I recently attended a workshop with Alessa of Life After Breakfast on a mini-US workshop tour. Even before the workshop began all of us were going ga-ga over our art supplies for the evening. Pouches full of glorious brushes, vibrant pigments, and oh, this nifty & informative watercolor pamphlet!

We used Dr. Ph. Martin’s watercolor paints. The colors were so vivid.

We started with a lesson in paper types and brush techniques. For many of us, it was our first introduction to watercolor and lettering.

Here is my first take on a watercolor alphabet. Notice how I drew guidelines and then completely ignored them.

We spent most of the class lettering and then dabbled a tiny bit in gold leafing towards the end. The gold leaf pretty much ruined my piece, but let’s just say I meant to put the leaf there. Oh, and I got two ‘likes’ in our class vote. (Oh hey…)

Here are some student works from the class.

And here is a piece that our instructor created during her live demos at each table.

Since this workshop, I’ve practiced a few times. Scroll on down. They are all in red/pink because those are the colors I got to take home from the workshop. I see a bright colorful purchase in my future though. 😉

Because I’m a Public Health Nerd: “Wash your hands. Appropriately.”

My favorite (Eminem) lyric: “Look me in the eyeball.”

This always makes me laugh: “If you don’t like where you are, move. You are not a tree.”

Wet on wet technique is by far my favorite way to use watercolor paints. Sure, you might not have any idea where the color is going to end up, but it’s so fun to watch the pigment disperse! Observe.

Ever play with watercolor? What are your favorite techniques? Paint brands? Brushes to use? Tell me, tell me!