PREPARING TO PAINT WITH WATERCOLOURS

Sometimes the hardest thing with painting is to get started. If you're battling with procrastination, or you just don't know where to start when preparing to paint, then having a determined approach to get a space ready to paint in will be a real help. Here I've put together a few ideas that will help you beat those excuses out of the window so you are fee to get on with making some lovely art, and there's a free downloadable sheet to go with it too...The Painting Space Check List.

Watercolour painting is so versatile and portable that you can paint almost anywhere with a just little pre-planning. Today I want to share with you a few simple 'set-up' strategies that has really helped me prepare my space and supplies for watercolour painting, so that when I'm are ready to create with my watercolours, my 'studio' is ready too! No more excuses......

GETTING READY TO PAINT

If you have an area that you can permanently have your watercolour supplies in place.....perfect! 

If not, no worries. The dining table, writing bureau, desk, occasional table, greenhouse bench and even your knee can be transformed in minutes to make a great space for painting.

Here are just a few things to consider when preparing to get started.

LIGHTING

• Make the most of natural light if you can, positioning yourself so that any shadows from your hand falls away from your painting rather than on to it.

• Lamps are a great help, especially on a dull day or when your opportunity to paint is in the evening. 

• Make sure that the lamp bulbs are strong enough that you are not straining, and use bulbs that don't have a colour tint. You want the light to be as "true" as possible so that you can make good decisions when mixing and applying your colours.

• The more portable your lamp is, the better! I have a fabulous floor lamp, father and child style that makes frequent trips back and forth from the bedroom to the lounge!

WORK SURFACE

• Locate a suitable area that you can work on, be it dining table, breakfast bar, greenhouse bench, desk, occasional table or even your knee.

• Choose somewhere that, if currently used for something else, or by someone else, it will still be available for spontaneous or planned painting (quick to clear and clean up.)

• You need enough space for your supplies and board/easel, room for your cuppa and any reference photos/books that you're working off.

• Try and have a few options for where to paint in case one area is more suitable than the other at different times. I always paint in the bedroom during the summer at the table under the window, there the natural light is at it's best. In the winter, the bedroom is fine until early afternoon then it is far to cold. Time to relocate to the lounge where I paint off my knee sat on a big arm chair by the fire. The paint board acts as a table and I'm able to paint my smaller projects quite comfortably with the help of my floor lamp through till the evening.

• Arrange your supplies on your space so that they are in easy reach and are in good positions relative to each other. It's no good having your water jar on the left of your paper and your paints on the right.

SEATING

• Being comfortable is a major factor in enjoying painting, so it's really important to choose a chair that compliments your work surface height wise, and that you're going to be happy to sit in for a while. 

• An adjustable seat is perfect for painting as you can move it between locations on it's wheels and you can alter the height accordingly.

• If you're painting off your knee in an armchair, pop a few cushions behind your back to make yourself sit upright.

 SUPPLIES

Much can be said about the materials that you use, but that's for another day. This is just a run down of supplies that you need to get going with.

Somethings you can do without, somethings you can't. Above are the basic tools that you need to be able to paint happily away with. Gather them all together and put them in one place so that you're not hunting round for things while you could be painting. Keep your supplies replenished, and try not to run completely out of anything before it's replaced.

• BOARD    To keep your paper from buckling while you are painting, you need to tape it down onto a flat surface. You could use an easel board if using an easel, or a large piece of plywood, or even the backing board of your paper pad (I've done this often. You need to be able to lift and move your board around to change the flow direction of your water/paint. The board I use is one of these...

• I never use the clip at the top as it leaves indents on your paper, so I flip it over and use the other side to tape my paper on to. The clip is very handy though as it tilts the board slightly when on the table, so that when I add some water or paint to the paper, it gently flows down.

• PAPER   There's lots of different paper out there, try a few brands and weights to find the one that suits you best. I pretty much always use the Winsor and Newton 140lb as it doesn't need pre stretching, it's just ready for painting on. Lighter weight papers are good if your not painting with too much water, but there's always the risk of buckles after the paper has dried. 

• MASKING TAPE   I've been using 50p rolls from Wilcos for years, works a treat. Tape all sides of your paper down to the board. Bear in mind that when you peel it off you will be left with a border so make sure you make nice straight even lines when putting it on in the first place. Don't want wonky border lines on your finished painting.

