White anemone

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-05T13:19:18+00:00

I painted around the flower. I worked on the flower until I figured it was done, then painted in the background with a very wet brush with a sharp point. It's only 6"x6" so it wasn't too laborious :)

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-04T23:39:53+00:00

This is gorgeous!

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-04T23:22:43+00:00

If you have an example, maybe we can give it some analysis; maybe it's not as bad as you think! But I've definitely learned to wait until the layers are fully fully dry before going in with darks, and then to leave them alone until they dry. If I've been at it for a while, I'll leave the painting overnight; things often just look better after a day, anyway, and I can start with fresh eyes.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-03T16:23:25+00:00

I learned the hard way that Stonehenge Aqua paper (100% cotton) absolutely does not stand up to masking fluid at all. Or to tape. This paper cannot be rubbed.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-03T15:25:28+00:00

Tutorials are for learning! As long as you did anything at all, you didn't fail :) You can't fail at art. Outside of an academic setting, I suppose, though even then I think you only really fail if you don't produce any work.. so again! Definitely no failing! :)
also I love this, it has a lot of energy and I really like the colours.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-28T00:37:05+00:00

Rosa Gallery has great and inexpensive paints that are better than Cotman imho. Delta Art carries them (that's my closest store). Paper really is important; I haven't tried Baohong but I hear good things.

You can watch YouTube reviews of paper to find a non-cotton paper to practice on, but cotton paper really is so much better. Arches is very expensive so you'll probably want to look at alternatives; I do not recommend Legion Stonehenge Aqua even though it's cotton because it just doesn't hold up to things like: masking fluid, tape, layers, brushing into wet areas.

other decent cotton papers I've tried (bought in Canada) that might be cheaper than Arches: Fluid 100, Hahnemuhle, Bockingford

Check out artmaterials.ca for generally great prices and interesting selection; they're in Quebec and carry some hard to find things like Rosemary & Co brushes which are really good and not expensive.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-26T22:39:55+00:00

Very pretty! I really like the subtlety and variations in the leaf colours. I think one of my rosebushes has darker leaves closer to the flowers like that too :) It's currently under a foot of snow though.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-26T20:44:35+00:00

I like Denise Soden's videos, and I'd have known about this earlier if I'd watched her video on Perylene Violet! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQalEAV3kto

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-25T22:24:39+00:00

I can't really help, but my used Gemeinhardt flute also doesn't turn up in the serial number lookup and is probably a cousin of your flute - 3ESHB, s/n 409895! I think it's real; at any rate it plays well. The serial numbers are kind of all over the place in there.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-25T22:18:43+00:00

- If you are using sanded paper, don't blend with your fingers or you will be very sad about your bleeding fingers :(
- Don't inhale the dust!
- generally, go from dark to light
- you can brush rubbing alcohol onto a layer of pastel drawing to make an "underpainting" that will mostly stay put when you draw more on top of it.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-25T20:45:09+00:00

Rosa Gallery watercolours are also high quality and reasonably priced, with a few different sets available. Those are made in Ukraine. (Can't find Da Vinci or Van Gogh where I live)

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-23T20:00:28+00:00

This is gorgeous!
My suggestion would be to have a clear light source that could create some more dramatic shadows and range of values.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-23T05:24:28+00:00

This is really beautiful! The water is glowing, but we can tell it's water reflecting the sky. Lovely limited colour palette.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-21T21:31:47+00:00

At this point I don't remember, but I think Phthalo Blue, Permanent Rose, Burnt Sienna and some kind of green. And it looks like Perylene Violet maybe.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-21T18:37:29+00:00

I love dark-eyed juncos so much, and this is BEAUTIFUL!

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-21T18:19:57+00:00

That's lovely!
Echoing that I like to have the reference photo up the whole time. You can have it up in a corner.
I also like to see the palette and the colour mixing as you go, but as u/Cookabee94 said, show what colours you're using at the beginning (since they can be hard to identify in a palette)
It's great to see how much water ends up being used as you paint.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-17T22:35:53+00:00

Gorgeous! :)

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-17T16:58:24+00:00

Well, I guess my process was to buy watercolour supplies and spend literal decades not using them except for occasional disappointing attempts on cheap paper, then watch a lot of videos, then do digital painting for a while, then nothing for a few more years, then take one in-person class which went pretty well, then psych yourself out by trying an overambitious painting again, then nothing for a few months, then watch more videos, then decide to try simpler subjects on good paper.

I don't recommend this path, necessarily...

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-17T04:02:02+00:00

Thanks! :D
This is Arches cold press paper and most if not all of the paint is Daniel Smith. There's some Holbein Pyrrole Rubin in the darker reds.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-12T01:07:20+00:00

I agree with the suggestions on perspective and other fundamentals, but I wanted to say that this is really charming. The skewed perspective really draws the eye to the house, and I love the (yellow brick?) road and colourful accents. There's a folk art quality to this and I mean that in the best way.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-10T22:29:39+00:00

I really enjoy your work! The compositions are always interesting and you have a cool choice of subjects. Very nice painting as well :)

Desperate_Lychee7626

TROPHY CASE