Watercolor, RVing and the Joys of Both
Watercolor has been so challenging, yet I took it on because it was the best art form to travel in my RV with. It has done far more to help me in ways I never thought possible. It has shaped me in ways I did not expect. It has been more rewarding than I could have ever dreamed.
Watercolor on coldpress paper
We love Rving. I love to paint with watercolor. I have been combining the joys to these two pastimes for awhile now.
We camp and I’ll surprise our neighbor campers with a painting I’ve whipped up just to let them know they are great neighbors and I appreciate them. Every painting is a labor of love, almost without exception so when I give one, it is a special gift I am offering to the recipient.
Watercolor has been a great teacher.
I’ve learned patience. I hate having to exercise it.
You can not rush watercolor unless it’s a wet on wet technique. You must be gentle and patient with it. You must lay your color down, work gently and quickly yet not overwork it.
We all want to work, work, work. You want to tweak and touch it up. Not with watercolor.
As I say, treat watercolor like a rose petal. If you keep bending it and touching it, it will die.
That is the case with watercolor.
I’ve learned to let it dry and (unless using a wet on wet technique, which is a very quick all at once painting), do what you must, set it aside, let it dry, go back to it. If when wet, you overwork it, it’s almost impossible to fix. If you paint and leave it, let it dry and come back, no harm, no foul.
Layering is your friend. This is difficult because you want to mess with it and go over it and take that brush and “fix” it. The painting above— that fiery sunset, is a layer, letting it dry, another layer, letting that dry, and so on. Layer upon layer to achieve the desired affect until I am done.
I also learned that what I set out to do with watercolor isn’t what I am doing with it today. I wanted to travel in my RV and sell my paintings going from gallery and art shows around Michigan and even the country.
It was not meant to be. I am now a volunteer for Ladies Of The Class (LOC) USMA 1977 as their artist, giving my art as a means of outreach to widows of military members who have served their last here on earth. I couldn’t have found a more rewarding way to use my art if I had designed a plan! The ladies saw my art on social media and gave me the unspeakable honor of asking me to be a part of their organization. I always believed God gave me this gift for a purpose, now I know what it is.
I started with needle felting—very expensive materials and it took me weeks, months and sometimes more to make one piece. Not to mention it was (for me) the way I did my landscape needlefelting art, almost impossible to travel with.
I moved on to arcylic, but it dried too quickly and I didn’t care for the texture. I absolutely loved oil and did that for a long time. Again, I could not easily travel with it, messy to clean up and very long to dry.
While watercolor has been the most difficult to learn, and I by no means have
"mastered” it, I think I found my happy landing. While not even close to conquering this medium, it was worth the sometimes daily grind of getting the basics down these last four years, so that I didn’t hate my results. The great news is, it’s one of the cheapest art forms to try and it sure is fun to take in the RV!
Until next time: Duty, Honor and Seeing the Country RV Style!
