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Last post, I showed how my watercolor paints melted.
Here’s what I’ve learned to get my watercolor paints dry:
I’m not one to really give up on adding color to my sketchbooks.
So.
I’ve added color pencils. Dissatisfying between the sharpening and how much color it really adds compared to effort, but at least it’s color.
So.
I guess I have little choice than to wait until our new home is built. When we will have air conditioning on low in my studio. A week indoors with air conditioning and then a few hours daily will be ok.
So.
I’ve asked other artists in my Make Big Art Community if they’ve had this problem. Artist Kathy Whitehorn offered that I try a particular paint brand. I’ll be trying it…but for now it’s dry season…and rainy season will be the real test.
Being in dry season didn’t help the watercolor paint that’s already melted…as I just keep laughing!
Here’s what I’ve learned to get my watercolor paints dry:
- Use an oven at about 200 degrees. Why I won’t: we have no oven AND the plastic would melt.
- Place in freezer or refrigerator. Why I won’t: condensation, lol.
- Keep in Ziploc bag with reusable desiccant packs. Result: The desiccant packs need constant swapping. When I used the paint, the paint stayed damp. Damp paint and wet desiccant packs let the paint melt again.
- Took the paint to Miami for air conditioning to dry them out. Result: This worked, but when we got home, it took a day to return to melted.
- Keep paints in air conditioning or a dry room type of place. Result: I’ll never use the paints ever again.
- Use something else. Result: Bulkier purse…which is why I began using watercolor in the first place.
- Try different watercolor brands of paint. Result: I might have a winner, but rainy season will tell. If my new brand stays as “pills” during rainy season…but if not, I may try yet another brand.
I’m not one to really give up on adding color to my sketchbooks.
So.
I’ve added color pencils. Dissatisfying between the sharpening and how much color it really adds compared to effort, but at least it’s color.
So.
I guess I have little choice than to wait until our new home is built. When we will have air conditioning on low in my studio. A week indoors with air conditioning and then a few hours daily will be ok.
So.
I’ve asked other artists in my Make Big Art Community if they’ve had this problem. Artist Kathy Whitehorn offered that I try a particular paint brand. I’ll be trying it…but for now it’s dry season…and rainy season will be the real test.
Being in dry season didn’t help the watercolor paint that’s already melted…as I just keep laughing!
When your watercolor pills turn into sticky caramel taffy, the watercolor paint stays home. I keep this kit and a few others inside a very well sealed Ziploc bag, flat, on a shelf. With this kit, I’m lucky it’s taffy caramel like…because my other kit’s paint turns into thick water and runs into the other pans.
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Andy and I used to live in humid in Miami, Florida. The average humidity in Miami is between 50ish% - 70ish% year-round, like in Ojochal, Costa Rica where are living. The HUGE difference is that Miami has air conditioning everywhere. In Costa Rica, air conditioning is rarely found or used, no matter how hot or rainy. Air conditioning acts as a dehumidifier as it allows the air to dry out. Since there’s no air conditioning…the air stays humid…and…
Andy and I are renting a house that has NO glass in the windows. The windows have a decorative and practical ironwork and screens. We have lots of fans to keep the air circulating in our home. The fans keep things dryer and us cooler: double win.
The bad is that we also have a lot of humidity, no matter how many fans move the air around…so we use a lot of Ziploc bags to keep things as dry as possible. Sadly, many things stay damp…and there isn’t a way to dry them (no oven, no iron). One of these things are the watercolors that I loved to use with my sketchbooks.
I learned that watercolors melt. The binder (glue), that holds the pigment (color) melts when the paint is kept in humid conditions. It takes just a couple of days for most of the colors to turn runny.
I’m writing this not to complain but more to laugh. Laugh because no one ever mentions melting watercolor paints. I did Google this…and found only One artist writing about it.
In the meantime, my sketchbooks will only have blue or brown line drawings and little if any color. My next post will be how I can maybe fix my watercolor kits…maybe….
Andy and I are renting a house that has NO glass in the windows. The windows have a decorative and practical ironwork and screens. We have lots of fans to keep the air circulating in our home. The fans keep things dryer and us cooler: double win.
The bad is that we also have a lot of humidity, no matter how many fans move the air around…so we use a lot of Ziploc bags to keep things as dry as possible. Sadly, many things stay damp…and there isn’t a way to dry them (no oven, no iron). One of these things are the watercolors that I loved to use with my sketchbooks.
I learned that watercolors melt. The binder (glue), that holds the pigment (color) melts when the paint is kept in humid conditions. It takes just a couple of days for most of the colors to turn runny.
