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Category: watercolor

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Better than a marked-down sweater, any day

Sea & Sky Workshop
August 9-14, 2015 
Acadia National Park
If Santa Claus screwed up this Christmas, it’s up to you to remedy it, and I don’t mean by running down to the mall to score some great Boxing Day deals. By next summer, they’ll be a distant memory, but we’ll be gearing up to paint at Schoodic Point from August 9-14, 2015
You’ve got less than a week to get the $125 early-bird discount. Four slots of the twelve are already filled, but I DO want to be able to pass on these savings to you. And I can’t do that if I don’t have your registration in hand by January 1.
Corinne at Owl’s Head in 2013.
I spend a great deal of time stalking and bagging perfect venues for my workshops. I’m really excited about this one. In 2014, we painted the ‘quaint’ Maine coastline, along the sheltering coast of Penobscot Bay. This year, we’re going for the thundering, open ocean.
Schoodic Point is far from the hustle of Bar Harbor, but it is has the same dramatic rock formations, pounding surf, and stunning mountain views that make Acadia a worldwide tourist destination.
The places we’ll go!
Open sea, stunning views of Cadillac Mountain, and veins of dark basalt running through red granite rocks are the dominant features of this “road less traveled.” Pines, birch, spruce, cedar, cherry, alder, mountain ash, and maples forest the land. There are numerous coves, inlets, islands, and lighthouses.
Here is the brochure. Here is the registration form. I’m off to Philly for the weekend, but take a moment to sit down and send your registration form in. I promise you it will be a lot more satisfying than a new sweater set in 2014’s color of the year.
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Holiday gift guide #1—brushes for oils, acrylics, and watercolor

That Holiday is coming up. I am often asked for gift ideas. Brushes are expensive, and most students limp by with rotten ones rather than spend the money on good brushes. A gift certificate to an art supply store would give the most flexibility, but some people don’t want that.

The brush department is where most painters stand and drool in an art store

Oil and acrylic plein air painters should limit themselves—in general—to long-handled hog bristle brushes. These carry paint most effectively. Shape is a personal preference, but a decent mixture of sizes and shapes gives the greatest flexibility.
Oils and Acrylics
In general, painters are better off with fewer good brushes than a lot of mediocre ones. Sizing is not standard across manufacturers, but a variety between #2 and #12 should suffice for most field work.
Here are the fundamentals:
Brights are stubby flat brushes, useful for short, aggressive strokes and heavy paint application.
Filberts are oval brushes. They carry more paint than a round but the pointed end allows for greater paint-carrying capacity. People who like to blend their edges often like filberts best.
Flats have been my go-to brush for many years. They can be used on edge for fine work, but used on the flat they carry lots of paint and create a bold style.
Rounds are good for details, lines, and fills. I generally carry a few smaller rounds in my kit, but many painters swear by them in all sizes. 
Here are specialty brushes, for the painter who already has a basic kit:
Riggers: These are short-handled, pointed, long round brushes made of sable, and their main mission in life is painting boat rigging and other fine lines.
Fans: While you could use these to daub happy trees, they are really intended for blending. I have a couple in my studio kit, but I don’t carry them in the field.
The basic shapes
Egbert or Double filberts are long, squishy brushes. I have three of these. They are easily damaged and shouldn’t be left to stand in a can of turpentine. They are especially good for figure work, and give a dancing, prancing line.
Spalters are big flat brushes with either long or short handles. I use them to underpaint my studio canvases and as dry blending brushes.
Watercolors
Watercolor painters have the choice between Taklon, squirrel and sable. The latter costs the earth but has the finest paint-carrying capacity.
The three basic shapes are:
Round: this is more pointed than an oil-color round and is suitable for most detail work. Sable takes a point better than synthetics, and this is a place where spending the money would be appropriate. A #10 for regular painters, and a #16 for big painters is a good place to start.
Flat wash: Most painters carry a few of these. I have a .5” and 1”, both of Taklon. These often have an angled end for scraping and burnishing.
Mop/oval wash:This is a big floppy brush useful for laying in large areas. It is usually made of squirrel hair, and is very absorbent.
Hake: Also a wash brush, but of Asian extraction. I find a mop more versatile, but it wouldn’t hurt to have one to play with.
Riggers: These are short-handled, pointed, long round brushes made of sable, and their main mission in life is painting boat rigging and other fine lines.
Script/Liner: A detail brush for outlining and long continuous strokes.


I will be teaching in Acadia National Park next August. Message me if you want information about the coming year’s classes or this workshop.
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Choosing a watercolor easel

My own contraption, easily assembled from off-the-shelf parts. It functions equally well for oils and watercolors.

