Days 9,10, and 11 of the Direct Watercolor challenge. I travelled on work to Las Vegas, and it was hard to squeeze in direct watercolor between long days at work. Still, I was glad my hotel room looked out at the High Roller, which modeled for me on two days that week.
And piece #11 of the watercolor challenge was pushing the idea of ‘direct watercolor” a bit. Still, here is the piece.
Waiting for my flight to leave Las Vegas and head back to San Jose. I did the people first in pen and then the slot machines in the background in direct watercolor. I like the uneasy mix of the two very different techniques: it’s kinda how I feel about Vegas.
If you are doing the challenge and keeping up (unlike me, who is a bit behind), then you must be at the halfway mark… How is it going? Your thoughts about it? And any progress you see in your work?
You can join the Direct Watercolor group on facebook here. When you post, tag your work with #30x30DirectWatercolor2018
Sketch Away: Travels with my sketchbook 
Hi Suhita: I’ve painted about half the days and am finally getting the feel for the paper (Stillman & Burns Beta.) Going to Direct watercolor takes more planning for me–making decisions about composition, values, etc in advance instead of working it out in pencil and paint as I go along. I’ve enjoyed seeing what others are doing on the Facebook site. Learning from you and Marc is always inspirational. Thank you! Watched a few videos at Following the White Rabbit on YouTube (Ann Laurent?)
PS: I’m not posting on Facebook.
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Carmela, I agree with you: like all “spontaneous” work, there is a lot of planning involved before brush hits paper. Like you, I find the total process to be longer and harder, but I am hoping that by replanning , the final piece can have a feel I can’t achieve wiht line: we will see! Glad you’re working on the challenge even if you are not posting it: the doing is more important than the posting!
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Hi Suhita. I’m just a day or two behind but am really enjoying the challenge. I’m finding that when I look for something to paint, I’m pickier now because of thinking of painting directly, and the references from which I paint seem to have better possibilities. The “direct watercolor” approach is making me more discerning about what to paint. Which is good! Also, thanks for the tips you gave earlier. The one about repeating a picture is helpful.
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Glad you found some tips that worked!
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