Tag: watercolor

Back by Popular Demand: Understanding Perspective

~ stephanieabower ~ 4 Comments

I’m squeezing in a workshop before the end of the year!

UNDERSTANDING PERSPECTIVE | LIVE online Urban Sketching Course in Perspective & Watercolor, made easy with instructor Stephanie Bower USA

Do you fear or fake perspective sketching? Can’t figure out how to start a sketch of a building? And where is that darn vanishing point anyway? Do you know how to paint shade and shadow differently? They are not the same!

Understanding Perspective is a LIVE online course that makes perspective sketching easy! I’m Urban Sketcher, workshop instructor (I’ve taught at 7 USk international symposiums!), architectural illustrator, and author of three books Stephanie Bower, and I’m excited to offer this course to anyone wanting to finally understand how perspective works. Perspective is easy when you know what to look for!

This course is a 100% live, interactive 3-part online class taught via Zoom in which you’ll learn by drawing along with me in real time. In each class, we’ll take notes and sketch together as I present perspective concepts in a crafted PowerPoint presentation, then we will apply those concepts in a step-by-step sketching demo that we will draw and paint together.

What makes this course different from others? Two things: We diagram the perspective views, explaining why the views look the way they do, SHOWING how perspective works. Most instructors skip this part! And second: it’s really two workshops in one. You’ll learn perspective AND watercolor technique! You’ll see me work up close (even better than an in-person workshop), and I’ll answer your questions LIVE.

Understanding Perspective, December Session 1

Dates: Sundays, December 8, 15, and 22, 2024 | 9am-1pm PST (Seattle) | 12noon-4pm (NYC) | 5pm-9pm (London) | 6pm-10pm (Paris)

Class 1, Sunday, December 8: The essentials of one-point perspective. Intro to Watercolor.

Class 2, Sunday, December 15: Two-point Perspective, it’s all about how you view your subject!

Class 3, Sunday, December 22: Multiple vanishing points in streets, roofs, and stairs.

Each class will start with an interactive PowerPoint on the topic of that day (you’ll be encouraged to take notes, ask questions, etc.), followed by a demo that we draw and paint together step-by-step. Classes run about 3.5-4 hours (it goes quickly!) Classes will be recorded, and you’ll have access to the recordings through the end of January.

Optional Homework: Along with notes and scans of the demo, I’ll send out 2-3 images after each class for optional homework. If you draw and paint them, you can send them to me for a critique.

Workshop Fee: US$300.00. Classes will be limited in size to max. 20 so you can all get live feedback. Once your registration has been confirmed, information on how to pay, a materials list and more will be emailed to all participants.

How to Sign Up: Registration is open NOW! Send an email to st.bower@icloud.com. First come, first served! 

After this workshop, you’ll never fear or fake perspective again! If you have any questions, or need more info, send an email my way. THANKS!

  

Finding My Favorite Watercolor Brushes

~ stephanieabower ~ 2 Comments

Anyone who knows me or my work knows I’m a huge Escoda brushes fan… since I first saw one in the hands of another sketcher on a boat in Brazil after the 2014 USk Symposium! It became my quest to find one for myself, and I finally did, and I even got to visit the factory a few years ago. I now own quite a collection, and I use them ALL THE TIME in both my studio (architectural illustration work) and when travel sketching.

Handmade by a 3rd generation family-owned business near Barcelona, you can feel the love that goes into making every brush. Beautifully weighted, impeccably crafted using machines their grandfather invented. I often say that my favorite Escoda travel brush should be on display in the Museum of Modern Art!

When selecting a brush, as a general rule, you want to get the largest size you can afford that also keeps a nice point. This is why you see really good watercolorists with massive brushes…if it holds a lot of water/pigment you can paint large areas at the beginning of your painting, and if it has a good point, you can also paint the details at the end. All without constantly going back to your palette to reload your brush.

My favorite brushes at the moment:

Escoda Reserva, round size 10 or set of 3: Remember when you were a kid attempting to paint and the brush bristles were so limp, you were basically painting with a stick? You will not have this problem with Reserva brushes as they are made of Kolinsky Sable, the gold standard for brushes because these natural bristles (yes, they are from an animal and Fun Fact: stored at Escoda in a cooler on a bed of moth balls.) They have body and spring, AND they hold tons of water/pigment. A Reserva size 10 travel brush was my very first Escoda! The price has shot up over recent years, so beware the sticker shock. Tip: don’t ever scrub the paper or dry paint on your palette with this brush, or you will ruin the point.

