Can you use makeup brushes for painting?

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Before writing this post, I did a google search about using makeup brushes for painting and almost all the results were actually about using painting brushes for makeup (some even claim it is cheaper). So let me tell you my story. After attempting a couple of half and full sheet paintings recently, I discovered that my 1 1/2 inch taklon (good-ish synthetic) brush was no longer coping when I wanted to cover a large area in paint and achieve a smooth wash. Nor was my #36 round brush (also synthetic). It logically followed that I need a big brush with good paint-holding capacity (i.e. natural hair). If you ever looked for one, you know that even squirrel brushes start somewhere at $40 for 1" flat.

And so I had an idea. I was looking for a powder brush at Target when I saw "natural bristles" on the package. $5, worth a try? If it didn't work for watercolor, I still needed a powder brush, right? But it worked! It holds a bucket of water and paint and it is perfect for covering a large area. It even sort of holds a point when it's wet. So here is the brush (Studio Tools Powder Brush):

And a very quick wash on a half sheet (22x15"). I haven't even tried to make it smooth, hence some streaks. It is still a hundred times better than something I would get with my synthetic flat.

It took me maybe 5 loads total to cover the whole sheet - and not because the brush ran out of paint, but because I wanted to change colors or get more saturation. I was also afraid that the brush would shed profusely - but it didn't. It shed two hairs, and I can deal with that :)

A portrait a day

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I had a fabulous idea yesterday: what if I paint one 30-minute portrait a day for a...week? I would have 7 paintings, 3.5 hours of painting practice, and possibly an unnoticeable improvement in my work. What if I do a month? 30 days x 30 minutes gives me 15 hours and 30 paintings! Tangible, eh? You can even do a show with 30 portraits. And then I was looking for a good number of days to commit to, between a month and a year. I found the number 206 - which is the number of bones in the human body. It ties nicely to my focus on portraits and will also remind me to turn to my anatomy book more often. Here is the math (and prepare to be impressed :) : 206 days x 30 minutes x 1 painting = 6180 minutes, or 103 hours of painting, and 206 portraits to show for it!

So here is the project: I will paint 1 portrait every day for the next 206 days!

I will post the results here. I also invite you to join me in on this journey if you would like to improve your painting/drawing skills or just need something to work on. The rules are these:

1. The project will run for 206 days. I started yesterday Sep 2nd and will continue until March 27, 2011. Feel free to join at any time and continue for however long you decide to. You can do every day like me or every week, or twice a week. It's up to you. For best results and for peer pressure, I recommend every day ;)

2. I will paint both from life and from photographs. Right now, my sources are my own photos, those of my friends and relatives, Julia Kay's Portrait Party, WetCanvas reference library, and Flickr Creative Commons. If you would like me to paint from your photo, please email it to watercoloredhands AT gmail.com

3. I can paint the same person more than once, use any technique and any size. If taking pictures is your thing, I welcome photography, too.

4. I intend to spend 30 minutes plus/minus 10 on each painting. I found that for watercolor, it makes sense to break the 30 minutes in 10-minute intervals  to let the painting dry in between - and to give me an opportunity to step away and take a look at my work from a distance. Plus, I can rarely have 30 minutes straight of uninterrupted me-time. So, the idea is to spend 30 minutes total a day.

5. Art is not about following the rules, so...take it easy :)

Depending on how it goes, I might post other people's submissions here or include links, or maybe create a Flickr group.  I also intend to take an occasional video of the painting process and post a mini-lesson on anatomy for artists.

And so, the question is, " Can you find 30 minutes a day to spend on something that is enjoyable, useful, and is NOT physical exercise?"  ;)

Lena Amstrand, Swedish watercolor artist

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lena amstrand watercolor

...who is another architect addicted to watercolor and whose influence I can now clearly see in Rebecca Elfast's work (Rebecca is an architect, too. I feel like I'm not that unique in having an architectural background and a burning passion for watercolor. I only hope they aren't doomed to sitting in front of a computer screen wishing they'd rather be painting). Amstrand's paintings make me think of the so-called Scandinavian design and of quiet places that are great for things like pondering and reminiscing.

lena amstrand watercolor
lena amstrand watercolor

Art in the Village review and my interview

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art in the village poster

A couple of things happened since my last post. First of all, we participated in our first real art fair last weekend - Carlsbad Art in the Village. Here's the poster with my "Cherry Blossom II" on it :) :

Unlike with our local markets and swaps, we actually had expectations for this one. It was supposed to show whether or not we are ready for large regional events and whether it is worth paying $200+ to participate. Well, when it comes to generating interest and attracting visitors, I think we are ready. A lot of people stopped by. It is the beauty of an art-dedicated event: all who come there come for the art. It was great to have an "audience" with a genuine interest in and appreciation of my work and art in general.

When it comes to sales...er...it wasn't that good. We did make our money back with a very small profit on top which disappears when you count things like gas and food. We didn't have to pay for a night's sleep (our friends at Camp Pendleton were kind enough to let us stay with them AND they came to the show AND they bought an original painting and a print) or for childcare (my family was visiting and they were more than glad to watch the kid while chilling at the nearby beach). Still, we didn't lose money, and that's something, right?

