 Hey guys, I'm over here off-camera. I've been asked a few times to show How I'm doing my abstract watercolor painting. I do do other things besides sewing. I know I've been doing a lot of sewing lately And I wanted to start off here because I wanted to show you my painting nook now behind the camera is a large acrylic painting easel and I do have acrylic painting supplies in this same little alcove But I have set up a desk here in front of the window, and this is actually two old-school 1980s era wooden TV trays and They side-by-side fit under the window perfectly. I have a nice view of the woods next to my house and that Jingling you just heard is the children next door playing out my driveway, but that's fine I Do use an easel To do these paintings on now. I will admit that when I first started painting. I didn't use the easel I Didn't understand why you needed an easel. I didn't this is a watercolor block I'm on the very last page, but I didn't work on watercolor blocks didn't understand me what the Attraction to that was or anything for this process because you really want it to be abstract and you want things to run and flow Yes, you could do it on a flat surface and just pick it up and tilt it I find it easier to work on the easel and Having it on a block the paper on a block no matter what kind of paper you use Keeps the edges from warping and curling while you're working on it. We are working with Water-based mediums primarily watercolor, but also some gouache and a lot of water and so you really want to have A block or you want to have your paper stretched to a board and then have on the easel. I think that's the best way This happens to be Fluid watercolor paper, but I'm not a picky paper person I will use cotton paper, which this is I will use cellulose paper plenty of times too. I'm not super picky I like arches paper, but it's just really expensive. So I tend not to buy it unless there's something on sale somewhere So fluid tends to be more affordable, but buy whatever works for you or use what you have even better use what you have Okay, so we're going to switch views here a little bit and I'll show you some more of what's on the table Yes, my tripod is here because this is where I do a lot of filming so the tripod's right in the corner And going forward I can easily clean this table off and do a little bit of art journaling again here right in front of the Window I've got my plants and things in the window some tools some things that make me smile and make me happy So that's one way to get started find a nice corner for yourself with a good lighting and turn on some music and We're going to just paint how we feel all right. Let me switch camera angles Hey, so First thing you're going to need is paint now these are Not traditional paint palettes These are actually pill boxes and They come with a removable plastic cover Which is great because if you have these and you want to take them with you somewhere you can just put the little covers back in and Close it up and they're nice and small and they fit really well in my travel easel, which is much bigger than this one The reason I like these besides that is that they have really big open spaces So when you're doing this abstract water watercolor painting or not really using traditional painting tools too much You're using things like broken gift cards or spoons or sponges or face rollers or I Mean I'm going to show you a few of the things that I do use So you want a really big well to dip them into it's also for me not about Keeping the colors pure and pristine as you can see especially from the yellows. They've been a little bit contaminated But you know what I'm okay with that so Have something to put your paints in that has big spaces larger than a Traditional large half-pan space It took me a little while to find something that would work that also I could fold up and take with me If I wanted to do this on the go somewhere. I will link the Amazon listing for this down below. I Also have a little mini pitcher full of water to rewet these with this is the easiest way. I found I do have A bottle with a needle Tiny tip and a spray bottle. This isn't to wet the paint. This is to put on the paper To give yourself drips and texture and whatnot Same thing for the pipe that's That's it's for texture and marks on the paint. It's not for what you think it is. All right, some of the more unusual tools And this is one I saw Somebody use on Instagram. I think and they actually took a sponge poked a hole in it And pushed a bunch of rolled up saran wrap through the hole Wrapped it around it zip tied it at the top after they squeezed it tight and got these I mean It leaves a really pretty suggestive flower type mark on the paper. I It's really really cool as you can see they are dirty. So I have used them I also have some traditional artist sponges some sea sponges This is a hair scrunchie. I don't use it for my hair. I use it to You know, all right spoons brushes this is One that I made out of the something that had that on it Um got any idea what that is. That's a test. It's the inside of a pizza roll of scotch tape Give card eyeshadow brush plush brush hair pick thing Another tape sticker. Oops center thing. What else is in here another hair pick? a Broken eyebrow slash eyelash brush. This part's all broken off, but that's okay. I use this part to make marks on the paint I have a bunch of brushes here, but they are not paint brushes So these are old makeup brushes. So fun fact, I don't really wear that match makeup anymore But I took all the brushes. I took a couple out that I do still use the rest of them came up here They work great I have a toothbrush. I Have a couple of different like face Cleaner scrubber and massaging brush things. I have a couple of homemade brushes. These are pieces of driftwood with feathers glued to a piece of ribbon and then wrapped around the edge to make these they live leave good marks and This is another facial massager thing with a bobble inside of it And this is one with a roller And then This looks like that. These are mostly these are from the Dollar Tree. I've got some popsicle sticks, pallet knives and some plastic wrap so Let's put all these down here. They live in a little tray here in the window So which makes it easy for me to get to them first thing we need to do is wet our paints and While I'm putting water in all of them So this is about painting How you