Hello @Maki,
Always a joy to see your wonderful art. Good to see you back.
How long does it take you to finish each of your pieces?
The way everything is so detailed and flawless in every one of your pieces is beyond impressive.
I hope your Summer presentation is amazing.
Sonia
I decided to try watercolor pencils. I painted these blueberries from a tutorial on another site. On her tutorial she does not activate with water the last couple of layers, but I couldn’t help it and went ahead and activated mine all the way. I lost a couple of edges in between shadows, but overall I’m happy with it. It helped me understand how watercolor mixes and layers. So next time I try watercolor paints, I’ll have a better idea of what to expect ….I really enjoyed the not warping of the arches hot press WC paper. Can’t wait to try a painting on the heavy duty WC paper that @robichon kindly shared with me…
Sonia,
I think you should be happy with your blueberry’s in watercolor, especially being your first time! They look great to me!! I attempted watercolor a few months ago and I will tell you, I’d be embarrassed to show them to anyone. I have a small set of watercolor pencils, so you’re inspiring me to try it again!
Thanks for sharing!
Bill Potts
Maki,
I am so intrigued by your artwork. I just want to sit and look at every inch of your drawings to observe the detail and make sure I don’t miss a hidden gem!
I am also interested in the size of your drawings, as well as how long one may take to finish. And what type of pens do you use? Something like Pigna Microns? Paper? Would Bristol smooth work? Sorry to ask so many questions.
Thanks for posting!
Bill Potts
Bill,
Thank you for being so encouraging.
In my humble opinion watercolor pencils and watercolor paints are two different animals. The watercolor paints are very challenging to me. Drawing the subject with WC pencil then activating with water helped me understand the way to load the brush with only so much water then apply to the pencil strokes. As opposed to WC paints having to rely solely on the brush to work on the subject.
Sonia
Hello Maki,
these are wonderful, I really like the thumbnails that show the different textures and this last tree, this one is new to me. The first one has always been one of my favorites, endangered species, correct?
As always, I enjoy seeing your artwork. I was just thinking about you the other day, and how your mom is doings.
Was the earthquake anywhere near you?
Teri (with 1r)
Sonia,
Matt just showed the revisions you did on the fluffy little puppy. It was so encouraging to see them next to each other. What a difference!
Teri (with 1r)
Bill,
Matt just critiqued your pastel drawing/painting. What was the paper that you used again? The artwork turned out really nice on it.
Teri (with 1r)
Teri,
Thank you very much for the compliment. It was a fun challenge doing the flag. I’m attaching a photo of the paper. I purchased it through Jerry’s Artarama, although I’m sure Blick carries it as well.
I tried it because it was less expensive than PastelMat, which is running about $3.85 for a 9x12 sheet. The smooth Art Spectrum runs about $2.45 for 9x12 and the original is $2.80. The original has more tooth than the smooth. I had some trouble doing a dog portrait with the smooth because I couldn’t build up enough layers using pastels. I switched to the original and had no problems. I did use the smooth with regular color pencils and it worked great. The picture I posted a week or so ago on the forum with the crooked tree on a trail in the woods was done on the smooth.
I hope that helps. And no, I don’t get anything free from Art Spectrum 
Bill Potts
Hi Bill -
I have seen you comment a couple times about this Art Spectrum paper, and it was unfamiliar to me as well. Thanks for the information about it.
I’ve been away from the computer for a couple days, so now I’m going to pop over to watch the Member’s Minute. Looking forward to it.
Terri Robichon
Hi Maki -
Let me start by saying how delightful this owl drawing is. I’m sure it will be forever loved by its new owner.
I’m just dying to find out which photo(s) you have decided to use and what the composition will be. You have me sitting on the edge of my chair as I impatiently wait. 
Terri Robichon
Hi Bill @pottsie -
I continue to be surprised how many of my talented artist friends here at The Virtual Instructor are frightened by watercolors.
You may have picked up the fact that watercolors are probably my first love and when I have a difficult subject matter they are always the first media I would select.
I encourage you to give the watercolors another try. I’d be happy to cheer you on and share advice along the way.
One thing I will say before you give this another try, is that Paper makes a huge difference with watercolors. I personally like to use a “wet on dry” approach with lots of control and detail. For me, 300# hot press paper is a must. Basically, the heavier the paper, the less likely it will be that you’ll be fighting with it.
