Watercolor Gift

Watercolor Crayons - Something New I’m Trying

August 7, 2007 at 9:28 pm · Filed under Imagination & Inspiration, Watercolor Paintings, Watercolor Supplies

I saw watercolor crayons by Staedtler awhile back - at the time, I only saw the 12 color set - this week, I saw a set of 24 so I bought them to try. I love their watercolor pencils - I have the set of 60 - I love using them to create watercolor paintings.

I’ve finished two watercolor paintings this week for an event - I did not take pictures of them for my Fine Art Print Gallery deliberately … They are to be given away in a drawing by my son-in-law at a business event on Friday and I wanted to give unique originals - no fine art prints available or in process - just the originals exist - the closest to having anything digital of them is the beginning background of Tree Fountain - I used it to illustrate a Seascape Artist post - you can read it at Planning for a Specific Frame Size & Mat Size and see the background (teaser - much of the background is hidden behind the tree and it changed from the beginning blocking in of the background as most paintings generally do.

The one I completed last night is quite lovely - I just dropped it off at my daughter’s house tonite - she already has the other one and the business cards and a few business card magnets to go with the paintings - my daughter and my son-in-law liked it very much and think it is even much prettier than the first one - lots of gorgeous blues - my daughter told me it looked like I had painted a turtle … I agree - the first thing I thought of when looking at the completed painting was that the object in the middle ground looks like a submerged turtle - perhaps it is … with my paintings, I just paint them … it is up to others to decide what is actually there in the hidden depths I may not have noticed.

Tree Fountain is a matted 16″ x 20″ and Turtle Rock is an unmatted 18″ x 24″ - I used a bit of the watercolor crayons on Turtle Rock last night but I think I will find out if I like them and if they are useful to me when I use them to create an entire painting with them. I may not get to use them before the coming week-end. I found 18″ x 24″ Clip-it Frames at Aaron Brothers - I was VERY excited - I had only ever seen 16″ x 20″ or smaller - I bought 5 of them - I have the two Palm Tree Ballet series paintings that I want to frame - I am hoping to work more on this watercolor series in the coming week-end - I have a plan of how I want to use the new watercolor crayons in the next Palm Tree Ballet painting - I may need a frame for it - we’ll see once I paint it.

I’m looking forward to #3 - as you can see by looking at them - each so far are very different from each other - I am doing a lot of experimentation with the Palm Tree Ballet series - on the first - I used new metallic watercolor paint (tubes) I found - it is quite lovely and makes a difference in the final painting effect. In the second, I was sponging - watercolor sponging is much different than oil paint sponging - I like the effect of the background quite well - it would not be right for every painting but this one turned out well. Next will be #3 using the new watercolor crayons - my daughter might even like those - she likes to color with my grandson so perhaps I can have a family dinner with watercolor crayons being the entertainment after I move - my grandson hasn’t found out about them yet since I just got them - we’ll see if he likes them too or not next time he comes over … IF I can get him away from the video games long enough to paint with me.

If you feel as if you are in a rut in your paintings … try new tools … try a drive in the country … try visiting a museum and looking at other’s art … being out & about in the world works wonders sometimes - it can take you away from your comfort zone where you might feel a bit stagnant and spur you into creating masterpieces. Tonite, as I drove home from my daughter’s subdivision … I saw a lovely palm tree that I had never noticed before - the shape was lovely - I was driving so I couldn’t sketch it - but I remember where the tree is at so I can go look at it again

Palm Tree Ballet #1 by Barbara Burns