watercolors on arches text wove, 5" x 6"

i decided to practice painting roses realistically before proceeding with painting them loosely.  i wonder if you can paint flowers - or anything - loosely without understanding its basic form?   i think you have to know what something really *looks* like before you can paint it realistically or loosely. 

what do you think?

 ink and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

in my 'daily book' i've done a lot of ink and watercolor paintings.

  ink and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

this is j. herbin's 'lie de thé' ink.  because it's not waterproof it bleeds into the watercolors beautifully.

  ink and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

a couple of days ago i looked back at these pages and thought about how much even a tiny bit tells about a particular day.  it's easy to think that you have to make each page complex - or at least something that takes more than a few minutes.   but no...

    ink, pencil, and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

woodpecker feather ~  pencil and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

i used paynes grey and van dyke brown for these feathers.  i love them together.

  ink and watercolors in arches text wove book

the other book that i've been painting in is one that i made with arches text wove.  it's a beautiful 100% cotton paper that's widely available in sheets.  it's quite thin, but hardy.  nothing bleeds through, but you can see dark images faintly on the back side of the page.  watercolors and ink are a dream on it. calligraphers use it a lot.

 ink and watercolors in arches text wove book

i (mostly) made the book for drawing faces with ink that's leftover in the dip pen when i'm done drawing/writing.  i draw as much of the face as i can before i run out of ink.  but!  i can see that i'm gonna be using it for other things, too.  it's sweeeet paper.

 

 pencil and watercolors in arches text wove book

this is a poor pic, but pencil is nice on it too.

to make the book i followed a link on seth's blog to jose naranja's post about bookbinding.  he takes the paper out of pocket moleskines and puts good paper back inside the cover.  i took the text block/paper out of an unfinished pocket 'handbook' that i had.  it isn't perfect, but it turned out pretty good!  i wouldn't buy a new book just for the cover, but, the 'handbook' was languishing in the closet...

when it hasn't been hot, i've been out walking.  that's the badass paint set sitting on a rock, waiting for me to finish taking pictures.

a new butterfly for me - it looks kind of like a yellow swallowtail, but it's not. 

instagram...  thanks to the help of lisa graham and kathy dorfer, i've been posting pictures there.  i haven't *totally* figured it out, but sort of.  i'm thinking about doing it instead of blogging.  or not.  i haven't decided.  i don't think i'll do both.

anyway, i'm lynne.hoppe if you're there!

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“Occasionally, in times of worry, I’ve longed to be stylish, but on second thought I say no—just let me be myself—and express rough, yet true things with rough workmanship.” 

~Vincent van Gogh in a letter to Theo, March 11, 1882

'totca' ~ watercolors, pencil and ink in pentalic aqua journal, 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

i've been on a kachina spree.   i painted this one after a beautiful day out walking...

ink and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

 the last of the things that i wanted to tell you about.  

moleskine sketchbooks...

they no longer have the manila folder-like paper in them.  the new paper is accepting of watercolors, and the paint stays vibrant on it.   it's  not like watercolor paper, but it's pretty good.

 colored pencil and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

like the old paper, it's great for colored pencil.

ink and watercolors in pocket moleskine sketchbook

unlike the old paper it's really great for ink.

'rose dogwood' ~ colored pencil and ink in molskine sketchbook

and smooth enough that i can draw tiny faces on it.  i've finally accepted the fact that paper with texture doesn't work for tiny faces (or tiny anything) - details blur together.   i need  smooth paper to draw people like 'rose dogwood', who's about an  inch tall altogether. 

 my new criteria for a 'daily book':  a pocket sized book with smooth, off white paper that doesn't suck the life out of watercolors or buckle like crazy.  there aren't many (ready made) books that have all that...

schmincke watercolors...

i know, i  know, i've always been a zecchi and sennelier girl, but heh, i think i'm now a schmincke convert.

it's a long story, but it started with that bigger tube of translucent orange on the left.  i kept reading about how beautiful it was so i got a tube, and it's *stunning*.   at about the same time i stumbled on the work of susan harrison-tustain and read about her schmincke palette of 12 colors.   because i was having trouble with color mixing (making lots of muddy/dull colors) i'd been researching pigments and color mixing, and her palette made immediate sense to me.

her palette of 12 colors is here...

it is an incredible palette.    i painted the swirls above by randomly picking up colors to see if i could create an ugly or dull color.  i think it's impossible.

because 5 ml tubes of schmincke watercolors aren't available in the U.S., i bought mine from jackson's art supply in london.  the total for eleven 5 ml tubes, including shipping, was about $75.

different colors, but a way to try schmincke without breaking the bank, this 12 color set of half pans from 'wet paint' for $63.95.  no i don't have this set.  i'm restraining myself.  ; )

and two daniel smith colors that i've gotten recently and love...  transparent pyrrol orange -a beautiful and potent red orange, and kingman green turquoise - a gorgeous, earthy green turquoise.   i found out about the pyrrole orange on jane blundell's blog. if you're a watercolor person you've probably already spent hours there, but if by some chance you've missed it, you'll find lots of helpful info on her blog.

one last thing that i wanna pass along - paper related.   if you haven't been to blick lately they've changed their policy re: ordering large sheets of paper.  you can now buy less than 10 sheets if you pay a $3 handling fee.   i'm happy about that!

from a walk i went on last sunday...

i saw all of this in one day.

a lot of red and orange wondrousness.

and a trout that i watched for a long time, hoping to see it come to the surface to catch a bug.   after about a half hour it thrilled me by jumping completely out of the water *two* times!

dragonflies and fish...  i don't know how they move the way they do.

i found this bone not far from the pond where i watched the trout.  i thought i'd try painting on it with watercolors.  it worked!   i 'sealed' it with some of my lip balm and left it for the trout.

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“Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.”

~ Leo Tolstoy