feel not painting what you see Painting how you feel about what you see painting how you feel about Yourself some part of your life, whatever it is I tend to be nature and landscape oriented, but that doesn't mean that you're gonna do that These kind of paintings and that's where your inspiration is coming from everybody's different. So there's no wrong way You know if you're feeling angry about something and you want to do an abstract painting You're probably gonna end up with lots of reds in there, but Mostly we'll talk about landscapes because that's where I come from I tend to Most of the time Do something that's fairly abstract for the background and then do one thing that's very suggestive of a plant or a tree Or something like that and then I leave it at that. So we're gonna let these sit for a minute I'm gonna slightly change the camera angle so you can maybe see that and we'll be right back So besides all the paint marking tools, I also have a cup full of like water brushes filled with ink Another sprayer big ballpoint pens some pencils and that sort of thing and Graphite crayons so sometimes I get started with something like that These are I call them abstract watercolors But sometimes they are technically mixed media because I do use other things and I don't limit myself I'm more amount about creating a interesting finished piece of art that expresses what I'm seeing looking at feeling than I am Being a purist about only watercolor. So do what makes you happy But that's how I get started. Okay, so I think right now. I think I'm gonna start with the crayon I have a tendency to do this Start with a line Just making marks. I'm not thinking. I'm just doing I don't remember what color this is but That's okay If it'll come out. I'm guessing it's some shade of blue. There we go blue tends to come out and all of my Works in one way or the other. I don't understand why that is but it just is I'm going to grab my gift card and we are going to reach into one of the blues in my palette So I do have my paint palettes divided into blue purple earthy terracotta's and yellow green red That's what works for me. So So I'm just I usually do start with some kind of horizon line That doesn't mean it stays that way, but I do usually start that way and I'm just making marks In the back of my mind. I have some of the Hikes we've gone on or drives my husband and I have gone on That we have a nature preserve not too far from the house That has a big pond with a wildlife and I'm just going to grab colors Obviously, I'm sticking with the blues and purples for the moment. I like where that's at. So we're going to leave that Let's grab one of our brushes and some green I have a light green and a dark green. So let's go with the lighter one for the moment I don't know why I'm putting that there, but okay. That looks like foliage to me It is giving it some interest. So you've got the horizontal lines Then you've got these vertical and diagonal Marks from this. So the other thing when you're doing this is you want to keep your marks varied and interesting And that gives it visually something else for the viewer to look at I want to go with a spoon. Oh, no, let's do this thing Another shade of green. Okay with the drips and that extra water Just gives it more marks which we're okay with grab a little bit of gray Why I don't know adding some Gray keeping my color trying to keep my colors and marks balanced That's what works for me. If I make a mark. I don't like or there's too much of it magic Or the edges aren't blended enough or something works great. Okay Let's grab our roller roller ball and let's put it in this Sandy earthy color make some marks. Let's see Sometimes the hardest thing is picking up a tool. This is a like peachy terracotta color I'm gonna grab one of these I'm gonna grab this makeup brushes and make angled brush So Lauren Hutton make a brush. I know she's not even not only I don't think still alive Well, maybe she is but her makeup company's not in business anymore. So Old brush what color do I want to use that would be the question Choices choices choices sometimes that's the hardest thing Let's go with Yeah, let's go with that color Take my feather brush again of just a little bit put it in that light green and you just have to know When it's time to stop if you keep going it you're just gonna muddy it up by the same token I always seem to want to have a Little bit of white somewhere So I do have the white down here And because everything's wet. I'm not drying anything. It's gonna blend some paint of these paints will be bright and transparent or granulating some will be chalky because this palette is a mixture of Watercolors and gouache. We're gonna put some yellow bright yellow yellow will add a nice pop of suggested sunlight Which honestly, this is kind of needing a little bit You will find as you're collecting tools to make marks with that some will work better for you than others as you saw a minor combination of Stuff from the trash reused items and things from the dollar store. None of it costs a lot of money So that's how I create those that I'm gonna call that done. It's as simple as that you let it dry and you go back and Maybe you want to add more layers. Maybe you don't for me that works unintentionally drew something suggested by the Pond and reserve that's like a mile from my house. That's it. This is what happens. I paint water I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what that means. If you know leave it down below I'd love to see what you guys do with abstract watercolor videos And if you want to see me do another one of these, please let me know leave it down in the comments I'd love to see if you'd give this a try what you're doing you can tag me in a post on social media you can Do a video and share the link with me if you want ready access to what I'm doing on the daily and How I'm doing it and my inspiration for things you can become a patron I have a patreon and I post over there sort of regularly they also have their own private YouTube channel with literally thousands of videos on it and A private Facebook chat with me just us me us and that and me us and me then and me So yeah, I think about supporting the free content here by doing that And that's it for today. Go out and have a great day Do something nice for yourself because you deserve it paint something abstracted and I'd love to see where you go with that Bye guys