This weekend I got a letter from a southern California watercolor artist asking about field easels. I’ve written a lot about oil-painting easels but very little about watercolor easels. However, the same fundamental rule applies: there is no single “right” easel for every person and every situation.

En plein air pro watercolor easel.
For me, a movable mast is an important consideration for watercolor, because I want my work surface to be able to go almost flat for washes. One commercial easel with that flexibility is the Anderson Swivel Easel. The trade-off for lighter weight in aluminum field easels is that they can be flimsy compared to their wooden counterparts, but this is a good alternative to a wooden box-style easel.  At 5’6”, I find it to be slightly too short for me to work standing. But if you work from a seated position, the small storage area and slightly shorter profile will pose no great problems.

Anderson Swivel Easel
I made myself a heavy-duty variation, using a mastfrom Guerrilla Painter, a shelf from En Plein Air Pro, and a ball-head tripod I had from back in the days when we used real cameras. This is the workhorse easel in my collection—it is virtually indestructible, very stable and easy to adjust.  And there’s no assembly needed: just buy the parts and put them together. If you already have a good tripod, you can assemble this easel for less than $120.

Mabef beechwood field easel has a pivoting head. Mine has been amazingly durable and is the first easel I grab for new painting students to try.
The trouble is, it’s quite heavy. That’s no problem for painting from the back of your car, but if you let your friends talk you into long hikes, it’s just too much. For a truly lightweight easel, I’d look at En Plein Air Pro’s line. As I noted above, the trade-off for their light weight is that they are less able to endure the shocks of truly extreme plein air painting.
I also have a Mabef field easel, which is an economical answer to the pivot-head problem for watercolor artists. Its major downside is that you need to bring a table with you, but it’s my most useful teaching easel, and has outlasted a lot of fancier alternatives. While the head doesn’t pivot 360°, it can be turned flat, and that’s enough for most applications.

Message me if you want information about next year’s classes and workshops.


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The scene of the crime

My errant palette knife has returned home, with a spiffy monogram.

After a beautiful drive across the state, I arrived at Palenville in mid-afternoon. Unpacked and rested, I wandered into Jamie Grossman’s kitchen, where she handed me the palette knife I’d dropped in her creek last summer. Not only did she return it to me, she returned it monogrammed.

A wee little sketch of rocks and a tree.
Patricia McDermond and I had 45 minutes to paint or draw before it was time to dress for dinner, so we wandered back to the creek with our watercolor sketch kits. I didn’t fall in this time, but I didn’t paint much that was brilliant, either. Three fast and weak watercolors in my notebook and I was done.
A wee little watercolor sketch of the same tree. One drawn and three watercolor sketches in less than an hour.
It usually takes me about three hours to do a 9X12 plein air painting. But that doesn’t include the driving time, the sketching time, or the falling-in-the-creek time.
Success is a glass of wine on your friend’s deck in the woods.
There are still a few openings in my 2014 workshop in Belfast, ME. Information is available here.
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The best fan mail

Three watercolors done by Shirley last October. I can’t wait to see what she does in Maine this October! 
The greatest compliment to an instructor is to have a student sign up again for another year. While I was in Camden last week, I learned that Shirley, a student from last October’s Irondequoit Inn program, will be joining me in Maine this October.
Shirley is darn intrepid. She let us put her in the bottom of a canoe and paddle through a choppy lake and a maze of streams until we reached a beaver dam and had to back our way out. I promise right here and now we won’t be doing that again.
Shirley letting us take her for a canoe ride…
But I also promise that the food—of such high caliber at last year’s workshop—is at least as good this year in Maine.
Shirley has a BFA from Syracuse University and was a prizewinner at the second annual Chautauqua National Exhibition. (In the spirit of things coming full circle, I participated in two Chautauqua National shows myself, a few decades later.)
To balance her out there are three novice painters signed up for the October session—and a couple of additional openings, one of which probably has your name on it. She’s a lovely person, and you’d enjoy being in class with her.
If you haven’t registered but want to, know that October 2013—last session with openings in 2013—is selling out fast. Or, let me know if you’re interested in painting with me in 2014. Click here for more information on my Maine workshops!

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Kids, gather around and I’ll tell you about the Dark Age of Graphic Design

My watercolor graphic for the invitation. Yes, it dangles. It is meant to be a corner ornament.