I’m writing this not to complain but more to laugh. Laugh because no one ever mentions melting watercolor paints. I did Google this…and found only One artist writing about it.
In the meantime, my sketchbooks will only have blue or brown line drawings and little if any color. My next post will be how I can maybe fix my watercolor kits…maybe….
I opened this kit on Christmas Day as a treat. By New Year’s Eve, it was a taffy caramel mess. These are “pills” or “cakes” of watercolor paint. I’m sticking the individuals down to the bottom with a double sided foam.
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Once the paint goes on the canvas, the grid disappears.
These cats are done in my “goofy cats” style, meaning I use collaged acrylics to draw them.
So how do I use a grid when the original penciled in grid is gone?
Using one of those quilting rules, I drew up grids with a permanent marker on cut down pieces of used laminating plastic sheets. I hold up my plastic grid to my painting and compare my painting to a digital photo with a grid on it.
As I compare my painting to my digital photograph, it’s easier to fix lines and colors by flipping the plastic grid sheet on and off my painting.
These cats are done in my “goofy cats” style, meaning I use collaged acrylics to draw them.
So how do I use a grid when the original penciled in grid is gone?
Using one of those quilting rules, I drew up grids with a permanent marker on cut down pieces of used laminating plastic sheets. I hold up my plastic grid to my painting and compare my painting to a digital photo with a grid on it.
As I compare my painting to my digital photograph, it’s easier to fix lines and colors by flipping the plastic grid sheet on and off my painting.
I use the app Grid# to add a grid overlay to pet photos. I have to adjust columns and rows to the size of the canvas.
If you’d like to see some of the custom dog and cat paintings I’ve done, please visit my webpage about them. Click on these sentences to see and get a free eBook of how to work with me for your custom pet painting.
Holding my clear plastic grid against my cat painting in progress helps me check the drawing.
Read more about why I began cheating while painting custom pet paintings by clicking these previous blog posts:
I Cheat When I Paint Pets
Using the Grid in My Painting Studio
I Cheat When I Paint Pets
Using the Grid in My Painting Studio
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How I make grids on canvas
I now begin every custom pet painting with a grid as I learned from painting dog Nakita.
The ruler is a quilting ruler, if you’re wondering. If you need straight lines for any project,
this type of ruler beats the school ruler hands down for ease of use!
I now begin every custom pet painting with a grid as I learned from painting dog Nakita.
The ruler is a quilting ruler, if you’re wondering. If you need straight lines for any project,
this type of ruler beats the school ruler hands down for ease of use!
1. After adding my own layer of gesso, I take out my ruler and pencil in one-inch squares.
2. Using an app, I add a layer of squares onto the digital photo of the pet I’m painting.
3. Once the grid is penciled, I can draw the cats onto these canvases.
The unique part of these cat paintings are that they are going to be done in “goofy style,” not “realistically.” The lines will blur when I add the acrylic skins and papers. The grid will still help as I paint and collage in the cats. I’ll show you how I keep using grids in later blog post.
If you’d like to see some of the custom dog and cat paintings I’ve done, please visit my
webpage about them. Click on these sentences to see and get a free ebook of how to
work with me for your custom pet painting.
Two custom pet paintings have their grids penciled on their canvases!
This is the 2nd quilt ruler I have because my blue one was in storage. As you can see, it doesn’t have the lines across in grid style, which makes using this particular ruler very difficult when measuring out smaller than an inch increments. It’s in my studio…but it will spend more time hanging out than being used. If you want a quilt ruler, try to find a version of my favorite one!
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Nakita’s face angle was tricky to capture, but it’s true to her photo. I repainted this cute dog a number of times to get her smile right.
Nakita was the last custom dog painting I ever drew free handed. I spent extra hours repainting her doggy smile. I learned quite a lot from painting her…including that
Cheating with a grid is ok!
I now begin every custom pet painting with a grid.
If you’d like to see some of the custom dog and cat paintings I’ve done, please visit my webpage about them. Click on these sentences to see and get a free ebook of how to work with me for your custom pet painting.
Cheating with a grid is ok!
- When I was a kid, I wasn’t any good at those “duplicate the drawing on the other side of the grid” puzzles.
- I thought free hand was the best authentic way of drawing. Yes, I was a drawing snob!
- Using a grid to draw is NOT cheating!
- Grids are TOOLS! Tools are allowed!
- Artists through history even made grids using string and wood in order to draw a landscape before and during a painting!!!! Google it!
