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This Watercolor Gallery, and tutorial, is dedicated to my beloved mentor, Lula Nestor, AWS (1934-1999). She was a renowned, international experimental watercolorist and instructor with a Master’s degree in fine art and Bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She experimented with combining various chemicals with watercolor – with results curators, fine art jurors and even her peers could not comprehend. Cranbrook Boathouse Click on image to enlarge Sold I began this painting by sketching the boathouse, landing and steps on my watercolor paper. Because I wanted the scene to manifest on the paper fresh and immediate, I then began painting all the different “shapes of colors” I saw surrounding the boathouse and within the live scenery before me. This technique of not painting “things” but rather painting “shapes of colors” keeps the artist in the right side, or creative side, of the brain. I returned to the same spot at the same time of day for five consecutive days. This is because shadows and color hues continuously change over the course of the day. During that time, I felt autonomous, nervous, alive and at peace.  Spider's Garden Click on image to enlarge Sold This painting has two lives. Two years after it was painted, framed and hung, I began experimenting with watercolor mixed with Casein and applied over India ink. Note the dark red leaves above. The bark of the Birch trees in this painting is white with faint hints of the three primary colors (red, yellow and blue) Primary colors are pure colors and cannot be created with other colors. Primary colors make up all other colors. Watercolor painting is all about fresh, translucent colors while white watercolor paint is opaque and dull. As a result, professional watercolorists create white by painting around the areas they want to appear white. However, if I had left these tree trunks stark white, they would have appeared flat. That is why I added watered down areas of the three primary colors. There is no pink watercolor paint. The artist creates pink by watering down red to allow the white of the paper to shine through it. Winnebago Drive-by Click on image to enlarge I was on a painting trip in my mobile home on the west coast of Michigan’s lower peninsula (accompanied by my three small dogs). While sitting at a picnic table in a campground, I began a wet-paint-on-wet-paper abstract watercolor, laying down various colors over the entire surface of the wet watercolor paper. I then took a wire door off one of the dog’s cages, placed it onto the wet paint, weighted it with a brick and took it inside the mobile home to dry. I then left the campground in search of a good lunch. My mind was full of captivating, potential images I wanted to add to the painting. When I returned to camp, I looked at the painting. The lunch trip over bumpy roads caused all of the colors to mix together, changing them into grays with gray lines running through (notice the sky and Venetian blinds in the painting.) I flashed back to the rule that when you mix all the colors on the color wheel together in equal proportions, they create black. If mixed unequally together, they create degrees of gray. I painted the cows and scenery beyond the Venetian blinds in between the lines. How did I create such lovely colors on top of gray? I will reveal that secret later in the narration. Sold Yellow Iris Click on image to enlarge Sold Yellow Iris is one of the first paintings I did. It was an illustration from a "how to paint watercolors" book.  When I finished the painting, I was delighted and surprised how well it came out.  Originally, it was an iris with a blank, white background. Again, several years later, I took it out and painted the entire background with black India ink. I then used white casein mixed with watercolors to create the images around the flowers. Casein is a water-based painting medium that was popular years ago and not known to many watercolorists today. It also is what I used to cover the gray area behind the Venetian blinds in the above Winnebago Drive-by painting. White casein paint is excellent for making watercolor corrections on the paper. To make the correction, you remove as much color from the area by lifting and scrubbing. Lifting is the first step. Apply water with a brush over the image (without stroking it) and blot. Repeat this step several times until you no longer see any paint residue on the tissue you are using. If you skip this step, the fresh pigment would just re-paint the surface. Next scrub the area with water and brush until the area is as light as it can get without starting to remove some of the surface paper. Now you are ready to apply several very thin coats of casein (allowing it to dry between coats) until the area is returned to the color of the paper. Ancestral Imprint Click on image to enlarge Sold When I initially painted this watercolor, this zebra was nose to nose with another one, just as it appears in the herd on this zebra’s coat. I took the painting to my mentor to critique it. She suggested I cut off the zebra on the right because the format (“the shape, size and general makeup of a painting”) was too long. If anyone else suggested that, I would have resisted. The confidence I had in Lula’s talent, however, gave me no hesitation at all. Off it came. The zebra’s ‘ancestral imprint’ now commands more of the viewer’s attention. I sometimes share with my students (as a group) about the expression “Follow directions and take what you get.”  To me, that means you may get satisfaction or you may get disappointment.  