red poppies

I wasn't in the mood to finish last week's WIP so I started a couple new ones this week, both exercises in Gina Lee Kim's book. I like how the poppy exercise turned out. 

WIP - first time using drawing gum

This last week I played around with some flowers, and then got the drawing gum out to see what that's all about. Oh My! I think I'm going to use this stuff a lot! I love trees and birch trees are one of my favorites, so the fact that drawing gum helps to create them, well, I'm over the moon. Sure, I could use acrylic or some other medium to create the birch trees over the watercolor, and likely will in the future, but I really like this effect. I plan to add leaves and I'm not sure what else, so it's definitely a WIP, but this was a fun practice session.

watercolor stained glass

When I sat down to practice watercolor this week, I was inspired by the beautiful landscape panels at Glass Art Stories.

the trouble is...

I finished two watercolor courses in August, and this month I'm learning from a watercolor book by Gina Lee Kim. I followed her work a few years ago and then forgot about her when I wasn't creating for a couple years. Thankfully, I stumbled on her work again and ordered her book. She reminded me watercolor doesn't have to strictly be watercolor. It can be augmented with other mediums. DUH. I do this all the time with my art but it hadn't yet dawned on me for watercolor. And it was exactly the inspiration I needed after failing miserably at my watercolor practice last week (see below). I felt good for practicing but was very disappointed in the results, frustrated to the point of wanting to return to acrylics. Gina Lee Kim to the rescue! 😊