Carnets de Voyage #2 Tuscany

Tuscan Farmhouse, watercolor, 6 x 9"

Before there was the camera, there was the paintbox. And everyone did it! Painted I mean. The Victorians made sure of that. Some folks are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. I've always thought all Brits were born with a Windsor & Newton paintbrush in their mouths. How I've longed to be born British. Then I'd be a natural born watercolor painter from day 1. 

The Victorians pretty much invented the paintbox. They  decided it was a good idea to go off galavanting around the world on The Grand Tour. And you better have your paintbox along to record your travel experiences. 

Watercolor is the perfect medium for travel - lightweight, fast drying, fluid and very portable. 

The British even taught THE FRENCH how to learn to love l'aquarelle. Richard Parkes Bonnington, the greatest of them all, 

Taught Delacroix how to paint a wash.

Hilltop Town, watercolor, 6 x 9"

There's a mystique about painting in watercolor. It looks so damn easy and it's so damn hard. 

Painting in watercolor is an obsession right up there with loving macarons. And there is endless paraphernalia you can buy just to make a simple watercolor.

Adorable little porcelaine mixing dishes from England. Fancy Russian Kolinsky "travel" brushes from everywhere. Blocks of watercolor paper stuck on a board so the paper won't curl up while you're painting by the Iguazu Falls. Special containers to carry your water. Special enamel travel palettes. Lovely pleine aire/outdoors carryall bags to put all of the above into. Did I mention sponges. Believe me, I've bought every scrap of it.

On every trip, the first stop is ALWAYS the local art store to search for some new treasure to drag home. Note the big gorgeous looking brush with the red handle. I got it in Arezzo, Tuscany. Do I ever use it? No. The art supply biz understands our obsessions perfectly. In Europe, you'll see paintboxes with pans in every store you go into. 

Tubed watercolors make you feel like you're painting with oils and have an oily consistency when first squeezed out - rich and lush. But they can dry hard as rocks. While the pans are easier to wet and more portable.

There are a ton of how-to books for the beginning watercolor painter. I bought almost every one. And I've gone to many of watercolor "workshops" - Savannah, New Jersey, Maine, Tuscany, Devon, Provence. And I've dreamt of many more. SouthJerseyBoy will tell you.

Near Pienza, watercolor, 6 x 9"

But the truth is, you need to sit down with a jam jar of water, a basic watercolor set of 10-12 pans and some nice paper.

1. First drop a pool of water on your paper.
2. Next drop in some color with your brush, starting with a lighter, warmer color first (burnt sienna works fine).
3. While your puddle is still wet, add some darker, cooler color (French blue).
4. The blobs of colors will "bleed" into each other and form "blossoms", that's where the colors run together and you get "happy" (or unhappy) accidents.
5. You can help the paint along by tilting your paper back and forth.

6. Time to watch the paint dry. You'll learn more from this exercise than most books, workshops, videos out there IMO. I've filled stacks of sketchbooks doing these blobs.

  If you get some good painted blobs going, you've got the beginning of a nice atmospheric landscape painting. It's that easy and it's the best way to learn the properties of different pigments + color theory.
7. Lesson over. Now get cracking!

*TIP: for those watercolor-obsessed out there, if you're in London, stop in at Green and Stone of Chelsea on 259 Kings Road. They have antique watercolor sets in the back. You may find a set that's been on a Grand Tour.