- Hi, I am Kath McCauley and what we're gonna be doing next is wet and wet.

It's my favorite kind of watercolor.

You're just unlimited to how things are gonna happen.

Many people love the sloshiness of some watercolors, well, this is where we're going.

We're not gonna do illustration.

It's not tight, it's loose, and you have to learn how to use it, how to push it, and to accept the losers, 'cause they're gonna be some losers.

But the winners are really fun because the colors are fantastic things that you would never mix yourself.

Come along and join us.

Love to see you.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by Sedona Hypnosis LLC, healing your past, creating your future.

Muriel Walsh Estate Sales, representing people is our business, and by viewers like you.

- Okay, this is probably one of my favorite things.

I've always said this is what I wanna do when I grow up.

It's wet in wet watercolor, where you get loose.

I'll show you a couple bit or not.

And let me tell you, a scientific illustration is the exact opposite.

There is one.

Now in this case, I was asked how I would get a cactus.

Cactus have thorns all over the place.

So if you're going to get the thorns, you're going to have to get a little detailed, but you sure don't have to put them all over the cactus.

That's a dark in front of a light and I had to add a dark here to get it to come in on that side.

There really aren't any other thorns.

But this was to include seeing the cactus.

Here's another one that's relatively tight.

This is the door of Ted Degrazia's studio in Tucson.

If I take this away, it probably looks a little bit better.

There we go.

In this case there are plants.

Penstemon's have very fine stalk of flowers.

You can't really feature them because they just sort of change the color as a whole.

And then the cactus, barrel cactus.

Again, we get up to palo verde trees, they just barely change the color, but the details here are sharp.

Now let's look at it in wet in wet.

This floral, everything on here is wet, sloshy.

There's a good edge.

Pen is used of course, and then colors flow together, and they will if you have wet.

So, and then another one that's really wet.

This even sloshes the clouds across the mountain edge and the details are only at the end.

And then the last one on these, this is wet.

Everything about it is wet, but when you get to the foreground, it has harder edges, but everything else sloshes.

So how do you do it?

It's fun.

You may get some terrible accidents, but it's fun.

And given the scale that you're working, you're not gonna waste a lot of paint.

If you had a great big page and you were doing this, you would use a lot of paint and it gets expensive.

In this case, you're not using a lot of paint.

It's not gonna get terribly expensive.

Not at all as a matter of fact.

I mean I could layer this stuff on and it's not gonna get expensive.

Okay, I'm gonna start with sort of a forest, dark tree and I'm gonna get a bit of a structure in first, a light, dead tree, then dark trees.

Just wanna get my ideas here.

A piece of land that is light.

Keep the lines out of it.

An edge piece of land that comes out.

There's your basic sketch.

Now, as much as wanted, you can add dark lines to, because they're gonna be part of the dark.

Your darkest dark is the pen.

Your darkest fast, dark.

You can mix darks, you can mix black, but you can also get it out of the pen.

And I want some of this all the way over there.

And where are others?

There are gonna be some back there, but I want to take advantage of the fact that you already know that it gets bluer and lighter in the distance.

I don't want this to be exactly like that one, so I'm gonna make it a skinny tree, and it's going to come farther down and anchor probably about right there.

Are there trunk parts?

Yep, there are now.

Leave that alone.

Come out here, perhaps a little bit darker there.

And maybe some bushes in here, that lets me know where things are gonna happen.

Just that.

Remember to put the lid on the pen.

I keep forgetting to mention that.

Put the lid on the pen when you're not using it.

Okay, where do you start?

This is a question I get now and then.

Oil painters start with the sky traditionally.

Everybody else has a different way of starting.

A common one?

Your biggest thing first, then smaller, then smaller, and finally detail at the end.

Another one, find your darks.

I'm just now finding that this is terribly balanced and I don't like it.

Okay, change it right now.

This tree just got bigger and it's farther away, and this one's gonna come still farther down to about in here, and it's gotta have more darks.

Sometimes you look at something and say, the design is bad and you change it.

Oh, and then finally the way I start a painting, I gotta get back to that, is I look for my focal point wherever it is.

And occasionally I will put a color in to remind me that that color's very important at that point.

So if I were gonna do it here, I'm gonna remind myself that I've got those yellows back in there.

They're in there always.

Okay, that's enough to remind me.

Now, I want a light blue.

Oh, something I didn't mention before.

I usually have three quarter length sleeves because I don't wanna drag 'em through the paint and if, especially if they're draggy.

So, when I see someone in one of my classes that has a draggy sleeve on, I'll tell 'em to roll it up so they don't wind up having to wash the paint off.

It does save a little time.

I'm gonna sort of do a little mixing up there.

I want blue and green, and I wanna be sure, cerulean and blue is heavy.

The particles of paint are very, very heavy.

It's called the specific gravity, but you don't need to know the technical stuff.

You need to know what works.

It doesn't have to be technical, it's what works, and it's also what works for you.

Now, that is a nice light color.

I like that one.

Let's see how it works back here.

