I’m really excited about today’s live stream!

Hi friends! Sometimes when you are painting you get a little spark of magic that lets you know you hit on something good. I found this photo of a rainy street in Taiwan on Unsplash weeks ago and I kept coming back to it. I just loved it and I knew I wanted to paint it but I didn’t know how I would deal with all of the detail that I didn’t want. Today when I was trying to decide what we would paint I found myself gazing again at that photo so I decided to grab an inexpensive piece of paper, wet both side and start sloshing some paint around. I like this approach because A: It’s only a small cheap piece of paper so I haven’t lost much if it doesn’t turn out and B: I am quickly and intuitively slapping down paint so I haven’t wasted a bunch of time if it doesn’t work out either. “If you are going to fail, fail fast” I always say LOL! Honestly, I actually kind of love this.

Painting in this edited down style isn’t about being sloppy though, it is about only putting in what is absolutely necessary to convey the scene. The viewer will fill in the rest. Grab the bits you like and leave out the rest. I like to think of it as an economy of brushstrokes. Pretend you are being charged a dollar a brush stroke LOL! Even if you are not crazy about this style I hope you will give it a try because I think the wet-in-wet technique is so useful. I love to start out bold and loose and refine as I go. Have some pens handy (they don’t have to be waterproof) so you can add them in at the end if you want to refine anything. You don’t have to use them but they are there if you need them. We will paint live on YouTube at 12:30pm so tune in on there if you want to chat with friends or ask questions as we go live. You can also watch the reply in the player below after the fact.

Supplies (affiliate links used)

• QoR watercolors by Golden: Payne’s Grey, Burnt Sienna, Cerulean, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Deep (or any warm yellow)
• Watercolor paper: Practise done on 6″x9″ Aquabee, live painting done on 8″x10″ Strathmore ready cut 500 series
• Brushes: A variety if rounds and flats
• Black Micron pens
• Posca pen white extra fine (or a uniball signo white gel pen)
• Other: paper towel, water bucket, spray bottle of water
• Reference photo

I hope you join me for a fun live painting at 12:30! Til then happy crafting!