As a working mother who tries to run a few times a week, write in my blog and keep my family from starving or looking unacceptably dirty, my time is limited. I tend to paint in bursts, my least favorite part is figuring out what to paint and followed by how to frame my work. I still don’t have a good plan for how to frame them, I have a pile sitting in my workspace as I type.
One great way to be inspired is to watch a YouTube tutorial. I have mentioned some of the artists I subscribe to here.
Many of my painting are water scenes painted from my own photographs. As a life-long student, I love to watch and learn from other artists including how they paint water. Often times I will just watch the video and not even paint. I have painted this Grant Fuller tutorial a few times and think he gives great tips about painting wet sand and creating the a “water’s edge.”
Overview of the tutorial
Do a quick pencil sketch, I pause the opening frame of the video and draw my sketch. The pencil lines won’t show in the final painting but try to keep them out of the sky!
Wet the horizon and sky blending into the distant tree line is fine as we will be going over it with a darker pigment.
I didn’t have cadmium orange but used gold ochre to create the distant light on the horizon. The use of cobalt blue and the gold ochre creates an interesting grey/blue that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. I tend to use ultramarine or windsor blue in my skies and have started to use cobalt more to create some nice colors without the granulation that comes from the ultramarine.
Let the sky dry. If you don’t you will get bleed. Sometimes we want bleed, in this case we do not.
For the background, I used a cobalt blue, yellow ochre with a touch of burnt sienna. You want this layer to look misty so don’t put it on too dark.
The whites are so important when you are painting waves, you can always go back and add more “water” but it’s much more difficult to get back to white! The thin layer of white against the distant shore is essential.
Burnt sienna and ultramarine for the rocks
When using the UM and BS on the water’s edge, go easy! Leave some gaps, better to add more than to have dark globs. Light touch is the key here. This step is what really makes the water “pop” and gives depth to the painting.
Let everything dry and then wet the entire bottom portion of the paper, use the ultramarine and burnt sienna again to make a gradient in the wet paper, more blue at the water’s edge and more brown towards the drier sand at the bottom.
Use a clean brush to create breaks in the sand adding reflective elements and giving the sand a “wet” appearance.
One of my attempts. This is a great tutorial, I learn something new each time!
And another! I like to paint the same scene with some tweaks!
Using some of the techniques! Wet sand and water’s edge.
I follow a few artists on YouTube and thought it would be fun to post my sketch and painting of one of Alan Owen’s tutorials!
Alan Owen has that breezy, easy style that so many of us long to be able to pull off. I spend to much time fiddling around and stuck in details and I long to be a a landscape painter that gives the “impression” of the scene, not a copy. We always want what we don’t have, but I don’t call this blog “Learning New Tricks” for nothing! Alan uses some interesting paint combinations, I am trying to be more consistent with my trial and error so I wrote out his colour recipes and a quick sketch/painting.
If you are like me, you are forever trying to find the perfect green. I learned the hard way that a tube of green is usually not your friend. In this painting, the palette is muted but the green quite lovely, it is a cadmium yellow, windsor blue and raw sienna. I don’t have raw sienna (thought it is now on my list) gold ochre is listed as a possible substitute. I tend to mix my greens with ultra marine but the windsor blue mixed nicely and I will try using more often. I also like the grey we put in the sky, it was also a mix of cobalt blue and Indian red ( I used alizeron crimson). I didn’t do the sketch book until after I finished the painting, if I had I would have realized there was going to be a house! I put a bit too much shore line in front of the house, these people are definitely not going to get flood insurance…
For my next tutorial I started with the tiny painting and color chart.
I haven’t done the exercise on real paper yet but I love the grey from cobalt and burnt sienna!
I enjoy Alan Owen’s videos and find him easy to follow, though I do pause to catch up when I need to!
I found a list of some additional watercolor tutorials, some I have watched and some I plan to watch! As a visual learner, I really find watching other people work gives me so many ideas.
I’m not sure why I have given my shop the cold shoulder. I haven’t had negative feed back, though I am always worried when there is no feedback.
Perhaps it is the medium itself that is the difficulty. Painting isn’t the problem, I have lots of paintings and only have a few listed on Etsy. It seems fake to sell prints even though the majority of art sold on Etsy is not original artwork. I am trying to teach myself some graphic design skills to transition into a more digital/repeatable artist. Maybe I don’t like that idea and that is why I am ignoring my Etsy shop.
Seth Godin is a great writer and pod caster. I recently listened to his episode about wabi sabi. The basic gist of wabi-sabi is that the imperfections are what makes us love something. The unique qualities impart an essence made more powerful because it is not repeatable. For me, the magic of creating a watercolor painting is the variability of your results. No two paintings are the same. The intersection and interaction of the pigments, paper and water create happy accidents.
