watercolour – Patty Anne

Chickadee Watercolor

Hi everyone!

I love painting birds which is probably not a surprise to many of you following me on this journey. I sketched a little Chickadee during Inktober and just recently got around to painting one.

It is often hard to know when to stop working on a painting, when to walk away and put down the brush. That happened with this painting. I thought my painting was finished, so I signed it and walked away. I took a few pictures and the following day I realized that it really needed more work.

I had a few decisions to make. I needed to take a little time to think about what this painting needed. I had just stopped too soon, but really that was ok. This was an opportunity to learn and share with you some of the decisions that I made while painting this Chickadee.

Chickadee part 1.

Looking at this Chickadee from a distance, I realized that all of the colors were muted.

The color bleed around his head looked like a thought bubble. 🙂 Ahhh no no, not what I intended…

It really needed some bright color and some darker darks.

The eye needed more definition, and that thought bubble just had to go.

After adding more color and punching up the dark values, I was much happier. I was able to address all of the issues that bothered me. I think the result looks much better and feels more alive.

Chickadee – painted on 7×10 inch Canson Watercolor paper.

Watercolor tips and lessons learned:

It is sometimes hard to know when to stop so that you don’t overwork a painting. You also need to be careful not to stop too soon as I demonstrated above.
Take time to look over your work and keep notes. There is always something to learn about what went wrong, what worked well, and what can be improved.

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button. I would love for you to follow me on this creative journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, Patty Anne Art. Until next time, enjoy yourself and do something creative!

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Quiet Thursday – Flamingo Love

Flamingo Love watercolor painted on 7×10 inch Canson Mix Media paper.

I hope you are enjoying my quiet Thursday posts. You can see more of my work on Instagram or my website, PattyAnneArt.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Painting a Snowman

I haven’t played in the snow or made a snowman in a very long time, but I thought it would be fun to paint one. We haven’t had much snow yet this season where I live. I sure hope we have a little on the ground by Christmas morning.

Now for painting snow… I started to wonder what color would be best to use. My first thought was that a light purple or gray would be nice. After watching this tutorial on how to paint a holiday snowman card, Watercolor Snowman Card Tutorial, I decided to try using different shades of blue for the snow as Michael did in the video.

Below are a few of the happy snowmen that I painted, just simple and fun!

After sketching the snowman, I painted a few very light washes of Cobalt Teal on the snowball sections. I made sure to leave some white areas and did not worry about uneven brush strokes or getting it perfect. It is important to let each wash dry before adding the next wash. I like seeing the brush strokes since it gives the snow a bit of nice texture.

Then I continued with a few additional washes of Phthalo Blue and Ultramarine Blue for the darker areas around and below him.

I had a some fun dressing this guy up adding a hat, scarf, and some cute buttons. Snowman 2 is my favorite of this group. I think I’m going to print some cards with one. 🙂

With this third painting, I added a baby snowman. He looks like he is sitting down so I gave him some cute little boots.

Watercolor Tips

Be sure to include a variety of darks and lights in your watercolor paintings. It will create more interest and help them come to life.
Another great place to find inspiration is in children’s books. You will find that many have beautiful watercolor and ink illustrations.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, PattyAnneArt. Until next time, enjoy yourself and do something creative!

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Quiet Thursday – Holiday Lights

Just a quiet Thursday post for you today with a few paintings of Holiday lights.

Painted on 6×9 inch Aquabee watercolor paper.

Painted on 9×12 inch Canson Mix Media paper.

You can see more of my work on Instagram or my website, PattyAnneArt.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Poinsettia Watercolor and Ink

Hi everyone! I’ve been having fun sketching and painting Poinsettias. The first few that I painted we rather fussy and boring. Then I decided to watch a few videos online for inspiration and tips. I found this Jennifer Branch tutorial online, Poinsettia Christmas Card Painting. It was very easy and a lot of fun. I liked her loose style and all of the great tips that she shared. Below are a few of my paintings after watching the watercolor tutorial.

I didn’t have the Perylene Maroon that Jennifer used for the rich dark color, so I mixed up some Daniel Smith Deep Scarlet with a little Quinacridone Rose and a very small amount of Ultramarine Blue. I think that mix worked well for my dark Maroon color.

Below is another attempt with the same loose style.

This second painting I don’t like as much as the first one. I think the green leaves are brighter and more fun in the first painting and the flower has more depth and contrast. I suspect I didn’t use enough Ultramarine Blue to punch up the center of the second flower.

I’m still having fun with ink sketching so I worked on a Poinsettia sketch as well. I used my Platinum desk pen with fine nib and a .01 Micron pen. I had to reload the ink cartridge in the desk pen about two thirds of the way through this sketch. I was a little nervous thinking I was going to make a big mess but it was pretty easy to change (and no mess, yay!). I’m not sure why, but it took a little while before the ink started to flow nicely in the pen again. I suppose the ink in the cartridge just needed to loosen up a bit.

Tips:

Keep a notepad to list things you might like to sketch and paint. There have been times when I was ready to work on my art but not sure what I wanted to paint. What has really been helpful for me is to keep an Art Inspiration list. I work full time and can’t afford to waste any of my precious art time searching for inspiration.
I also keep a little note on my desk as a reminder to relax and loosen up. It simply says, quiet mind, drop shoulders, relax jaw, and try to smooth out your thoughts. This note helps me de-stress and relax.

Do you keep little notes of inspiration or reminders on your desk or work area? If so, I would love to know what works for you.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, Patty Anne Art. Until next time, have a great week and do something fun!