- If MASTER artists used grids, why was I suffering by repainting and remeasuring a cute dog’s face over and over and over again?
I now begin every custom pet painting with a grid.
If you’d like to see some of the custom dog and cat paintings I’ve done, please visit my webpage about them. Click on these sentences to see and get a free ebook of how to work with me for your custom pet painting.
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Savvy Blooming Free Lucky Cat Picture by Angeline Marie Martinez
Well, dogs and cats are loving. They want to be adopted into safe and loving homes.
When they are, these dogs and cats guarantee that you will be loved. Every dog and cat have so much love to give!
El Refugio is a very special place for dogs and cats in Costa Rica. Some of these dogs and cats are truly rescued from very sad experiences. Volunteers work from behind the scenes to in person to help and support every dog and cat possible.
El Refugio holds spay and neuter events as they try to educate the communities that this is the best way to control the numbers of roaming dogs and cats in the rainforest jungle. As foreigners move in and out of the communities, El Refugio provides resources to help dogs and cats find and keep homes in and out of the community and Costa Rica.
El Refugio truly is a special and unique dog and cat shelter. Andy and I love dogs and cats. We will be adopting new family members from El Refugio, but in the meantime, we enjoying supporting them!
El Refugio’s official words:
When they are, these dogs and cats guarantee that you will be loved. Every dog and cat have so much love to give!
El Refugio is a very special place for dogs and cats in Costa Rica. Some of these dogs and cats are truly rescued from very sad experiences. Volunteers work from behind the scenes to in person to help and support every dog and cat possible.
El Refugio holds spay and neuter events as they try to educate the communities that this is the best way to control the numbers of roaming dogs and cats in the rainforest jungle. As foreigners move in and out of the communities, El Refugio provides resources to help dogs and cats find and keep homes in and out of the community and Costa Rica.
El Refugio truly is a special and unique dog and cat shelter. Andy and I love dogs and cats. We will be adopting new family members from El Refugio, but in the meantime, we enjoying supporting them!
El Refugio’s official words:
'The goal of El Refugio is to improve the welfare of dogs and cats through rescue efforts, low-cost spay/neuter and vaccination clinics, education programs, and community outreach, with a focus of rescuing and rehabilitating homeless, abandoned, and injured dogs and cats."
For more visit this link: elrefugiocostaballena.com
You can see some of their characters Instagram @elrefugiocostaballena
5% of my painting sales go to support El Refugio. The dogs and cats send their thank yous!
You can see some of their characters Instagram @elrefugiocostaballena
5% of my painting sales go to support El Refugio. The dogs and cats send their thank yous!
Cooperative Gilded Adventure Lucky CatPicture by Angeline Marie Martinez
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11 Advantages Of Sketchbook Practice Over A Painting Studio Practice:
- Totally portable and on the go
- A pencil and piece of paper are easily found
- iPhone camera to jog memory if I can’t sketch right then
- Everything and anything are fair game to draw
- Junk is ok as it’s just PRACTICE
- Sketchebooks become “idea warehouses” for future paintings
- Color studies and combinations are cheaper to test
- Written notes kept in one place, with the design
- Reference materials created, from random words to actual design notes
- I can just draw without hearing my inner brat voice insist that I follow any rules and lastly
- Sketchbook data mining and data analysis (for all us geeks) give me clues as to what I’ll actually want to paint as the theme of my new painting collections.
I’ve been here before. It’s ok if I’m not painting. I’m in transition. As long as I can sketch, I’ll be ok. Besides, my Painting Studio Practice will thank me later as I’ll have so many ideas that I can hardly wait to be in there!
Want to see more of my sketches? Head on over to Instagram and follow me @angelinemarieartist
If you’d like to see how my sketchbooks influence my painting, Lisa Call shared photos of my sketchbooks and a little about how I data mine through them here:
Artists and Their Sketchbooks by Lisa Cal
Want to see more of my sketches? Head on over to Instagram and follow me @angelinemarieartist
If you’d like to see how my sketchbooks influence my painting, Lisa Call shared photos of my sketchbooks and a little about how I data mine through them here:
Artists and Their Sketchbooks by Lisa Cal
Andy and I just ordered our meals and I had a few minutes to draw the still life that was all ready for me at our table. The sugar packets in a tiny pot, the hand sanitizer, the napkins with their holder. I’m using a Kaweco fountain pen with sepia ink.
Before my watercolors melted, this is a sketch I did of different areas around us. I miss the colors, but I can’t pack them in my purse because they have melted. I already cleaned up the mess and stashed my kit away.
