Some educational items of interest to all artists....

I have been pressed for time and trying to squeeze in reading my arts magazines as much as possible...yesterday I managed to finish two issues of Watercolor Artist.  Even though this is a water media based magazine, some of these articles apply to all aspects of painting.

In the June 2013 issue, here are some items of note:

Page 10 "Loosen Up" article about how to paint looser.  There is a list of 25 tips that is well worth copying and posting up on your studio walls.

The article on page 23, "Adventures in Watercolor" has useful information on how one artist sketches in the rainforest and then brings those sketches home to do full paintings in the studio.  What I found of interest is the color swatches and value studies which are very important.   Remember folks, value does the work but color gets the glory.

For those of us that love the pen and ink/watercolor sketches, check out the article on page 38, "Pulse of the City," which is an article about Urban Sketchers.  This article gave me some inspiration and ideas for our sketch group.

There were other articles worth reading in that issue.  If you can find it, read it.

For the August 2013 issue, "Journaling Odyssey" on page 8 is of interest to sketchers.

There was a great article and test drive of Daniel Smith's iridescent, duochorome, pearlescent and interference colors and what applications where they are useful in a painting.  Awesome article, for those of you wanting to add that extra POW to a creative piece, check out that article.

I loved the article on page 24 "the structure of emotion" based on the paintings of bridges by Antonio Masi....there are some great paintings of various bridges including the Brooklyn Bridge.  I also find bridges to be a powerful subject and can understand the obsession to paint bridges....two of my favorite bridges are the Verrazano and the Ben Franklin Bridges.  Check out the totally amazing painting of the Brooklyn Bridge on page 27.

There was an instructional article starting on page 50-51 about watercolor pencils.   I would also recommend reading up on line about a new line of watercolor pencils by Caran D'Ache Museum Aquaelle Pencils which I hear run circles around all the other brands.   Been dying to get some to test drive them myself.

There was some tips for good design for your paintings starting on page 59.

Overall, found some great stuff in these two issues that apply in any medium.

Enjoy

Gina