Watercolor Gift

This week-end I have been working on clearing my desk … it is bare to where I only have books left now besides the computer equipment. One of the books is Watercolor Fairies [with pictures from 2 tutorials from the book] by David Riche and Anna Franklin. There are many artists whose work appears in the book - all of the paintings are gorgeous! It is a fun book to read as well for the folklore contained within it.

One artist missing from this book is Brian Froud …. that REALLY surprised me. I have two of his Faery books that I enjoy VERY much.

Another of the books on my desk is How To Draw and Paint Fairies by Linda Ravenscroft - it is not specific only to watercolor but watercolors are definitely discussed and that also includes watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons. Those two facts alone I found quite impressive! This book is quite lovely and a joy to skim through just looking at the artwork. I really enjoyed reading the book as well - I like the Habitats section very well since I do much better at landscapes and nature objects like trees than I do at people painting. And I need all the help I can get while learning to paint fairies or faeries. Perhaps all my faeries will end up being Tree Fae. I seem to have an affinity to painting trees … they are one of my favorites subjects .. til now, I’d never thought of Palm Tree Fae.

…. hmmm …. that would be a lovely subject for a new painting in Painter X … now I know what I’m doing this week-end … I love the fact that in Painter … I can paint in watercolor as well as combine ink and oils into the very same painting for effects that I could not create anywhere else. Another of the books on my desk is The Painter IX WOW Book by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis. She has written all the Painter WOW books. She also has a book that covers graphic tablets, Painter and PhotoShop for those new to using graphic tablets and computer paint programs titled, The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book - she has some sample chapters available on her website so you can check it out before buying the book. Watercolor is covered quite extensively in the Painter Wow book. Painter offers two types of watercolors … Watercolor Layers and Digital Watercolor. Watercolor Layers is like painting in traditional watercolors for the effects - I love watercolor layers! One of the brush variants available in Painter is called Fairy Dust - it is not a watercolor brush but it is a fun brush to use. On page 119 of the book, there is a lovely dragon painting done by noted fantasy artist, Don Seegmiller - section is titled Painting Rich Textures with Brushes - Digital Watercolor & Chalk brushes are covered.