Blog - Belinda Del Pesco

Watercolor Sketching – Chateau Landscape Study, and art links for you

Comments: 0 | Posted on July 15, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Chateau Landscape Study – moleskine watercolor sketch Summertime Pace of Art-Making I traveled to France to work as crew twice with a wonderful company called WorkshopsinFrance.com. The bank of travel photos and watercolor sketches made on each trip is a dip into time travel, and a mine of inspiration. When I scroll through the photos, or flip through sketches, I want to make more art from scenes rich with Provence-flavored atmosphere. While perusing a watercolor sketchbook this weekend, I realized that many of the subjects I rendered are not my usual painting or printmaking fare. My studio work is primarily figurative and still …[Continue reading]

Monotype printmaking – Picnic Nap, and Five Printmakers to follow on Instagram, Vol. 2

Comments: 6 | Posted on July 6, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Picnic Nap 8×6 Monotype Ghost with Watercolor & Colored Pencil (Available in my Etsy Shop) Using Other Media on Your Monotypes This monotype ghost print looked a little dubious all by itself (see below), but it had potential. The mark-making still visible in the thin veil of ink was interesting, but the tonal variations were too close together, and it needed more contrast to read as two embracing figures. Other Art Supplies to the rescue! This monotype ghost print, before I added color with wet and dry media. Do you paint your ghost prints too? If You’re New to Printmaking If you’re unfamiliar …[Continue reading]

Pen and Ink Study – Frenchy’s Cove and Ten Reasons for Beginners to Make Small Art

Comments: 5 | Posted on June 28, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Study for Frenchy’s 5 x 8 inch Pen and Ink/Watercolor sketch Painting Small Studies In the chain of Islands off the coast of the town I live in, the coves and anchorages all have names. Some are based on geographical features – like Keyhole Rock (see below) – and others are named after the history of the place. There is a popular anchorage on Anacapa Island island called Frenchy’s, named after a hermit who enjoyed company. Anacapa is the closest island to us, so we went out to have lunch in Frenchy’s Cove on Mother’s Day, and I snapped a bunch of photos …[Continue reading]

Watercolor – Queensboro

Comments: 12 | Posted on June 24, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Queensboro 18 x 14 watercolor painting on paper (sold) Upcoming Video Courses My studio is a tangle of audio cables, lights, tripods and video equipment. I’m filming new courses for my online school Belinda Tips. If you haven’t registered for your free account over there, go ahead and do that so you’ll get notified when the new courses are live. I’m working on an in depth class on monotype printmaking, and another on grid drawing for a watercolor painting of a floral still life. Everything from selecting the best flowers, to arranging and photographing them, printing, grid-drawing, and shading the sketch, and then …[Continue reading]

Watercolor Painting – Winter Cat Garden, and watercolor links for you

Comments: 12 | Posted on June 17, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Winter Cat Garden 8×10 watercolor on Strathmore Plate Finish Bristol (sold) Shades of Gray for your Watercolor Palette Here is a Winsor & Newton demo video of three different grays to consider for your watercolor palette. Each of them are mixed with manganese blue and carmine for variations and tonal shift transitions into beautiful color options. Davy’s Gray, Payne’s Gray and Neutral Tint are the three grays in the demo. I have one of them, but I’m considering adding all three. Do you use them in your palette? Scout’s version of a Winter Cat Garden is an occasional nibble of catnip. Fortunately, he’s …[Continue reading]

Watercolor – Klondike

Comments: 0 | Posted on June 10, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Klondike 8×10 watercolor on fabriano artistico paper (available in my Etsy shop) I’ve been following Marc Taro Holmes‘ 30×30 project (read his first post about it here). Have you? His close up shots of the watercolor pigment Lunar Black by Daniel Smith were so lovely, I scrambled to my box of watercolor tubes to see if I had a variety of black watercolors in my arsenal, and I did! You know how that goes, right? My ToDo list got squeezed to make room for a 40 minute monochromatic watercolor sketch of my sister. The phrase ‘You have to strike while the iron is …[Continue reading]

Architectural Watercolor: Albanian Apartment Building

Comments: 0 | Posted on June 6, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Study for Albanian Apartment Building 10 x 7 Watercolor on paper (sold) Jewel Watercolors from Winsor & Newton With summertime approaching in the US and Europe, painting with watercolors in the garden could be in your future. Especially with the news that Winsor & Newton has stocked their previously limited release jewel tone watercolors. I felt a need (not a want – but a need) to have that aqua green, smalt and quid violet after watching this video, so I ordered them on Amazon. So far, only the smalt has arrived, and it’s beautiful (clouds, skies, water, shadows!). I predict some experimental washes …[Continue reading]

In Remembrance of Charles Reid (1937-2019)

Comments: 23 | Posted on June 4, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Mid Century Redhead 12 x 8 Watercolor on paper (sold) Charles Clark Reid (1937-2019) I was adding a photo and a link to a blog post on my Facebook page, when I caught this announcement on the Charles Reid Page as it scrolled into my feed: On Saturday I lost one of the most incredible people I have ever met who also happens to be my father, Charles Clark Reid. August 12,1937-June 1st, 2019 Charles Reid had fans all over the world. We will miss him so much. He will live on through his magnificent work.Sarah Reid I had to read the post …[Continue reading]

