August 15 Newsletter: New Art, Next Shows, and Bumble Bees
My Best Painting Tip: Walk Away!
Wait, what?? Yes, walk away. No, not from my newsletter.
Walk away from your painting. That is my number 1 painting tip. Not just for watercolors but for any type of art. Walk away. Go walk the dog, Find out why your toddler is being so quiet. Pick some flowers. Clean the toilet. It doesn’t matter, just walk away.
Walking away gives your brain time to look at your art with a fresh perspective. With watercolor it gives your paint time to dry. When I am painting, I walk away every 20-40 minutes. My dog, Kai, knows this and lays at my feet with his ball. Kai knows that I will take him out and play fetch with him .When I return I often prop the painting up on a chair and look at it from about ten feet away. This helps me see that I need to add another flower here or more shadow there.
My Paintings Talk to Me
Whenever I paint animals, I always paint the eyes first. I have a need to fill in those round white spaces and change my animal from a zombie animal to a living thing. Once I’ve done this, the animals show their personality. And this may sound a bit crazy but a name will often pop into my head.
I painted The Sea Otter around the time that Sea Otter 841 was 
terrorizing local Santa Cruz surfers and stealing their surfboards. The name that kept popping into my head was Victoria. I got a sense of friendliness from her. I feel that Victoria was telling me that she is 841’s best friend, but she is friendly and would rather wave than steal a surfboard.
This March, I painted Whale Moon. His name is Ralph, I really have no idea why these names pop into my head. Ralph not only told me his name, but also his location. As I was focused on painting his tail, I kept remembering my visits to Big Sur. I found this to be rather oddly specific. I did some googling and found out that there were some bachelor humpbacks off the coast of Big Sur in March - quite bizarre!
My Newest Paintings! All on my website: MarciaWilliamsArt.net
I have been busy this summer with new paintings both large and small!
With honey bees a California White Shouldered Bumble bees buzzing all over my garden, I was inspired to create my latest Bee Painting: Lavender Bee
. And yes, my bees have a name. Bob, the bee, came to one of my first art shows and visited me for much of the show.
Next Shows: Stop by to say Hi! Mention this newletter and receive 15% off all purchases.
Scotts Valley August 17-18
Millbrae Aug. 31-Sept 1
Los Gatos Sept. 21-22
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