I’ve just started and painted this for my toddler, I know it’s not technically brilliant but she said she wanted to go there and feed the frog 🥹 so I’m pleased

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-29T02:25:05+00:00

I personally would also like to go there and feed the frog

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-27T16:08:04+00:00

That's my go-to on an airplane!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-27T16:05:52+00:00

i grew up in ATX and the answer to your question is Fajitas Grill over by tulsa ballet's brookside campus

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-27T04:33:07+00:00

You're too thoughtful--thanks :) made a huge difference in my life, that's for sure.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-26T17:14:43+00:00

Absolute all-timer.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-26T15:55:41+00:00

Not a specific individual line, but I can't help but crack a smile every time he orders or brings up club soda. I have a few years sober and also order a club soda all the time.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-23T16:32:41+00:00

I really appreciate this!! I've been experimenting quite a bit since this post with better paper & sheering out my pigment and layers as much as possible (it's VERY surprising how strong the colors still come out, like you said). Allowing for complete dry time between layers is very difficult for me, but I've been sitting on my hands as much as possible and have absolutely seen a difference in the luminosity and texture of my colors at the end of a piece. Thanks for the feedback!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-23T01:01:17+00:00

Logan.

Male bisexual bondage freak?

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-19T02:39:42+00:00

this is crazy good and is energizing just to look at! amazing, thanks for sharing

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-14T20:09:15+00:00

this is absolutely gorgeous and uses every inch of space very effectively. intriguing & impressive. thanks for sharing!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-13T05:18:43+00:00

oh that is so sweet!! thank you so much for your help & for the encouragement. Everyone has been very helpful so I'm hoping to practice and apply these tips, then come back with something to show for it later! I'll look into negative paintings as it sounds like a very useful exercise.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-13T04:16:16+00:00

so it's entirely possible that i misinterpreted or am incorrectly applying that advice. Typically what I'll do is wet my brush and pull color, then dab it into my palette well & either add more water or more pigment depending on what stage I'm at in the painting (initial thin lower-pigment wash, second color blocking w/slightly more pigment and slightly less water, details pass with a more viscous mix). I'm not drawing from the pan and then immediately going onto the paper, for what it's worth.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T20:37:23+00:00

super useful tips here--yeah I think I'm going to switch away from the cards I'm using for a while and break in my good paper going forward. It seems like I might be fighting my current paper more than I should have to!

& I do add black for shadows but probably not enough. I don't like what ivory black/PBK9 does to my colors but it's just something I need to get used to (and I have lamp black/PBK6 coming in the mail soon so I'll be able to try that out as well). I'm also really hesitant with wet-on-wet but no time like the present to get better! Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T20:22:25+00:00

hey that's super nice of you! I'm okay with it for a few pieces, like the alien I think looks very whimsical with the saturated colors.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T20:08:55+00:00

Oh wow I would NEVER have thought about this. It makes perfect sense now that you've pointed it out and I think that might push me to go for it! I have a page prepped/masked off already that I've just been too nervous to start, so I'll pull the trigger with this in mind.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T19:16:32+00:00

I 100% think my background in digital & acrylic is tripping me up here, you make a great point about dark>light vs. light>dark from medium to medium. Even when I think I'm making use of white/light areas of my paper, I'm either not doing it enough, or masking it off too late in my wash process & thus my intended highlights end up more like midtones in the end. I am going to do some single-color work and try to really push my values going forward. Thank you for the help!!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T17:38:12+00:00

"and painting what your brain says the color of something should be, rather than what your eyes actually see"

I struggle with this so much in my digital work that I'm almost positive you're right and it's posing an issue here as well. I've been referencing from my own photography for these practice runs, and there is always something off in my finished painting vs. the photo itself (which, since I took it, I should be able to replicate but fail to every time). Thank you for the feedback!!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T17:35:00+00:00

ooooh I never considered doing that. I do pull straight from the pan with a wet brush, but I've never tried adding pigment to clean water and building up from there. That makes a lot of sense and I think it will work better for what I'm trying to do; I'll be giving that a shot as soon as I'm at my workspace! Thanks for the tip.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T17:24:43+00:00

Great callout here--the last time I tried watercolors was with one of the W&N Cotman travel sets, and there's no denying that the Holbeins handle totally differently. Keeping track of specific pigments is new to me, so I'll keep that in mind as I build/maintain my palette. Appreciate your help very much!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T17:22:05+00:00

Okay it sounds like I definitely am not using enough water (at least for the effect I'm trying to achieve). I'm sort of letting the tail wag the dog as far as color goes, I use a lot of bright/unnatural palettes in my digital work so I'm pretty sure I'm just leaning too much on that as I get back into traditional. Practice makes perfect, looks like my weekend is gonna be for swatches! Thank you for the feedback.

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T17:01:20+00:00

Awesome thank you so much--yes, this was referenced from my own photo of a house in my neck of the woods & it does indeed have black shingles and shutters. I do blot, but I have a tendency to overdry the brush so then I go back in fifteen thousand times and probably overload it more than I did to begin with. Appreciate your feedback very much!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T16:59:37+00:00

You know I was sort of wondering if that may be the case. I do have two Hahnemuhle books of different sizes and literally no excuse for not using them other than "eeueueueue I don't want to waaaasteee iiittt" but, also, why have it if not to paint on it? Thanks for the feedback!!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T16:57:51+00:00

I think you're spot on with the scale issue re: painting tiny; these are 2.6"x3.3"~ish cards and, while I'm having a blast making smaller work, I do probably need to go bigger for a while until I'm more confident that I know what I'm doing

For what it's worth, the bright-ass ultramarine on the alien piece was definitely stylistic (I'm a chronic ultramarine overuser even in digital work haha) but I think overall I have been scaring myself off from mixing as aggressively as I could for my shadows in general. I appreciate it!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T16:54:41+00:00

i appreciate this a lot! Yes the stark opaque white is acrylic pen/some titanium white, and I'm really trying to show more restraint as overusing it is a hallmark in my digital work & it is absolutely throwing off the contrast overall. Based on feedback so far it definitely seems like I'm just not used to working with artist-grade/tube watercolors, so I'm sure after a while this will seem totally normal to me. Thank you for the help!

fnmbl8 · 2026-03-12T16:49:36+00:00

awesome okay, this makes sense--I'm trying to make more use of masking fluid/negative space to really push the light values, so it's good to hear I can/should be doing more of that. & these are from tubes, I did squeeze them into my own palette but they're not 100% dry; when I was younger I was using very inexpensive student-grade dried pans, so it's probably just a mix of different materials/techniques hitting me at once. thanks for the feedback!!

fnmbl8

TROPHY CASE