Collagraph with Carborundum – Sinking In

Comments: 1 | Posted on May 31, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Sinking In 5.5 x 7 Collagraph Print (Available in my Etsy Shop here) How to Make a Collagraph using Carborundum This collagraph was build on the back of a piece of mat board. Wanna build one too? (If you’re new around here, and you’ve never seen a mat board collagraph, here is a playlist of tutorials on my YouTube channel to help you get started.) Read on…. Collagraph Plate Making Process After sketching a young woman’s face and hair with watercolor on the verso of a scrap piece of mat board, I used a standard #11 exacto knife to incise lines around shapes …[Continue reading]

Color Monotype – California Incline, and Making Quick Monotype Studies from a page of Thumbnail Photos to Loosen Up

Comments: 4 | Posted on May 25, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

California Incline 8.5×10.5 Monotype with colored pencil Printmaking Play Date Here is a printmaking exercise for you. Print two sheets of thumbnails from paintable images snapped on your phone. Let’s make some light field color monotypes, but loose and fluid… no fussing allowed. If you don’t already have a folder of compulsively harvested art reference photos on your computer, walk around the house and snap some, or go for a walk, and collect some simple, visual magic. Some of the “drive-by” landscape thumbnails I’ve snapped from the passenger seat, printed as inspirational reference for a monotype marathon loosen up exercise. Artist Reference Photos …[Continue reading]

Monotype Ghost Print – Italian Vacation and Art Links for You

Comments: 3 | Posted on May 23, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Italian Vacation 4.75 x 4.5 Monotype Ghost Print with Watercolor and Colored Pencil (sold) Inspiring Art Links for You Marc Taro Holmes is embarking on a 30×30 challenge that’s a variation on the usual month-long painting commitment. He’s made 30 small monochrome studies using digital software (see them here) and he’s going to paint one per day for 3o days in the studio with no reference photos or live landscape views. There’s more to it. Check out his post here. If you’re on the west coast of the United States, do you know about the California Society of Printmakers? They host an artist …[Continue reading]

Watercolor – Portrait of a Printmaker, and Bad Artist Advise

Comments: 2 | Posted on May 20, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Printmaker Adjusting the Press 5 x 6.8 Watercolor (sold) Impressionable Beginner Artists I’ve mentioned in previous posts (read this one), I suspect my love for printmaking and clanking metal presses originated in my family’s tool and die machine shop. I think we are drawn to things that imprinted on us before we had comprehension that we were so malleable. It’s good to think about what sort of experiences or inherited beliefs we have absorbed, because they can limit our tastes, tools, and choices in art. Master Printmaker – woodcut Learning How to Make Art If you’re the type of beginner who likes clear, …[Continue reading]

Traveling with Watercolors – and a watercolor titled Galilean Moons

Comments: 4 | Posted on May 16, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Galilean Moons 9.5 x 18 Watercolor (sold) Over the years of posting photos here of work in process at Art Festivals, you’ve asked about the set up I use to paint watercolors away from home. I try to keep my traveling watercolor kit small, lightweight and nimble. At festivals, I usually use an easel to accommodate face-to-face conversation with strolling visitors. If you don’t have an easel, don’t fret, because there are alternatives. I didn’t take an easel to France on either trip with workshopsinfrance.com, and it worked out beautifully with just a little preparation. Painting watercolors on an easel at the San …[Continue reading]

Dark Field Monotype with Watercolor and Colored Pencil – San Juan Capistrano Bell

Comments: 4 | Posted on May 13, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

San Juan Capistrano Bell, 4 x 6 dark field monotype with watercolor and colored pencil (sold) Getting Ready to Make a Monotype This (below) is a 4 x 6 zinc plate, with beveled edges – since I’ll be printing this on a press. After rolling a smooth, thin layer of black printmaking ink on the plate, I’ll use cotton swabs, rolled paper towel pointers, blending stomps and a rubber gloved fingertip to pull ink from the plate in a subtractive process to create an image of the San Juan Capistrano Bell Tower in Southern California. Have you made one of these yet? Ready …[Continue reading]

Monotype: Climb Back In

Comments: 6 | Posted on May 11, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Climb Back In 4×6 Monotype Ghost Print with watercolor and Colored Pencil (available here) Monotype Ghost Prints If you’re new here, and unfamiliar with monotypes as a printmaking method, take a look at this post to see process shots. Monotypes are very painterly prints, made with pigment alone (no incised lines on the plate) and they can be made in a huge variety of ways, with no press, and all sorts of media. Here is a six tutorial video playlist of monotype demonstrations for your perusal. You can also join this monotype group on Facebook to harvest examples, tips and encouragement. This is …[Continue reading]

Watercolor – Birds on my Counter – and Historic Still Life props

Comments: 0 | Posted on May 8, 2019 by Belinda Del Pesco

Birds on my Counter 5×4 Watercolor on paper (sold) Artists’ Still Life Objects The cast iron birdbath curio in this petite watercolor has been rendered in enough still life paintings and printmaking projects that I’ve lost count (see examples here, and here, and here). When studying photos of artists’ studios from long ago, I search for the objects on the shelves that might be found in their paintings. It’s an artist’s game of Where’s Waldo. I wonder if the items were gifts, or happened upon, or handed down through the family. Every artist’s still life clutter has a story to tell. Do you …[Continue reading]