Watercolor Painting & Dip Pen Practice

My post today is about practicing (or playing as I like to think of it) the art of watercolor.  Painting a piece that is worthy of your walls (or for gifting or for selling) takes time.  You need time to warm up, to sketch a design, to let layers dry, to set it aside and come back later or another day.  In other words, being impatient and wanting to just get it done is probably not the best way to start a session.

Another very interesting point to this story is that after all three of these paintings were "finished," I ended up doodling them with my dip pen!  I've seen many professional artists use a dip pen (rather than a Micron pen) and I've been intrigued to try it myself.  Because I had a good attitude about practicing and playing, using my dip pen for the first time was a perfect scenario.

The other day, I felt like practicing painting flowers; specifically, roses (which I suck at) so I grabbed a reference from Pinterest and began practicing using Strathmore 5x7 watercolor paper.  The first piece is with the dreaded rose, which I ended up not being happy with.  Adding the doodling with my dip pen was just what it needed! 

​I painted a second piece and omitted the rose!  Since I was on a roll with my dip pen, I doodled this as well.  Both of these paintings will be made into cards in the near future.

The practice piece I painted today is in preparation for an upcoming art show.  My reference photo is of a spot on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY.  The photo shows quite a few rocks (another dreaded difficult item to paint) but as I've learned along the way, I can paint (and interpret) a photo any way I want, which is exactly what I did.  This practice piece is 5x7 and I'll be attempting this again in a 9x12 size.

​Here's my reference photo:

And here's my interpretation:

I learned a lot by practicing (and playing) and now I have a plan for the larger piece!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN