I have decided to put a more concerted effort toward being a better draftsman, because of all the things I have tried, nothing has improved my paintings more than practicing drawing. I don’t know “how” to practice drawing. I have seen a thousand videos of people drawing. I’ve watched dozens of tutorials explaining perspective, edges,…… Continue reading Drawing Practice
Category: Exercises
Bluebird: #3
The better I can draw, the better I can paint. This has been true since day one, and it continues to be one of the most important lessons in my attempt to improve at painting. So, when I looked back at my recent bird paintings with relative disappointment, I decided to commit myself to learning…… Continue reading Bluebird: #3
Farm Road: End of Year 3
Well, I’ve been painting for three years now. It’s time for me to do my little progress check. When I first started painting, I decided to try to paint the same thing every day for one month. It was the first watercolor painting I had ever really tried, and I figured painting it over and…… Continue reading Farm Road: End of Year 3
Lobelia Cardinalis: #1
This painting has been haunting my mind for years: “Quiet Memories” Oleg Kozak This is by Oleg Kozak, a Ukrainian watercolor artist who unfortunately passed away in November, 2017. This man had the ability to capture light in a way that I haven’t seen in many other painters. I decided to try to look deeper…… Continue reading Lobelia Cardinalis: #1
Bluebird: #2
I have been feeling stuck in a bit of a plateau for a while now. I decided to take a break from painting for a bit because my lack of progress was troubling me. I then watched a video on YouTube that convinced me that I need to put more effort into understanding construction and…… Continue reading Bluebird: #2
Ray Hendershot Exercise: Lighthouse #1
I have been absolutely stuck for the past few weeks. Every time I sit down to paint, nothing comes to mind. Nothing inspires me, I have no intention. But, just as an act of discipline, I paint anyway. The results are nothing to write about. It’s all very ugly, muddy, cliche… just nothing that I’m…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Lighthouse #1
One Pigment Challenge: #1
I decided to challenge myself to paint something with just one pigment. If you want to join me, here’s the challenge: use one pigment, and one pigment only. That means the paint you choose must be a single pigment paint. You can use water, ox gall, masking fluid, whatever, but when you are finished there…… Continue reading One Pigment Challenge: #1
Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz, Part 2
Michal Jasiewicz Me I went into excruciating detail about my proposed process for recreating this painting by Michal Jasiewicz in the previous post. Today, I’ll explain how I took the lessons I learned from that exercise to try the painting a few more times, and experiment with different options. This was my first attempt. A few…… Continue reading Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz, Part 2
Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz – Part 1
A user on Reddit posted this image, asking how the artist (Michal Jasiewicz) achieved the effect on the distant cliffs. I am not sure how he accomplished it exactly, but I posted this as my best guess. I don’t know how they did it, but here’s what I would try. Forgive the over explanation, I…… Continue reading Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz – Part 1
Ray Hendershot Exercise, Clapboard Siding: #1
This weekend I decided I would take my own advice, and paint from the book. I decided to paint from one of the books that I have because trying to learn from my own failures has been pretty discouraging. I’m only about a quarter of the way through Ray Hendershot’s “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors”…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise, Clapboard Siding: #1
Ray Hendershot Exercise: Birch Trees
Tonight, I painted the next exercise in Ray Hendershot’s book. I don’t know why Birch trees feel like a very trite subject to me – but they do. I think every painting of birch trees is essentially the same thing – masked off trunks with something colorful or dark behind them. I think Ray Hendershot…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Birch Trees
Ray Hendershot Exercise: Fully Foliated Trees
The next exercise in Ray Hendershot’s “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors” is to paint fully foliated trees. This exercise demonstrates what appears to be a great strength of the pedagogy in this book. The distant trees exercise is useful for this exercise, but it isn’t necessary. Because Mr. Hendershot encourages us to paint loose representations…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Fully Foliated Trees
Ray Hendershot Exercise: Distant Trees
I purchased a book by Ray Hendershot entitled “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors.” I appreciate how Mr. Hendershot manages to achieve the impression of a photorealistic image, but includes just enough Impressionism to give the composition a level of emotion that I feel photorealistic paintings often lack. (Steven Kozar does an excellent job of proving…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Distant Trees
Just Keep Swimming
I’m feeling fairly pessimistic about my ability to paint these days. I know, it’s a journey… if it were easy everyone would do it… you have come so far so fast… you are so much better than my friend’s cousin’s dog’s roommate’s nephew… other platitudes. Save it. My mind keeps saying you’re not good enough.…… Continue reading Just Keep Swimming
Backrun Exercises
I was surprised to find this exercise result in some pretty neat little paintings. I wanted to explore some exercises to learn more about how I might be able to control and use backruns. What is a Backrun? Call them what you want: blooms, blossoms, backruns, cauliflowers, it doesn’t matter, we are all talking about…… Continue reading Backrun Exercises
Barn in Walhonding: Studies
I think I’ve learned my lesson by now… before I paint, I need to study my subject. And, what’s the point of doing all these studies if I don’t take the time to reflect on them to better evaluate what I’ve learned by doing them? That’s the purpose of this post – I want to…… Continue reading Barn in Walhonding: Studies
City Rach: Deepart.io & Exercises
Here’s the photo I want to paint. I messed with the photo of Rachel in the window in Photoshop a little bit until I came up with this modification of the composition that I think I like best. I won’t print this and paint it, I just wanted to get a quick look at how…… Continue reading City Rach: Deepart.io & Exercises
City Rach: Value Studies
Rachel, wishing she still lived in Pittspuke. I took this photo of my wife a few months ago when we were in Pittsburgh to watch a live show of My Favorite Murder. It was a rare weekend away for us without kids, and it was very needed. I met Rachel when she lived in Pittsburgh,…… Continue reading City Rach: Value Studies
Saturation Notation, Tree Technique, Atmosphere, and Perspective
There are two big things I’m consistently disappointed in when I look at my landscapes: trees and atmosphere. Today, I set out to practice these. I grabbed some scrap paper (A.K.A. the back of a failed painting). I painted a very simple horizon and sky. The goal here was two-fold: practice painting atmosphere, and give…… Continue reading Saturation Notation, Tree Technique, Atmosphere, and Perspective