Cozy watercolor

I gave myself the luxury of a whole week off for Thanksgiving, and no travel. I slept late, read Pride and Prejudice, cooked elaborate meals, continued my ongoing battle against oxalis, and painted with watercolors. It's been a pretty good month for watercolor painting, despite my worry that I wouldn't have many chances to paint outside. I had plenty, but I also tried to paint more ordinary things inside to be less precious about it.

Beautiful and dangerous #

Sage bushes bloom purple and red.

Early in November, I got a new red paint: cadmium red. Yes, it is made with cadmium. When I started painting I was scared of using it because cadmium is a toxic chemical. As I gained more experience, I grew frustrated with the warm reds in my palette. They never seemed to mix right. I learned what many artists learn: there's not really a good replacement for cadmium red. At the same time, I read more about how to use the color safely to mitigate its dangers, and decided I could use it with little danger to myself, people, or animals. And, I'm sorry and/or happy to say that it's beautiful. It's vibrant alone, and mixes without getting dull.

Coffee coffee coffee #

Latte art inspired latte art

A cafe in my neighborhood serves the cappuccinos in graceful orange cups with matching saucers. Most of the time, the baristas adorn them with latte art. There's a sign by the bar with a taxonomy of possible shapes, though it also says "no requests." I assume there's an element of randomness to how it comes out. I love this kind of cup, and I've been doodling coffee cups for ages, so I thought I'd try to do a watercolor sketch. I'm trying to just paint more, so I didn't worry about getting the shape or the color perfectly accurate. Use the subject to paint a watercolor, not the watercolor to paint the subject, as an art book told me once.

Another day, another latte. I quickly painted the cup and the latte art, then had my breakfast. When I was done eating and drinking, I added the shadows to the cup. I’m just learning about shadows so at first I was worried I ruined the sketch but as it dried, it started to look right.

I have a rule not to eat or drink at the same time as I'm painting, to avoid ever accidentally drinking some paint water. I know it sounds improbable that it would happen, but it happens to lots of artists. You get really absorbed when you paint. Anyway, painting a coffee cups while following my rule is a little tricky and I'm bending it a bit by even having food and drink on the same table as paints at the same time. I do all the painting and put it away, and then I eat and drink my breakfast. It motivates me to paint quickly so the coffee doesn't get cold.

An Americano coffee in a blue mug

Another day, and this time a different coffee. An Americano is not nearly as interesting as a latte or cappuccino. However, the mug was an intriguing shape and color. I don't think I captured either all that well. It was still fun to paint and I learned something from it. Possibly that I should keep painting cappuccinos instead.

That tree again #

A pine tree in Holly Park

I'm fascinated by this particular tree. This is at least the second time I tried to paint it. In May, I included a lot of busy background, whereas this time I just focused on the shape of the tree, and left the background out. I'm going to go back and paint it again soon, because I realized that even though it feels like I should paint it on a piece of paper that's taller than it's wide, I should actually use a squarish piece. The tree occupies a squarish amount of space because the crown is very wide.

My beautiful cat #

Shinjuku, my beautiful cat

She looked so cute that I decided to try to paint her portrait, even though I had never done anything like that before. I quickly painted the contour and her important features from life, and then I took a photo in case she shifted position. A moment later she did, so I was glad I had it. I used the photo to finish the portrait, plus she was still right there to look at for general reference. I'm very pleased with how the cat portrait came out. She looks a bit more fierce and spiky than in reality, and yet I think her personality is correct. That's what I enjoy the most about watercolor. Even though I'm still learning, I can catch the feeling of places, or things, or as it turns out, cats, without necessarily going for full verisimilitude.

I will definitely be painting more cats in the future.