Not bad for a few of the trees in the distance.

Not bad for a few.

Now thin it down.

You're gonna see this happen faster, probably.

Not thinned much.

Add a little more green, make it paler.

I bet there's not much in the brush, very little.

Pick up with a wet brush, that's gonna be still thinner.

There you go, much thinner.

Now it's gonna run together, it's wet in wet.

And you can do this on small areas, and you can do it on an entire painting.

I'm gonna bring some of it down into here.

Not a lot.

Oops, forgot this.

Oops, that's gonna be a dead tree.

And there's probably gonna be some over here.

Don't wanna detract attention off the page.

Okay, that's your first pass.

Now if you like it, some people really like wet paintings.

If you really like wet paintings, this is how you get 'em, it's water.

And something that might come up is, this is dirty water?

No, it's not dirty water until the water colors the paper all by itself, then it is dirty.

Then it probably should have been changed.

Should have been.

Not change it now, should have been changed.

I'm gonna pick up some green.

This happens to be hookers green.

Sorry about the name, but that's it.

And I don't know who it was, I don't know who the person was that it got named after.

Once in a while when I'm using it, I think, you know, I should have looked that up, but it doesn't happen.

I'm going for the trees that are closer to you.

More yellow, so hence, greener.

Make 'em look a bit like pine trees.

Just a bit.

It's so much fun to play with this, really.

I love playing with this.

And I know that sometimes they don't work and it doesn't matter.

It's all about the doing.

I'm gonna wait a bit to do these because I don't want them to run all over the page, but that one's different.

That one is a dead tree, so I'm getting dead tree color.

Somebody would say, what color is that?

It's dead tree color.

Don't worry, you're pretty little head.

Is it gonna be at all darker in the middle?

It should be.

It should go a bit darker, maybe on the trunk.

Where can I get it to go darker?

How about here?

I bet that works.

If you feel something might work, give it a go.

Don't be afraid of it, just give it a go.

If it doesn't work, you'll learn.

I think that's going to, you know, I'm gonna go a little darker on it.

There's a reason.

This time, pick up a bit of blue.

Too much?

That's a lot, but this is gonna be fun.

That's a little too much.

Go back and pick up some more of that.

Let things feel right, it's all about pleasure after all.

I often ask people, why are you painting?

Do you wanna have people come in the living room and say, ooh?

One possibility.

Do you wanna be in shows?

Do you wanna be in galleries?

Or do you wanna have a good time and enjoy yourself?

Pleasure, then back off.

If that's the case, back off the pressure, start having fun.

Okay, this area in here.

Now lemon yellow is the only color changed by the black line.

It goes into a satisfactory green, but I also wanna get this very light, clean yellow.

And there's going to be some in here and some in here, but there are other colors in there too.

Back to purple lake.

Purple lake is a really weird color.

You know, see what's happening?

There's flow coming from here down into here.

Now you can say, I didn't want that.

Try to clean it up.

Or you can say, oh, that's pretty cool.

Let's see what happens next.

This will be a fun brushstroke.

There you go, will that work?

Why not?

I'm okay with it.

I'm gonna bring some of that down right there with a little, maybe a little bit more shadow in it made by purple lake.

It's a very weak violet, very weak and wonderful for changing colors.

Now down at the bottom, I wanna go darker and I did not make that dark with the ink.

Probably should have, but didn't.

By the way the pen, water soluble pens do not write in wet places, period.

They get a meniscus of water across the tip and they refuse to write for about 20 minutes till that dries.

Once it dries, they're fine, but they don't write in a wet place so you can't bring that back in where I'd be hitting wet.

So instead I got manufacturer something that's gonna look.

Maybe I wanna do the next part first.

Why not?

Always a good strong, why not?

This is gonna be water, I hope.

Leave yourself some room for error.

It's gonna have many colors.

Ooh, it should have.

Oh, that's a beautiful color right there.

That's a combination of burnt sienna and sap green, and it really is a pretty color.

Now in here, I wanna pick up some other colors that are possibly there.

A bit of blue, probably cerulean.

I think I'd like that better.

Didn't show up much, did it?

Come down in here, come back to a different color range.

Let me try this.

Why not?

That's kind of cool.

Then back to the color back in the mountains.

Remember that was some cerulean?

Yep, and that could also be in the sky.

The sky is not over the whole water, and you have to look at water to see that because you're gonna be inclined to thinking that the water is always blue.

No, it's not always blue.

There may be blue, but it's not always blue.

That's kind of a beautiful passage of blue.

What happens if I add a bit of that right there?

Now come in, I'm gonna try to get that dark and not make a wreck.

One of the darkest darks is burnt sienna and ultra marine blue together.

That's a good dark.

Can I get away with this?

Don't know.

Don't know, 'cause I'm coming in between two wet fields with another wet, and they ought to run.

But maybe it won't hurt, maybe it won't hurt.

I don't know.

And then over here, I wanna put in some here.

It's gotta go rather to flat, come in here, get rid of that line.

Come in there a tad and come in there.