• PAINT   Don't begin with cheap paints, please please invest in something that won't leave you disappointed and frustrated. I started with a Winsor and Newton Cotman range pocket set and have been using their paints ever since. Both the student range and artist quality are great to work with, pans ot tubes, stick within your budget but try and add to your colour range bit by bit and NEVER run out of a colour if you know you use it alot!! Have some more on stand by.

• PAINTBRUSHES   There's so many shapes, sizes and bristle types when it comes to brushes, but 3 brushes are enough to start with. Small, middle and large. 

• PALLET   You need a pallet to be able to make your colour mixes and to add water to the paint before you put it on the paper. Travel sets come with a small pallet space that's ideal for small projects. You can also use a white plate if you don't have a pallet.

• TESTING PAPER   Always check your colour mix and consistency on a piece of scrap paper before you apply the paint to your painting. 

• TISSUES   Water control is really important when painting with watercolours, and having tissues at hand are essential to remove excess water from your brushes. Kitchen roll also works.

• 2 JARS OF WATER   One jar is for you to swish your paint filled brush in to remove that particular colour, and the other jar remains clean so that you can use clear water when making up your next colour.

• DETERMINATION   Watercolour is not the easiest media to paint with, but it is by far the best!! You can get effects that are impossible to achieve with oil or acrylics, and it is well worth persevering even beyond the beginners stage. You will always be learning something new, and you will encounter success and failures along the way, both are essential and unavoidable! 

STORAGE

If you're not able to have everything out on a work top all the time, then put everything in one place. Have a drawer assigned for your supplies, or cupboard space, and have it contained so that it is immediately portable for you to take to your work space to then set up. There's all sorts of good storage options available from special supplies carry cases to shoe boxes. Here's my little portable studio...

You know those nice tins you've been accumulating for years that were once filled with fancy biscuits?? They make great containers for your basic kit. Here's what I managed to pack into this...

Minus the water jar, it just wouldn't fit!! All is there that I need to paint in the lounge on my knee, and I have it stored next to my board that I use as a table top or backing board, and my 2 water jars.

There's no masking tape here either. If I'm painting a small project (small that A5) on my "lap table" then I rarely tape it down, but you will find over time your own preferences for doing things that suit you best.

(I found this Langton small paper pad in a charity shop for just 50P! What a great buy.)

If you found this helpful, you may like to make the most of my PDF Preparing your space Check list. It's free to download and print, and may help you prepare your space ready for creating those great paintings! 

Enjoy and happy painting :)

BEAT PROCRASTINATION DAY!!

Have things to do but you never get round to it?? You're not on your own, I'm just the same, along with many others out there. 

Well, this morning I had a shock when by 9am I'd had a lovely time with the Lord reading from the book of Acts in the Bible, I'd put the dry laundry away, hoovered each room, cleaned the fire, had breakfast and several cuppas, looked through some old photos from our 2013 Europe cycle trip on the PC, emptied my weary handbag, gave it a good wash in the bucket then hung it to dry, and..............big drum roll please............. got a few sketching items together and actually put them in my new "sketch bag" that's been hanging in the wardrobe empty since mum bought it in December for me.

Looks like today is definitely Beat Procrastination Day for me.

It does help that the sun is gloriously shining and we slept right through until 6am!

TIME TO BREAK IN THAT UNSPOILT PRISTINE SKETCHBOOK....

With house work done and sketch bag packed, there were no excuses left why I shouldn't do my first ever sketchbook painting. It was time to head out for our morning walk and make a first entry in my very blank watercolour sketchbook. Here's what I packed...

Travel paint set with in built pallet, my handmade sketch book, and a pencil case containing a pencil, rubber, tissue, scrap testing paper, travel paintbrush and a little spray bottle of water from a cosmetic travel kit. I also have a small plastic tub for putting water in. The plastic bag is just to put the paints in after use, to keep everything else inside the bag clean!

All set and ready to go! (All those zip pockets are great. this really makes a good sketch bag as it's waterproof and weighs next to nothing on it's own.)

It was lovely and sunny when we set off for The Nothe, one of our several walks we enjoy to feed the squirrels and see the many flowers in bloom. So many different kinds of daffodils are out there at the moment, it's so beautiful.

Ah we saw this sweet little thing having a bath, very brave as there was a bit if a chill factor rising!!

