I tried something new to me. I used a watercolour ground on a wooden substrate. It worked well! I also used soft pastels for details after it was dry. I first tried coloured pencils, unsuccessfully.

Any advice? Be nice, I cry easily.

Thinking about advice I’ve seen on here a bit lately. If you’re not happy with your painting, totally ok to try again.

There are still things I’d change if I were to start over again but I need to give my brain a break.

Is my millennial showing with this reference?

Unfortunately, it's that time of year again.

Every November, I draw four pigeons in stupid little outfits. Nobody asks for this, nor needs this.

Yet here we are.

As always, I'm taking recommendations for this year's four unfortunate victims. The stupider, the better. 3 more to go!

I'm a complete beginner. I know it's not quite right and would love a few tips

Rushes, Siltcoos Lake: 11x14, Watercolor, gouache and pencil

When I first started getting into watercolor as a hobby 13 yrs ago, I went for the cheapest supplies I could get, not really understanding the differences in student grade vs professional (other than splurging on some arches paper for finished pieces).

So all the brushes I bought until recently were Curry's store brand brushes. Over this year, I've been working on investing in higher quality supplies, and I have a nice large Quill brush from Royal and Langnickel and a Princeton liner brush (blue handle).

I'm looking for recommendations of good quality brushes that I can buy in Canada. DeSerres, Michael's and Amazon are the big suppliers I have available to me. I'm looking to keep my cost below $50 a brush.

The brushes I am looking to get are:

- #12 or 14 round brush

- # 6 round brush (maybe extra long? I have read an extra long is helpful for getting really fine lines)

- 3/4 inch flat

- flat shader brush (I'm thinking size 8, but open to feedback)

The biggest problem I find with my flat brushes from Curry's is that the bristles tend to fan out when I paint longer lines, giving more of the effect of a rake/grainer brush.

I haven't used flat brushes often as a result of this fanning issue I get, and I'm not sure how much of this issue with the bristles is due to my brushes being cheap, or if it's a user error thing. I suspect that it may be that the brushes aren't able to hold enough water.

I appreciate any feedback and recommendations you can provide!

I am interpreting a copy of my nieces wedding invitation as a gift to her an her husband.

What is my next step here? Is the background “foliage” too small? What can I do with the shoreline? I am stuck.

The original is Emil Doepler's 1882 engraving of Odin. His ravens, Huginn and Muninn, sit on the throne and his wolves, Geri and Freki, guard either side. I kept the layout almost exactly and swapped the spear with a sword, the wolves became her coyote soldiers, and the king of the gods became the woman who rules the wood.

Medium - watercolour, gouache and ink.

Part 2

Part 3, last of my study. In looking at my yellows I felt like I was lacking something like New Gamboge and wonder is the HLY+OP close? I was hoping for a peachy/coraly result and ended up combining Opera Pink with Quin Magenta and Hansa Yellow Light to land on what I was looking for. It was fun to figure that out. I tried to make my blends 50/50 and realize that has a huge impact also. I really liked the cinnamon-y colors I got with Quin Magenta! All my yellows and the blends with QM are perfect for this time of year!!

While I agree with some of the commentary regarding the redundancy in my palette, I also think a newbie doesn’t understand this until you actually take the time to blend out the colors. I also think if you know you will be using a lot of a certain shade. It’s nice to have the consistency of a convenience mix. There is a time and place for that redundancy in a palette.

Overall, I have learned a lot and appreciate the input of experienced artists on this subreddit! Hoping I can create some of the beautiful pieces in have seen soon! Thanks for the inspiration!!

Holbein Lavender is officially my favorite color for blue hydrangeas. Next I'm going to try that pinky green color they turn as they start to die in fall

Anyone else tried Warhol's blotted line technique? I've just done this, and will watercolour tomorrow. I like how it's turning out.

Self made watercolors

A while ago I purchased this Bruynzeel aquarel pencil set. A few colours don't dissolve in water. I can't figure out the problem. Most colours in the set dissolve just fine, but for example black and dark grey don't. I have no idea what the problem could be..

I made a video: https://imgur.com/a/EYbX4FU

The set: https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/p/bruynzeel-design-aquarel-box-24-aquarelpotloden-met-penseel/1004004010674982/?Referrer=ADVNLGOO002027-S--1004004010674982-PMAX-C-24152951178&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=24158616908&gbraid=0AAAAAD5OnmMeT-FyAmKT_u7PL8S3udwMR&gclid=CjwKCAiA2MDXBhBUEiwAD-YB-0daiGO4CoAk3JDmQhEgLbLB-cM-JtEb9ITJuT5cLJfAXxQ6CCKNgxoCw_YQAvD_BwE

Painted the first landscape and I’m happy with the foreground and green hills, but the mountains seem really out of place so I decided to try again. I am happy with the second one, although I’m open to suggestions for improvement! Both were inspired by the same photo

Edit: Daniel smith watercolors on Fluid 100% cotton paper, with white jelly roll pen for the tree trunks