Author Topic: Watercolor paint-along  (Read 2363 times)

Offline Far North

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Watercolor paint-along
« on: February 14, 2016, 11:30:11 AM »
In case you missed Sandy Allnock's annoucement beginning tomorrow she is hosting a week long watercolor paint-along on her blog. 

Offline CarefreeSadie

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Re: Watercolor paint-along
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2016, 08:59:26 AM »
Well, I have followed Ms Allnock for quite a while so was a little excited about this "class" she announced.   I copied her barn picture onto watercolor paper and followed along using my pan paints which I am very happy to own.  I had fun and came away with a decent water colored picture of a barn......but I kept thinking wow wouldn't it be nice to have that Daniel Smith paint.  I went and looked at the basic six color set that Ms Allnock was using and it is $30 for 6 5 ml tubes.......

I cannot justify the purchase in this lifetime. I am kind of frustrated that this is the paint she is using and touting how great it is.  From what I can surmise the Daniel Smith company and Ms Allnock made some sort of deal, they gave her a bunch of free product and she is using it and probably selling a bunch of it for the company.  It sounds like she will be showing/teaching this paint in various venues in the future.  I wish she would cross reference the colors with some of the other watercolor brands she has recommended in the past.  I kind of did that while painting along with her but it was kind of hard, I should have done that before hand.

I will probably keep following along with this "class" but I keep getting the feeling it's all about marketing and not just the joy of painting.  I have learned a lot from Ms Allnock and I do wish her well but I hope this deal using such an expensive product doesn't blow up on her.  I would hate to think that she was leaving the paper crafter behind if she continues gushing over such an expensive product. 
You know it's been a good day when I haven't released the flying monkeys.......

Offline howdyheidi

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Re: Watercolor paint-along
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2016, 10:02:23 AM »
Thanks for sharing this class, I did not know about it.

I like Sandy Allnock's videos, but she definitely does a lot of fine art in addition to the papercrafting. I think it is fun to watch sometimes, but I am not interested in trying it at this time.

I looked into the affiliate stuff on her blog, and she does use affiliate links, but she says that if she is sponsored by a specific company that she clearly will disclose it in the blog post. I did not dig any deeper to see if she disclosed anything for this series.

http://sandyallnock.com/faq/

That being said, I while I might watch the videos, I am not too interested in tube watercolors, although I noticed that Kristina Werner is using tube watercolors now too.
~~Heidi~~

Offline Far North

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Re: Watercolor paint-along
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2016, 10:38:41 AM »
Sadie I looked for your barn in both our gallery and on Sandy’s page but can’t find it.  I would love to see your painting…Please share!

I liked the time Sandy spent before the Paint-along teaching about how to combine colors.  I personally find it easier to mix portions with tube paints and to achieve closer to repeatable results. Certainly one can obtain far more colors using portions beyond the 50/50 mix.  Ways to mix colors differs somewhat between artists and takes me back to Claudine Hellmuth'shttp://www.collageartist.com/chstudio_colormix.htm.

While I don’t like marketing promotions of every item possibly useful to a specific project I find it a marketing catch22 situation.  I understand this is a stream of income for many presenting video information and yet it allows me to benefit from their free classes.

If anyone wants more information on Sandy’s association with Daniel Smith she provides links prior to the paint along where she offers written explanation in addition to the information in videos. She alluded to having a goal to support artist skill development so I believe that is why she moved to using drawn images as opposed to using stamps.  Perhaps that will be a new niche for her.

Offline CarefreeSadie

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Re: Watercolor paint-along
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2016, 11:18:42 AM »
LOL, here is the barn...........this is the reason why I am interested in this particular paint along, I can do flowy backgrounds but a watercolor painting is against my inner voice.  I like more order in my art, and the fact that I have painted with acrylics for many years makes the watercolor method hard for me.  I can get blooms galore, and I can even get a painting that looks like acrylic from watercolors complete with a "glaze" on the top but that wonderful loose watercolor alludes me completely.  I have been practicing and trying different brushes and looks with the watercolor but I think this might actually be a long journey.  The acrylics are intuitive for me, I can blend and add and play with them to get the effect I want pretty easily. 

I have done both days so far and mine of course look much different then Ms. Allnock's look.  Actually mine are much brighter in color and the watercolor is thicker in texture, a carry over from using acrylics.  Hubby looked over my shoulder and thought mine were prettier.......LOL an art critic he is not.  I have also watched the frugal crafter in some of her watercolor videos and her technique is easier for me to understand, of course she explains things down to the very last detail too which helps a lot.  I have picked up some color theory from watching these two and other youtubers.

Have you followed along with Ms. Allnock, Far North? 

For me it doesn't matter whether it is a stamped image or a digital image (which is what it is when copied from a drawing).  I can do some drawing but I am lazy and use "helpers".  I did learn something which should have been obvious from Lindsey and that is to use a watercolor pencil when tracing something or drawing something to watercolor.  The pencil lines were bothering me and once you have watercolor down you really can't erase them.  Lindsey kind of matches the color of watercolor pencils to her project and then when it is done it looks like it's supposed to be there instead of a distraction.  I have really never thought about that part before since acrylic paint can be used to cover those lines up if it is so desired.
You know it's been a good day when I haven't released the flying monkeys.......

Offline Far North

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Re: Watercolor paint-along
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2016, 02:44:24 PM »
Oh Sadie thanks for sharing your painting!  I can see where you tried Sandy’s suggestions. I really like how you chose to use your own style on the roof, barn entrance and your own beautiful sky.  You should be very happy with this piece!  Also I appreciate all the wonderful nuggets of information you shared.

Yes, I am watching Sandy’s Paint-along videos but unfortunately I don’t have time right now to actual try try them. For now I watch her watercolor techniques and this series.  But not so much when she colors with copics, crayons etc.