Jul 26

Watercolor Artists Who Influence Painting






Some of the usual culprits, but some new ones are added into this mix.
Thank you, Pam



A View From the Easel During Times of Quarantine



From Mary: "This link is to a hypoallergenic article on five artists who talk about their studios during the Virus Time. I thought you might like to put into the blog. Not specific about watercolors, but close. And the emphasis is about how people are doing their art during these limitations."
Thank you, Mary



Cotton Watercolour Paper Comparison
The paper featured are Daler Rowney Aquafine, Fluid, Fabriano Studio, Fabriano 5, Fabriano Artistico, Arches.
Cotton Watercolour Paper Comparison: 0 v 25 v 50 v 100%
Thank you, Joanie

Jul 19


More Sketching Architecture in Ink & Watercolour
Sketch 4: Santorini
Sketch 5: Industrial Factory
Sketch 6: Grand Central Station

Jun 21

Sketching Architecture in Ink & Watercolour

These lovely Brits have posted some free tutorials. There will be seven in all, here are the first 3.

Here are the ones coming up :Santorini, Factory, Grand Central Station and St Paul's Cathedral.

May 31

WaterdropArtStudio











She's a shy one. The only place I could find her art was on Etsy. Check out her works of San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Susan Yu-Voix

May 24

Colour Charts
Lots of information from Winsor & Newton

 Professional Watercolours
Cotman Watercolours
Professional Watercolour Sticks
Designers Gouache
Professional Watercolour Markers
How to read a label
Mediums Finder

May 03

Dyes vs Pigments









This question comes up often. The main difference between them is that dyes are soluble and pigments are insoluble and are suspended in a medium or binder. 
Dyes and Pigments


Chinese White




Chinese White is one of the most popular colours used by artists. Its success is based on the ability, after being mixed, to take the edge off brighter colours. It is subtle and not too strong, making it invaluable for highlights and essential for white objects.
Winsor & Newton - Chinese White
Wikipedia - Zinc oxide (for a deeper dive)


Apr 25

deYoung Museum
Whether self-taught or professionally trained, all Bay Area artists are invited to submit newly created artworks for possible inclusion. 
Our Walls, Your Artwork
Thank you, Darlene and Roslyn

Apr 19

The Foster - Four New Virtual Tours
Led by Artist-Explorer Tony Foster
Whether you are currently sheltering-in-place in the San Francisco Bay Area or simply live too far from Palo Alto, California to readily visit, please scroll down to enjoy these guided tours of the lobby/orientation space and all three separate exhibitions. Foster informally shares his insights and experiences with us as he walks us through the galleries.
Four Virtual Tours
Thank you, Pat.

Apr 12

Michael Reardon











Michael Reardon's Blog - Spring 2020
He has some interesting comments on Arch paper near the end of the blog.
Strange Times-Santa Maria della Salute- Sheltering in Place-Exhibits-Arches Update-Workshops-Final Touches
Thank you, Pam

 Natalia Ushakova, The Portuguese Fado Singer





Daniel Smith Watercolors 
Watercolor Step by Step









Apr 05

This isn't watercolor!
or 
Pushing the Boundaries
Here's a little personal history:
Many of you know that I came to watercolor from the world of computers, not the world of art. I had been working with illustration software that was, at the time, incapable of soft edges, fluidity or serendipity. A very astute CCSF teacher said "Get thee to the Art department and a watercolor class." (Although he did not use Shakespearean grammer.)
So, image my surprise and delight, when a few years ago, Adobe created a rudimentary watercolor brush, that was limited, but in the right direction. They (and other platforms) have continued to improve and expand the quality of digital watercoloring, and that makes me happy.

