One stroke painting is when you use one stroke for the shadowing and the highlights etc, which really this isn’t. But it is kind of supposed to be, if you know what you are doing. I’m using my newest supply…Chinese watercolor/calligraphy brushes . These are so much fun to use and they were $20 for the set of three sizes. I’m crap at it but I’m thinking it just takes a little practice. I keep finding tutorials where people talk about how much water these brushes hold (and they do!!) and how nice they are for regular painting. These have shed a few hairs, but they got really good reviews, and other people said after a few uses they don’t lose any more, so I’ll give them a while and will let you know if they are bad. So far, I like them!
I also used the Gansai Tambi watercolors. I really love the large pan size, and the way they wet, and the vivid colors. They dry shiny instead of flat, it turns out. Which is weird… but not necessarily bad. Kinda cool, as long as you know it’s going to happen, I suppose. Not good for all watercolor painting, though. Shop carefully… I looked for a while till I found the set and price I wanted. (I nearly linked the wrong one… same set, different seller, which was almost $11 more.) There are smaller sets, but this one is a good value comparatively (in my opinion) at (currently) less than $30, if you want a few more colors.
I followed several tutorials for all of these. It’s such a different way for me to paint… I’m not good at it but it’s fun to try and I hope I figure it out. (It looks so easy on youtube!!) I wasn’t going to show you any but the goldfish, (which are supposed to have fins that are yellow on the bottom and red on the top, but I couldn’t get my brush loaded correctly!), but what the heck.
I enjoyed working on this khadi paper. (I’m finding 100% cotton really does feel nice, and reacts better than cheaper paper with the application of the paint and water. But I haven’t decided if I’m committed to it yet. I like the last couple of journals which AREN’T all cotton, and I suspect I’ll continue using both for a while)
I anticipate using these brushes a lot. Till I wear them out. Here is the goldfish tutorial I tried. I’ll try it again until I’m happy with it, and the herons and pandas as well.
ThreeSixFiveArt 