I defnitely need some work in mixing water colors.  I don't have any experience in painting so this was really fun to try.  I believe I need more patience in mixing my colors and then blending one color to another.  I feel like my image in blocky and I need to develop my skills in working in the details.  Try, Try again!  I did find this very enjoyable which is half the battle. :)  

Fun mixing colours!! I do need to get more shades though. I used water color pencils as that is what I have.

My first experience with watercolor was in middle school. I liked the whimsical flow on paper when capturing landscapes and flowers. Though initially I thought it wasn’t as forgiving as Oil painting to apply changes. The subject of my painting today was a Fuchsia ‘wind chime’ shaped flower. Initially it looked like a combination of pink , purple and green. Though I started working on painting it quickly realized that it’s a combination of shades in between. The transition from pink to the deep purple requires adding in some darker’Prussian blue’ . The lighter pink was a mix with white , or just adding more water to the rose color. Sometimes I just left a white space to give it three dimensional feel. 

I had a little experience with color theory back in junior high school - but that was ages ago. As a quilter, I have played with colors in fabric but have not done any work with watercolors or mixing my own colors. This was fun.   First I tried just working with tints, tones, and shades. Then I tried getting the colors for the finch. I struggled mostly with the nut brown color on his back. I never did get that as close to the correct color as I wanted. 

1.  This course is my first experience with water colours. Until now I have been scared of them, particularly of letting go .  They are much easier than I expected which is LOVELY. 2.  I tried 2 colour palettes outside  - a Crucifix Orchid and a Bromeliad.  The colours seemed more vibrant outside even though it wasn't sunny.  Sometimes I was almost there with a colour then went to far and had to start again.  Some were easier.  It's all a challenge! 3.  Yes - negative space, shapes, how does the orchid flower work, is that big ant thing a pollinator, is this red on the bromeliad its flower or why is it red.

Making My Own Colors I enjoyed this exercise. Prior to creating a palette based on colors in a photograph, I decided to make test swatches for each of the colors in my watercolor box. I think this step helped me to achieve better accuracy when making my own colors. It also gave a foundation for noting “recipes” for tints, tones, and and shades I can refer to when I actually paint a watercolor of the flower.

I have used watercolours before and have really enjoyed it. I'm not too good at mixing colours though, but I thought this was really fun! It's wonderful when you get the exact colour you were hoping for. The ones I did were of the two photos provided, and in especially the case of the gray-crowned rosy-finch, I was surprised how many bright colours I was able to pull out of what seemed like a drab picture. It forces you to slow down and look at the colours of something very closely, and I definitely enjoyed that. 

This was a new experience for me. It was delightful . I have felt like a fish out of water where color is concerned. I wear almost all blue clothes, my home is painted in all cream. So this exercise had me in uncharted territory and I loved it. All kinds of patterns and discoveries revealed themselves. I could have been mixing and fooling around forever, but need to stop for now. I would love to put in my images but failed at the drop and drag thing . The mountain scene was so complicated I had to break through fear to do it. The bird fell more into my comfort zone. I experimented with adding white or black to get the exact shade I was looking for. Thank you to Liz for the course and to all you participants who I also learn from. Marilyn

I studied watercolor in art school and use it frequently in my work;however I still keep learning new things every time and also when I take a course like this one. I stalled on this exercise because I really did not want to do it because it was something I had done so many times in beginning classes. I marvel at how precise everyone else made perfect circles etc to put their paint test colors in but I wanted to just "jump right in". So here it is... on to the next step.

1) I have used watercolors before. I find it very useful to mix and find the right color on a test sheet before applying it to a painting. 2) I created color palettes for the above provided landscape and bird photos. For the landscape the top tow shows the colors that appear in the sky, the second row the colors of the second plan and the third row the first plan. For the bird photograph the first row shows the three colors that appear in the beak. The second row has the pinks, purples and browns that appear on the chest, abdomen and flank. The column on the right is Payne's grey with more and less water which I found appears on the head and wings. The black appears only in a few of the darkest feathers. 3) I like the two examples that we were given because of how different they are. The first photo had me using almost the entire palette, light and dark colors, while the second was more restricted and had a narrower tone range.