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5 Questions Answered by Keeping a Sketchbook
- What will be the theme of my next painting collection?
- What size, shape and type of canvas do I want to choose?
- Do I prefer to choose a different painting surface than I have in the past?
- What colors do I want to use in my paintings?
- What are some designs I can create now to use later while painting?
I recently realized that I need a Sketchbook Practice before I have a Painting Art Studio Practice.
I love painting. I want to know what to paint. Knowing what to paint helps me get into a roll while in my studio instead of walking In circles, wondering what to paint.
The last time my art painting studio was in limbo, I filled sketchbooks at a rate of one per month. These sketchbooks helped me paint for hours when my studio was set up and ready to use! Now, my dream art studio is in limbo…so sketching is what I can do now!
If you’d like to see some of my sketches and maybe words from previous years, you click through these:
3 Artist Must Haves mentions sketchbooks
Watch on YouTube here: Sketching Drawing at Frida Kahlo Exhibit at Dali Museum
Via this channel.
I love painting. I want to know what to paint. Knowing what to paint helps me get into a roll while in my studio instead of walking In circles, wondering what to paint.
The last time my art painting studio was in limbo, I filled sketchbooks at a rate of one per month. These sketchbooks helped me paint for hours when my studio was set up and ready to use! Now, my dream art studio is in limbo…so sketching is what I can do now!
If you’d like to see some of my sketches and maybe words from previous years, you click through these:
3 Artist Must Haves mentions sketchbooks
Watch on YouTube here: Sketching Drawing at Frida Kahlo Exhibit at Dali Museum
Via this channel.
Sketches done at home of the turtle release at Playa Tortugo, Costa Rica. It was dusk and the walk out to the shoreline was gorgeous. I left my sketchbook kit safely at home. Sometimes it’s just better to sketch later.
Lucky me, I have friends who understand me and allow me draw while we chat. These are random items and garden scenes at Randy and Maria’s home.
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Work From Home Sign for MZ, 6 by 6 inches, acrylics on wood panel, $50 by Angeline Marie Martinez.
Work From Home Sign for MZ, 6 by 6 inches, acrylics on wood panel, $50 by Angeline Marie Martinez.
Wow.
I had no idea that the 21st century office space designs are actually designs that began in the 5th century...1,500 years ago with monasteries!
The article linked here, How the Needs of Monks and Empire Builders Helped Mold the Modern Day Office by Beth Daly, [ https://theconversation.com/how-the-needs-of-monks-and-empire-builders-helped-mold-the-modern-day-office-146390 ] is full of design history about office spaces. It helps explain some of the (awful!) office designs we work in.
Now, as we work from home, office design is slowly changing. We don’t know if the changes will be permanent...but we’re all on the design ride together: Zoom, WebEx, microphones, telephones, headsets...laptops, working at the kitchen counter...being ordered back to the office....
Want a “Work From Home and I’m Free” double sided custom desk sign for yourself or a friend? To see samples and get your own, go here! We can work together to get one sent to print and later
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What’s new between my art table from November to now?
Lights so I can work even at night and during rainy days… Hooks to find scissors and ruler and paint can opener easily….
Gloss gelling (aka wood varnish) my favorite color wheel to keep paper from disintegrating… A stool for being able to work even when tired….
Life is good. Pura vida.
Special thank you and tons of brownie points belong to my better half Andy.
Want to see how my art table painting space looked before these upgrades? Click this sentence.
Want to see a small part of my old painting studio? This video shows my old studio, the one we let go to move to Costa Rica. The easel and other things are currently in storage for my new future studio. It describes what you can expect during an art demo. You can find it by clicking on this paragraph.
Lights so I can work even at night and during rainy days… Hooks to find scissors and ruler and paint can opener easily….
Gloss gelling (aka wood varnish) my favorite color wheel to keep paper from disintegrating… A stool for being able to work even when tired….
Life is good. Pura vida.
Special thank you and tons of brownie points belong to my better half Andy.
Want to see how my art table painting space looked before these upgrades? Click this sentence.
Want to see a small part of my old painting studio? This video shows my old studio, the one we let go to move to Costa Rica. The easel and other things are currently in storage for my new future studio. It describes what you can expect during an art demo. You can find it by clicking on this paragraph.
Me at my newly received and “installed” art studio table in November, 2021. Andy added the wheels. I added the screw for my paintbrushes. Simple, basic, easy!
After and now! Three original abstract palm tree designs based on Jubilee Abstract Palm Tree are shown on my art studio table. See the beautiful lights? The new hooks?
