Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums

Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums. I love the spontaneity of it and the "happy accidents" when colors unexpectedly blend together. Another thing I liked was that it was easy to control the values in a painting. This was after I learned that you need to use the white of the paper for your whites. Then it's just a matter of the lighter you want it the less paint you use, and the darker you want it the more paint you use.

Here's some watercolors completed during my college years. They were really fun to do and I'm now inspired to create more of this fantasy type.

This last one lead to an idea for an animated film. Imagine the whole scene dancing around to Pink Floyd's One of these days.

Another thing I like is that you can gather your watercolor supplies in a backpack and go. When I was at Disney I used to go out painting at lunch time with a group of my friends, Ed Gombert, Dan Cooper, Bill Perkins and Vance Gerry. I learned so much from all of them. And the painting would be dry by the time we got back to work.

Contrary to the earlier ones these were completed on location. The first one is in Burbank and the second in Chatsworth. These were completed with a simple pencil sketch underneath and filled with a large brush. 

I want to try more of these too. Since I don't have the time, I'll have to make some. Maybe it will force me to be even more spontaneous. 

Try watercolors yourself. You can start out inexpensively with a small watercolor kit and a small watercolor block. (A watercolor block is a pad of watercolor paper taped around the edges so it stays flat when it's wet.) Do invest in good brushes. They really are worth their weight in gold.

Note to self: A future how to watercolor blog post.