Some of the highlights of the show:

  • being in Carlsbad. Perfect weather. Beautiful streets. Intelligent people. Don't ask me why I moved to the high desert, it's too prosaic...
  • seeing our friends and family who came to the show and made me feel special :)
  • the smell of the ocean! And almost getting soaked in cold water when I was sitting on the sand breastfeeding Elijah and didn't notice a particularly strong wave sneaking up on us. We were saved by my husband :)
  • some comments people made...Like, coming from a dark-long-haired young man with a guitar, "All these colors...This is just too happy for me. I like Gothic...And why so many babies?" - the babies (five of them) are on the wall with examples of my portraits.
  • being a Yupo-evangelist. I even gave a little piece of Yupo to one lady.
  • a friend of ours buying an original painting. I didn't feel like I was giving my baby away, but it was still very special. The painting is the "Cheeseburger in Paradise", I mean, "Lahaina, Hawaii" ;)

For my husband's review of the fair, go to http://theartistshusband.blogspot.com/2010/08/carlsbad-art-show-report.html

A few days before the fair, I was email-interviewed by Jennifer The Milk Mixer. Jennifer is an artist herself, and maintains a blog where she writes about creative people she meets. She found me through Twitter (@YevgeniaWatts) and liked my paintings. She asked me if she could feature me on her blog - and of course, I was all for it! You can read the mini-interview here.

Cactus Flowers - watercolor on Yupo

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There is a corner house in our neighborhood with a very nice and neat front yard, a fine example of successful desert landscaping.  A month or two ago, they had a blooming cactus plant (I wish I knew the name of that particular kind : /). Me and the cactus flowers liked each other at the first glance - and then the game started. When I passed them in my car or on a walk, I didn't have a camera on me. When I went there with the camera intending to take photos, the flowers closed or fell off or the light wasn't good enough...So, after weeks of hide-and-seek, I finally managed to snap a couple of pictures that were good enough to make a hyper-detailed painting. And then, during one of our local swap meets, I made this:

Watercolor on Yupo synthetic paper.

Watercolor on Yupo synthetic paper.

8.5x11". I like them...I am still planning on a larger painting with more of the plant shown but I'm not sure how to show the cactus spines without getting into too much detail.

Bell Peppers - watercolor and crayon on Yupo video!

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Since several people asked me how I do paintings similar to "Tomato Juice" - watercolor on Yupo with wax crayon as a resist  - I gave up and made a video. Actually, i made three videos but only two of them with the camera on and only one where the painting is close enough so you can see what's going on. The result is one video and three paintings :) The video:

(sorry it's so small - I recorded it in vertical format :/. I promise I will know better next time)

And the paintings:

Watercolor and wax crayon on Yupo synthetic paper.

Watercolor and wax crayon on Yupo synthetic paper.

Watercolor and oil pastels on Yupo synthetic paper.

Watercolor and oil pastels on Yupo synthetic paper.

The first and last ones have oil pastels as resists.

Artist Network TV free weekend review

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So, did you do the Artist Network TV free 4-day weekend? I did. And even though I felt that there was too much basic stuff and not enough good watercolor videos, it was nice. I "discovered" Stephen Quiller. That is, I've definitely heard the name before and saw some works, but last weekend, I discovered the way he paints. Fantastic. If I ever have a chance to take his workshop, I will.

Charles Reid turned out to be very boring, imho. Maybe he should stick to books :)

I enjoyed Mark Mehaffey's watercolor on Yupo workshop, even though most of the techniques and tricks he showed I already learned by myself and with the help of my online artist buddies. It was still fun.

A couple of things I learned from around 10 workshops that I watched:

  • When working from a photo, put it away as soon as you can. Copy machines do the copying, you do art. When you don't have the photo to imitate, you have to refer to your own mind which is a good way to bring a bit of you into the painting. When doing portraits, of course, I tend to hold on to the photos longer, but I still like to finish the painting without looking at the photo. It's not a "find 20 differences" game, it's a work of art.
  • Stephen Quiller, for example, along with many others, works from a black and white sketch (instead of a color photograph). It gives you the values, but also the freedom to make stuff up :)
  • I knew that most American watercolorists prefer flat brushes to round ones, but now I saw the flat brushes in action. I still like the round-ness of the round brush, and its ability to pick up the paint from my St Petersburg 24 pan set (a good size flat brush is too big for it). I still think that a round is better for some things - but I will be experimenting with flats, too.
  • A masking liquid tip that I already tested and determined that it's great: When masking, dip your brush (that you dedicated to masking for life) into water, then watered-down dish soap, then water. Repeat as needed. This keeps your brush clean!
  • It's better to under-do a painting than to over-do. Everybody knows it but we still need to be reminded now and then. Quiller actually said something along the lines of "When you're beginning to have a really great time doing something (like splashing paint or placing your trees in a landscape) - STOP!"

And that's a nice end of a blog post, don't you think? ;)

Copyright, Cheeseburgers, and The Artist's Husband

First of all, let me introduce my husband, who you might know of from occasional sketches and brief mentions, whose name is Terry, and whose last name I readily adopted after four years of observing agonizing attempts of English speakers to pronounce my Ukrainian-Polish-Russian maiden name. I did leave my first name pretty much in tact, though ;) A couple of days ago, my husband decided to start a blog about art, art marketing and promotion, our journey towards artistic fame, glory, and overall success, and about his own discovery of the artist within. I think it's an awesome idea and I hope he keeps up both the artistic ambitions and the documentation of them. The blog is called The Artist's Husband.

So...what does it all have to do with Cheeseburgers and copyright? Remember this painting?:

NOT cheeseburger in paradise :)
NOT cheeseburger in paradise :)

Well, I listed it on Etsy.com and I received an email from them...The rest of the story is on my husband's blog, check it out :)

Gerard Hendriks - a Dutch watercolor artist

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Originally uploaded by Gerard Hendriks

Once in a while, I come across a piece of artwork that is just awesome. It inspires awe. The watercolors of Gerard Hendriks are like that. Gerard is a self-taught Dutch artist and it looks like he specializes in wildlife paintings. He also does acrylics and mixed media but his watercolors are what takes my breath away.

Check out Gerard's website at http://www.gerardhendriks.net/