letting the paint run.

thanks for your comments Joseph - i think that between watercolor and oils it's simply a matter of working within and exploring the potential of each, rather than a question of which is easier... that takes getting to know what a paint does naturally and what it can and can not do within the parameters of the paint itself. there are multiple ways to go after an image or subject and i think it is up to each of us to explore our own ideas as to what works for the way we want to explore the paint. the techniques you have discovered and described are great ways of working that watercolor lends itself to readily - that's a great way to go about exploring watercolor. i have to wonder how those same techniques might be utilized to create a sense of something other than the subjects you have connected them to so far - i think that might be a great exploration to have fun with in itself. cool on your work with watercolor - keep it going - for me there is always more to learn. have fun and explore on!