Then again, you may learn something new and get more for your money. If a new painter lucked out and did not make any mistakes in class, there would not be as much learning gained as those who did. Dancing Birds Click on image to enlarge To create the small white images in the two borders on this painting, I used melted wax. To apply the wax to the paper, a batik funnel pen is used. This tool looks like a metal funnel with a handle and is used to create designs on fabric. It plugs into an electric outlet to melt the wax paraffin. It also works on watercolor paper. The watercolor paint cannot penetrate the wax, leaving the white of the paper to shine through it. Misty Pines Click on image to enlarge Sold Notice the sky in this painting. I decided to give it a very pale red (pink) sky. That is because green is opposite of the primary color red on the color wheel. When you paint two colors next to each other that are opposite from each other on the color wheel, one will appear to move forward and the other recede back. I painted the sky first. I let it dry.  Then I painted the distant pine trees over the sky area. Double Tulips Click on image to enlarge Sold This painting was a class assignment.  The instructor made a ‘set up’ by placing a vase of tulips on a table.  The only instruction was to paint the picture using both warm and cool colors in an unusual way. Most watercolor courses are three-hour sessions over several weeks.  Given the detail in this and most paintings, it was almost impossible to finish a 22” x 30” watercolor in just one or two sessions.  I (and many others) took unfinished paintings back home, put them aside and did not return to them.  That is why my beginning watercolor class assignments use 11” x 15” watercolor paper.  I personally know how intimidating it can be for a beginner to confront a large blank sheet of paper. Dilly Lillies Click on image to enlarge I painted flowers and leaves on the watercolor paper, then embellished some of the flower pedals with rice paper.  I then painted various papers for the leaves. Early Snow Click on image to enlarge See Dilly Lilies description above. Isis Irises Click on image to enlarge See Dilly Lilies description above. Sunshine's Embrace Click on image to enlarge I want to discuss value in more detail because it determines if a painting will turn out ‘flat’ or with a lot of depth. By now, you have probably noticed that I like to paint with strong, vibrant colors. If an artist uses colors that are all the same value throughout a watercolor, weather pale or dark, the painting will be very flat in appearance.  What works is to place light-valued colors next to dark-valued colors throughout the painting. This will move some images forward while pushing others back.  When you combine this with placing colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel next to each other in various areas of your painting (which also will move images forward and back), you will have a winning combination and allow the viewer to swim in, out, and through your work. Three-Dimensional Lilies Click on image to enlarge Sold I began this watercolor by painting lilies and leaves on a piece of watercolor paper.  I then painted lilies on another piece of watercolor paper and cut them out, suspending them above the painting. To create the long lavender flowers with yellow centers, I painted both sides of watercolor paper lavender and cut the paper into long strips.  I braided and glued the strips onto the painting.  Next, I added rice paper painted orange and glued to the back of, and extending beyond, the watercolor paper. The inside border with interrupted narrow lines was created by cutting those lines out of the top painting so that the rice paper positioned beneath it would show through. Fall Woods Click on image to enlarge Sold Some paintings take only a short time to create while others can take hours, days, weeks, or longer.  It took just ten minutes to paint the majority of this watercolor.  I began by taping my brush to the end of a three-foot-long wood dowel and placing the watercolor paper on the floor.  I stood above the paper and painted wet strokes over the entire paper.  The results looked like woods, with a meadow and trees in the background.  The only things I added later were the leafless trees and the small splashes of red dots. Iris with Yellow Border Click on image to enlarge Prior to starting this painting, I applied gesso to the watercolor paper and let it dry.  Gesso is a medium oil painting artists use to prime their canvas prior to painting.  This technique lends a brilliant luster to the watercolors. There are guidelines for watercolor painting that are useful in the learning process.  However, these rules are not always absolute.  One can manipulate, stretch or re-formulate them. This watercolor demonstrates the general rule that red appears to move forward and blue recede back in a painting.  Therefore, I painted the irises in the foreground red, added blue to red to paint the middle irises purple, and painted the background irises blue. Notice that the sky has a deeper shade of blue surrounding the flowers.  The term “halo” is used for this effect. I then used gold-colored dimensional paint (sometimes referred to as fabric or puff paint), and outlined the leaves and added dots in the middle of the circles in the border. The results of this painting earned an award in a Fine Art Competition at the Left Bank Gallery, Flint, Michigan. Oneironaut ‘Explorer of the Dream World’ Click on image to enlarge While I began this painting as an abstract, once I incorporated the mask, it became an “abstract with an identifiable image.”  I began the process by first wetting the entire paper with water and immediately began “laying down” blue and green watercolors in the shape of a circle.  Next, I added the pink area around the circle. When it dried, I cut out the center of the circle and painted in the thin branches radiating outward from the center, then attached dried flowers and feathers. Next, I made a dream catcher and glued it over the opening.  I made the mask by saturating rice paper with a stiffening agent and molding it over a ceramic mask.  When it dried, I removed it from the ceramic mask, mounted it onto a black backing board and, using spacers, positioned it several inches behind the cut out circle in the top watercolor. Avatron Click on image to enlarge I once had a futuristic-type dream in which I heard a voice audibly speak the word "avatron."  