Mud puddles have been few and far between this year but today an inch of rain fell over this area. We were all thankful for the much needed relief to hot weather and the joy of green in the fields.

I start with an aquabord. I have fallen in love with these. Yes they cost more per board than watercolor paper but you just drop them in a frame and done. It makes up in matting and glass. Also you can ship them. Start by running them quickly under the water to get the hole board damp and let it dry to get trapped air out.  A 1 inch boarder is put around the edges to help separate the image from the frame making a matte in some ways.  Taking my time to get the artwork draw has proven more valuable than any other step.
Well God Bless time to get back to painting.

 My passion for watercolors can be compared to a frog for a healthy fly, or maybe a farmer for rain. I love working the farm and painting. With this blog I hope to help other watercolorist with my experiences.

Expereince 1# Know your paint.

It sounds crazy but if you will take the time to do a few exercises with your paint it will help you be better at mixing. Below is a grid of the colors that I use. I drew lines going down the paper. Making sure to leave a 1/4 in. gap. Then painted the colors and labeled them. The next day I came back to do the same procedure sideways.    

The grid has helped me see which colors move more, granulate when mixed, and are opaque. Since I am a visual person, I can glance up and see my chart. This also shows me which colors to mix for nice deep grays.   Well hope this helps. God Bless