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[marylka]

Hello Marylka, Great news, this is what we have all been waiting for, I don't know if I will be your first customer, but I will certainly be close to it.  Kindest Regards, Patricia.

Hi Patricia
Thank you your order yes you are one pretty close to being the first.
Had mine today at art class  today very useful tool.
Marylka

[mrdwyer9]

Hi Marylke,
I think the bottle of water with the squeeze top lid is a good idea. I will use this as it is always a problem with contaminated water in paint. I like the idea of your colour glaze tool. I will wait a while but will purchase it later. It would be helpful to have an idea of what colour you will get. You must have worked hard to do this project and good luck with it by the way. By the way it is great to hear you doing so well in your art society competition. I also have not shown my work yet but hopefully in the not too distant future. This is part of the reason i like to do some postings here to build up my confidence. I have my gator board now and this will help me to work toward some new work. Do you have any ideas on how to avoid splatters on your work.
regards
Margaret

[marylka]

Hi Marylke,
I think the bottle of water with the squeeze top lid is a good idea. I will use this as it is always a problem with contaminated water in paint. I like the idea of your colour glaze tool. I will wait a while but will purchase it later. It would be helpful to have an idea of what colour you will get. You must have worked hard to do this project and good luck with it by the way. By the way it is great to hear you doing so well in your art society competition. I also have not shown my work yet but hopefully in the not too distant future. This is part of the reason i like to do some postings here to build up my confidence. I have my gator board now and this will help me to work toward some new work. Do you have any ideas on how to avoid splatters on your work.
regards
Margaret

HI Margaret,Thank you for the encouragement,

The Color Previewers are a complete set of 12 colors Of Susan's & my palette .The pigment are used by many brands but called by other names .I have listed the pigment numbers in another post look under new product Color Previewers post the set contains booth cool and warm pigments colors so it's suitable for many pallets if there is a specific color you want to match you could place 2 together that makes another color.
I only have the prototype an order will be placed very soon.

I have finally started on my new painting china, lace cloth ,rose and doing the yellow under painting it has been great to view how many layers I will need,  before I apply with each layer to achieve the right value, it's great to have this preview at hand no guess work

http://www.susanart.com/forum/index.php?topic=470.420  listed colors here
To avoid splatters use either a piece of blotting paper or printing paper to cover some of the area you are working on.I bought the blotting paper at a newsagent Susan uses it for lifting pigment that is a great tip better then tissues I find.
Glad to hear that you have your gator board  
found the listed colors click here
http://www.susanart.com/forum/index.php?topic=470.420
Marylka

[marylka]

Add some glass beads to your bottle of masking fluid / frisket to
help stir it up when it separates.
 Never shake the bottle only stir then the latex will not clump
Marylka

[mrdwyer9]

Hi Marylke,
I will remember to get some blotting paper. I remember we use to have it at work in Canberra when i was working in Department of Defence. I used to use it to draw on and it was usuall full of drawings and doodles within a month. I will go to a newagent on the weekend. I would like to purchase the colour previewers how can i pay you for them? It will also be nice to have an idea of how many layers will be needed. This will encourage me to work with finer washes. I am doing a fun painting at the moment with some roses on a fence. I have lost the reference photo for the roses but it has come out Ok. I have ordered Aleta DVD now and it will be fun to watch them when they come. I also had to re purchase Susan's book as i can't find my copy anywhere. I have purchased a second hand one but that will be better than not having one. My birthday presents for this year from me. I remember we talked once about buying a birthday present for ourselves. This is a great way to buy these things that we really want at least once a year.
happy and successful painting
margaret

[marylka]

Hi Margaret,
Thank you for the interest on the Color Previewers I will have all the details on a web page when everything is set to go .I'm getting a feel of how many my first order should be, it's difficult with a new product as to quantities .I thank you for your patience in this. I will put on the list within Australia Postal order would work .I also purchased Susan's book second hand as they are out of print ,I was reading through it again last night ,she had the tip there on blotting paper that I overlooked Happy to hear your working on the roses. yes with Color previewers you will see before you apply the paint ,using fine washes like Susan's method you let the other washes glow through and you achieve a more luminous look I find.

I have started my china lace cloth wood table & rose one area is quite large with what I have learned through the DVD I'm doing it went on wet where as before I would have used wet on dry but seeing how i can keep the paper wet longer and doing washes without demarcation, lines I will be able to paint that area with confidence It has been great of Susan sharing all her technique with us. Buying a present for yourself is always good You will enjoy Arleta's DVD her technique is wet on dry they are great to have as the painting progresses  even with painting wet on wet that is the technique I use also  for my glass works I do get better smooth washes with wet on wet though .
Marylka

[mrdwyer9]

Hi Marylke,
I will wait for the details on the forum until you have it all set up. I am happy to help support you in your endeavours and it will be a useful tool. I like wet on wet too it gives more time to get the right look. I have a DVD by Nancy Tichborne she is another NZ watercolour artist and i love her work with flowers. I would like to do some more work in her style too but don't have the time at the moment. I found a new copy of Susan's book on Amazon and it was going for $158 US dollars so could not afford a new one. I actually cried when i thought that i was not going to be able to get another copy but it turned out that i was on the wrong Amazon sight. I suppose you could get a new copy in China but it would be a bit hard to understand. I remember Susan saying that they had sold the rights of the book to china and she was told that they had not sold any of them.
I would really like to see your new painting when it is done. I can see how much your work is growing in both interest and the standard is excellent now. I can also see how  your confidence has grown so much. I myself have a long way to go with the confidence part but being on the forum does help me. I will try to participate in the new challenge or master class and do the eye thing.  My background on the "fun" picture is coming along OK. I remembered to use softer washes and build it up and also to do the wetting of the paper a lot further than i was going to paint to avoid those demarkation lines. I have been using some new face washes to try to keep it clean but i do tend to splatter still. I now try to use Susan's method of wiping the brush carefylly on the side so that i dont splatter.
regards
Margaret

