BWK art

I've always wanted to try actual urban sketching - as in on-site sketching of a building - but I haven't had a chance to do that yet. It's always been from photos. With my recent back injury (slipped disc), I've been house bound for about 2.5 weeks so far. For a bit of practice, I figured a quick painting from a photo reference would be the next best thing. I hopped on Google maps, went into "street view" mode and looked up my Aunt's apartment building in Montreal (we write letters and I thought it would be nice to send her a copy of the finished painting). To get the entire building into the frame, I manipulated the Google Map street view into worm's eye view perspective. A little tricky to sketch, but fun. Materials for this sketch : I drew and painted this in my etchr  A4 hotpress sketchbook. I sketched things out with a mechanical pencil first, then added the watercolour and a bit of white gouache for highlights. Besides the green used in the

I've ventured into unknown territory, making my own watercolour paints, for my own use (not to sell). The entire paint-making process has always fascinated me, the way artists through the centuries have made their own paints out of natural pigments. The same is still the case today, even though we have a lot of synthetic alternatives to those natural pigments (some of which are no longer available and/or far too expensive for an amateur artist's pocketbook). Paint is basically a pigment dispersed in a paint binder - a medium that adheres the pigment to paper, so it won't just flake off when dry. So far, I've made paints from 15 pigments... and I have another 27 yet to try! The paint you see in these photos is malachite (PG39) - a lovely cool 'mint' green which is transparent, semigranulating and nonstaining. I only make small batches at a time, filling only 2 or 3 half pans per pigment, but that will last me for a bit. I started with a few favourites th

If you're reading this, thank you so much for checking in on my art blog, even though it's been a while since I've been able to post. It's been pretty crazy around here with finalizing the renovations on our century-old home after a very long and messy 6 months. Then, of course, the inevitable exhaustion and recovery that followed and the opportunistic cold/flu bugs that pounced soon after. But enough of that... on with the sketchbook! For the longest while, I have wanted to do a page spread in my sketchbook for each of our 4 indoor cats (all spayed females), partly as a memento but also as an art challenge to try and capture their likeness and unique little quirks. I initially did one for our oldest cat, Libby, who will turn 20 in the new year; she still has a lot of spunk and is actually the most energetic of our four cats. Then I did a spread for Sookey, a.k.a. Tank, the youngest of our cats (age 6-7), a stray calico we brought indoors back in 2014. She's the

The Port Grocer, Port Medway, NS (watercolor on 100% cotton paper in sketchbook) On Sunday morning, during our 'staycation', hubby and I had a gorgeous brunch of the best eggs benny ever at The Port Grocer in Port Medway, Nova Scotia - one of our favourite spots. It offers amazing food made with local produce and the service is always warm and friendly. Here’s a short little video that shows the store/cafe (the cafe has since expanded since this video). I thought it would be nice to capture the colourful building in my etchr sketchbook. I took the reference photos from a couple of weeks back; it was a very hot sunny day, with stark contrast in values. Fun to paint! By the way, this is just a photo of the painting in my sketchbook, not a scan... so the colours and lighting are a tad off. I'll scan it in later.

As the years pass, I am noticing that there is an ebb and flow to my creativity. I've been trying to accept whatever phase I'm in, learning to accept change that I can't control... trying to enjoy natural shifts, not unlike the changing seasons. These past 5-months of our house renovation has forced me into a rather long 'ebb' with regard to my art, mainly due to stress, illness and exhaustion. Making art should be a joy and while it can be relaxing, it also costs mental energy... a commodity I have had little of lately, even just in dealing with everyday basics of life. It's been said that breaks from art are important, as they can help re-establish balance and joy in other areas and also refresh enthusiasm and creative juices. I have found that to be quite accurate! Since I've left social media, I feel a sense of renewal with regard to my art. Labour Day long-weekend offered a bit of time outside along with beautiful weather. Hubby and I headed to a

Perhaps you've followed the link from my soon-to-be-defunct Instagram or Facebook accounts to this blog. If so, a heartfelt thanks for your interest and welcome! This will be where I'll share my finished artwork as well as excerpts from my sketchbooks, random art topics, and even perhaps an art supply review here and there, when time and energy permit. Posts may not come frequently, so if you would like an email notification of new blog posts, please just click the 'subscribe' button above. I decided to leave Instagram and Facebook because I was spending more time scrolling through other people's artwork in my sparest of spare time instead of experiencing the joy of creating it myself. Ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil, I have loved drawing and painting over any other spare-time activity because it's my happy place; it soothes and relaxes me. I lost focus of that when I basically substituted the joy of making art with unconsciously trying to live

The most important watercolour rule that I have learned is ...there are NO RULES! Enjoy watercolours the way  you  like. Too many times I have been told that watercolour has to be  this  or  that . Balderdash! There is no one set style, no one way of painting with this medium. Enjoy painting in a realistic style, a loose style or somewhere in between... it's all possible with watercolour.  Of course, like anything, it can take time and a lot of trial and error to learn the ways of the medium, to get it to work how you like it. The only real way to improve your skills is to "practice practice practice". There are no shortcuts. The more you practice painting, the more natural it will come to you. But the best part with painting is that practicing never has to be boring. Allow yourself to have fun! Let each painting be a learning experience, but enjoy it. Don't expect a masterpiece. Did we ever expect masterpieces when we painted as kids? Of course not - we did

As this is my new art blog, I suppose it needs a first post. My name is Beverly. Welcome to my blog! Allow me to introduce myself a bit... I am a self-taught artist from the east coast of Canada. My interest in art began at an early age, with cherished memories of painting and drawing with my dear Dad. His paintings often included lovely landscapes of his childhood home in Hong Kong. It wasn't until cancer took Dad away 2 years ago that I resumed working with watercolours again, in his memory, after a long hiatus from artistic endeavors. I'm so glad that I did. I've still got a lot to learn but I am loving the journey! I have worked with acrylics and gouache in the past, though I find I am more drawn to watercolours, perhaps because of the pleasant childhood memories attached to them. I also enjoy drawing in pencil and ink and am eagerly looking forward to participating in my first ever  Inktober , when it next rolls around. I sold some artwork while I was in jun