Selling a print of a watercolor ruins the wabi-sabi. Or does it? If the image is moving and worth looking at, couldn’t more than one person possess it?
Clearly, I need to refine and define what exactly I am trying to do with my Etsy shop. I need to do something about all of these painting or I am going to end up on an episode of Hoarders.
Until I figure this out, I will continue to paint my happy river rocks, the perfect yet imperfect leaf, and to seek the most vibrant shade of green. For now, I will ignore the Etsy shop in the room.
Hello world! It’s been a while. I have been running races and even had a PR in a 5k in April, a 24:27! At least I think it was a PR. I injured my psoas, which is just plain fun to say but not so fun to rehab in January. The psoas led to a hip flexor issue but I watched a million youtube videos and through a greater power and much stronger glutes, I have persevered!
If feel like my Altras contributed to my psoas pull/glute weakness. Though I love the zero drop, I felt like I had little arch support. As a runner with very high arches, I struggle to find a balance between restriction and support. I switched to Saucony Kinveras, which I liked for their light weight feel and support but after a few months, I began to get that familiar plantar plate ache, this time on the opposite foot. My plantar plate tear previously took me out of commission for about 2 months, I didn’t want to lose the best part of the spring/summer so I backed off and went back to my Hokas. I taped my 2nd toe down to prevent the curling I was starting to see and began a vigorous toe exercise regimen. I never thought my life would revolve around glute exercises and toe lifts, but, here I am.
After wearing the Hokas for a few weeks, the rocker bottom allowed me to take that strain off toes, I started looking for other options. I didn’t likt the narrow toe box on the Hokas, and I do feel the excessive stack height throws off my gait and doesn’t allow me to engage my now incredible glutes. I have never been as comfortable wearign a show as I was with the Altra Escalante but after a 10 mile race, and a very sore psoas, I checked into other zero or low drop shoes. I found the Topo Magnifly 3. These shoes are very comfortable, feel supportive but not bulky. Unlike the Altras, they don’t look like clown shoes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…. I removed the insert and used these alleged zero drop insoles to allow for a little more shock control. I can’t believe I paid this much for an insert, but my toe has been ok so far!
Back to the black hole that is Etsy. It reminds me of the halcyon days of yore when I was first on facebook and I wanted to see every comment and like. Like this blog, I will go months without posting and then go on a rager. I didn’t paint as much during the pandemic as I thought I would when contemplating what I would do during a pandemic. My house was busy all of the time and I just didn’t make it a priority. Recently I started painting again, I don’t have a lot more wall space and I hate trying to make prints, so I just started throwing more stuff on Etsy. Some of the work is generally appealing and some is a little more artsy-fartsy. Either way, the posting process is cumbersome and I have no idea how to use Instagram but I made a page anyway. I don’t share it because I somehow want to be anonymous which makes no sense, pretty much the same thing I do with this blog. A quiet, dignified Etsy shop. That 2 people a week visit. I have actually had 7 sales which is more than I thought I would have but less than I would need to make this an actual occupation. I would have to figure out how to make prints and doo-dads with my prints on them and that makes me want to take a nap, though if I am following my own advice and learning new tricks, I guess I should learn. Here are the latest additions to my Etsy shop!
Hello darkness my old friend. Fall is a tough time for me, I don’t like winter and the darkness. The short days are especially difficult, I frequently joke that I am solar powered.
This fall came earlier than usual for our area. Without a prolonged “Indian Summer” I didn’t have a chance to feel tired of the heat. We never really go to say goodbye.
In years past, I have let myself get stressed out from all from all of the obligatory decorative clutter that appears in our house between October and January 1st. Now, I am embracing the mess. Or tying to.
When the days get shorter, I cook and bake more, I read more. I paint more. All of this indoor and inner reflection comes with a price, too much navel gazing, too much self-analysis.
I painted this over the weekend, I actually worked on 2 paintings side by side. Using this opportunity to tweak a few things from one to the other, playing with color and light. I am also attempting to maximize my very expensive Arches watercolor paper which comes in the most awkward sizes. Picture an angry beret-wearing, cigarette smoking cabal deciding, “Ah, yes, we shall make the papier of a useless size for any of those American frames. They shall buy beaucoup papier, cutting into even more useless scraps. Viola! C’est magnifique!
Can you tell that I took 4 years of French in high school? Or that I also took 2 years in college. It wasn’t pretty.
This painting is from a photo I took at Fairy Stone State Park early this spring. It was very cold and a storm was rolling in with darkness overtaking the light. Kind of how I feel right now.
This makes me feel cold.
