I think there is a lot of versatility in watercolor and we can all find ways to use it that speak to us and feels right to us. Here are 3 examples of watercolor being used by 3 very different artists:

And here's a look at what we've been creating in our sketchbooks lately…

"For ‘action’ I had all these ideas of things that I don't know how to draw. Like somebody bowling or hitting a baseball -- figural ideas that someday I must try out (it's definitely not my forte) Anyway while I was thinking about how I might place some of those figures on a page I decided to start with a pallete knife background using some of my older neon paints that are getting thick. While I waited for that to dry I decided that those big swipes with the palette knife were action enough and were more ‘my type of action’ rather than figural depictions. So my intended background became the piece in its entirety.

 

I thought about ‘texture’ for a while and decided to glue one of my paint palette peelings to a page in my SketchBook. I don't usually leave so much paint behind but for some reason these past few weeks every time I finished with a particular color there was too much left over. It was especially satisfying to peel the dried paint from this palette which was a rectangle (the lid of a plastic takeout box) And I'm enjoying running my fingers over the texture on the page as well!" - CLAUDIA

“Borrowing again the beautiful designs mother nature gives us 🌿🌿 Perfect for this art prompt." - SABRINA 

I had a bunch of different ideas for this but took inspiration from what I have been feeling lately which is inaction / not knowing what the next step to take is.

Last month, not knowing what was wrong with Valentine, there were so many times I wasn’t sure what action to take—how long should I wait for the vet to get back to me before taking her to a new one? Should I book the next AirBnBs and plan on leaving Canada or will I have to stay? Do I try the eye drops again as advised by the vet even though it seemed to have hurt her?

Eventually I figured out what to do as quickly as I could. Sometimes we need to take a step back to think about things and we might hit road blocks and dead ends but ultimately the path appears as we putting one foot in front of the other. And all that we can do is try our best to take the best actions for ourselves and our loved ones.

For the background I wrote down my thoughts on action and inaction, added tape to create a maze, and went over it with black and grey watercolor. Here's a short process video.

It's been a busy time so for texture, I wanted to go back to the basics and just use a fine tip marker to try to create texture on the page. I created different sections and filled each in with a different type of pattern. I think adding some grey shading would make it pop a little more but I wanted to stay true to doing something with just one tool. It was actually a lot of fun and kind of relaxing to draw and fill this page in! Here is a short process video.

Wrapping this check-in up with a quote I came across recently--

 

“Watercolor is a medium that can be as demanding and temperamental as those who choose to paint with it. But it is a colorful and exciting medium all the same – well suited to describing the many moods of the subject, as well as those of the artist wielding the brush.”

- Jean Burman

 

Have a good rest of your week and I will talk to you on Friday when we dive into prompt #4!