A long time ago and far, far away I worked as a graphic designer. One of my favorite tasks was choosing paper for print jobs. AJ Laux in Lockport and, later, XPedX’s retail store on South Avenue in Rochester were two of my favorite places. Paper and envelopes, not shrink-wrapped but each kind in their own precise little cardboard coffer, are more sensual than chocolate, more gratifying than new shoes.
OK, kids, go ask your grandparents what this tool was. And think that I paid $48 for it in the 1980s. That’s like $2000 today. (I saved it in case I can figure out how to use it as a depilatory.)

 A few weeks ago, an important client commissioned a watercolor-and-design project. That would be my daughter, who is being married in October. Of course I was happy; not only do I love my daughter but I particularly love multi-layered, text-based design. And I got to do a watercolor!

What a lovely time to be a designer this is! Never has software been so fluid, flawless and flexible. High speed digital printing has rendered service bureaus, separations, film, and press proofs obsolete. The technical barriers that stood between idea and realization have pretty much been eliminated. You have an inspiration; an hour later it’s uploaded and on its way. And if you don’t have any skill, you can do a pretty bang-up job just using the templates available online. (Try thatwith painting.)
The last project for which I was able to buy paper at XPedX.
(I am a bit wistful when I see all the wonderful hand-drawn typefaces shared so freely across the internet. As a youngster I loved typeface design, but there was no way to convert one’s own typography to anything useful. It’s almost enough to make one envy the young.)
But in the past few years there has been a less-welcome change in the graphics industry. The demise of small offset print shops has led to the corresponding demise of the small paper shops which supported them. The rise of big box office supply stores has undone small stationers. Last year XPedX closed their retail stores nationwide. One’s paper-buying options in Western New York seem to be limited to office supply stores (which specialize in copy paper) and craft stores (which specialize in scrapbooking papers). 

All off-whites are not created equal.

I spent the day today on the phone talking to paper reps to no avail—none of them were set up to have a retail customer come in and fondle their samples.

Finally, I found a throwback, a lovely woman named Cheryl who works in a paper warehouse in Buffalo. She was willing to take the time to work with me on my very small order. Quickly we ascertained that in the limited time we had, our color choices were ivory, ivory, or ivory. Luckily, the bride likes off white, and I have some accent sheets from a prior project that will dovetail quite nicely.
There are some things you just can’t order blind over the internet: sun-kissed garden tomatoes, silk lingerie, and paper you’ve never seen, touched or felt. I solved today’s problem but I don’t know what the long-term answer will be.
Join us in October, 2013 at Lakewatch Manor—which is selling out fast—or let me know if you’re interested in painting with me in 2014. Click here for more information on my Maine workshops!
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Join me this Saturday for Wine and Watercolors in the garden

Saturday, July 20, 2013, 4:30pm until 7:30pm
Hollyhocks, by little ol’ me.

Summer is just bustin’ out all over, and it makes me want to paint!
Join me for an afternoon of laughter, stories, and painting some sweet little greeting-card-sized watercolors in Lakewatch Manor’s lovely gardens. (There will be an indoor studio option if weather threatens.) Our innkeepers will have—as they always do—lovely wine, flower essence iced tea, and delectable morsels, which will encourage painters of all skill levels.
Rumor has it that daylilies are edible, but I’d rather just do tiny watercolors of them, thanks.
LIMITED SPOTS require an advance reservation. $40 covers all supplies and refreshments. Bring a friend and you each pay $35.00. Call 207-593-0722 for reservation or questions.
The poppies and peonies will be finished, but there is always something in bloom in the northeast during the summer.
The next day is the first day of my July workshop in mid-coast Maine. There’s one more residential slot left in July; I’m dying to know who is going to fill it. August and September are sold out, but there are openings in October! Check here for more information.

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This is the story of a small miracle

