Derbyshiresbeauty.blogspot.com HITS TO DATE 307,916, 5TH JULY.  HI and welcome the idea of these small pages is to encourage my viewers who may wish to make colour nature notes or sketchbook perhaps,most of the work will consist of basic one wash tints so as not to confuse by colour mixing,no special ability is needed just a will to learn and enjoy,though the paints i use and show are of the very best and therefore expensive this does not have to be the case you can just as well use student colours,tube colours,make sure they do not contain lead,and gauche colours,if you use student colours try to match the tints as close to those shown below and in the same order as i have, to save you getting lost,there are 12 colours and we shall use chinese white this is best in a tube so we can squeeze out a little at a time,if we use Chinese white the painting will not be a true watercolour but a gauche as the addition makes the colour no longer transparent,      Though it is possible to paint with cheaper paints one thing that must not be skimped upon is good paper,i use 250 gsm,this relates to the thickness and its ability to take the colour washes of paint,if we paint on ordinary paper it cockles,that is to say it becomes uneven and forms puddles it is not possible to paint on it properly you can stretch the paper but this is time consuming and watercolour paper is not expensive though i would have thought it so at one time,to find out about stretching and more watercolour notes please visit  and go to learn to paint  the methods are the same but i will try to make it easier and more straight forward on here as these little paintings will in the most instances only require one wash of colour,but there will be a little mixing,but i will try to describe this to you,the colours we use will not be true to nature but this is up to you to study and use your observation once you have some idea how to put on your washes it is possible to teach yourself,i am self taught as they threw me out of art college as i complained about their methods of teaching it presumes you can paint and draw already,if you are stuck or just don't understand go to yuition images all help is free,the reason for this and free downloads is to build up an audience of worldwide visitors,so when i can no longer paint the galleries will be handed to my three children to take sponsors to bring them a little money from my lifes work till then all my work is free,i have made my money with the brush and box of colours and in my life only sold a few paintings,i used what you see in these collections to draw people from all over the world in the street,at craft fairs,and shows,i was a commissioned artist i took orders to paint what they wanted i also taught a several high class venues with over 100 students per week and was a wood carver, you see it has nothing to do trying to scam or collect information,this is only in the mind of the jealous those that have got my emails blocked,so please use the phone for help,you will not be asked for personal information,in the words of Blackman turner overdrive,< you aint seen nothing yet <THEY NEED EDUCATING> what could be a better way to enjoy my retirement that to share my lifes work with you i have no time to mess about with money,pride in my work is more important to me,art is best when it is free <MA DONA>as it comes from the heart please keep calling back more to come mike.back soon, If you have your paper,you will need a couple of brushes to start with one medium sized one for making small washes and a fine one for a little bit of detail,not to much at first its the washes and the drawing at first you will need to master,if you are going to buy some paints sometimes brushes are included if it is a set,if they are tube colours you can make a palette from a white saucer spread out the colours in a circle around the depression in the center  you can mix there, in the same order as i have in the box you see above only a little paint as this is not the same consistency as box colours and when dry its hard to work up,same with the Chinese white,now i need to try to help you draw an image if you are not able to draw naturally,this is not easy to do but i will try,the best way for you to try is to choose a bird or landscape from the painting pages lets presume you choose the robin or the sparrow,.....never try to paint your flowers birds butterflies larger than life size they just don't look right so your best trying to print the of at the size you want,try this way you will need a pair of dividers the type where you can remove the steel points they are not needed in this work,remove the heads of two matchsticks sharpen one end and sand the other to fit in the dividers so they are equal length using this aid you can actually draw from your monitor but not with steel points,you can also draw from pictures,photographs with this method,i have used for years and taught many people to draw this way always start with the eye you will find it much easier to start in the middle of a piece of cartridge this way you don't have to worry about going over the edge,once the circle for the eye has been drawn its possible to make a start on the rest,place one leg of the dividers in the center of the eye,and take a measure say to the top of the head,mark this place with a faint dot,proceed throughout the little picture to you have an exact copy of the drawing i have done,in dots join them up you should have the complete image, then trace this image you have drawn and transfer to the correct place on your watercolour paper,to those who make fun of my teaching i have this to say, you mock by saying its drawing painting by numbers so what if it was good enough for Michael Angelo,William mallard turner and the old masters its good enough for us,they used to trace round a subject then make small holes on the lines lay the tracing on a canvas sprinkle powdered charcoal over the holes lift of the tracing join up the dots of charcoal whats the difference, if i help one person to do what they could not do before then i have done my job, practice till you can draw the small picture......METHOD DRAWING AND PAINTING LANDSCAPE PICTURES,THE FIRST THING TO DO COPY AND PRINT YOU SELECTED LITTLE PAINTING TO A LEAF OF CARTRIDGE PAPER AT THE SIZE YOU WISH TO PAINT NOT TO BIG MIND AS THE WASHES ARE HARD TO CONTROL AT THE START,TAKE A RULE OR STRAIGHT EDGE FIND THE CENTER OF THE PICTURE PICTURE BY LAYING THE RULE FROM CORNER TO CORNER DRAW A FAINT LINE ROUGHLY IN THE MIDDLE NOW DO THE OTHER CORNER YOU SHOULD FIND