1. First experience (beyond Crayola as a kid). 2. I chose the Morning Light over the Wasatch Mountains landscape. The colors are pretty close to what I wanted. I found it difficult to pull enough paint to fill the circle, and getting the right amount of water. Some of the colors were very wet. 3. Playing with complementary colors to reduce the vibrancy was key. This picture contains a lot of warm colors, so I used yellow and orange - even in the purple mountain side - to achieve a match.

My first experience with watercolors was in preschool (and of course that wasn't a memorable experience). The first time I truly started using watercolors was in elementary, and to this day it's my favorite medium. I have (like everyone) had good days and bad days with watercolor, and today wasn't my best, but it was a lot of fun. The subject I chose was a Common Kingfisher because they have such a unique color palette with the complementary colors of blue and orange. For the most part I achieved the colors I wanted, but there was a bright aqua tint which I couldn't achieve with the color range I had.

I started using watercolors about two months ago, and as we progress in lessons, I can see all the possibilities that offers us. For this exercise, I created my own palette selecting earth tones´ and other two for mixing, as the most suitable to representfossils´ focusing my attention on the left one (attached scientific names). About ¿any discovery? not sure, but draw all privilege information that fossils provide us to know about landscapes in the pass, for example, and be able to express with volumes, reliefs, shadows, etc. that watercolors offers me, it makes me feel like an enthusiastic archaeologist finding some hidden and precious treasure , thank you.

• I went outside and did a quick painting.  The outdoor temperature is 27 degrees F.  I was wondering why my paint was clumping when painting the tree trunk.  First, I thought I was lifting the paper, but then I realized that the water was freezing on the paper.  I finished indoors.  Not very happy with the result, but I did capture the squirrel’s nest.

   

I have used watercolors before.  I found them difficult to use.  Either too wet or too dry.  With Liz’s instruction I feel more confident to try watercolors again.  It is exciting when I mix just the right color!

I've used paints and mixed before. This practice encouraged me to really look at the specific colors within the picture. I found my first assumption wasn't always correct and was amazed by the nuance I can achieve when mixing colors myself. I was surprised by how detailed even the most gross areas of an subject can be.

1. I have been playing around with watercolors for a little over a year now and it just gets more fun all the time.  I really appreciated the tips from Liz on color mixing opposing colors and using tints, tones and shades.  I have had trouble getting the right muted neutral colors that I needed before.  I did get the colors that I wanted by using a very limited palette.  I was able to mix yellow and permanent rose to get the browns that I wanted by adding Payne's gray and white.  3.  I am realizing that I can get to the same color a number of different ways i.e. browns made from red and green or yellow and purple.  I love putting different colors together and seeing what comes out.  The more that I do it the better I can get at matching the colors that I want.

Very little experience with watercolors (usually work with colored pencils or pastels). I loved playing with the palette. I must say that the colors I got didn't reproduce well on screen - my orange and purple were much deeper for example.  Don't know how that happened.  This is "multi-media:" I penciled in the deciduous trees while painting the fir trees... I also tried using a wash as a background. I like the possibilities it provides for creating a mood.

The dark evergreens and the browniest brown on the finch were the most challenging. 

I have trouble coming up with the blaze orange. Nothing seems bright enough.

That was fun, just as you promised! This was the first time I've ever touched watercolors with a brush, so there was lots of learning. The main thing I struggled with was getting my colors saturated enough, and not too washed out. Also, just learning what colors the different colors in my paint set made: the way they look as dry cakes was quite different from how the look when activated.

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This was my firs texperience with watercolors.  I've mostly used colored pencils.  It was actually more difficult thanI expected.  In fact after it dried I went back in with some colored pencil,  a black gel pen and a white gel pen. I did have trouble mixing the browns in my palette.  I would get to a spot where the color wasn't quite right, but I don't know my paints well enough to know how to get to where I wanted. Yes, focussing on the colors made me notice the different shades of gray as well as the different sades of brown. I also became very aware of the patterns in the feathers and my own inexperience in capturing them.

the finch color palette