Swordwhale Walking: illustration, webcomic, stories, photojourneys, videos
  • launch here
  • art & stories
    • black horses
    • Sea Ponies of Chincoteague
    • Just Animals
    • playing with water
    • Tradigital illustration
    • environmental education >
      • Christmas Magic Mural 2020
      • animal alphabet and counting murals
      • Assateague ponies
      • the salamander room
      • more touch room ocean
      • more: touch room forest
      • wetland
      • wetland art
      • greenleaf
      • reptile week murals: Nixon Park
    • just animals: photography
    • Tales of the E.L.F. >
      • That Darn Elf, a musing or two
      • cast and crew
      • I dreamed of black horses
      • fanfiction: If Wishes Were Elves...
      • Skyfire
      • Leyover and Bardic Circle
      • Following Raven
      • The Merrow's Cap >
        • Merrows Cap credits
      • Manannan's Horses
      • Fins
      • fandom >
        • Radagast's Rabbit Ride
        • the Lone Ranger >
          • LOLs and Trolls
          • but wait, there's Moore, and Silverheels
          • Hi Yo Silver
        • black panthers and night furies
        • tales of Middle Earth >
          • Mirthwood
          • Loth-LOL-ien >
            • Im-LOL-dris
            • Smirkwood
            • well, that coulda' been worse
        • Sherlocked
        • catz and doges on fandom
        • Faithful Sidekicks
    • murals
    • scribblings
    • coloring pages
  • mermaid tales
    • Gramma Swordwhale's Mermaid Blog >
      • how to mermaid
      • merfolk on the Chesapeake
      • my life as a mermaid
    • privateers and pumpkins and ponies oh my!
    • stupid gravity (the adventures of a mermaid on Eastern Neck Is.) >
      • stupid gravity credits
    • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass >
      • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass: credits
    • Stupid Gravity: Misty Cloudy Windy Stormy Augh! >
      • Misty Stormy credits
    • Stupid Gravity: the search for mermaids
    • mermaids, Moana and Maui, beached on Christmas Eve
    • horseshoe crabs forever
    • stupid gravity: hot hot hot >
      • hot hot hot credits
  • Chincoteague
    • back to the islands 2021 >
      • Ponies 2021
    • identify that pony
    • chincoteague pony art
    • Fall Roundup Oct 2019
    • Chincoteague 2019
    • pookas pumpkins and swamp ponies
    • Chincoteague Carousel
    • Chincoteague November 2018
    • the 3rd Sea Voyage of Makenuk's Fin
    • wild horses and kayaks 2017
    • wild ponies in camp
    • North Beach
    • on island time
    • saltwater cowboys
    • Chincoteague
    • Christmas by the Sea
    • island ponies
    • Ace and Unci revolt
    • beached
    • running water in between
    • Assateague Light
    • the Haunted Lagoon
  • crafty stuff
    • photo your toys >
      • how to photograph Breyers in the wild
      • Lokigator and Throg's Epic Adventure
      • Sam and Bucky's Excellent Adventure
      • Mando and Grogu
      • paint and wet snow pants
      • Legolas and Hwin, snow
      • derps (or how not to photograph Breyers and others)
      • Wonder Horse repaint
      • wild Breyers >
        • printable prints and downloads
        • water horses
        • beach Breyers
        • Lotus Legolas and Arod
        • teeny tiny Breyers
        • backyard Breyers and Schleichs
        • vintage breyers
        • Hartland Horses
        • Black Horses
      • educational display
      • Schleich and Safari Faeries
      • North beached
      • more model horses
      • beach party
      • advenatureData
      • Finding Hank
      • Otterlock and Hedgejawn >
        • Hounded in Baskerville
      • how to photograph your dragon
    • Rich Toy hobby horse rehab
    • ModPodge rules
    • paint pours
    • flour salt clay
    • chalk paint
    • rock it: paint rocks and use or lose them
    • faerie gardens >
      • more faerie gardens
      • faerie festival at Spoutwood Farm
    • sea this tutu (and make)
    • I found Dory
    • knit me a mermaid, or chicken, or Hei Hei
    • sea treasures
    • sea glass
    • sea horses
    • rehabbing horse epic fail >
      • do you wanna build a snow pony?
      • do you wanna build a sand pony?
      • Barbie horse gets a makeover
    • mermaid saddles
    • Yule Laugh, Yule Cry... >
      • a Brandywine Christmas
    • Uncle Bob's Toys >
      • Uncle Bob's Toys 2016