YOU HAVE A CROSS AT THE CENTER OF THE PAINTING,this is you drawing starting point draw what is immediately at the back of the center dot now take the dividers you have made see above and work outwards towards the edges of the picture,mark the distances always from the same starting point place your dots then join them up,when preparing a drawing to paint particularly in nature is is essential to measure to get the finished artwork to look right,lets say you wanted to paint the village church start with the tree at the back of the center dot measure the height from the dot mark the paper draw a mark a faint center line down the tree,then you can take a measure either side the line draw round the dots your tree should be the same size and shape,proceed through the picture using this method to make sure its in proportion,this method only works in whole numbers,so if you want to make you drawing twice as big you will have to step out the distances twice then mark but i don't recommend you try this yet,anything produced on paper that is not to big can be drawn this way,then all that needs to be done is to trace your drawing and transfer to the correct position on watercolour paper,the main thing in all this is not to bother with the critics,they all have gods gift able to do anything without being taught,using this method its surprising how quick you will learn to judge distances on pictures,i also have another method for teaching electronics but thats another story,and please remember you are not alone here all the old masters used a camera obscurer  to project their images on to a canvas marked the outline with dots the joined them up they weren't gods either ,NOW PRINT OF THE PAINT BOX ABOVE AND MARK THE COLOURS FROM 1 TO 12 STARTING FROM THE RED ALONG THE BOX,i use this method because you all will be using different versions of the same tint or colour,this is why the notes will not be accurate to nature,that comes with practice,patience,and above all dedication please enjoy ,Always paint the background first before starting on the subject start by making a wash of blue from the box,as these are basic paintings just use straight from the box no need to mix,dilute with water make sure you have enough to complete the wash say blue no 9 a cobalt will be fine run this blue down the page but do not cover the bird its ok to cover the branch and feet of the bird and these are darker,try not to loose the drawing of the feet,when the wash is dry you can redraw with pencil or dark colour with a fine brush if you wish,next paint in the branch with diluted brown say no 6 allow to dry mix a little black in with the brown lay the shadow tone starting just below half way down when dry add further tones if you wish till you have something that resembles a shadow allow to dry completely,then take a small amount of water from the dipper and soften the line on the branch created by the different tones by brushing back and forth with clear water this should soften the line,allow to dry then make a wash of light green you can do this by using no 12 and mix in some yellow into the it lay this wash all over the branch to give the illusion or moss which grows were the sun catches the branch and allow to dry.bird always start with the eyes,as this gives the painting life,there are several ways you can paint all of these pictures i will try to describe them all in due course i don't say the painting and drawing i teach is right but it is my way and has kept me all my life before we start you will need a water container a jar is fine to fill with clean water to wash your brushes do not stand your brush up and leave in the jar as this will ruin the brushes by spoiling the tip, swish it about to remove the paint point up the tip use your fingers some artists myself included have a bad habit of using the mouth to restore it then lay is down till the next time you use it after you have done painting wash all your brushes in warm soapy water washing up liquid is fine rinse and point up and allow to dry,they will last you years like that don't press the bristles against the feral as this will cut the of. the bristles,you will also need a small container a lid will do to use as a dipper this way its much easier to control the amount of water you pick up on your brush,a small lid will do fine it does not have to hold much and will need to be changed often. having drawn the circle for the eye 1,take a small brush and pick up a small amount of water from you dipper remove any water on the side if there seems to much you will soon learn with practice,work up the no12 colour in the box or palette this will be black,although you don't need to follow this procedure at this time i will include some tips as we venture along,to give the eye a more natural look add a little dark blue to the black dark blue would be no 10,in true watercolorist would leave a tiny piece of white paper to act as an illusion of highlight or i other words light reflected of the eye this is what gives it the look of life,remember the artist is a magician in that all effects they produce on a flat piece of paper are illusions,this method id not easy and i don't use it this is the method i favor i take a black with a little dark blue added run the tiny wash within the drawn circle,allow to dry as with all the washes when starting to paint allow them to before applying another then i would apply several over the top until the eye was dark enough for what i wanted but this may not be the finished tone as all the the painting that goes on round the eye in due course will course it to alter,so most important in any small painting of birds butterflies flowers etc to set the tone for the painting the background first,the process of darkening by the repeated addition of washes works by reducing the amount light that is reflected up through the paint layers from the white paper,this is the principle of pure water co lour but that does not apply here as we shall be using Chinese white which removes the laws of the purist and makes the paint a gauche study,the final washes for the eye are applied to the bottom to make a shadow,however you need not go to all this trouble to start with,take your no 12 black fill the circle with a dilute wash,allow to dry completely then take a little Chinese white on a fine brush and paint in the highlight that is the reflected light never in the middle but at the top at one side or the other Dependant on which way the light falls on the subject. 22 aug 2009.

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