The caption reads, “Life is so beautiful with hope and courage.” It was hand-painted and a gift from a friend when I was fighting my own battle with cancer.
Some of you don’t like miracles. You’re free to write this off as a mistake or a flat-out lie.
I have a friend and painting student who is suffering from a rare and tenacious form of ovarian cancer. She was rushed to hospital in great pain and is waiting for yet another emergency surgery. There is no time that’s convenient for a mortal battle, but when you have two young teens at home, well, that seems like particularly bad timing.
One of the many things I resent about her cancer is that it has taken away her joy in painting. She is—when healthy—an exuberant watercolorist, but since her diagnosis, she’s laid her brushes aside.
This morning I found a patch of sweet peas that the city mowers had missed. I picked some. I decided that I could augment them from my own half-drowned garden to make her a bouquet. And I could bring her my watercolor kit and maybe that would somehow give her the psychic energy to follow in Manet’s footsteps and paint a few watercolor florals from her sickbed.
Everything my friend needs to paint like Manet: a pocket watercolor kit  (which was a gift from her to me many years ago), my field notebook (which was a gift from Jamie Grossman a few years ago), my brushes, a folding tank, and an atomizer. I told her she is unlikely to do a worse job than some of the watercolor sketches in this notebook.
Vases tend to get lost in hospitals, so I looked around for an empty jar. Then I remembered that I had a lovely but cracked vase that I’ve been trying to throw away for years. It was given to me when I was fighting my own cancer. Sadly, I dropped and shattered it, and my husband mended it.
My sentimental attachment to this vase always warred with my irritation at the all-too-visible crack. I never quite managed to toss it away. But, I reasoned, my friend would not mind a cracked and mended vase and it would be a way for me to let go of the darned thing.
I pulled it out, and looked in vain for the mend. It just isn’t there.
One of Manet’s little sickbed still-lives.
I was so bewildered, I asked Sandy to try to find the crack for me. She couldn’t see it either. And then she directed me to this piece in this weekend’s New York Times, which ends with this quote:
When a vase falls from the mantel, most people’s first impulse is to dispose of the shattered relic, throw it out, begone the tainted thing, the broken dream.
Stop. Don’t do it. Get a broom and dustpan. Pull out your tiny brush. Save every piece, every jagged shard. Do not lose a sliver. I have witnessed the miracles. I have seen them happen under my own hand.
Everything is not perfect. Everything can be fixed.
St. Paul described us as “jars of clay” in which the light of the Gospel is stored. And he goes on to say:
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
So it is hardly coincidental that this pottery vase—truly a jar of clay—was somehow restored. Such a tangible miracle can only point to my friend’s total restoration. What form that will take, I cannot say. She may take up her crutches and walk, or she may pass beyond us to a new existence free of the pain and suffering of cancer. But there is no doubt in my mind that God sent us a clear sign that his hand is on her shoulder.
There is only one slot open for my July workshop at Lakewatch Manor in Rockland, ME, and August and September are sold out.  Join us in July or October, but please hurry! Check here for more information.
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Another Roadside Attraction

Sketch of a commercial building somewhere in Binghamton, NY, done from a diner window. Sadly, I could never find it again, and they had really good pie.

Yesterday I was flipping through a used-up sketchbook, and came across this little watercolor done many years ago. It’s another roadside scene en route to New York City; however, this one wasn’t memorized across the steering wheel.
I spent several years driving back and forth to the Art Students League from Rochester. I had a little bolt-hole near the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and a Ford Windstar wagon. (Gas was cheaper then.) I drove that route through snowstorms, ice, and flooding , which in the Susquehanna River watershed is the most terrifying of driving conditions. When I was too bleary to drive, I would pull off in a rest stop and sleep in the back of my van.
One early Spring evening, the Windstar died with a colossal bang in that no-man’s-land between Binghamton, NY and Scranton, PA. The tow-truck driver set me down at a diner where I sat with my sketchbook and pondered the situation. All’s well that ends well: I got a cheap hotel room, sold the carcass to the tow-truck operator for $600, and went to New Jersey to test drive one of them new-fangled Priuses.

The trip to Maine is more interesting driving than the Rochester-Manhattan loop. If you’re interested in joining us for a fantastic time in mid-Coast Maine this summer, check here for more information. There’s still room in my workshops.

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Last chance! A week of instructed wilderness painting, only $775 inclusive!

September 30-October 5 2012



Paint in the unfettered splendor of nature with celebrated artist Carol L. Douglas, in the bewitching, boundless and historic Adirondack Park—a week of unparalleled instruction at some of the wildest, most scenic painting locations the nation has to offer. Your outdoor adventure will be balanced by the comfort of an all-inclusive accommodation package at the historic Irondequoit Inn.
Eric and Liz Davis
$775.00 inclusive!
¡         Basic package: includes 5 nights lodging and meals.
¡         Private non-smoking room with shared bath in either lodge or cabin accommodations
¡         15 meals served communally
¡         Breakfast: Monday-Friday
¡         Box Lunch for off-site painting sessions,
M-F
¡         Dinner: Sunday-Thursday
¡         Coffee and Tea Bar
¡         Sunday afternoon welcome reception
¡         Morning and afternoon instruction sessions,
¡         Monday-Thursday
¡         Group critique session, Thursday evening
¡         Available on request:
¡         Non-painting partner accommodations
¡         Private portfolio critique
¡         Private Room and Private Bath: add $125
¡         Suite with Private Bath and Kitchen: add $250
To register:
Call the Irondequoit Inn at 518-548-5500
For more information:
Eric and Liz Davis