      • more: Uncle Bob's Crafts
      • the Adventures of Mortimer
  • adventures
    • Go Play Outside
    • Nature Deficit Disorder
    • I heart Nature
    • autumn light
    • cats
    • mushing 101 >
      • dogs on wheels >
        • Autumn Run on Wheels
      • dogsled
      • dogsledding: running on snow! >
        • Groundhog Day
      • kids and dawgs: first sled run
      • Klondike Derby
      • Sled Dogs and Pirate Ships
      • Christmas Day Run: Rail Trail
      • Horses and Huskies: when predator and prey share the trail
      • Schipperke doo dah >
        • Runnin' with the Big Dogs
        • Hobbit Husky
      • women who run with the wolves
      • Play Time
      • wubba wubba
      • New Year's Dog Day
      • Team Swordwhale
    • trains, sleddogs, and horses oh my!
    • butterscotch and sprinkles
    • horses >
      • horse reference for art
      • ponies small but mighty
      • First Horse: Saraf
      • the Wild Black Mare
      • between thunder and lightning
      • Goliath, Nevada Mustang
      • Yataalii
    • Planet Water >
      • Planet fish tank
      • planet toadpool
      • Planet Pond
      • Planet Stream
      • Planet River
      • Planet Marsh
      • Planet Ocean
      • Planet Water Bird >
        • Planet Water Bird: gulls
      • Planet turtle
      • Planet water snake
      • planet amphibian
    • kayak! >
      • blue boat home
      • kayaking 101
      • kayaking Assateague and Chincoteague
      • how to train your dragonfly
      • Chasing Raven
      • the Susquehanna River >
        • the Rock Garden >
          • return to the Rock Garden
        • Conewago Dreamin'
        • the Conejehola Flats
        • Thunderbird Island (petroglyphs on the Susquehanna)
        • to the White Lady and Beyond
      • Calvert Cliffs fossils
      • Sassafras River Lotus Paddle >
        • Return to the Sassafras
        • sassafras river 2015
        • sassafras paddle 20160814
        • Sassafras River 2017
        • Sassafras river 2018
      • Eastern Neck Island >
        • winter marsh, winter beach
        • Eastern Neck Island: under the supermoon
        • more Eastern Neck Island
      • Pinchot Park
      • Lake Marburg >
        • where are the manatees?
        • ...and the dolphins???
        • macros and SAVs
        • Lake Marburg 2018
        • how to be a kayaking Gramma
    • beached
    • dive in! (SCUBA) >
      • Gourd of the Rings
    • mid Atlantic seashells
    • longship company >
      • December sail
      • Sae Hrafn at Oakley
    • pirates and privateers >
      • Sailing 101
      • Schooner Sultana 1768
      • Capt John Smith Shallop
      • Pride of Baltimore II
      • Kalmar Nyckel
      • downrigging 2010 >
        • Chestertown autumn
        • Downrigging Weekend 2014
        • Downrigging 2015
        • Downrigging 2016
        • Downrigging 2017
        • downrigging 2018: pink tardis
        • Downrigging 2019
      • privateer weekend
    • horseshoe crabs and red knots >
      • horseshoe crab spawn 2021
      • slaughter beach
      • horseshoe crabs and semipalmated sandpipers 2019
    • surfboards and watchtowers: Cape Henlopen >
      • beached
      • Watching Whales >
        • Watching Whales...again
    • Seadogs: Newfoundland water trials
    • wind hounds
    • wild things! >
      • baltimore aquarium
      • there's a hummer in the garage...ceiling ...
      • critter cam
      • sky walking
      • leaf-fall
    • The Adventures of the Good Ship Fearaf
    • the incredibly dead blog page
  • art class
    • framing 101
    • watercolor: how to
    • sip n paints
    • acrylic painting 101
    • wildlife art class
    • Santa, You're Doomed
    • (drawing) horses 101 >
      • horse color 101
      • gaits
      • ponies in motion
      • tack
      • Draw: a horse
    • dogs and wolves
    • go ahead, draw a pirate ship
    • anthropomorphism (cartoon animals and stuff)
    • the Little Kids Page of Big Ideas
    • mural: how to >
      • Gabriel's Whale
      • stuff you need
      • drawing (mural)
      • drawing mural 2
      • painting
      • mural jungle
      • mural bat cave
      • mural cats
      • mural ocean
      • mural arctic
      • mural leaf smacking
      • watershed mural
    • crayons and colored pencils
    • palettes
  • wait wait! let me get the camera!
  • who perpetrated all this???
    • swordbroad