 So, my question is: Is "Digital Watercolor" watercolor?
Whatever your belief, here is a great article. Be sure to follow the links!
David Hockney shares exclusive art from Normandy, as 'a respite from the news'

Mar 28

How to Expand Your Artistic Creativity







This a great example of the kind of things we do on Tuesday mornings. Bob found a bunch of different ways to depict the same scene. 
Keep painting!
How to Expand Your Artistic Creativity

Mar 21

The Isolation Art Challenge
ArtTutor set up a Facebook group called The Isolation Art Challenge. It's a completely free group and it's open to anyone (you don't have to be a paying customer or anything like that).
The challenge is to create one sketch or piece of art per day for 14 days, based on the 14 themes I've created.
The Isolation Art Challenge

Mar 14

Kaffe Fassett


Kaffe is a San Francisco artist that is concentrating on fabric and yarn work now, and is also an accomplished watercolorist.
This is a video of his discussion on his color choices:
Kaffe Fassett on Color
And this is his personal website:
Kaffe Fassett
Thank you, Marlene

 The History of the Color Blue
Some scientists believe that the earliest humans were actually colorblind and could only recognize black, white, red, and only later yellow and green. As a result, early humans with no concept of the color blue simply had no words to describe it. This is even reflected in ancient literature, such as Homer’s Odyssey, that describes the ocean as a “wine-red sea.”
The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries
Thank you, Pam

Mar 03

Watercolor Community Show at the Goat













Laurie Wigham - Nature Journal Club - April
Imagine that you’re sitting in those blue chairs, getting ready to paint all the different greens in the forest. Would you pick a blue and a yellow and see if that would mix them all? (Which blue and which yellow?)

 Or would you start with a pre-mixed green and nudge it in different directions? (Which green? Have you ever stared at the Daniel Smith color chart, hoping that you could find just the right tube of green to make it all easy?) 

 In this class we’ll look at those questions and more of the tricky issues around painting greens. How can you capture the glorious explosion of color in a spring meadow with ordinary paint? What about those lichens that look like they were painted on with day-glow colors? Do those deep forest shadows go to black, and is sage green more of a purple or a blue? And what’s the rookie mistake almost everybody makes when starting to mix greens?

 We’ll talk about some color-mixing theory, look at why you might want to buy some of those special tubes of green paint, and get in some practice matching the colors of leaves. We’ll also cover some strategies for painting different landscapes, like how to get a mix of textures in a distant forest, or the barely-there shimmer of greens in the desert.

 BRING: your regular watercolor palette, sketchbook and brush (waterbrush if you’ve got one), plus a scrap of good watercolor paper to try out some special effects. If you forget something, I will have some materials for borrowing.

 All ages and experience levels are welcome. No registration necessary, $20 suggested donation.

 TUESDAY April 14
• Tiburon: 10-11:30 AM, Richardson Bay Audubon, 376 Greenwood Beach Road.
• San Francisco: 12:30-2 PM, Building 989 in the Presidio (Near the Warming Hut, not the usual East Beach location.)

 WEDNESDAY April 15
• Lafayette: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM,Library and Learning Center, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd.

 FRIDAY April 17
• Saratoga: 9:30-11:00 AM, West Valley College, 14000 Fruitvale Ave
• Cupertino: 12:00-1:30 PM, McClellan Ranch, Santa Clara Valley Audubon, 22221 McLellan Road
• Palo Alto: 2:30-4:00 PM, Environmental Volunteers EcoCenter, 2560 Embarcadero Road.

 More information: It's a good idea to check all times and locations on John Muir Laws' Events page before the day. 

Feb 29

Happy Valentine Month
The Tuesday group at Creighton's create Valentines for each other during the month of February. Here's a look at them all.

Jane Davies









The Spaniel Portrait 
The best painting can only come from something that inspires you. Often working on commissions, I’m used to working from photographs, these must be able to evoke emotion within me, be it the line of a neck or the look in an eye, there has to be a spark! 
Watercolor Step by Step


 Kolormondo 3-D Color Wheel










Just for fun, thought I'd show you this
3-D Color Wheel

Feb 22

Rose Madder - Rubia Tinctorum
Winsor & Newton
This bright and subtle colour is associated with evoking feelings of passion, desire and love. A study conducted by two University of Rochester psychologists found that this rosy shade heightens attraction.
Rose Madder

Wikipedia on Rose Madder
Scroll to the bottom of page and find a list of substitutions and a song called "Rose Madder" or "Madder Red", depending on the mood, I guess. It's not a good song but thought I'd include it, just for the giggle.
Yeasayer - Madder Red


 Lake Pigment
Because this term has been showing up lately in conversations, I thought this would be a good time to find out more about it..
Wikipedia on Lake Pigment

Feb 15

Warning: Severe geekiness follows!