I am counting down to December 21st, at least then I know they days will be getting longer. I will always love you, Summer! If you come back I won’t complain about mosquitoes. Maybe chiggers, but not the mosquitoes!
Fairy Stone State Park has beautiful lakefront cabins, some original post and beam and some modern. There are several good hiking trails, including one that travels on an old iron mining trail! Another trail goes to a scenic waterfall. The fairy stones are fun to hunt for but your best bet is to drive to the other side of the park to hunt!
I paint in spurts. During the summer I don’t paint much. Between torturing my children at the “cabin” and working outside, I just can’t make myself sit still long enough to paint. I carry paint with me places but don’t usually do any real work.
As soon as there is a whiff of fall in the air, my brushes come out. I can feel the days getting shorter and the darkness starts to descend on me. Painting is a coping mechanism for me. I am used to having a day or two of quiet during the week but with this virtual school thing, I am never alone.
I painted a few of these wave painting as a way to practice some ocean watercolor techniques I picked up from you tube. Though they are technically not very difficult, they are fun to make and visually interesting. These paintings have been my only sellers on Etsy!
Had I thought of it, I would have “unmasked” this painting in a video. I will do that next time! Instead, I created an animation through Google photos, not quite the same thing!
Perhaps my favorite things about these type of watercolor paintings is that they don’t have to be perfect. Having a job that requires pretty much constant perfection, I appreciate the “happy accidents” that watercolor allows.
The mess behind the madness
Though I can’t quit my day job, I have enjoyed having an Etsy shop. It’s nice to share my artwork with people who don’t have to like it!
Sounds like a self-help book. I had two instances this week where someone told me my running had inspired them. This is something that flatters me in a way nothing else has, I was never an “athlete” and to have people tell me I have made them want to run gives me a sense of purpose.
My very nice neighbor with two young children asked me for opinion about running shoes. I warned her that my experience is limited but that I love my Merrells, I love them more than I ever thought I could love a shoe. I love them so much that I have a second identical pair and I am considering buying a few more (they are discontinued.)
These shoes are so light weight you forget you are even wearing shoes! (But you are so take them off in my house.) I have very high arches and always thought I needed shoes with heavy-duty arch support. I am not sure how I came across these “minimalist” running shoes but they saved my feet. As mentioned in this previous post, I had a Morton’s neuroma and when I wore these shoes, my pain disappeared! I wear them a full size larger than my normal shoes size and to date, I have not lost a single toe nail!
With my latest “hammer-toe-itis” I have tried an alternate lacing technique, described here.
Would you trust someone who tied their shoes like this? I wouldn’t.
It looks like a blind and thumb-less person got tangled up in my laces but it really helped take the pressure off the top of my foot. Getting the laces off my pressure point stopped the numbness and pain. Surprisingly, no one has mentioned this crazy lacing or they were too polite to stare.
I love the Merrell Bare Access Arc 4 shoe so much that I bought my daughter a pair from the outlet clearance rack! Could this be any cuter?
mini (malist) me
Back to my story of inspiring those around me. My sweet neighbor said that watching me and my family (we all run) made her want to run again! Today at Harris Teeter, I was wearing one of my many 5k t-shirts as I was planning to do some yard work and I don’t dress up much when I am not at work. The checker said something like “I wish I could do something like that.” I wasn’t sure if she meant walk around with no make-up and unshowered but she said, “run a 5k or 8k or anything.”
I blushed, because even though I am old, I still can’t take a compliment. I told her, “You can definitely do it! “I didn’t start running until I was 40!”
I had been waiting my whole life to say this to someone. Then she said the most wonderful thing I have ever heard…
“You are over 40? You don’t look like you could be over 40.”
Maybe she was lying but I don’t care, all of this running and Tru Niagen is paying off!
You can learn new tricks over 40, my times have continued to improve. I will never be an elite runner, but I can run 3 to 5 miles at a respectable pace is proof that we can get better as we get older.
While we are talking about mini me, here is the painting I reprinted to give to all of the father’s in my life for Father’s Day. This is my daughter and husband at the beach (obviously. ) I loved her holding his hand, I also liked the tint giving the painting a vintage look.
I have self-diagnosed myself (allow myself to introduce myself)
many times over the years via google. I have had various foot ailments, Morton’s neuroma ( a neuroma so good it has a salt named after it. Actually, I have been to the Morton mansion in Nebraska City, Nebraska. It is beautiful and not made of salt, it is also the home of Arbor Day.
