January 21, 2012
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watercolors
Watercolors came up in conversation today. Which is interesting. In a way. But I suppose not all that surprising. My girlies like to paint watercolors. I have stuff all over the house that they’ve painted. Some of my favorite art is watercolor. Some of my favorite projects to do with kids at camp use watercolors.
What maybe is interesting is that last night I had an idea that involved pastels and watercolors. And I did it. And it makes me happy. You’ll probably get to see it later because it’s part of the scavenger hunt, which I’m at the point of finishing these last few that I’ve put off or not. I’m pretty stubborn at times, so I probably will finish. But… it may not be great stuff. There, I said it.
Anyhow. What is about watercolors? I like the soft look. The muddiness. The indistinct lines but distinct intention. The beauty. The color. To use watercolors to add color to paper (or clay, I’ve used in there too), is so satisfying. The depth of color depends on the user. Where the color ends up is far less in the control of the painter (unless, I suppose, you are really good at it.)
I took a group class in watercolors an eon ago. If memory serves, Spawn was about 4 and I was baking Littleloudone. The teacher commented more than once that I came to class tense (I was one tightly wound mommy in those days) and she watched me relax over the couple hours of class. I know I enjoyed the class very much. I can’t seem to find anything I did then. I do remember a lot of our still life paintings included incredibly ugly sponges, which annoyed me. But I cannot forget how much I liked doing it.
This is the one thing I framed. It’s copied from a painting in a magazine. Watercolor and colored pencil. I liked it because the cat looks just like our first cat. Our big lap cat who didn’t care much for the noise of babies and had health issues.
(Lots of weird reflections on the glass from the phone camera.)
I couldn’t find the kids’ cheap watercolor sets this morning and I was feeling a little bit like going the extra mile anyhow, so I found my stash from class. The tubes are probably significantly drier than they are supposed to be. Pretty sure. And somehow I put away the palette dirty. Which is almost funny, but really not. In any case, I used ‘em.
That appears to be all I have to say about that.
Comments (29)
Good luck with the art project! I haven’t done watercolors in forever, but it’s really the only kind of painting I’ve ever done…I never did get to the part of art class where you learn oils or acrylics. They can be kind of tricky to work with, but I had fun with them. I like your cat painting.
@leaflesstree - my project is a tree.
thanks.
I love your kitty art! Aw! Great job!!!
I love watercolors! They are so beautiful to me…all watery and flow-y! Pastels are also a fav of mine…all chalky and smooth-y! Both appear “soft and gentle and peaceful” to me…that might be what draws me to them.
Good luck on your project!
HUGS!
Wonderful water color and I love the softness and smoothness of water color. The dollar tree and dollar store carries a lot of kids water color paints and craft stuff. I keep a bunch of that for when my grandkiddos are around.
@promisesunshine – awesome!
Beautiful painting and artisticly done. I love all kinds of cats. I can’t draw a stick figure much less paint anything..
Yay! Thanks for sharing this! And I can’t wait to see what you have for the scavenger hunt!
@armnatmom - ah, but you have skill with a camera. @Grannys_Place - i have an endless supply of craft crap.@AdamsWomanFell - peaceful. that’s it, isn’t it.
@songoftheheart - need some words. i think i have some other stuff i should be doing today. unfortunately.
Hmmm, watercolors was my word yesterday. I was browsing the net looking at them. I too love watercolors. They are lovely and ethereal. I only wish I had some sort of talent in that regard. Not an artistic bone in my body.
I love watercolors because they are so soft yet they can be strong. When we go on vacation, we go to art galleries, and it seems we gravitate to the watercolors.
Very nice kitty!
While I love my gift of being good with my hands in crafts, I can’t paint or draw for the life of me, and it makes me sad
@Cestovatelka - i did crafty stuff long before i tried out anything else. just saying.@whyzat - art galleries on vacation- what a lovely idea! (vacation- what a lovely idea) @adventofreason - words are art too. i was looking online today.
good luck, I like the cat
@godfatherofgreenbay - meow
hey, my initials
@godfatherofgreenbay - hey, you might have a bonus middle name. your initials the reason you like the kittycats?
that is really good
Any medium on hand works well. Nice kitty painting!
@Babyboomerjill - thanks. i copied it. you read that part, right?@Aloysius_son - thank you.
love gold kittie. now i want watercolors. and colored pencils. and lots of space…
@be_the_rain - i knew you’d like the gold kitty. our look-a-like was named Kooshka. she hid under the couch when spawn cried. i cried for a whole weekend when we had to put her down. (she had other issues) so, when i found this pic, i had to copy it.
watercolors and colored pencils don’t take up much space.
@promisesunshine - true that. about the pencils and paints not taking up space. but i need the space for some reason, to try stuff like that. it relaxes me. like your class did you. my heart of gold (gold kittie) had a white vest and white boots but the most beautiful color of flame you can imagine. soft flame fur. man did i dote on that cat. and he was sooo shy. he would put his head down if anybody said anything to him, just stop looking at you. i think that’s why i kept him out of ella’s litter. (whew, you got some cat lady talk out of me, you do have a way, don’t you?)
@be_the_rain - space is nice. i thought i needed quiet. not always true either.
we cat ladies have to stick together with the cat talk. we picked trouble because she (turns out HE-dang it) was playful. trampoline was living in a groundhog hole in our backyard. princess buttercup was injured and is a twin of LLO’s beloved cat who died last year. and pandora. lordy. pandora is just a cute little ninjapsychokitty pain in the butt. i’ll have to put up photos someday. nobody orange though. yakety yak. you can wake up now.
Watercolours can be so subtle, which gives a nice effect to art. I like doing watercolour when I have the time too. Enjoy working on your project.
watercolors are hard to conquer, kudos on that! I find a lot easier to use oil colors or acrilyc cuz they’re less complex to manage. That’s a beautiful cat you got there
@xXxlovelylollipop - acrylics and oils seem so permanent and important. maybe someday.
wow… that’s a cool painting of a pussy cat !!!
@roscoes_farm - thank you, kind sir.