Flow States

Whenever I paint or draw, I'm always hoping to tap into a state of flow - that magical place where I truly feel that I lose myself, my sense of time and place, and whatever my mundane concerns might be - just for a little while.

Of all the materials I like to use, watercolor really invites us to dance with it, in a way that no other medium does. Everything in watercolor depends on timing. Watercolor is lightning fast, and also teaches us all the patience in the world. It is organic, fluid, mutable - it is, at heart, water.

Like everything magical, watercolor also invites a lot of myths. "It's the hardest medium" "You can't go back if you make a mistake." In this mixed media approach, we'll leave those limitations where we found them. “Overworking" doesn't exist. "Too dark" is just an opportunity. "Too much water" is often the right amount. We're going to push our materials to their limits, allow the flow to really lead the way, and mix our media meaningfully, to create ethereal and magical places that were hiding within our paper and paints all along.

WATERCOLORS:

I like M Graham, but any professional paints are fine.
CORE COLORS: Nickel Azo Yellow, Transparent Red Oxide (or Burnt Sienna, or Quinacridone Rust) Ultramarine Blue
ADDITIONAL (less important but good to have) Pthalo Green, Pthalo Blue, Payne’s Gray or Black or Neutral Tint
Optional: Chinese White or White Gouache

BIG BRUSH: Inexpensive 1.5 inch Hake or mop pointed Mop/Quill/ large round brush - I use a mop brush called Atelier by Silver brush Co, a soft synthetic at a good value. Quills have odd sizing, the brush should be about an inch in diameter or more. You can use any big brush that holds watercolor

BRUSHES: Size 16 Round, Size 6 Round are the sizes I use throughout class. A liner brush is nice and totally optional

SRAY BOTTLES: I like different sizes, and an adjustable nozzle for changing the concentration and force of the spray can be really helpful.

PALETTE: You’ll want a lot of area to slosh paint and water around, versus a little well palette, though I use one of those, too, for the warmup and smaller paintings. I used white glass plates from IKEA - they’re great for this purpose

PAPER TOWLS OR SPONGE: (household) You can let them dry and keep using them as long as the washes you clean up are light in color

SMALL BITS OF SPONG FOR PAINTING: I used natural, textured synthetics are good too. Stiff bristle brush for texture (optional)

‍WATERCOLOR PAPER:

100 percent Cotton Rag is essential
You will need 140 pound cold press paper for this class. I like Winsor and Newton Professional, Blick Premier, and Bee 100 percent cotton paper mini sheets.
The Winsor and Newton paper is an amazing paper at a good value. A 9x12 block is recommended.

DRAWING: These are SUGGESTED media, if you have things that plug into the color palette of your paintings, use those things.

NEOCOLOR 2 WAX PASTELS: I used neutrals and colors that meshed with the paintings: Beige, White, Silver Gray are key colors

Optional: Payne’s Gray Cinnamon Golden Ochre Apricot Sahara Yellow

PASTEL PENCILS: I used Stabilo CarbOthello, coordinating the colors with the painting, relying on the grays in the range, as well as ochre, browns and peach colors.

COLORED PENCILS: I use a few coordinating colored pencils. I like Derwent’s Drawing range immensely, all but one totally lightfast, and stunning neutrals for landscape.

INKTENSE PENCIL: Payne’s Gray

GAMBLIN COLD WAX, Dorlands might work, but it’s got a looser texture and I haven’t tried it in this application.

OPTIONAL: Fixative for pastel - I use Spectra-Fix

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