Adventures In Watercolor: Lockdown Art

Posted: September 22, 2021 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: DIY, Life | Tags: art, watercolor | 3 Comments

I haven’t touched my watercolor kit in over a year, but these past months, while stuck in lockdown, I was inspired to paint again, if only to give my hands something to do and to get my mind off things. I was really rusty though, so these aren’t the greatest, but at least a few of them are originals – painted from photos instead of just following an online tutorial. I have this idea of painting at least one scene from each of the countries I’ve been to over the last five years, but so far, I’ve only managed one from Iceland and one from Iran. Still, it’s something, isn’t it?

Source – Source

A church near Vik, Iceland

Agha Bozorg Mosque in Kashan, Iran (yes, I don’t know how to handle the texture of the wall at all)

Adventures In Watercolor: Isolation Art, part II

Posted: May 22, 2020 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: DIY | Tags: art, watercolor | 3 Comments

As promised, here are the rest of my watercolors that I’ve done during the lockdown/social distancing period. First up are some of my usual landscapes (the fireworks one is a new technique using wax crayons, which is really fun to do):

Then I tried a few loose-style flower paintings to practice my brush strokes (following the tutorials of Snowberry Design Co, Shayda Campbell, and DearAnn Art). I’m still not there yet (my sunflowers look more like daisies), but they’re fun:

Now that I’m back to work, I may not touch my painting supplies again for a long time, but we’ll see.

Adventures In Watercolor: Isolation Art, part I

Posted: April 24, 2020 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: DIY, Life | Tags: art, watercolor | 6 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in my post a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been using this extra time during the isolation/social distancing period to get back into my watercolors. I had this idea of painting a series of landscapes based on places I’ve traveled to, and another series of flowers in our garden, but I’m not good enough to paint on my own yet, so I’ve only been practicing with Youtube tutorials like makoccino, Draw with Shiba, and Karen Rice. What I really like about these channels is that they don’t require a lot of drawing. I can’t draw to save my life, so they’re perfect for me. I’m still struggling to control my washes – they often end up too light or too heavy – and my brushstrokes are terrible, but at least I’m having fun, and that’s all that matters (uh, I may have just inadvertently quoted “Father Ted” there. Been rewatching that a lot too.)

Anyway, on to the paintings:

I may paint more as long as the isolation lasts, so stay tuned!

Adventures In Watercolor: Doodlewash June 2019 pt III

Posted: September 20, 2019 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: DIY | Tags: art, watercolor | 1 Comment

I just remember that I never got around to posting the last batch of my Doodlewash paintings. I feel a little bad about posting them three months after the challenge ended, but at least it’s better than not posting them at all.

I tried painting crystals instead of “stones”… but they didn’t turn out well

I’m really happy about how the paper bag turned out in the “Berries” one. The berries are… OK

Overall, it’s been really fun to do these small paintings. I even won a small prize – a watercolor pad – for “perseverance” from the Facebook group where I learned about the challenge in the first place! I’ve been busy since school started so I haven’t painted anything new, but the prize has given me an idea for a new project. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to complete it, but I will definitely post it on the blog once I’m done.

Adventures In Watercolor: Doodlewash June 2019 pt II

Posted: July 17, 2019 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: DIY | Tags: art, watercolor | 1 Comment

Here’s the second batch of my June Doodlewash paintings/sketches. July is turning out to be busier than I thought, so I don’t think I can participate in this month’s challenge, but it’s been really fun. My skill really improves by painting every day, I got more comfortable with drawing (I’ve never been great at drawing anyway) and my control of the colors and the amount of water got a lot better too. Hopefully I can paint more regularly once the entrance exams are over.