Sky's The Limit

"Gray skies are going to clear up, put on a happy face"...But not yet. Those fluffy cloud puffs fading to whisps were and will be a challenge for a while. But the wet into wet, dry into wet application session was far from being a waste of time. It got me really into the nuts and bolts of the discipline.

Painting Sky #2, I learned a lot about the paints--which are transparent, which are opaque--and of the transparent ones, which ones stain and are immovable once laid--and which ones were non-staining and lift-able. I learned a lot of watercolor jargon and these tips reviewing a book I found in my library for anybody whose interested: Watercolor: Painting Outside the Lines, by Linda Kemp, North Light Books.

Kemp's tips made a lot of sense to me. Working with a fresh palette of colors laid down each time on a clean palette, rather than from the dried blobs from previous sessions that keep getting watered down and lose their vibrancy in the process does make for livelier pictures. --And good paper,(heavier weight), give better results than cheap and increase chances of success. I'm just going to have to invest in the costlier sheets and tear the sizes I like. Also, I have to upgrade my paints. I could really have used a cobalt and/or cerulean blue in addition to the basics. I wasn't happy with the blue in my Sky.

--Then there were my discoveries--like the importance of cotton balls. You can't have too many; they're indispensable-- as is a small sponge, a spray bottle and a supply of dry brushes. You may think the way I'm going on boring you to death with what I discovered last night while doing Sky, that I've caught the watercolor bug. I may have? But definitely not for painting on the go with all the stuff that's involved. I like it for what I'm learning about glazing techniques, which are definitely applicable to acrylics.

And one more thing, before you doze off, watercolor paintings are mostly small from what I can tell by the internet and Kemp's work--it must be a control thing? My acrylic paintings are large. To me, size counts and bigger is better. I love the grand gesture. So I'm done. As long as I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night, my Blue Heaven will be painted with acrylics.

Have a happy and safe holiday weekend.