Then the weather took a turn, the sun disappeared behind a big clump of grey clouds, and the wind turned very icy blowing in from the sea. I hadn't thought to bring some fingerless gloves, a thermal flask and a duvet! Brrr!!!!

After wandering round the unusually empty benches for a while trying to find a sheltered spot, we had to admit defeat and settle for taking some photographs to work from at home. Our stroll turned into a march as we headed back to have a nice warm brew.

Never mind, still, the blank sketch book was to have it's first entry even if it was indoors!!

The advantage of painting from home is that you can plan your sketchbook page layout with less haste I suppose. I decided I would do a two page spread so I printed off a few photos that I'd taken off my phone and figured out how they would look together in my book.

I had to include the sweet little bathing bird!! And I wanted to leave space for a quote I had found by C.S. Lewis in procrastination, as a reminder of the significance of the first painting in the book.

I'm pleased with the results, even if it wasn't painted on the spot, which was the plan. It's not my usual way of painting at all! But I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to practising more landscape scenes which are completely new to me, and a real challenge. After painting wildlife for 7 years, it's time to learn something new :)

Is today going to be your Beat Procrastination Day too?? Go on, leap up and do something that you've been putting off for ages!

Ruth xx

LEARNING TO BE CONTENT

Did you know that closed pinecones are amazing to keep a fire going? After an hour and a half of hacking and hammering huge solid cones off a pile of sawn down branches (with permission…), Mark and I had several sacks full of free winter fuel to keep the home fires burning, and a boot full of great logs. This is our first year for collecting ‘burnables’.

By the amazing grace of God, our landlord installed a log burner in the lounge just a month before “The Beast from the East” hit the UK. The Big Freeze , on top of Storm Emma has given the UK a winter not be forgotten.

With severe weather warnings and the country covered in ice, we took the advice and stayed in doors for a few days, enjoyed the fruits of labours watching the pinecones slowly burn away in the new fire. I can’t tell you how grateful I was to be sat warm and cosy, knowing that we had enough food and wood to keep us comfortably.

Why Me?

As we kept up to date with things by watching the news, we saw our little country in seeming chaos! Passengers stuck on trains for hours (even overnight), water pipes freezing, then bursting, services struggling to keep going.

There must have been hundreds of people in some predicament asking the question, “Why me?” Maybe you’ve thought it yourself. You just want relief, things to be “normal again.”

But have you ever asked “Why me?” when you’re sat by a cosy fire while watching the masses waiting to get home from their freezing motorway pile up ordeal?  I did. I almost felt too guilty to enjoy watching the dancing flames, (I said almost.)

A statement of Pauls came to mind from his letter to the Philippian church,

I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Chapter 4:12

Looking out of the window at the icy landscape thinking on this verse, I was reminded of another winter, just a few years ago that was equally as severe where we were not quite so cosy. We had reached Bulgaria after cycling right across Europe (I know, I can hardly believe it myself….) ready to spend the winter there with amazing accommodation all sorted. We were to spend 4-5 months there, ministering as the Lord led.

In many ways, it was great!! We had an awesome time preaching in different churches and spending time with the believers in the Gypsy villages. We saw God move wonderfully and miraculously in people’s lives, including our own.

Trusting that God engineers our circumstances, it was tough to find out that we were to rely on a couple of calor gas heaters to keep us warm through the tough Baltic winter climate. Being unable to keep our temporary home warm became a real trial in every sense.

Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t show you ahead of time the testings that you’re about to face? I would have been tempted to re-route and head for some winter sun if I’d have known the challenges that lay ahead.

It’s no fun cycling a 16 mile round trip in a wild snow blizzard to the nearest gas refill station, dreaming of a hot cuppa all the way home only to when you get back that the electric in the village has been cut again, (sigh).

The days were cold, the nights were colder.

Did we learn how to be abased? Not sure.

Jesus never actually promised fun you know, instead He said He would give us His peace, peace that passes understanding. It’s this peace that brings contentment in all things.

Did I learn to live in His peace? Sort of. It’s an ongoing process. I can’t say with Paul that I have learned how to be abased, but I am learning. How about you?

The same can be said for the other part of Paul’s statement, that I’m also learning to abound. I have never been so abounding in pinecones and cosyness!!

The lesson in all this?.......