World Watercolor Month 2025, Days 1-7

 It's July once again, which means that it is also World Watercolor Month, and I'm taking part this year. I'm enjoying the opportunity to play with and learn more about the medium.

If you're curious, I'm using a number of paint brands because they're what on my palettes, which are largely Daniel Smith, M. Graham, Sennelier, QoR, and Windsor & Newton. Similarly, I'm using a mix of brush brands. I can be more specific about the paper: 5" x 7" Paul Rubens cold-pressed watercolor book. I found the size is good for me for my skill level, not too big that I'm overwhelmed but not so small I don't have enough space and flexibility. 

On to the first week's pieces!

Day 1: Radiant

I chose to go with a stylized sun as the main element to reflect the day's theme, "radiant." In addition to the regular watercolors, I also decided to use Finetec gold paint to do the sun's borders. Things I like: The colors and general application of the gradient background. Things that could be better: I would slow down a little to let the parts of the sun properly dry so the borders would be cleaner and not bleed into the reds and oranges of the sun.

Day 2: Espresso

A piece with some composition. I added some line work for the glass and cup.

Day 3: Ripple

Day 4: Fade

There were a few ways I could have gone with the theme, "fade," but I was unsure about my skill level. So I decided to use a standard watercolor exercise of a gradient wash.

Day 5: Lock

Day 6: Hat

Day 7: melt

I enjoyed this one, in part, because of a mistake. I wanted the glass to be full of water with some ice cubes, but the ink I used wasn't waterproof. Because of the ink's dark color in the fude fountain pen, I didn't see that it was a deep red and not black. As a result, the ink smudged on all the items, and the water became a flavored lemonade. I find it funny, and it still looks nice. Still got to work on my patience for popsicles.

NMA Homework: Week 3 Value Practice

 Week Three focused on value, how light and dark something is, and laying down smooth swatches. The first exercise created three- and five-value scales of graphite and charcoal pencils without and with blending. You can see the difference blending makes to the same medium. In addition to graphite and charcoal, I opted to use a colored pencil for the non-black swatches. 

Week 3 exercise 1

The second exercise was creating a more accurate value scale that moved up in value proportionally. In this case, it's an eight-step scale, with an empty swatch and seven swatches up to the darkest value. I actually did it twice, the first one using the 2B pencil I used for the first exercise, but I didn't like how it turned out. The range wasn't appropriately varied, a bit too dark. So I did it again with the charcoal pencil, which is what I post below. I ran into the same problem. My reviewer pointed out that my set-up for the scale was off, so I could redo it after changing the set-up so it can have a better first, lighter first value.

Week 3 exercise 2

Exercise Three combines the first two by using the measured value scale to adjust the scales created in the first exercise. As you can see, while I was able to adjust them, the limited values meant the revised swatches are closer in value than they should be.

Week 3 exercise 3, non-blended swatches

Week 3 exercise 3, blended swatches

NMA Homework: Week 2

I decided to enroll in the New Masters Academy once again. I dunno, I took advantage of a slightly lower subscription price, and I like the idea of being part of a spring cohort. I've tried completing courses in the past, but I wasn't consistent. So, because I'm motivated as part of being part of a "class," I will be sticking with it and trying to complete as much as I can before my subscription ends next year (if I can, I'll try to continue, but we'll see about my budget then).

Right now, I'm working through the first and core module, Drawing Foundations I, which is needed for pretty much all later courses in whatever track you choose. I'm looking at following the Illustration track, with some of the Comics track, which really only differ in a couple later module course options. The first week's homework is an introduction, so I won't share the pics I submitted for feedback. What I will share is one Week Two's homework: measured drawings. Despite how long I've been drawing, I've never gotten the hang of measuring while drawing. That's an important skill for my art to be proportional. And this was the assignment that I never really got past the last time I attempted the course. It's the littlest obstacles...

Below are the drawings I submitted for review. I haven't gotten feedback yet, but I hope they're good enough for me to pass and officially work on Week Three. The first three attempts are rough, full of errors. But I think I started to improve in the later half. Making good measured drawings takes time. I know I spent 70+ minutes on Drawing 5!

I'm including the full pages because I wanted to record how off my measurements and placement are. Drawings 1 and 3 either went off the page or butted just against the edge. I think the weakest attempt was the second; it is like the source object in that it's relatively egg-shaped.

Measured drawings 1 & 2

Measured drawing 4

Measured drawings 5 & 6

Measured drawing 3

I look forward to progressing to the next lesson and sharing how I'm doing.