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Designs from Watercolor Workbook by Sarah Simon (IG: @themintgardener)
Watercolors—botanicals 6
Drawing and painting
Watercolors—botanicals 5
Trying to learn to let the paint and the water “do their thing.”
Designs from Watercolor Workbook by Sarah Simon (IG: @themintgardener)
NO KINGS & more watercolor botanicals
Thank goodness I found another indoor hobby besides reading and watching TV. Between the freezing cold weather and not traveling due to my husband’s knee, I needed something.
Even though I’m working with someone else’s designs at the moment, I’m definitely learning some stuff from this book/teacher.
Mark your calendars: The next mass anti-Trump NO KINGS protest will be March 28, 2026.
Here’s the message from the national leadership of Indivisible:
“Our mobilizations grew from month to month last year, exploding from Hands Off in April (3 million) to the second No Kings Day in October (7 million) — and the regime’s ongoing brutality and authoritarianism in the months since have only convinced more Americans, including many who’ve never attended a protest in their lives, to join their neighbors in the streets. Now we’ve got to keep that momentum growing, with the same creativity and dogged determination.
Everything we’ve done so far, and everything we’ll be doing in the next weeks and months, is the stuff of history. And together, we’ll write the history of how, for the second time in 250 years, we the people defied, and overcame, a tyrant.”
The only thing that’s going to stop this authoritarian/fascist train is US—the people. Minnesota showed us that all people of good conscience (left, right and center) must get involved.
Watercolors—botanicals 3
It’s a winter wonderland here in Massachusetts. No sign of the plow guy yet this morning, but the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl – again. Therefore many New Englanders (husband, son…) are in a much better mood than they otherwise would have been. Go Pats!
And some good news: our whiny-ass, murdering, rapist, senile, spray-tanned orange President has announced he’s not going to attend the Super Bowl because he doesn’t like the halftime performer. He’s probably afraid all those Boston and Seattle fans would boo him into oblivion. In any case, Long Live Bad Bunny!
I’m continuing to work my way through “Watercolor Workbook” by Sarah Simon. If interested, she’s on Instagram: @themintgardener. All designs are hers.
I like how the “wet in wet” worked out in the lower yellow flower (upper flower was too dry when I added the darker color). I also like the berries. Author suggested droplets of paint rather than brush strokes.
Unfortunately my paint set doesn’t have one important color for botanicals: Oxide of Chromium. I’m having to make do with Sap and Veridian.
This is painted in the so-called “undefined boundaries” style. It’s fun to somewhat ignore boundaries and let the paint and water do what it will.
Related:
Watercolors — more botanicals
OK, so my artists pens came and I was able to outline the designs. I intentionally left some small edges unpainted as highlights.
For the next one, the workbook offered two options. Leave the leaves and stems unpainted:
Or wash them with three different colors (slate, sage and stone):
My husband says the first one looks unfinished, but I kind of like it better. Do you really need to have every bit of the surface painted to give the vibe of a certain plant?
Watercolors – botanicals
I’ve run into a bit of a problem with my Watercolors Workbook. The book is designed to have you ink the outlines of the various botanicals before painting. I did that with my pen and ink set, but too late discovered that my ink is not waterproof! The ink went everywhere once I hit it with the watercolor paint. I decided to try inking AFTER painting but I don’t love the result:
I then tried one without inking at all. It’s OK, but I decided to go ahead and order some waterproof black artists pens, as the author suggested.
I like some of the techniques I learned doing the eucalyptus and the dahlia: leaving some areas white to highlight; darkening petal bases with wet in wet color (dark into light); and layering over dry paint with a different color for a cool, translucent effect.
Hopefully my new pens arrive today.
Watercolors – update
As I posted about (a lot), I took a watercolors class last semester and really enjoyed it. I got a lot of nice feedback, both in person and from the very supportive readers of my blog. I put a couple of my paintings in frames (frames that I already owned—not new ones), and my daughter even hung one set of 5x7s on the wall in her living room.
I decided to register for another watercolors class this semester, with a different teacher. Even though I liked my teacher last semester, I wanted to try someone else because I feel like you learn different things from different teachers—especially in the arts. But, lo and behold, the class I chose was canceled due to under-enrollment. So, lesson learned: some arts teachers have followings. If you choose one who doesn’t have regulars (people who re-enroll each term), your class might get canceled.
Rather than scrambling to find another class, I took the refund.
But, I do want to keep going so I’m doing a watercolor “workbook” that my very thoughtful daughter gave me for Christmas.
It focuses on botanicals (which is a sub genre of watercolors, like landscapes) and is fairly structured, compared to the free spirit teacher I had last semester. I’m sure I’ll learn some new things. First step was to swatch out all my colors and then mix new colors according to the author’s recipes.
Last Watercolor Class
Yesterday was the last week of my 8-week class called “Loosen up with Watercolors” at our local (amazing) community arts center.
Against advice from the teacher, I attempted to paint a portrait of someone I know and love: my granddaughter. The reference photo (taken by my daughter) was from last summer when my granddaughter was 9 months old. (She’s walking now!)
I had fun doing this, but I get why the teacher said not to paint family members as a total beginner. You’re too attached to the subject!
I want to learn how to make smooth skin tones, but I was too afraid to experiment on her adorable little face. I will try a stranger again next time, like that random chef from a magazine, which was my first ever watercolor portrait.
I also used those experimental gradients as backgrounds for some giraffe silhouettes. I have always loved giraffes.
I’m definitely glad I took the class. I may sign up for another session. I like the teacher and it gives me some structure to keep at it.
Alizarin Crimson in nature
Alizarin crimson is a deep, cool, and transparent red color with a blue or magenta undertone that has been a staple for painters for generations.
Why is it called Alizarin?
Google’s short answer:
Because alizarin was originally the principal red dye extracted from the madder plant, and the name comes from the old word for madder root dye.
Watercolor Class Week 7: trial and error
After my frustrating experience with complementary colors and sunsets, I made some gradients to try to better understand my color options.
I have no pink. Alizarin Crimson can work as pink when diluted or mixed with Purple Lake.
I decided I do not like Cadmium Orange and will avoid it in the future.
Today the teacher gave a dog portrait painting demo (something she earns money doing) and then everyone worked on whatever they wanted. I decided to go back to my rail trail painting and see if I can make it better by adding more layers. A woman loaned me a sea sponge for applying paint to get a certain effect (like fall leaves), so that was fun. I hope to finish that painting by the last class next week. I also want to try one more portrait before the end of the session.
Although there are definitely some shared techniques in watercolor painting (like lifting paint to lighten areas), a lot of the learning seems to come from trial and error. Our teacher is self-taught and she swears she learned everything she knows (and she knows a lot) by just trying it. As she says, “it’s just a piece of paper.”
These are her top tips:
Painting Progressions
Light to Dark
Loose to detailed
Big to small brushes
Tealike to Creamy
90% to 10% of surface active painting to observing
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Update:
Here’s my “Rail Trail” with the additional layers. I do like it better now.
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