Taking stock of my watercolor tubes

January 26, 2017 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Watercolor paint color wheel

I thought it would be helpful to take an inventory of my paints using the color wheel. I’m not surprised that I’m lacking in blues after all the beach painting I’ve been doing this month. Looking forward to stocking up and continuing to paint the beach. 😎

Painting Larger

January 25, 2017 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

12" x 12" Watercolor beach paintings

Quite by accident I almost doubled the size of the watercolor paper I was using and I’m so glad. For years I happily painted on 8″ x 8″ paper. When I went on Amazon, I ordered the Fluid Watercolor paper in 12″ x 12″ instead of my normal 8″ x 8″. When the package arrived the pads looked huge!

At first I was disappointed, but then thought, “I’ll try them out. Maybe I’ve outgrown that small size anyway.” Months later I can’t imagine working so small! Lately I’ve been taking advantage of the fact that the pages are bound together on 2 sides. I sometimes paint with the paper still attached to the pad, instead of removing it and taping it down to a board.

Here is a collection of my “mini” 8″ x 8″ paintings.

8 inch watercolor paintings

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11 art supplies I can’t paint without!

December 30, 2016January 14, 2019 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

11artsupplies

Painting Essentials:

Canson Multimedia sketchbook. Love the thicker paper in this sketchbook. I can add watercolor without the pages buckling.
Fluid Cold Press watercolor paper. I especially love the square shape of this high quality thick watercolor paper!
Uniball signo 207 bold gel pen. I love how smooth these pens are when I want to add ink details to my paintings.
Palette with cover.
Painters tape – to tape down my paper
Grumbacher watercolor brush. Favorite sizes: 8, 6, 4, and 2
Van Gogh watercolor paints
Holbein Gouache mixing set of 5. I love adding the opaque look of gouache to my paintings!
Derwent drawing pencils. Especially with figures, I like to sketch in pencil before starting a painting.
Kneaded eraser. For erasing and leaving only faint lines when I begin to paint.
Paper towel – I have to have a piece of paper towel to suck water off the brush when I need a drier brush. Or to blot the brush after dipping in the water. It’s a good way to check the brush is clean.

Other Essentials:

iPad – I do everything on my iPad – google reference photos, take photos, write posts, create digital art, look through and post on Instagram, read WordPress blogs, and more. I made the investment when my Kindle cracked and it was the best thing I did. I couldn’t live without it!
ZXU Stylus pen – for drawing on the ipad. I use the apps Adobe Draw and Adobe Sketch because they link up with Photoshop and Illustrator on my desktop.

Other stuff in my supply tray:

Reeves watercolor pencils for adding details
Tombow markers for handletter

Recycled stuff:

Tray from a holiday gift “basket” to hold everything
Plastic egg container for mixing colors to keep the paints in my palette “pure”
Back of the watercolor paper pads – to tape down my paper so it doesn’t buckle when it gets wet
Recycled container (Ricotta or sour cream) for water
Cracked mug for my brushes. It was too pretty to throw away!

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Artist’s Setup

July 8, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Very quickly into my creative resolution, without really thinking about it, I started setting up my paints and supplies a certain way. A few brushes on a paper towel to the right (I’m right handed), water and cup of brushes above that. Paper or sketchbook in front of me. Above the paper is my watercolor palette. To the left of the palette is the mixing tray. If the table is smaller (like in the illustration) the mixing tray is to the left of the paper. Above the brushes and water is my bin of paint tubes, markers, watercolored pencils, scrap paper, etc. Pretty much anything else I may need. A coffee cup is usually placed near the water, which often leads to mix ups. Fortunately the mix up is I clean the brush in the coffee, not that I drink the dirty water.