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Saturday, 8 December 2007
Paint Snowy Evergreens in Winter - Watercolor Class
Topic: Watercolor Lesson

For Christmas and winter, snow is here.  Try these watercolor and drawing exercises for painting evergreens in snow. 

winter trees watercolor

Print out and practice the schematic trees in this practice sheet to get different takes on evergreens as forms in space:
Schema drawing of evergreen trees

Print out the sampler and try these three ways to practice watercolors of winter evergreens.

  • Pale blue wash for overall tree, then drop in undersides/dark areas
  • Contour drawing of tree, negative paint background, lay in dark undersides of branches.
  • Pale peachy underwash for trees, lay in darker undersides of branches.

Sampler of watercolor styles - evergreen trees in snow

Practice negative painting a background wash around the main form or subject. Make the wash move around the picture instead of horizontally or vertically. Let it swirl as the weather patterns you see moving over our planet from the satelite pictures. Pull the puddle of wash around. Let the paint/pigment swirl in the puddle. Be spare with your mixing. Let the water do the work. Have fun watching it come out.
Background watercolor wash for negative painting evergreen tree in snow

Large version
Freehand watercolor sketch - Evergreen tree in snow

Photo of Evergreen trees in Snow, St. George, Maine, by Pat Laxton


Posted by Catinka Knoth at 3:28 PM EST
Updated: Saturday, 8 December 2007 3:31 PM EST
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Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Christmas Coloring Pages, Cards and Poems, and Angels
Topic: Seasonal/Holiday

Enjoy my Christmas page of cat and dog Christmas coloring pages, recent cards, and angels. If I don't mention this now, it might not happen til the day before Christmas!


Posted by Catinka Knoth at 12:30 AM EST
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Monday, 12 November 2007
Draw Bears, Foxes, and Racoons
Topic: Drawing Lesson

These are my demonstration drawings of bears, foxes, and racoons. References were from Aesop's Fables illustrated by Arthur Rackham; Ken Hultgren; Dover silhouette art; Little Bear, by Elsa Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak; and Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne, illustrated by Ernest Shepard.

And, have fun with my Bear Coloring Pages!

fox and grapes art

The fox and the grapes, from Aesop's Fables, after Arthur Rackham 

Fox, after Ken Hultgren 

dancing bear art

Dancing Bear, after silhouette art 

Little Bear, after Maurice Sendak, and Pooh Bear, after Ernest Shepard

racoon art

Racoons fishing in a stream? 

racoon art

Racoon fishing, or washing its food 


Kids art
Read More...

Posted by Catinka Knoth at 11:42 PM EST
Updated: Sunday, 23 December 2007 11:17 AM EST
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Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Pumpkins at a Pumpkin Farm for Halloween
Topic: Seasonal/Holiday

 Happy Halloween!

pumpkin photo

 pumpkin photo


Posted by Catinka Knoth at 4:38 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 12 November 2007 11:51 PM EST
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Friday, 26 October 2007
Gourds Still Life Watercolor and Drawing Lesson
Topic: Watercolor Class

Set up a still life with decorative gourds of various shapes and markings. Try some drawing exercises first.

A blind contour drawing - pretend your pencil is wandering over the contours of the gourds as it draws on your paper. Don't look at your paper as you draw. It should look funny when you are done - and yet it will have it's own beauty. My example is below.

Draw the negative shapes - scribble or block them in without outlining first. Create the edges at the same time you are filling in the area. Move your pencil in all directions. Use a soft pencil.

Draw from the inside out. Build up the forms as if you were winding a ball of yarn.

For your painting draw a careful line drawing (if you like) then paint as you wish. Painting from light to dark is usually best with watercolor. I did take step-by-step photos as I painted this, but I will leave that for another day, or not! 

gourds watercolor
gourds photo
gourds drawing gourds drawing
gourds drawing gourds drawing


Posted by Catinka Knoth at 11:28 PM EDT
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