Along with this, be sure to fully tape down all sides of the paper before you begin. The more water you use (and the lighter weight the paper is), the more likely it is that the paper will distort. When it dries it will flatten out again. The taped edges are essential, especially for 140# paper.
So don’t freak out and just try something really simple until you get the feel of it. Even if what you do is really awful, share it here. We all start that way as we learn.
Terri Robichon
Hi Sonia - these blueberries are so nice!
You are very talented, and I think with practice and good paper, you could easily fall in love with watercolors.
Terri Robichon
Terri - Well I think I’ve been through the freak out phase already and I have already done some awful stuff.
Thanks for the encouragement and I will try it again. I was using 140lb paper, but not a name brand. Most of my practice stuff was small (4x6). I did do one piece that my 8 yo granddaughter ask if she could have it! That made me feel good 
!
My mother in law, who has since passed, painted some beautiful watercolors. We have two hanging in our home, as do other family members. I still stop and admire them on occasion.
I know I can do it - I just don’t want to take the time to learn and practice when I have so many drawings I want to do. When I started drawing a couple years ago, I took every basic and drawing lesson Matt taught. I watched countless other YouTube videos. I did a couple watercolor lessons, but nowhere near what I did to get up to speed in drawing. I have to make my mind up and devote the time!
I think wet on dry will be my way to go…and watercolor pencils. I’ll be sure to pick your brain when I get myself ready.
Thanks again, and Thanks to Sonia for her info on watercolor pencils.
Bill Potts
Hi Bill -
You are so right. To be proficient at something new you need to mentally be ready to take it on and have to be prepared to put in the practice time. Who knows, it may be months or even years until the time is right for you. You have to set your own priorities.
When the time comes for you and the watercolors, I’ll probably still be here and more than willing to cheer you on. Funny thing is, however, I have never done anything with watercolor pencils. Maybe you are the one to encourage me to give it a try. (But not until after the next fair in August )
By the way, I really liked the flag pastel drawing and Matt’s critique.
Terri Robichon
Hi Everyone,
I haven’t posted what I’ve been working on lately, so here it is … a water-based oil painting of Missy, one of my cats.
I started her months ago, and then she sat on the shelf. I just got done working on it again for two full days, trying to get the white fur texture and the whiskers. That transition from the white to gray has been a challenge. It’s not done yet but is going to need a lot of drying time before I continue. I still need work on adding more pink to the nose and refining the tongue.
Next up is a graphite landscape drawing that I started yesterday. Not ready to share it yet.
Terri Robichon
Terri W2R’s,
Your Missy is so beautifully done! The whiskers and everything is great. Per usual!
Now every time I see a pet portrait with half their body, I think of a food bowl. You can borrow mine 
Sonia
Oh Sonia. Can you hear me laughing??
You made my day. By the way, it seems fitting since Missy is licking her chops. Must have just finished emptying that food dish.
Terri Robichon
Hello @pottsie @Meme5 Thank you so much for your very kind words!
Well I checked the time I spent for some of my recent drawings.
For example, for “Matt the juggler”(172mm x 172mm), 4 hours for designing and 14 hours for drawing.
Then for “wildness of tree”(A4), I couldn’t tell from my record how many hours were spent for designing, but 20 hours were needed for the drawing.
As to the paper I use, it has always been “Maruman Zuan Series”, which I guess is the most popular paper among artists in Japan. You can check the product at Amazon USA too.
I use ballpoint pens called “Zebra Rubber 80” for all my pen works. Terri with 2 r’s has bought the same brand, so I guess she knows where you can get this particular ballpoint pen in the US.
Hope this information is of some help. 
Hi Teri, thank you for your kind words!
The bark textures piece is somehow “thumbnail” size indeed, and I really don’t know why the image is so small. When I scanned the original drawing, I did not change the resolution level at all, so it should be much larger.
Anyways, these are the enlarged version of each of the texture drawings:
The quake happened somewhere far away from my local town. Thank you for caring about me.
Also, thank you for caring about my mom too!
I saw her at the end of May at the hospital for a checkup, and she looked very well.
She even showed me a smile when I said “good morning!” to her.
The doctor we saw checked her surgical scar and confirmed that it was almost disappearing.
Very glad to hear that! 
