Day Seven : #30x30DirectWatercolor : Missed Day!
June 7, 2020
[ Blue Mansard House. 8×8″ Watercolor on Cotton Paper. Found Photo @Archi.ologie ]
Didn’t paint today! Just stuff going on. Here’s one that was lying around. ~m
8 Comments
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Citizen Sketcher 
Sets a nice atmosphere Like the breaking light against the pillars. Just a question: Do you stretch the paper when doing 8 x 8?
Hey Joyce – I always tape my paper down when it’s dry. As you paint it gets wet and bubbles up – but it dries back down eventually. (I’ll often use a blow dryer to speed it up). I’ve never had any luck with taping wet paper – it always pops off the board. No Idea why I can’t get that right :)
This one looks quaint and has a good balance of abstract and just a hint of realism. I’m having a tough time loosening up. When I paint from pictures, I have the tendency to paint exactly as I see, tightly. Any tips on loosening up?
Hey Scott! my best tip for loosening up (and by that we mean simplifying and letting brushwork shine) – is Time Limits. If you give yourself only 5, 10 or 15 minutes – you might find two things. You laser focus during the limited time, because your brain knows there’s no time for fooling around – so your Seeing gets much sharper – and – you make decisive marks, because you never get a chance to go back and change your ‘first impression’.
That’s the secret! Time Limits! – then after a while it becomes second nature :)
~m
That’s great advice to set time limits -I will try that ! It’s been hard to paint with what is going on here in USA the past few days – painting is a distraction but creative juices not flowing, not working. It’s frustrating. I will try to keep at it :(
Thanks for the advice, Marc. I’ll give it a shot, but I have this strong feeling that after the timer goes off, my work will most likely look like something my six year old son created 🤣
Hah! well it’s true – but, you just have to remember it’s just a stage :) We must draw like six year olds before we can run like six year olds. Or something :).
Here’s an old experiment of mine with fast sketches on a clock: https://citizensketcher.com/2017/01/04/lose-weight-with-sketching/
We all hear you! It’s an inspiration just to post something for those of us following you.
You motivate us to keep at it. I love the looseness of the paint strokes. Each one counts. I’m still trying to get away from the fussiness of overdoing it, and too much detail.