Old road watercolour painting @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

Wandering Camera – Nearby Adventures

The Girl And Her Cat on the Old Road watercolour painting @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

 

 

The Girl and Her Cat and I had our own little adventures, right where we live.  Much to my delight, we already had a few bouts of snow this year in the mountains here in the rain-starved California.  That brought rainstorms to the lower elevations.  I promptly bundled up in my waterproof clothing and boots and headed to the park for a walk in the rain.

 

 

Rainy day walk in the park in Northern California @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

 

 

Ever since I was little, I have always loved playing in the rain, the more torrential the better.  The world gets quiet, and it’s mostly just the sound of the rain and me.  

There is an oak grove in the park.  Standing under that canopy, I listened to the rain sing as it danced on the leaf-covered ground below. 

 

 

Rainy day walk in the park in Northern California @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

 

 

This is normally a narrow and deep drainage gully, but to my imaginative mind, it might as well be a stream that I have to cross carefully.

 

 

Rainy day walk in the park in Northern California @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

 

 

I wore my big boots, so I could splash along as I continued down the rain-sodden path.

 

 

Rainy day walk in the park in Northern California @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

 

 

I have made up my own names for certain areas in the park.  I call this area Darcy Field, resembling a certain scene in the Pride And Prejudice movie.  Right around the corner, the path turns hard with rocks and tree roots jutting out of the ground.  That would be the Dinosaur Ridge.  I love running over those protrusions.

I really wanted to continue on with the rain pelting down on me.  It was getting dark though, so I reluctantly decided to turn back.

 

 

Rainy day walk in the park in Northern California @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

 

 

Rain droplets on these dry stems looked like little crystal flowers.   My camera has a rain jacket of its own, so, just like me, it stayed toasty dry.   I would have liked to get close-ups, but it would have been impossible to change lenses in that windswept rain.  Also, I had to bow to the failing light.  This is the best photo I could take with the lens I had at hand.  Hopefully you get an impression of what I saw there.

 

 

Adventure of the Girl and Her Cat

 

While my kitties stayed warm and toasty at home,  The Girl and Her Cat continued their adventure together in the snow.

 

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the pictures and read about their wanderings –

 

 

 

Not to worry, they are bundled up for their snow walk.  When her cat gets cold, The Girl carries him inside her coat.

 

Wandering Pages Paintings

 

I added all the paintings shared so far about their adventure from the Wandering Pages book at the above link.  I will add to that page as we continue with their adventure together.

 

 

 

Migraing Geese Northern California Nature Journal watercolour painting @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

 

 

I will leave you with a page from my nature journal.   The day before the rainstorm came,  my husband hurriedly called me outside to see something  he thought I would love.   We saw a flock of geese flying overhead against the backdrop of a beautiful sky that only impending rain clouds can bring.  We watched them slowly dissolve the right arm completely and then recreate the V pattern as they faded to a distant shimmer.   I have never seen anything like it before.   I didn’t take a photo.  Instead, I recreated the scene in my journal.

 

I personally hand-make the journals in my studio.   You can purchase the journals here in my shop.   I have journals for both artists and non-artists.

 

Let me know which photo and/or paintings of our adventures you liked.  The Girl and her Cat, and I would love to know.

 

 

Since next week is a holiday week here in the US, I decided to move Wandering Camera one week up. 

 

Wandering Camera art and photo linky party @ InkTorrents.com by Soma Acharya

 

Wandering Camera is a monthly event that runs on the last Thursday of every month.  If you follow me via email, you will get a reminder.

All photo and art/creative-themed posts are welcome.  You can continue to link up multiple posts.

Please add the badge or a text link back to this site on your blog, or on each post that you link up.  I look forward to seeing your photos and reading about them.

Have fun!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page.  Please pay a visit to some of them.

 

 

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Tombow Markers – Review For Watercolour

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Last month, quite unexpectedly, Mother Nature treated me to a weekend of rain. The sound of rain is like the calls of the mythological Sirens for me. Re-purposing John Muir’s quote – “The rain is calling and I must go”, and go I did. I put on my raincoat and my waterproof pants and went for a 4+ mile run, all the while feeling the rain on my face. I was so happy and full of energy after coming back, I painted this little scene.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Early this year in January, I got some art supplies for my birthday from my husband.  These markers were a part of it.

This review is specially for my Paint Party Friday peeps and anyone who loves watercolour or wanting to plunge into that crazy world.

 

Tombow markers are available loose, but they also offer a few sets.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

The landscape set included 9 colours and a blender. 

They are water-based markers, so very easy to blend with a wet brush. I found the included blender to be useless.  It actually scuffed my paper when I used it directly on paper.

The markers only have numbers on them.  I found a chart on Tombow’s website which translates the numbers to standard colour names.  It’s a circular chart not ordered by number, so it was a bit tedious to find the names.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I applied the markers directly on paper, then used a wet brush to create the swatches.

There is no yellow in the set, that would have been useful.

A lighter blue would have been nice too.  The included blues diluted make very nice light blues. However, directly used on the paper, the initial strokes are too dark.

The colours change hue as they dilute.  So swatching them was very useful.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

The markers are full of pigment.  A gentle dab on the porcelain palette deposited a lot of paint, which I was able to dilute into a much lighter shade.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I created a small sheet noting their behaviour.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

1st row –

    • The markers blend very easily to create new colours.   Colours blended on the palette are less vibrant than the colours mixed directly on paper.

2nd row –

    • For wet on wet, I used a wet brush on paper and then added colour from the palette. The pigments move very freely.
    • To see if I can achieve a lighter shade directly on the paper, I drew 4 lines, and used a wet brush. While most of the paint diluted well, there was  still a faint hint of the lines on the paper.

3rd row –

    • When I needed to paint vibrant dark areas, it worked really well to use the markers on the paper directly, and then use water to move the pigments around.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

1st row –

    • Here I applied paint from palette to dry paper, resulting in a softer application.
    • The markers themselves don’t work well on wet surfaces. They start fading very quickly.

2nd row –

    • I used brush-tips to write with two colours.  Blending them directly on paper with a wet brush created a beautiful effect.

 

The markers did stain my fingers.  The colours came off after a few washes.  If you are going to make food after painting with these markers, I suggest being a bit more careful when using them.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I first painted the scene on a Stillman & Birn paper. I couldn’t quite get it to work the way I wanted, specially with the tree.  The colours didn’t move very well.  They either got soaked in or lifted off.

 

 

Landscape Painting Tombow Marker Review | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I painted it again on a Strathmore 400 series watercolour paper. I really liked the way the markers behaved on that paper, it was a more fluid application.

Which one do you like better?

 

Overall I really liked them. They are full of pigment so a little goes a long way. Even on rough watercolour paper, a gentle application was all that was needed. Gentle touch also protects the marker-tips.

If you are thinking about learning watercolour, I think the Tombow markers would be great for that. You can start by drawing with the markers and then add water to blend / dilute the colours. For a softer shade, drop some paint on the palette, then use that with a wet brush.

 

Endless fun possibilities!!

 

Happy Painting!

-Soma

 

 

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page.  Please pay a visit to some of them.  

 

 

Shop @ InkTorrents Graphics

 

 

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