The word was referring to "dancing machines."  These machines resembled weight scales one sees in a doctor’s office. There were many of them located in a large dance hall and each machine had one person dancing on it. Everyone was listening to music through metal helmets with wires attached to their heads.  When I awoke, I thought, “What a neat name for a painting” and began working on the above watercolor. In the Roses Click on image to enlarge Sold I began this watercolor collage by painting the entire piece of watercolor paper black.  I then painted both sides of several types of paper for creating the rose petals and set them aside.  I wanted to create a mystery in this painting for future viewers to discover.  Therefore, I strategically placed and glued tiny photocopies of our family, friends, and pets onto the paper before gluing the rose petals around them. Notice I incorporated bits of red and pink papers throughout the leaves for balance of color and added interest. Nocturnal Garden Click on image to enlarge I began this watercolor by drawing the center flowers on the paper and painting them with watercolors.  I then painted the background area surrounding these flowers with black India ink.  When the ink dried, I mixed watercolors with titanium white casein, painting the remaining flowers over the black India ink to portray an illusion of a spotlight focusing on the center flowers.  Finally, I flooded the outside border area with water and painted in the warm colors. When dry, I added the small colored circles. Parrotdise Click on image to enlarge I began this work by painting the parrot and large leaf and then added a lesser value background.  These two large images dominated the painting, competing for the viewer’s attention.  To diminish the dominance of the parrot, I added extra foliage using India ink and casein mixed with watercolors. Icey Irises Click on image to enlarge Watercolor painted rice paper (hand made paper) enhances the dimensions of these irises. Happy Irises Click on image to enlarge Sold Adding salt to the sky immediately after painting it made the flowers appear to exude an aura of shimmering light.  As the paint dried, the salt crystals absorbed the surrounding paint, eliminating some of the color.  Different types of salt will product different results. Running Man Click on image to enlarge Sold These are the evolution of man figures.  I drew the images on the watercolor paper.  Next, I placed a sheet of clear plastic over the images.  I then traced the outlines of each figure onto the plastic sheet, cut each image out and laid them aside.  These would be plastic stencils for each man.  Next, I painted the figures and, while they were still wet, placed each correlating plastic stencil over them.  This process blended and distorted the wet paint within each figure. Next, I painted the background around the images.  When everything was dry, I removed the stencils. I painted the three borders last. To lend dimensionality to this work, I painted additional wavy lavender, green and blue lines on the inside of the glass for the frame, and suspended the glass two inches above the painting before framing it. Running Spirit Click on image to enlarge I first painted the figures and the green hills in the foreground with watercolor. Once dry, I applied thin layers of casein over the entire painting.  Next, I mixed watercolors with casein and developed the distant mountain range over the tops of the figures.  This faded them out and gave them an ethereal appearance. Something Fishy Click on image to enlarge Sold I began this three-dimensional watercolor collage by painting orange tulips on a horizontal piece of watercolor paper.  Dissatisfied with the way the tulips were positioned, I turned the paper vertically and realized that the tulips almost looked like tropical fish (refer to the school of orange fish at the top of the painting).  I advise students to save their unwanted paintings.  They can always paint on the back of them or cut them up later for a collage painting. The top was cut off of this first sheet of paper just above and around the tops of the orange fish.  Many small areas of this top painting were cut out so the viewer can see through it to a second full sheet of watercolor paper positioned four inches beyond it.  The second sheet was painted blue at the top, gradating to black on the bottom with additional fish and plants suspended between the two pieces of paper. The finished work is the result of hundreds of hours devoted to developing this collage Square Dancing Click on image to enlarge This three-dimensional watercolor collage is comprised of two pieces of watercolor paper spaced two inches apart.  I began by creating the white dots.  I sprinkled Winsor & Newton art masking fluid over the paper.  Art masking fluid is a liquid that, once applied to paper, solidifies and protects the paper from watercolor paint.  After the painting was completed, I rubbed off the art masking fluid, allowing the protected white of the paper to re-appear. I cut out the squares, working around the fish images.  What appears to be a thin dark border is not painted but rather cut out of the paper – making sure to cut around the images of fish and bulbous pink flowers that extended over this cut outline, so that the part of the painting within the red border would not fall out. To represent water, I painted the bottom sheet of watercolor paper blue at the top gradating to black at the bottom.  I then painted sea plants on a separate sheet of paper, cut them out, and suspended them between the two sheets of paper. Angel's Garden Click on image to enlarge Sold This three-dimensional watercolor consists of two separated pieces of watercolor paper.  Some flowers – along with the angel – are suspended above the painting, while others were cut out of the paper for a dark abstract view beyond it.  The border is lace over painted rice paper. To see more paintings not included here, please click this link!