How to make a Collage or quick Video of your Paintings

I am participating in a Facebook Art challenge posting 3 paintings a day for 5 days. This challenge was started by watercolor artist Kristi Grurssendorf  . It has been fun seeing all the art work posted over the last few weeks , works both old and new.  Many have been posting in a Collage form and I wanted to share with you how to do that if you are unfamiliar.

This collage is the first one I posted for this challenge and each section is a bit of a full painting but I think it works well as a whole. To do this I used a site online called Pic Monkey  once there you upload your photos and follow the prompts. It is pretty user friendly. I have also used Ipiccy to do this as well. For this post I had to go back and resize my collage because it was too big for  Blogger but it was easy enough to do. Both these sites do similar things and are easy to use.  I want to leave you with one more tip ,  My New Years post was a quick 30 second video. This was done using a site called Animoto  . You do need to set up an account. It is also easy to use. All these sites are free and readily available.  Have fun with these and paint, paint , paint.

Happy New Year 2015

Happy New Year 2015     Animato Video

I made a short video for you , just click on the above link . I hope you enjoy it !

Workshop in Waterbury ,CT and Studio Space

      I had a wonderful opportunity this weekend to teach a fun group of ladies in Waterbury, CT.  I am always excited to share my love of watercolor with those around me . We worked on paint handling and learned about the many ways of approaching watercolor wet into wet, wet on dry  , dry brush . water to pigment ratio  and so on while doing little practice exercises and also talking about sound principles of painting like value, color, focal point and design.  They also  prepared a fabulous lunch , it was an enjoyable day for all .  Here is a pic of the group unfortunately one of the gals had to leave before I remembered to take out my camera.

One of the things we talked about over lunch was how hard it was to find time in our day to practice. Yup ! We all have the same disease and we all agreed we needed to schedule time in our schedules to practice just like any other appointment. We will make time in life for things that are important to us, right ? We also talked about studio space as some of the gals are in the process of finding a spot in their house to call their painting area.  Below is a pic of my painting area when I am in NYC , a corner of our living room where my easel is set up all the time when I am not using it to paint in the street. 

Plan, Place and Practice, Paint and then Paint some more..... Till next time.

Robin Hoods Bay ,UK The Excitement of Plein Air

      Here we are again back to plein air , this was one of my favorite places we painted on your plein air journey in the UK , way up in North Yorkshire . A beautiful little village right on the sea.
      Once again this was a race against the tide coming in. When working outside you really need to focus and leave the outside world out there. Forget about the people watching you , this noise, the bugs,wind, ect. and focus on what you want to say.
        Lay down your strokes quickly and stop. Stopping is a huge problem for painters whether inside or outdoors, we all have a noodling disease , am I right ? Haha ! I can hear you laughing as you know I am correct.  We like to fiddle with our paintings when we need to stop way before we think we should and call it done and do another and another rather than playing and picking...I hope you enjoy my plein air sketch from Robin Hoods Bay . It is part of my collection but I do hope to do a larger version as soon as I am able. I am teaching a workshop this weekend so hopefully next week. Till next time , Enjoy !

Full Sheet from Plein Air Painting in Long Beach, Washington

Oh, the excitement of plein air. There is a spontaneity that is hard to duplicate in the studio, however using your plein air sketches, helps you to recall and remember the sights, sounds and smells that a photo just can't. Whether you do a painting from memory ( which is a great exercise in itself ) or from your sketches your paintings will come alive and fresher the more you paint and practice. Your  head knowledge will eventually flow to your heart and out your hand. John Calvin said that about faith but it works in painting as well.

This full sheet watercolor was done from my watercolor sketch. I loved doing it and trying out my new large mop brush. It is just perfect for a full sheet watercolor. This 22"x30" is available , please contact me if you are interested. 

I also want to let you know that I am now teaching so if any of you would like me to come to your group and share what I have learned over the years  let me know. Enjoy this beautiful day !

Long Beach , Washington

    A friend of mine wanted to know where the plein air sketches I showed you last time were from, Whoops ! my mistake , goes to show you how slow re entering back into the real world can be, Haha! The sketches were from Whitby , a town I visited in the UK while enrolled in my courses.

    Today I will start you on my plein air journey through my travels this summer. The first stop is Ocean Park ,Washington. One thing I love about painting on location is you just take everything in and always remember it long after you are gone. The sights, sounds , smells. This was done at the end of the beach. We were driven out in a jeep with instructions to set up and get painting . We had until the water reached a certain rock then had to head back as the tide was coming in. What a rush of excitement that was painting as quickly as I  could , getting as many quick paintings done before we had to leave this magnificent spot. Here is one of my 11" x1 5 " paintings of this area which I later turned into a full sheet 22"x 30 " when I returned home .( YEAH ! my first full sheet painting )

I hope you enjoy seeing this plein air painting and are inspired to paint outdoors yourself one day.

Here is a the 22"x30 " I did from this when I returned home. This full sheet watercolor is available. If you are interested in it please contact me. Enjoy the rest of this beautiful gray day. We all need gray days , it makes the colors pop our even more, right ?

Watercolor Sketching and Plein air

Well as you can see I have taken a six month break since my last post. It is amazing how much more time one has when away from their computer. What have I been doing ? Lots and lots of things but what I want to share with you is I have been sketching , sketching and sketching and have been blessed with unbelievable opportunities for plein air painting this last six months . I will be sharing those with you as I try to re enter the world and do hope you receive not only joy from viewing them but become inspired to try these things yourself. I will be glad to help you.

There are four little sketches in this picture . It is a 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper taped off into four sections. Sketches were done quickly on location and I then added a watercolor wash later on in my hotel room. They can now be easily framed, cut and glued into a book or made into cards , jut use your imagination . I do hope you use this idea on your next adventure whether out and about in your neighborhood or on your travels. 

See you next time .