The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Nature Journaling and Field Sketching › Getting Comfortable with Watercolor
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Bird AcademyBird Academy1. Which of the new watercolor techniques have you tried? What have you discovered using them? Any tips or experiences you’d like to share? 2. Thinking of your own journaling projects, how might you incorporate any of the new watercolor techniques in this topic to achieve your goals?You must be enrolled in the course to reply to this topic.
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This was the first time I worked with watercolor and it was very frustrating to try to get the effects I wanted. I tried using all three techniques in the picture of my cat but wasn't happy with the results. It definitely is going to take a lot of practice. I would use this medium in the field, but probably not on a finished painting .
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I tried all three with the picture presented. Delicate balance of use of water…need just right amount. Still unable to figure out how to enter any picture/image into this area. Any suggestions.
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ElizabethBird AcademyHi Candace. At the top left of the box where you enter your text reply there is a button that says “Insert Image” and if you click on that you will be able to share your photo. A new box will appear and you have the option to drag your photo over or click again to select a photo. If you need any additional help please reach out to Customer Service and someone will be happy to assist!
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I tried all of the techniques. I like the wet on wet for a blurred out background effect. When I did the dry brush, which I have used with acrylic paint effective on models, my brush was too wet. I will have to keep working on it. I mainly worked on wet on dry, and did better than I thought I would. I will have to admit that going in I was worried about how well I would do with watercolor. I have only worked with it for two days, but I am thinking right now that I will probably use it only for special projects. I found that I like sketching and adding the details which at this point, I am not convinced I can do as well with watercolor.
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Tried using all three techniques with my female cardinal. Required lots of patience between layers. The color mixing tips were helpful to get a range of colors.
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Tried all 3 techniques. Dry on dry was a discovery for me and achieved great textures, which will come in handy for wood. Discovered that each brus or watermen size gave a different texture effect. Also, the exercise gave me plenty of new ideas for wet on wet, for skies and blurry objects in the distance for depth (trees, bushes) Wet on dry was my "go to" most of the time. Will expand my techniques from now on. Thanks!
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It was fun to create the watercolor palette study, and to try out techniques. In one place or another, I experimented with all of the watercolor techniques Liz modeled in this unit’s lessons. The one I had never tried was glazing. It surprised me that colors can be layered, to some degree, in the application of watercolor pigments. My prior experiences did not include the glazing technique. I don’t see watercolor as a “go to” medium in my nature journal. The waterless media are more appealing to me, as is incorporation of photographs. As a nature photographer, I will likely have my “in the field” immersion and “lost in Nature” moments with my camera… followed by the addition of art media exploration to record musings, data, and factual information.
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I just did the practice painting today because I need to order new watercolors, but I can already see how the techniques can help with images. I will try the idea of creating rough textures with the dry-on-dry technique with trees. The wet-on-dry will be fun to experiment with when painting some birds with deep and vibrant colors, such as cardinals and goldfinches. Looking at other people's journal entries makes me excited to get started. I added a picture of my faulty paint set and my practice:(
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Tip for those using pencil with watercolor (so mostly everyone) try using kneaded erasers, the help keep the occasional smear at bay. it also helps fade the pencil to make your art look neater. I never knew their was different techniques for water color! I'm definitely no pro with water colors so this course is helping a lot!
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I think I tend to try to draw with watercolors, rather than paint - if that makes sense. The wet on dry technique works great for that. Wet on wet was fun, but I have to learn to let the paint go, and not try to control it so much. The dry on dry seemed good for suggesting texture in an area. Below I attempted to capture the colors of an early spring day in Connecticut. The wet on wet worked well for suggesting the light foliage and sky, and wet on dry defined most of the shapes in my landscape. I wasn't able to achieve dry on dry with the water brush.
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I tried them all. Wet on wet will take alot of practice! Mine was too wet and I also noticed it buckled the paper then the color tends to pool up at least on mixed media. I am going to use colored pencils in the journal, mixing and testing colors is too much work for my journal but still will practice with the watercolors for general artwork.
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Though was using the Wet on dry method for a long time, was not applying in the nature journaling concept. It's quite interesting. But I am not sure how fast and effectively I can bring in the color palette in my journal while I am on the field. I think I need more practice.
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I've done all of these techniques at other times except the dry brush. Wet on dry is what I do for most of my watercolour paintings, and I love wet on wet for sunsets, sunrises, in fact any sky works beautifully for this method. I need lots of practice with dry brush but once I am better at it I think it'll be perfect for delicate texturing like fur, hair, leaves, pine needles, feathers, etc. I will be using that a lot!
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1. Tried all 3. Had several goes with each. Wet on Wet shouldn't be too wet or all the pigment is gone. Also gravity pleas an impact on what happens on the page. 2. Wet-on-dry great for water. Wet-on-Wet great for sky.
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That is really cool, I like how you created a template on the technique
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I’m glad we were able to see various techniques, before now I was a student of as wet as possible and the pages would become wrinkled and warped as well as the pulp would begin moving on the paper. I’m glad I was able to try these techniques out as I can see how I would use them in the field to achieve various styles without distorting and ruining my sketches.
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hi, I have a question if I use window and newton will I get the same watercolor effects in my paintings as Liz?
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Hi Nanette, I don't know for sure but I am also using Windsor and Newton and I love the way they are working. Hope that helps.
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