 The Ostwald Colour System
 According to Ostwald there were three groups or classes of colours. The first group consisted of neutral colours; those which do not contain colour and are made only from black and white. The second group are pure ‘full colours’, and which contain no black or white. The third group contain mixed colours, combinations of colours with black and/or white. Ostwald identified that all of these groups had at their core four basic hues: yellow, red, blue and sea green. Four further hues - when placed in between the core hues - created orange (between yellow and red), purple (between red and blue), turquoise (between blue and sea green), and leaf green (between sea green and yellow). Finally, two further hues between these colours, created a circle of 24 evenly spaced colours. 
The Ostwald Colour System, The Bauhaus and Winsor & Newton

More About Oswald (warned you)



Ostwald’s Basic Contributions to Colorimetry are:
the spectrum & the color circle (semichromes)
the mensuration of the color circle
the structure of the object color solid
the colorimetric color atlas
color & spectral signature
Colorimetry

Feb 08

Making Beautiful Colours without Toxic Chemicals
The original work trousers, invented by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss in 1873, were dyed with indigo derived from plants. By 1882, however, indigo was being synthesised, and producing denim blue now involves large quantities of petroleum, as well as toxic substances such as formaldehyde and cyanide . . .
Making Beautiful Colours
Thank you, Marlene

Feb 01

Laurie Wigham Teaches in the Sierras


Enrollment is now open for Summer 2020 classes at San Francisco State University's Sierra Nevada Field Campus. Laurie will be teaching a 5-day residential workshop on watercolor painting where we'll work on the individual elements of a landscape, doing lots of small experiments to figure out new ways to paint rocks, trees, water and skies.
Rock, Wood, Water, Sky

Chalk it Up at Goat Hill Pizza
I know this is not watercolor related, but Goat Hill Pizza shows our work every year and they have supported artists since the 70's. Thank you, Mike.

Jan 18

Artist & Craftsman Supply Closing


Employee-owned art supply store will soon close its doors at 555 Pacific Ave. 
Artist & Craftsman Supply
Thank you, Darlene
2020 One Roll Residency 
Now accepting applications for the 2020 Artist-In-Residence.
2020 Residency 
Thank you, Mary
Art Swap at the Library
If you’ve been cleaning out your art supplies to freshen up your painting space......save your stuff!
Friday Jan 31 at our Friday paint together at the Bernal Heights Library, we’ll have an Art Swap.
So save anything you’ve been thinking of getting rid of and swap it for something you can use. 
If you don’t find someone to swap your stuff with, leave it with us and we’ll donate it to the Art Dept     
at City College. 
AND
Mary and I teach a watercolor class to fellow low income seniors in our apartment building. Our students just have basic colors and brushes so at the Bernal Library Art Swap on Friday Jan 31, we would welcome donations of any student or professional watercolors, brushes of any sizes and professional watercolor papers.
Thanks so much, Jesse





Jan 11

Colour In Your Life
I have posted information about this obefore, and because of the fires in Australia, I wanted to remind folks of this great organization. Read about the circumstances that urged Graeme Stevenson to create this library, in the "About" section of their website. Their videos are great tutorials for how to create art, why to create art and how important a community of like minded folks can be to an artist.

 Vision
To build a library of the minds of artists; to preserve a digital record of creative spirit, culture and techniques for future generations.
"Colour In Your Life is an Australian owned and produced TV art show. We film artists to tell their story and to share step by step tutorials on how to paint, how to sculpture, how to draw, how to learn different artistic skills."

 Put Some Colour in Your Life Website

You Tube Channel

Jan 04

The Foster + Daniel Smith
From John Muir Laws:
"Join the Nature Journal Club for a day of nature exploration, art, and journaling. In February, we have a special event: A demonstration by a representative from Daniel Smith at The Foster in Palo Alto."
Sunday, Feb 23, 2020 10 am – 4 pm
The Foster (940 Commercial St, Palo Alto, CA 94303)
The Foster + Daniel Smith Demo + Baylands (Nature Journal Club)
This is the place we went with Kay a while ago. Of particular interest to landscape painters. 
Miss seeing you.  Happy New Year, Pat
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