Now what if this came across there?

Got a little glint.

Oh, and I forgot my pink tree.

I meant to scrape it while it was wet.

I wanted to scrape the foliage.

Can I get away with that?

We'll see.

Real dark, dark, dark green.

Really dark, dark, dark green pine tree.

Okay, the one that's farther away will have a bit of a blue cast to it.

Probably have to reload.

The lines in here, if you wanna get rid of them, tickle 'em a bit, and I'm gonna have to reload.

I'll say one thing for this shirt with long sleeves, I'm not sure I could tell if I put paint on it.

It's got enough color all by itself.

Is there a trunk in here somewhere?

That'll do.

Oh, now that is a dark.

I didn't mean it to be that dark.

Guess what?

That is perfect for this tree.

Come over and pick up more.

As you pick it up, play it over here, that one will get lighter.

And the branches go up, usually on a pine.

So rethink how they go.

I like that, really like that.

So if this guy is this strong, would some of this be out here?

Possible?

Why not?

Now, is it possible at this time since I didn't think of it before, to scrape the tree in the background?

To a degree, yeah.

There it goes.

You got some of it in there, and I took some of the color away from this guy.

And I'll put a few, a little bit down in there.

Again, reaffirm that.

What's in here?

We're getting closer to the front.

That took care of that.

It's easier than I thought.

Down in here, I'm gonna put some water in first.

Just throw some water on right over some of the yellow.

Come back in with good old purple lake and some green.

Not a likely pair of bedfellows, but why not?

Don't like the colors.

Do I have to?

No, I don't have to like them.

Haven't given this any go.

That's okay.

I want some of this to go above here, what would work?

What would work?

Something that comes above.

Notice I've gone to the tip of the brush?

I want a different brush stroke.

The tip will do that.

The side does sloshes, the tip does little things, like that.

So would there be some here too?

Maybe, maybe a bit of red in here.

That's red, that works perfectly.

That is red, but when it's on a wet field, it's gonna run and mix with whatever else is in there.

Is there any white here?

White there in the water?

Yeah.

I don't know about here.

There is a little phenomena where you either get a dark edge against water or you get a light edge against water.

Just added a bit there because that looked right.

So that's the light edge.

Go back here and go for the dark edge, and just make it a little stronger.

I don't want the pen lines that much in there.

You know, I can live with this.

Yeah, I can live with this.

There's a cloud.

That little white place?

That's just plain fun.

Ooh, can't resist.

Now, this is just because I like what watercolor does.

That's a little drop of water.

It is going to make a bloom right there, which is kind of fun.

Maybe I don't want it I don't know.

Okay, is everything okay?

Gonna strengthen that line, make it a tad darker, just because I can.

Not a whole mess darker, a tad darker.

Just a few more things back there.

I like that there's a beautiful gray in there and I think I could probably get away, except for one thing.

That lavender, that stark, stark lavender?

A, I'm gonna change it a tad, B, I'm gonna repeat it someplace else.

That took care of that, torn that down a touch.

And now repeat it probably in the water if it's really there.

And would it be back in here?

Yeah, it's in there.

Would any of it get down into here?

Sure could.

Then if that happened with the brighter yellow, it could also get into the water, that could.

And at this point we just get carried away and say, I just want to add a little more, and I would just wanna add a little more, and I wanna add a little more, and I'm just going too far.

So let me show you what happens if you mat one of these things.

I came prepared for this, I happened to love to see what happens when you put a mat on it.

Does it get better?

Does it get worse?

Does that mat work?

No.

Does that mat work?

It's quite decorative.

Yeah, that kind of works.

What about a gray?

Does that work?

Yeah, that works pretty well.

And I use these mats all the time, so they get kind of beat up.

No, don't like that at all.

Isn't it fun to see what the change you get when you use a mat?

I mean, it's just, it changes a whole bunch.

Of course you're gonna sign it probably, and you can put that right down in here.

What do you sign it with?

People ask me that.

The pen.

For goodness sake, it's built with a pen.

Not when it's wet, wait for it to dry.

Then just go ahead, put your name on.

If you need to make it blend in a little bit, then just put a little line under it like that.

But I can't do that now because it's absolutely wet.

But this is a wet in wet sketch.

It started with a pen, then a lot of water, and you're gonna get color effects you don't get any other way.

And you can let go if you're inclined to being very tight, just let go and enjoy it.

What we're gonna do next is another real favorite thing.

It's flowers.

Flowers in bunches, flowers by themselves, flowers which allows you tons of color.

I think you'll be surprised.

Come along and join us and happy sketching.

Want to learn more about the wonderful world of pocket sketching?

Then visit my website at pocketsketching.com.

We have so much there for you to explore, including free tips and training videos, the pocket sketching supplies, photo galleries, and how to access additional training.

All this and more is available at pocketsketching.com.

Learn enough to play for a lifetime.

- [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by Sedona Hypnosis LLC, healing your past, creating your future.

Muriel Walsh Estate Sales, representing people is our business, and by viewers like you.

(upbeat music)