Escoda Versatil, round, size 12: This brush is the synthetic equivalent of Kolinsky Sable. I remember a few decades back when synthetic watercolor brushes were, ok I’ll say it, HORRIBLE. Thankfully, the technology has evolved and synthetics are excellent, less expensive, take a lot of painting abuse, and are preferred by many animal rights activists. The Versatil bristles are fairly soft and hold a lot of water/pigment. I just started using this travel brush and really like it, I typically use it at the start of my sketch when I am painting big washes, then switch to the following brush…

Escoda Perla, round, size 12: Over time, this has become my go-to brush for just about everything. I do use a size 14 short handle brush in my studio on larger sizes of paper, but the size 12 travel brush is great for sketchbook-sized images. The white bristles are a little stiffer and hold a bit less water compared to the Versatil, but for my way of painting, it does just about everything I need a brush to do. I remember as a stroke of great luck, I got to meet two of the cousins who run the company when they were in NYC. My gosh, I gushed like a giddy school girl meeting her favorite movie star when I met these two. So embarrassing! (See photo below with Ricard and Josep, grandsons of the founders.) They asked me what my favorite brush was (was it a test?) and I proudly said the Perla…they looked at each other and said, “Just like Zbukvic”, who is only about the most famous and influential painter in the world!! It seems I passed the test.

I was recently asked by a workshop participant how to find my favorite Perla Size 12 travel brush as it can be difficult to track down in the USA. Escoda was kind enough to send this list of stores that carry the brush–I hope that you will try it and let me know what you think!


Single Perla size 12 travel brushes in the USA:
The Brush Guys or PlazaArt
3 Brush sets (sizes 2, 6, 10) or 6 brush sets (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) in beautiful faux leather cases:
Amazon
Spokane Art Supply
Jackson’s

I should add that I am now an ambassador for Escoda Brushes! Proud and a bit shocked to be included given their roster! They sent me a list of what I would need to do in this role, and I replied that I already do all those things 😉

Below is me with my brush in Varanasi India in 2017, and below that, visiting the Escoda factory in 2019 with a few workshop participants and a few USk Barcelona sketchers on a bad hair day, but happy. And yes, that’s an Escoda sketchbook, in fact, the very one that I’ve been filling lately with practice sketches at home.

Finally!

~ stephanieabower ~ Leave a comment

Yes, back by popular demand (for real!) UNDERSTANDING PERSPECTIVE is a 3-class urban sketching workshop on perspective and watercolor that’s LIVE on Zoom in February. If you have ever feared or faked perspective, or just want to know more about how to paint, this workshop is for you! Info is here.

New Online Course on Sale!

~ stephanieabower ~ Leave a comment

How many instructors actually teach perspective? And how many teach perspective AND watercolor? I can’t think of any others!!! In the past weeks, I’ve been looking at a lot of videos online with instructors struggling to talk about perspective or just ignoring it, but getting it right is so important to the Good Bones of your paintings and sketches. What to do? Perspective is easy, when you know what to look for!

I’m so proud of this online course, Perspective for Painters, beautifully filmed in Los Angeles this year for Terracotta.art. It’s over 6 hours of instruction, packed with information and many aha moments. It starts with a made-simple explanation of basic principles, then shows how these concepts relate to the things we see in the real world, and then applies everything into three, full pencil and watercolor demos that cover 1-point, 2-point, and multiple vanishing point perspectives. You’ll even see me walking the streets of LA explaining how perspective works in the real world!

*** Special for the holidays, it’s on sale this month only! Terracotta will take 10% off if you use the code stephanie10 at checkout, reducing the overall cost to $69.00. This offer expires December 31, 2023.

Here’s what is unique about this course. I’ve found that diagrams like this are in fact the most important part of setting up your paintings and sketches, and most demo instructors leave it out!!!?? It’s these diagrams that help you analyze your view and set up the foundation of your paintings and sketches. I show LOTS of examples and diagrams throughout the course so that you will learn how to analyze your views. Your perspective is unique to you!!

If you finally want to really understand perspective, I hope that you will sign up and view the course at any time…I know that you’ll learn a lot! Makes a great gift (just sayin’)!