sip n paints

So you think you're not an artist.

Everyone has a need to be creative, and you can have fun doing it. And I can show you how with a sip n paint session.

I work in watercolor.
  • easy
  • cheap
  • simple
  • fast
Watercolor is translucent paints over white paper.

Translucent means it lets light shine through. The white of the paper is your "white paint".

Your painting should not look like a photo. If you want it to, get out your camera and take a photo. You are an artist interpreting your subject with art. However, you will use photo or live REFERENCE to make sure your pony doesn't look like an armadillo.


Paper should be about 100 lb or more. I use vellum bristol. It has a nice eggshell finish without too much texture or being too shiny-smooth.

Brushes should be nylon or taklon. Natural hair brushes are limp, floppy and the bristles fall out.... unless it's a fifty dollar brush.

You'll need a drawing board: could be one from the arts n crafts store, or a cookie sheet, or go to the hardware store, buy a piece of masonite, have them carve it up into various sizes, and you have a bunch of options. Drawing board has to be stiff, not cardboard or something that bends when wet.

Also: masking tape, sponges, sponge brushes, toothbrushes, water containers, palette. The pallette can be one of those round things with spaces to mix paint or a plastic plate.

For more, check my watercolor page: http://www.swordwhale.com/watercolor-how-to.html
​

Meanwhile, here are some pieces to start with...
Picture
I shot a photo of Thetis on a trail on Assateague Island VA. She's one of the famous Chincoteague ponies.

For a class, I can rough in her head shape, or you can try to draw it (it's basically two triangles). The background is some vertical lines for the trees, and a lot of "splotting" with a chewed up old brush for the leaves, leaving enough white showing through (don't kill your light). Not a watercolor purist: I use some Prismacolor pencil line to define some edges and deepen some shadows. You do NOT use white paint except in tiny amounts at the end to put back in some lights you lost. You do NOT mix white paint with the watercolor, you'll get a chalky mess. You also do NOT mix black with colors, you'll deaden them.

burnt sienna...ultramarine blue... yellow... prussian blue

​you can add burnt umber

Picture
Picture
Assateague Dawn
​

I got up before the crack of dawn to catch the sun rising out of the sea at Assateague Island.

The sky is basic washes, leaving a hole for the sun, or lifting it with a wet brush.

We sketch roughly where the waves are, then make a lot of blue brushstrokes, leaving the white...and painting a little back in later.

​Ultramarine blue... prussian blue... alizarin crimson... scarlet or vermillion...burnt sienna
Picture
Picture
Not sure where I got this pic of a great egret in a tree, they're a ubiquitous sight kayaking and at Assateague.

The bird is basic shapes, but those who feel sketch impaired can have me rough it out for them. 

The background is basic spatter or splotting with a chewed up brush, or a sponge can be used. Or all of them!

​Going back in with a tiny brush and some opaque white helps clean up the edges.

​ultramarine blue... prussian blue... burnt sienna (or umber)... yellow
Picture
Picture
Surf

Don't be afraid of the surf, it's a bit of blue wash for the sky, lifting out the clouds with a wet brush, and some spatter for the water.

​burnt sienna (or umber)... prussian blue... ultramarine blue.

Picture
Picture
I think my Assateague Light may be leaning just a wee bit. I'll help you get yours straighter by use of center lines. No perspective here, just a head on view of this classic eastern shore lighthouse.

Some blue scribbled in with a brush for the sky (leaving the white for the clouds), and splotting with an old brush for the leaves. And just a little shadow on the left side of the buildings.

ultramarine blue... prussian blue... burnt sienna...vermillion or scarlet... alizarin crimson... yellow

Picture
The Moon Pine was shot from my yard.

This is a simple blue wash, with the leaf shapes scribbled over it with a brush. Little pointy brush or pencil for vines and twigs.

​Ultramarine blue...yellow...burnt umber or sienna... you can also create these dark greens with burnt sienna and prussian blue.

Picture
Some other photos that would make good practice...
Remember, the trick is to simplify what you're looking at, break it down into sections and basic shapes.

Hopefully you can come to one of my classes. Follow my facebook to find out when and where.

https://www.facebook.com/swordwhale
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