World Watercolor Month 2017

It's been a year since my last blog.  I thought about deleting the blog several times because as a teacher, I know my students and their parents can find my posts.  Do I want that kind of exposure? And of course the main issue for me was time.  After years of absence from teaching, preparation consumed most of my time.  And if you follow me on Instagram you know that I was creating and journaling but I just didn't have the energy to blog.  Now, after one complete year of teaching plus summer school (I taught Geometry), I may have some breathing room.

Plus, July is officially the World Watercolor Month started by Charlie O'Shields at Doodlewash. The challenge, of course, is to create a watercolor sketch everyday in July.  It was a huge success last year and this year is off to a great start.  This July, I'm committed to using all the watercolor products I have. As you can see, I have quite a stash.

July 1:  Akashiya SAI Watercolor Brush Markers

I purchased these almost two years ago and used them in my stone paper journal.  Colors are very vivid and the brush maintains a sharp point so you can really vary the line width.  These are great for handlettering. 

July 2:  Lyra Aquarelle Crayons

I won these in a Giveaway.  Most artists prefer the more expensive Neocolor II crayons but I think these are just as good.  The only drawback to these is that you can't buy single crayon to replace. But I don't think I am going to be running out of any single color anytime soon.

I started out by dabbing the colors in and use my brush to spread the colors.  I did go back and pick up more color directly from the crayon to add highlights and shadows.  I will definitely use these again when I do more florals.

July 3:  Windsor & Newton Half Pans
These were my first "professional" grade paints I purchased.  What I love about this particular set is that all the primaries and other essenetials come in warm and cool tones.  What that means is that you can create so many other colors by mixing them.  They wet easily and mix well.  You can also purchase individual cakes if you needed to replace a color.  I use burnt umber and ultramarine the most out of any set so it's important for me to be able to replace individual colors.

July 4:  Koi Watercolor Set
These are very saturated colors but they tend to be more opaque than transparent.  I don't use these much any more because of the opaqueness.  But if you want the chalky look, which I did for this painting, it's perfect!

Over the last year, I've tried creating Islamic Geometry art.  I will do blog post about my adventure into this art form later.  I created a motif using a compass and a ruler.  I then traced my motif and repeated the pattern to create the star-page.  It's great to combine my two loves, math and art!

July 5:  Kuretake Gansai Tambi
These are lovely watercolors, but for me, there's nothing remarkable about them.  I will definitely use them but will not purchase again.

Arizona sunrises and susets are incredible.  And just about everywhere you look, there are mountains and cacti!

July 6: Jane Davenport Watercolors
Jane Davenport is known for whimsical faces (girls) and I've taken two workshops from her.  She now has her own line of mixed media art supplies (and I own many of them). Her watercolor sets come in two different shades, neutral and brights.  I used the brights for the background and the neutrals for the arms.  These are not pure pigments so mixing them can sometimes produce weird colors.  And it's difficult to layer colors on top of each other without stripping the previous layers.  But she put together some fun colors so you don't really need to mix them.

There are many changes happening in my life currently.  My son is off to college in a month, my middle child is learning to drive and my youngest is starting high school.  It's tough letting go sometimes

July 7:  Sennelier Watercolor Half Pans
These are lovely watercolors and next to Daniel Smith, are my favorites.  The colors are vibrant, they wet well, and mixes beautifully.

I'm hoping to post every week, at least through July sharing my contribution to the World Watercolor Month.  I'm also thinking about posting my bullet journal pages on Sundays.  As always, if you'd like to follow my daily journal entries, you can follow me on Instagram!