JOSHUA ELEK: WATERCOLORS

Category: Year 5

  • Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class: Week 1

    Canton Museum of Art Watercolor Class: Week 1

    I enrolled in a watercolor class at the Canton Museum of Art. Last week was the first class. In that session, we covered a lot of the basics about what materials are used to paint in watercolor, why those materials are used, and a little bit about some of the techniques you can use to […]

  • Getting Better

    Getting Better

    Some of you who have followed this thing for a bit know that I struggle with depression. This year been very challenging for a number of reasons, but I am doing everything I can to get better. A few months ago, I participated in an intensive outpatient therapy group to work on things. I met […]

  • Gesture Practice

    Gesture Practice

    A big part of my recovery is focused on doing things. I spent a lot of time trying to reset by taking time away from things, and just slowing down a bit. Now, part of my next steps are getting back into things, though I’m trying to do so without putting so much pressure on […]

  • Winter Brook: Rick Surowicz Tutorial

    Winter Brook: Rick Surowicz Tutorial

    This is a painting I did, following along with a YouTube tutorial by Rick Surowicz. If you haven’t checked him out, you should. I really value his pedagogy. My version doesn’t look exactly like his, but that’s ok. Maybe I’m starting to see a little bit of a style of my own – with those […]

  • Hills, Rocks and Streams

    Hills, Rocks and Streams

    Here is a great example of an awful painting that I made. I make a lot of terrible paintings, and I try to post them even when they are awful. More and more often, these paintings are so discouraging that I can’t stomach the thought of posting them, but I need to. Paintings like this […]

  • Plein Air Monument Park

    Plein Air Monument Park

    After my first day at IOP, I went to the park and painted this before I went home. I wasn’t expecting my first day painting outside in over a year to result in anything mind blowing – I simply wanted to force myself to go do it. I am intimidated by painting outside because so […]

  • Luna Moth

    Luna Moth

    Part of the IOP program I just went through included art therapy. One day, I drew a painting of a pot on a fire, and surrounded it with spooky Scooby Doo eyes. When I showed the image, they thought the spooky eyes looked like moths – which I kind of liked. Instead of scary eyes […]

  • Daffodils

    Daffodils

    It’s been a long time since I have posted, but I have made a few things in that time. I don’t feel like writing up each and every one, but I do want to include them here because I want a record of my improvement that I can look back on in the future. So, […]

  • Getting Better So I Drew a Foot

    Getting Better So I Drew a Foot

    I don’t really know how to write about this. I want to explain what has been going on in my life because I know these recent events are not unique to me. I like to think that being transparent with the mental health issues I deal with from time to time can help encourage others […]

  • Autobiography: #1

    Autobiography: #1

    I have been very busy over the past few weeks… life has been… a lot. Between driving kids places, working, a colonoscopy, Rachel getting a biopsy and a lumpectomy – I’ve been very busy. But, I am still trying to find time to paint and draw. Recently, I finished this painting, which is one of […]

  • Sketching Practice: Faces and Gesture

    Sketching Practice: Faces and Gesture

    I haven’t painted anything since my last Farm Road painting, but I haven’t been idle. I have been working on my draftsmanship by trying to draw my way through the Portrait and Figure Drawing courses on Proko.com. I purchased the Portrait course a long time ago, and won the Figure drawing course in the Proko […]