BWK art

Over the weekend, we made a trip to the new IKEA that opened up in Dartmouth this summer. It's a 2-hour drive one way, but rather than pay for shipping we decided to make a nice day trip out of it.  It's a huge store where one could easily get lost. Rem said it's the exact same layout as one of the stores in The Netherlands not far from where we lived. I love the styles offered there; usually clean and contemporary, but also a lot of urban rustic looks that I love. Prices are almost always very reasonable! We went to pick up my desks. They come disassembled, of course, so the boxes fit easily into our SUV. Hubby was a sweetie and did all of the desk assemblage for me. So... here’s my new art work space. If you compare it to my old space in my prior photos, you’ll notice quite a change. It needed it big time!   The obligatory cat inspection time, performed by Libby, of course!    Hubby added shelves, made with a $5 reclaimed old barn wood plank that we found at a loca...

I finally completed filling my Pocket Palette yesterday! It looks so pretty - though I'm sure it won't stay like this for too long. I purchased this lovely piece of kit a while back, but I am just now getting it ready to use. I will be taking it with me to paint on work breaks. At only 3.6″ long, 2.25″ wide and 0.25" thick, it is truly the smallest watercolour palette that I have seen and only a wee bigger than the size of a regular business card! It's made from aluminum which makes it extremely light weight, even with the paint pans filled - weighing less than a small travel bar of soap. However, at the same time, it doesn't seem like the palette would be easily dented or dinged, so it's obviously good quality. I have seen that they used to come in a shiny finish, but the one I have is a very nice 'brushed/matte' finish which I prefer (prevents fingerprints from showing, unless they're paint covered!)  I chose to fill my palette with mostly Da Vinc...

I am absolutely nutty about seeing other artists' workspaces/studios! Yup, I'm a "studio voyeur". I also love seeing fellow artists' watercolour palettes and what's in others' travel art bags, but that is fodder for other blog posts in the future! :) So, on to workspaces... Mine certainly doesn't classify as a "studio" whatsoever, but it's a workspace and not really something I have the time or funds to change too much right now, so I work with what I've got! Here’s my little space, shoved in the corner of our study. It isn’t ideal, but it’s one of my favourite spots to be. Right now, I mostly paint at work on my breaks (30-45 minutes) in my sketchbook. When I paint at home, I paint at my desk here in the evenings after work in the dark where I need my LED lights, obviously. What you can't see much of (thankfully, because it's UGLY) is that I have one of those white plastic storage towers with drawers, stowed underneath the le...

Every 4 or 5 days, Doodlewash features a watercolor artist from around the world. Today, I am the Featured Artist on Doodlewash! Huzzah!  You can see it here: Beverly Wong-Kleinjan Artist Feature Many thanks to its talented founder, Charlie O'Sheilds, also the creator of World Watercolor Group on Facebook, for allowing me to share a bit of my art and journey with watercolours. I am feeling under the weather today, but this definitely gave me a case of the 'happies'! :)

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 no...

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...

Some friends here and on Instagram have commented about my drawing/painting style. Thank you all so much! To be completely open, the entire illustration/'cartoonish' style really isn't my own personal style. It's known as 'urban sketching' and it was coined by some serious artists as well as amateurs in Seattle, WA as a way to capture a snapshot of an object or scene quickly, by reducing the details (mainly capturing outlines) - particularly on site, plein air - so the artist can get the idea of the scene and then paint it afterwards. This style involves drawing loose images with not too much detail with ink and then painting over it afterward, either from one's memory, imagination or from a photo. It was absolutely a new concept to me! I've been trying it out in my art journal to force myself to loosen up a bit with detail. You see, I'm a stickler for realism and since I have the tendency to obsess/fuss over it (like a lot of things - it's just ...

Hubby and I are taking a little breather this weekend... a 'staycation' before a busy week coming up. To ring in our staycation, I spent the early afternoon doing a bit of watercolour painting (experimenting) out on the upstairs deck with the cats... then a little bit of reading. The sun was shining and, amazingly enough, there were no black flies; now, however, around supper-time (for them and us!) they've forced me back inside again. With watercolours, I mainly experimented with colour washes and quick painting of our hanging basket of begonias. I have the little Winsor & Newton dry pan set, though I am eagerly awaiting some Daniel Smith colours in a tube, which are much more vibrant than the dry pan set I have. I'm also awaiting some permanent ink for my Lamy Joy fountain pen, which will be such a joy to write and draw with! Yes, as you can probably tell, I am planning on doing this more often. ← a segway for 'why' I guess you could say that while we ...