I am not sure it was a Morton’s neuroma but the pebble in the shoe feeling turned into a constant burning and lasted well over a year. This was about 5 years ago and since then, I seem to have resolved the right foot and stumbled upon a new problem on my left foot. We ran 2 Christmas races, including an 8k, which to me still seems like a marathon, I then spent a weekend squatting and reaching to remove The World’s Ugliest Wallpaper. The next morning, I could not stand on my foot. It was swollen and felt like I was walking on a brick. According to my magic 8 Google, I had a partial tear of the plantar plate, or a stress fracture, or gangrene. It was Christmas and ain’t nobody got time to go to the doctor so I suffered and survivied with NSAIDS and clunky old-lady sandals, which I later found to be the almost identical to the horrendously ugly Hoka’s I wound up wearing to heal my wounds and wound my pride.
I never go to the actual doctor, but this time, I was a responsible adult, I sucked up my pride and my several thousand dollar deductable and made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. When I made the appointment, I couldn’t walk. By the time several weeks had passed, I was mobile, in pain and bruised looking but mobile. When I arrived in the waiting room, I realized I had made a huge mistake. To say I was the only one in the waiting room not in a full body cast would be an accurate statement. Clearly my little foot pain was going to pale in comparison to the horrific injuries these people were dealing with. I hoped in my permanent record it would show the doctor that I am not a cry-baby and I hardly ever seek medical attention. After hours of waiting, they took an x ray of my foot. The tiny doctor man who was no more than 20 years of age told me he couldn’t see a stress fracture. I asked about this metatarsalgia I had read about or metatarsal plate tear, he said it was possible but my bunions were the likely cause. Perhaps, but I have had these same bumpy bunions since I was 12 and this second toe on my left foot was now club-footed when it used to be straight.
Long story short, I even went to a podiatrist who was even more dismissive than the orthopedist. In the orthopedist’s defense, I wasn’t yet in a full body cast and I did walk both into and out of the office so pretty much a success story. I work in healthcare and see my share of worry-worts, I don’t dismiss their problems. I have a deformed toe when there wasn’t one a few months ago and Dr. Google tells me it’s from a tear, likely permanent at this point. Dr. Foot gave me an adhesive pad for my shoe, spent 10 seconds looking at my foot, didn’t have me stand or look at my pile of shoes I was thoughtful enough to bring in. When I am ready for bunion surgery, I should call him. Hmm, no thanks, I’ll see the 20 year body cast mummy artist.
In my extensive research, I find a blog from a woman dressed up for a Disney themed race who seems to have had my injury and is now able to run again in whimsical outfits with even uglier shoes, the Hokas. The premise of these abominations is that if you design the shoe with a rocker bottom, the stress of pushing off on your toe is eliminated and by choosing the worst colors imaginable, it takes your mind of any physical pain by replacing it with searing-eyeball ugliness.
I bought the Hokas that were said to be so comfortable, they were legendary! They were re-introducing the HOKA One one 1. Uno? I am not sure why there are so many ones but alas, here we are. I accidently ordered the uglier of the 2 color choices, tried them fora few weeks, decided they were too big and ordered the smaller size with the less ugly color scheme. Less ugly being the operative word.
really.ugly.shoes. bright yellow soles?
It is now May and I had built my way back up to that oh-so marathon like 8k mark when fate stepped in and squashed my foot again. I am not sure if this is still residual from my now deformed hammer toe creating tendonitis, a tight calf muscle or just old age sticking her thumb in my eye but I have a burning painful to the touch feeling on the inside of my leg. It is not visibily swollen, I don’t think I have a blood clot, though that is always my first thought. It feels like a nerve and a blood vessel had a fight and both of them woke up sore the next morning. I have been analyzing new and excitng ways to tie my shoes in order to relieve pressure from the top of my foot. I am able to put a shoe on today, so I consider this a small victory. I am going to try the skip lacing. I had been alternating my Hoka Clifton 1 with my Merrell Bare Access 4 as I thought the additional cushioning would help reduce any stress related injury but now I am thinking I will go back to the Merrell full time. Though the Hoka is said to be a 4mm heel drop, I feel the difference in my calf when I switch back.
We are supposed to run some sort of charity mile race, grouped by age, this Saturday. We shall see if old-mother nature is going to keep me down. Until then, I will be staring, exasperated, at these diagrams.
I spent way too long trying to figure out an alternate lacing pattern, who knew there were so many?
There isn’t an option for 40 year old bunion feet.
On the bright side, being sidelined allowed for me to spend some extra time painting this weekend. I came up with this little number from a photograph I took around the Chesapeake Bay.
Later I did some tutorials with my favorite youtube watercolor artiste, Umberto Rossini!
and my attempts, one on hot press Arches paper (because I have never painted on hot press before) and one on cold press Arches
I didn’t get the vibrancy that Umberto has, I always feel like the paint is going on bold but forget how much it fades!
