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  • #448211

    The Watercolor Handbook

    A growing reference book of watercolour techniques

    Index of Monthly Painting Classes and KIUAN Exercises

    Online workshops where you are taught watercolor techniques and can post your work. (KIUAN = Kick It Up A Notch)

    Exercises designed to stretch your skills as an artist by trying new techniques or subjects that you wouldn’t normally attempt.

    Learning Demonstrations

    How – to demonstrations

    Watercolor Articles

    An invaluable collection of watercolor articles by Wet Canvas members.

    Top 20 Watercolor FAQ’s

    Index of Watercolor Forums

    The wetcanvas Article Index

    Using Computers to Compose Paintings

    Cool Ideas you might like to try

    Don’t miss the other parts of the Watercolor Forum.


    We must leave our mark on this world

    #1286686

    This is a huge disappointment in this transition.  All that information, tutorials, recommendations, demonstrations…  all gone.  Of all the important things to have brought across with them, the owners missed the boat with this.

    I keep telling you…  there’s nothing there.  Those links are useless.  All of them. :cry: :cry: :cry:

    Char --

    CharMing Art -- "Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." Leonardo DaVinci

    #1293127

    Test post:

    Watercolor Batik by NicolasSimmons

    Many people have remarked that certain paintings I do have a “batik” look to them. This appearance is owing to a technique I stumbled upon years ago, by accident. Watercolor is the easiest vehicle for encouraging accidents to happen, but of course gaining control over them is another matter. This demonstration will illustrate another way of utilizing the unpredictable properties of the medium in a reliable way.

    The technique is excellent for creating the illusion of depth, and also for creating interesting textures. I’ve used it in several variations of the painting I’ll do here: a koi fish. My model is a fish that has more than done his duty; I first photographed him at the Winterthur koi pond, and the subsequent drawings I made have served as the foundation for about thirty paintings. They have been good sellers for me – this guy is in more homes than cable TV!
    This painting will only be a half sheet (15″ x 22″) so it will go quickly. The drawing at right is the basis for the composition, and I’ll add some plants in the background.

    The paper is 156 lb. hot press Arches, and I did not gesso it or do any other surface preparation. I don’t stretch paper, as it’s never seemed necessary to me. If it buckles, I spray it lightly with water, and let it dry under a heavy piece of glass.

    The paint can be straight watercolor or acrylic watercolor* – it doesn’t matter, but of course once dry, acrylic is totally permanent.

    * Acrylic watercolor is acrylic paint thinned with water.

    I started by lightly painting the background around the fish and plants. Masking would simplify this step, but I have found the variations in color and value achieved by the “old school” method enhances the effect I’m striving for.

    The colors I used were phthalo blue mixed with raw sienna (a great underwater combination), prussian blue, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, quinacridone gold and red. After I painted each section, I dropped in water to create some action. “Blooms” or “crawlbacks” are something people often try to avoid, but I like them because they scream “watercolor!”

    The water portion of the background – essentially an underpainting – is done, and ready to be “batiked.” However, I’d like to get the rest of the picture underway, and it might be best to first demonstrate a simpler version of the batik technique.

    No pictures!

    Doug


    We must leave our mark on this world

    #1295588
    Thuja
    Default

        PLEASE, we need The Watercolor Handbook back.  It does seem like soooooooooo much is gone….hope it can be found.

        Cedar

        Thujareins

        #1342466
        cheeruplucy
        Default

            Hey there! I just checked quickly and it looks like most of the links were backed up by the WayBack Machine so you can use that to see the old threads :)

            Here is the Index of Monthly Painting Classes and KIUAN Exercises as an example but if you go to web.archive.org you can paste the rest of the links

            Nothing is ever really gone from the internet.

            #1342468
            cheeruplucy
            Default

                Hi there! It looks like the Wayback Machine archived most of the pages.  You won’t be able to comment but go to web.archive.org and enter the link to get a snapshot.

                Here is an example to get you started.

                Hope it helps

                 

                #1344641

                Hey there! I just checked quickly and it looks like most of the links were backed up by the WayBack Machine so you can use that to see the old threads

                The problem is that any thread with multiple pages was not captured.  That is to say, Page 1 is there but any subsequent pages are gone.  Finding them is a huge challenge and I’ve not been successful yet.

                Char --

                CharMing Art -- "Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." Leonardo DaVinci

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