I've always loved the soft, beautiful look of watercolors, and thought they were waaay out of my league. I took a beginner class with Andrea Frank at Michaels about 10 years ago, and have been hooked ever since! In that 2 hours, she taught me so much, that I felt confident enough to not only use watercolors on my art, but to also teach a little in my card classes.
Lately, I've felt a real need to take it to the next level, so I took some very expensive watercolor classes with Andrea at the art studio where she's been going for years. Whoa! Soooo out of my league there! So much so, that I haven't really done any watercolors since. I kind of felt overwhelmed after those classes, and I yearned for some simple, beginner classes.
Well, my prayers were heard. As soon as Tim Holtz announced these classes on his website, I immediately signed up! This was just what I was looking for!
As I write this, today was actually Day 6 of the classes. Where am I you ask? As usual, I had a very busy week--that's always the way when I have other plans--and I just got to the pre-work yesterday and today. Before the classes began, there were a few videos to introduce us to all the many types of watercolor supplies, and the "homework" was to "get to know your watercolors". I love Online Card Classes, because 1) we have lifetime access to the videos, and 2) I can do them at my own pace. So wonderful when life interferes with your plans!
Like I mentioned above, I've been mesmerized by this medium for a long, long time, so I've been collecting many types of watercolors over the years. Here are just a few of the color swatches I made in the last 2 days:
This was my most recent purchase ($12.05 at Blick). After watching the videos introducing us to the different types of watercolors, this type really seemed the easiest to use. Alas, I didn't own this type. Jennifer McGuire (who's also one of the teachers in this class series), recently posted a comparison of the different types on her blog (giveaway too!). One type I really want to try are the Peerless watercolor papers, and they're on my WANT list. lol *I just noticed that my swatch is upside down in this picture! Sorry.*
This next swatch was made using my set of Derwent 36 Watercolor Pencils. I stamped circles (using the tri-circle stamp from Stampin' Up!'s retired set Fun With Shapes), and Ranger's Archival Jet Black ink (it's waterproof).
I colored approximately 1/3rd of the circle on the left, and used my waterbrush to wet and draw the color to the rest of the circle to get the variation.
These swatches were made using Ranger's new Distress Watercolor Paper with the Distress Markers. After making a light grid (I erased it when I finished), I scribbled each color, and used the waterbrush to moisten and drag the color to the right. Love 'em!
And, for this last swatch, I used all my tube watercolors. The top half of 10 colors are from a cheap set I bought at Five Below ($5.00). The 3rd line shows all the colors mixed with white.
The bottom six colors are from L'Aquarelle, Windsor & Newton, and Holbein.
Now, guess how I'm enjoying my Mother's Day? I'm spending all day doing my classes!
Happy Mother's Day everyone!
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