Hello my dearest!
Are you preparing your resolutions for the new year?
I always make a huge list of what I plan to do better in the coming new year and guess what ? I’m usually too ambitious and also not so very kind for myself and then of course at the end of the year I have to acknowledge that I failed to do what I set myself up for… Let’s not put ourselves up for failure this year….
This year as we finish this decade and I see the world around me burning (especially poor Australia now …. I wish my Australian friends a lot of courage to face the heat and the forest fires) I continue my previous years resolutions for the future: I will make more art and do less shopping, do more creating and less consuming, eat more veggies
🥦 instead of meat, produce less garbage… spread love
whenever I hear hate speeches…. what else?
Oh yes: make art and make even more art It’s a universal language‼️
To end the year well: here’s another sketching video I want to share with you! I hope it will inspire you to try new stuff.
I made it in Kanazawa, in one of the most beautiful gardens of Japan, Kenrokuen garden.
First I made the drawing in pencil (I use Palomino Blackwing pencil medium hard graphite.) and then I started painting.
There’s some explanation in the video.
It’s an A4 – sized watercolour sketchbook from “Seawhite of Brighton”. The paper is very white! I still have to get used to it.
I use my pocket palette boxes: one with warm and one with cold colours, filled with Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton tube paints. They’re very light and small so easy to travel with.
I use a mop brush (sable, Isabey), a diagonal brush (sword sable, Rosemary & co) and a fine brush (Winsor & Newton series 7) and Viarco water-soluble graphite.
I first started by the water of the lake and splashes of green to “destroy” the whiteness of my paper, otherwise I tend to become too delicate and afraid to make mistakes…
I tried to pay attention to make the main objects (the tea house on the lake) in dark contrasts warm colours, and the vegetation which are further away in lighter contrasts, less detailed and lighter cooler colours. (this could have been done better….) This creates depth. Also the trees which are closest to me are painted darker and warmer, and drawn with more detail then the vegetation which is further away.
Now I want to share also some difficulties I had with you: In the beginning I find the painting always looks ugly. There’s a part of the video missing, because I told my hubby to stop filming as I found it didn’t go well and didn’t look good…. The point here is: keep on going and do the work untill you find it looks good enough! But then there’s another difficulty: I think I overworked the painting a bit… It’s so hard to stop when you’re having fun! You have to feel when you have to stop so you don’t paint away all the light! 😀
I hope you enjoy the video!
Don’t hesitate to ask questions! So I have something to write about 😉
Kisses and have a great end of the year!
Barbara
Dear Barbara, I was just on the side of Rosemary’s, which size of the sword would you recommend. I want to give myself a present for the new year to make more art. Wish you a great colorful new year with greetings from southern Germany.
Hello dearest Christine!
That’s a great gift to give to yourself! This sword brush is fantastic! You can make fine lines as well as great washes! May favourite sizes are the R12 travel brush (with a cap) and then I have another one, the one I use in the video, but it’s old and the writing on the handle has fades away so I can’t read the number any more… But here’s the link to the page of the brush: https://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/red-sable-blend/series-772-sable-blend-daggers . I think it’s number 3/8″ … Have fun with them! It’s great to try new tools and experiment new brush strikes! Love, Barbara
Danke für die schnelle Antwort Barbara, ich habe soeben bestellt und freue mich schon auf Post aus England.
enjoy !!! 😀
Barbara-san, Hello from Kanazawa! So many beautiful places to choose from for sketching and painting in this wonderful city. We are so lucky that it was spared destruction from US Army Air Force ‘burn jobs’ during the war. It is a privilege to be able to see how you work,
your confidence and speed. We haven’t had snow yet this winter so there is less excuse to stay home and draw what looks back at me in a mirror. I wish you a Happy New Year and some successes with your resolutions. Your brush collection is remarkable! Yours, Kevin
Thank you so much Kevin !
I hope you’ll have some beautiful snow this year. Kanazawa looks so beautiful with snow…
Have a great new year!
Barbara