[marylka]

Hi Margaret,
I have Nancy Tichborne 3 DVD  also i bought them in VHS form at the time I found her hard to follow in her work she does do it well more in a loose style It's always good to see other artist work and DVD's, Artist can pick up useful information .My favourite is Susan then Arleta, I have all of Arleta's DVD she had specials on for a while as she said they were getting old I had already bought them  I'm a good customer . Over time I have developed my own style as one does .I bought Susan's book a few years ago for $15 the postage cost more from US when I e-mailed them Richard put me on to Amazon  I just looked at the prices now they have certainly jumped in price What a shame no sales in china
 
Maybe Susan can do the new things that is happening now E-book although some information on the pigment have changed that could be edited the remainder is about the same, I might mention it at the workshop.
The painting I'm doing now will take me a while with lace holes intricate design on the china ,I have done  the design in oils same piece of china it has another plate as well, as it's white I have done a test practice on some paper getting the tones right using those myriads of colors
 Having the Aureolin under painting this is how I remind myself

I have done this practice with wet on dry  takes it to a lively grey even doing dry glazes,if i start with yellow then put the red on, then the blue it optically turns to grey but not a flat grey/blue  I have then changed the sequence of color starting with red then the other 2 then blue then the other 2 it gives different effects of grey which is not flat .I recommend this practice keeping the washes at the same value otherwise the top color will dominate the rest.I paint this practice on small circles that I draw from a coin.

In fact the Color Previewers will demonstrate that placing the colors on top of each other.This is the color palette that I mostly use I find it quite magical to be able to see through the previewer to my painted area and seeing what is possible is great.
 
I will do this with wet in wet it works in the same making sure to  keep the washes light if I go too strong I block out the previous layers of color, I also love how smooth the washes look ,that wet on dry does not achieves as well in my view and the colors tend to sit on top of the paper not so noticeable on cold press
paper. I don't know why the splatters is your plate close by?
Marylka

[marylka]

Scan or photograph your image and view it on a pc screen to see if
corrections or changes are needed, also look at a gray scale
version to see values.

[mrdwyer9]

Hi Marylke,
i agree that Susan's style is a better way to get a smooth watercolour without those hard edges. Aleta talks about watercolour and hard edges a bit. I have had her watercolour book for a while and did some practice paintings but i don't remember using her technique though. With regards to Nancy she does paint freestyle with a lot of interpretive painting. I remember one of the problems i had with her Video was that she would not show her detail work enough so there was a bit missing. I did do some in her style. the one thing i remember liking about her wet in wet style was the initial first glaze where she would put in colours that would shine through in the finished painting. I also found that the cold pressed paper was easier to use until i started to use Susan's priming method.   When you use oil what type of canvas do you use?
regards
Margaret

[marylka]

Hi Margaret,
That is what I also found with Nancy video there was not completed demonstrations and I could not see how she started on her paintings, I did get a lot of blooms and ended up hard washes

I do like Susan's method the best the washes are seamless and glowing the previous layers do shine through in this method if the layers are not applied too strong, if they are, they block out the previous layers  so they are not able to shine through, that is the absolute key fine layers.

I use the wet on dry on the final small areas with a glaze ensuring to pull the color out  with a damp brush so that the color remains gradated to show form

With the oils there is a board Ampersand that has a very smooth surface it's not available over here, so I use  untempered Masonite with 6 layers of gesso applied with a small  roller and sand every time between layers to achieve an egg shell finish ,I have also applied that method to canvas ,because of the grain on the canvas it was harder to get that finish it is a lot of work. If it's not smooth enough it shows through the oil glazes .

[Renee]

Margaret, here is a web site that does book trading. Susan's book is available for trade.
http://www.swaptree.com/book/glorious-garden-flowers-watercolor-susan-harrison-tustain/1161745/

You can get it here for less $$$ http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/2630263/used/Glorious%20Garden%20Flowers%20in%20Watercolor

And Amazon has it for $45.00 on this page. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/089134828X/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

[mrdwyer9]

Hi Renee,
I did get the book and was really happy as the condition if very good. I was so  happy to have it again. I also received Arleta's on the same day which was extra exciting. When i opened it I was so surprised to realised that i knew it back the front and remembered all the pages. A sign that i must have read it a lot. How is the break going? Your painting coming along too? I have hit a bit of a lull but will get back into it again soon.
regards
Margaret

[mrdwyer9]

Hi Marylke,
PArkers have Ampersand gesso board but it is very expensive. I am not sure but i think that it is new . They also have an interesting clay board for egg tempera not that i will be doing egg tempera. The Ampersand they say is very good for glazing. I asked as i was not sure whey she recommended it and now after your comment i realise t hat it is the smoothness. I could looked into the hardboard but it sounds a bit time consuming for someone like me as i only have a couple of days to do my painting each week.
regards
Margaret

[Renee]

Hi Renee,
I did get the book and was really happy as the condition if very good. I was so  happy to have it again. I also received Arleta's on the same day which was extra exciting. When i opened it I was so surprised to realised that i knew it back the front and remembered all the pages. A sign that i must have read it a lot. How is the break going? Your painting coming along too? I have hit a bit of a lull but will get back into it again soon.
regards
Margaret

My last Painting is posted in the Upload images section called my latest painting. I don't know about a break. I take them all the time. Just nice to rest after the big trip to the solo exhibition open house. Getting all the paintings framed was allot of work. Nice to be home to recover my aching old body.