30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 14

I wish I knew this dog personally.... she looks like she has such a quirky personality!

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 13

This one was really fun because the focus was as much on the background as it was on the dog.  

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 12

I'm a bit embarrassed by how far behind I've let myself slip.  I have about a million-and-one excuses, but I doubt you would want to hear them.  Anyways, this lovely Shepherd was very fun to paint.  I struggled to get my darks dark though so I cheated a bit and used black.  Not sure why that's such a "no-no" in watercolor other than it ends up looking a bit chalky.  I generally get pretty chalky looking paintings anyways though so I'm not too concerned.  I loved the harsh contrasts in the reference photo for this one so I wanted to try my best to capture that.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 11

I am so much happier with this one.  I finally decided to ditch the ink lines and it made a big difference.  I think I was relying on those lines a bit too much and it was not letting my paintings be as expressive as I wanted.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 10

Slowly catching up.  I learned some important lessons on good ways to mix colors and some BAD ways to mix colors haha.  This was a really fun dog to paint for some reason.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 9

First time I felt daring enough to do a full body.  It was hard to get a nice, rich color for the body without it getting dull.  I think it's about time to invest in some better paints.  I am currently using a small, student-grade pan with an assortment of colors.  I realize it wont make me a better painter to have nicer paints, but at least maybe I can overcome some of the "chalkiness" I'm seeing on my darker paintings.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 8

I'm already falling way behind on the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  I really thought I'd be able to do it without too much of a problem, but it's a much bigger commitment than I thought.  Hopefully this weekend I will have a day where I can get all caught back up.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 7

I just love using ultramarine blue with burnt sienna.  I never can seem to get a real nice dark black like everyone else apparently can with it, but I still like making fun dark mixes of the two.  This is Kobi the English Shepherd.  Isn't he a doll?

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 6

I knew I had to paint this little guy the moment I saw his picture.  He just looked so cute and spunky with that ball in his mouth.  I think he'd be the kind of dog I would really get alone with.  I still have a lot to learn about mixing colors and blending in watercolor, but that's what this practice is for!

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 5

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I am already behind on my "30 in 30" challenge.  I guess I get to spend my Saturday playing catch-up.  This one was a pretty fast and easy paint.  I got a bit carried away with the background, but I felt more free to experiment with techniques and I was amazed how quickly it came together and how much fun I had with the process.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 4

I had a lot of fun with this painting (probably due to the delicious frozen sangria I had beforehand!).  I am unfortunately already a day behind in the 30 in 30 challenge.  Didn't figure I'd already be struggling at day 4, but I plan on playing catch-up and "work ahead" this weekend.  I really wrestled with my camera and photoshop to try to make this look like the original, but failed miserably, so I will try to take the weird color-cast and lighting issues away in the next few days.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dog: Day 3

Today's painting is a husky.  He was going to be a black husky, but the brown came out so nice that I decided to stick with it.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 2

Corgi

Here is my Day 2 entry for Leslie Saeta's "thirty paintings in thirty days" challenge.  I am much happier with this one than the day before.  Corgis are just so fun.  I experimented a bit more with how I was applying my watercolors.  I tried to be bolder with the strokes, but I often fell back into my ways of messing around with it to try and make it look like it's "supposed to".  I also used  a few different colors that I don't typically use (some of my choices were good and some I regret lol) I just keep hoping that I will be more comfortable with watercolors after this challenge is over.  That is my goal.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 1

Day 1: Basset Hound

I decided to join the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge to force myself to start painting again.  Of course I had to make it very difficult for myself and pick a medium that I don't get along with (ie watercolor).  About halfway through I thought, wow... I should just toss this and try again with pens or color pencils because I'd do a much better job.  But I want to learn watercolor and practice is the only way I know how to do so.  I also used pen and ink.  I haven't decided yet if I will continue using the ink on future watercolor paintings, but I figured I needed it for now ;)