No
watercolor practice this week, but I did meet a watercolor artist at
the State Fair Friday, buy some of her art and talk with her about the
classes she teaches (both watercolor and quilting). I will likely take a
class from her at some point - she's talented and nice.
I spent the majority of my day today sorting through, cleaning and organizing the stained glass my husband no longer wants (too small for him so I get them). They'd been stored in open boxes in his shop where he also does wood working, so they had lots of sawdust on them. I'll use them to make pendants and jewelry, as well as small stained glass items. I *might* use some to make mosaic art as well. I've not worked with mosaics before, but I saw something recently out of larger pieces of glass than the usual mosaic art, and liked the effect.
This week's class exercise was 3D spheres. I found the shadows tough to do, so will continue practicing this week.
I've tried watercolors a few times over the years, but always been so frustrated with the results that I'd quickly return to acrylics. I love the texture that's possible with acrylics, plus it's so forgiving. If I decide I don't like something, I can just paint over it. Watercolor has more limitations, and I don't like limitations. However, I also know I've always tried watercolor just randomly without any research or instruction. Since this is my year to learn from others, I decided to try watercolor again. I started classes this past week and, no surprise here, learned I was doing several things incorrectly. I'd been using watercolor crayons, watercolor pencils and a cheap watercolor pan set and random brush. All were wrong for a beginner so off to the craft store I went to pick up enough supplies to get me by until my Amazon package arrives this week. The photo above is my initial practicing of proper brush technique and shading. While I'm one who likes to fast forward to results, I'm forcing myself to truly practice every lesson in the classes. This particular exercise was both challenging (being new to me) and therapeutic in that it was somewhat rhythmic, requiring focus and patience.