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Quiet Thursday – Bunny Watercolor

Flower Bunny – watercolor painting
9 x12 inch Saunders watercolor paper 140 lb

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, Patty Anne Art.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Thankful

Thankful for family, friends, and all of my many blessings.

Thankful to have such a supportive community of online friends.

Thankful that I can share my art with all of you. I hope that it puts a smile on your face and inspires you in some way.

Thankful for puppies

and birdies…

Thankful for leaves and trees.

Thankful for flowers and bees.

Thankful for lakes and streams.

Thankful for sunrise and sunset.

Thankful for each day, it is a gift.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, PattyAnneArt.

I hope you have a great week and do something fun!

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Reflections in Watercolor

I really enjoy painting landscapes. A few weeks ago I was inspired by a very talented artist that posted this quick video on Instagram, pinkandsalt . There is so much to learn by watching another artist paint and demo their work. It is interesting to see what techniques they use, what brush they choose, how they hold their brush, and how they approach the subject they are painting.

All of these landscapes were painted a few weeks ago in my 8×10 inch Pentalic Watercolor sketchbook. I tried to mix things up with different tree shapes and color palettes. In all of these paintings, the trees and water share the spotlight. I suppose I could refer to them as landscapes and/or waterscapes.

I tried to punch up the color in the sky a bit and I added a little Daniel Smith Green Gold in the trees and water. I’m a big fan of DS green gold! #colorcrush 🙂

In my second landscape, I mixed up some darker greens and dropped in some Daniel Smith Pyrrol Scarlet and Pyrrol Red for some bold fall color in the trees and water.

The water is a bit brighter in this one and I used light orange for a bit of fall color. I really like the trees and reflection in this painting.

Watercolor Tips:

Mix up enough color before you start. It is better to have extra than to run out of color while you are painting. I’ve done that before…
You don’t need to always cover every inch of your paper with paint. When I first started painting, I always tried to completely cover the sky or the entire background area with paint. Over time, I’ve discovered that it is not necessary and I am usually happier with the result when I leave some unpainted areas.

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this creative journey.

A big thank you to all for reading, commenting, and cheering me on. All of your love and support means the world to me!

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, PattyAnneArt. Until next time, enjoy yourself and do something creative!

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Pretty in Pink & Inktober

A pink inspired post for you this week with a few watercolor paintings of flowers. I also have a few ink drawings for #inktober that I will share with you as well. I’ve been inspired by all of the artists participating in #inktober2017, it has been a lot of fun to see all of their amazing work.

This is a very loose painting of Pink Poppies that I worked on a few months ago. It was painted on Arches 11×14 inch cold pressed watercolor paper. I used the wet on wet technique to keep this painting very soft. I love how the color bleeds and moves across the paper as you drop color on the damp paper.

This week I painted the Pink Tulips below on 6×9 inch Aquabee watercolor paper. While I was painting the Tulips, I wasn’t sure that I liked this painting at all. Once the background paint mingled and the painting dried, I was much happier with it. Sometimes I think it is helpful to step back and look at your painting from a distance so that you can take it all in and decide how it makes you feel.

Below are a few of my ink drawings this week:

Duckie is an ink drawing with just a little watercolor on the duck bill. I used Micron pens size: 1 and .03. I had to stop working on this drawing one evening because it was getting late. The next evening when I got back to it, I was happy that I had stopped. I really liked all of the remaining white space, so I just touched up a few places and finished up with a little watercolor. Knowing when to stop is often challenging. 🙂

Chickadee - inktober — Chickadee – inktober

This cute little Chickadee is simply in ink. I used Micron pens size: .01 and .03. I think I may need to try painting this little guy in watercolor in the future.

Tips:

Don’t put pressure on yourself to create, just let go and allow yourself to have fun. That is when the magic happens!
Leave a few small unpainted spots here and there, it will add a little sparkle to your painting. Notice the duck bill in the above painting, I didn’t completely cover it with color. There are a few tiny white spots that I left unpainted.

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, PattyAnneArt. I hope you have a great week and do something fun.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Raccoon in Watercolor & Inktober

This week I worked on sketching and painting a raccoon which was a lot of fun. I also worked on a few sketches for #Inktober.

I practiced sketching this cute little raccoon face a few times in pencil before starting my painting.

My Raccoon was painted on Arches 9 x 12 inch cold pressed watercolor paper. I limited by color palette to Daniel Smith watercolors: French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna Light, Payne’s Gray, and Carbazole Violet. I tried to keep things loose and just have fun. I used round brushes size 10, 6, and 2. I wasn’t sure how this would turn out but I am happy that I tried. I’ve been looking at this little guy all week sitting on my desk, and although he is in watercolor, it kind of looks like I used ink. 🙂

Below are a few of my Inktober sketches this week:

Colorful Leaves - Inktober — Colorful Leaves – Inktober

Just a little ink and lots of bold watercolor on these leaves. Another simple composition that I really seem to like lately.

Pinecone - Inktober — Pinecone – Inktober

Another pinecone in ink and watercolor this week. For the pinecone, I used a larger Micron pen size 1 for the darkest areas and a smaller .03 pen for the remainder. My platinum desk pen with fine nib was used for the drawing the branch and pine needles. This pinecone has more depth than the pinecones I shared with you last week. I am much happier with this one.

Tips:

“You win or learn, there is no losing”. I heard that quote this week and just love it!! Keep trying, keep painting, and keep on having fun. Do what you love and you never lose.
It is helpful when sketching and painting to occasionally turn your work upside down and look at it. There have been times that doing that has helped me easily see just what needs a little adjustment.

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting, creating, and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and my website, PattyAnneArt. I hope you have a great week and do something fun.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: