Category Archives: Paintings

Testing Materials (4) – More Water Soluble Markers

Leave a reply

I know Crayola is a kid brand, and I don’t think Crayola Washable Markers are made for watercolor artists. However, for your daily doodling, and small art projects, they work wonders. The markers have conical tips that allow both broad and thin lines, and the colors are quite vibrant:

  • Rose, marker on paper, 4 x 4.
  • Flower, marker on paper, 4 x 4.

I recently got hold of a different brand, Tombow Dual Brush Pen Art Markers. You can see from the way it’s packaged (Primary, Secondary, Grayscale, Portrait etc.), Towbow is for artist. With a nylon brush on one side and a fine tip on the other, you can achieve more versatile marks with it. I tried Tombow and Crayola side by side and find them behave similarly:

  • Crayola
  • Tombow

A few notes:

  • I used 140lb watercolor paper, and all my paintings are small.
  • The colors are quite vibrant and they don’t dry lighter. However, if you have excessive water, it will wash the ink away.
  • You can go back lifting or adding colors. If you add colors with markers when the paper is wet, remember it is much hasher on the paper than applying watercolor with watercolor brushes.
  • As for lightfastness, both Crayola and Tombow claim their colors will fade over time. So maybe not use them in your masterpieces? The prickly pear flower one (top right) was on the wall without any protection for many years and I haven’t seen any color change yet.
  • It is convenient and fun!
Jazmine, Crayola and Tombow markers on paper, 5 x 5, 2020

Experimenting with Materials (3) – Caran d’Ache

Leave a reply

Caran d’Ache is a brand not a specific product, but I only know that now! The product is Caran d’Ache Classic Neocolor II Water-Soluble Pastels. My former watercolor teacher introduced it to me many years ago, and called it Caran d’Ache. Even though I bought a 40 colors pack, all these years, I never bothered to read the words on the package, and thus I never knew it was pastel!

I didn’t like Caran d’Ache back then. It’s waxy and leaves a mark like that of a crayon. It also won’t completely dissolve in water. I didn’t appreciate texture very much at that time, and was afraid of any mark that I couldn’t get rid of or hide. I only recently started to pay attention to marks making and textures, and how they enrich composition and set free expression. That why I decided to give the product more chances.

Here are some of ways I tried. First I just used it to sketch, and them apply water and watercolor on top of it. Toward the end, I used them to add more accents.

Catherine, draft.
Catherine, watercolor, 7.5 x 10 in, 2020

I also tried to wet the paper first, with some color, and then applied the Caran d’Ache before the paper dried. Some color bleeds more than others. In the red color figure, I went back and force a bit with the pastel and a wet brush to achieve a desirable result. In the greenish one, the paper dried quickly, and I was only able to do a drawing.

Female figure, 5 x 10 in, 2020
Female figure, 9 x 12 in, 2020

Here a lot of the design in the painting came as an after thought, and Caran d’Ache is a very convenient tool to draw out ideas. While it won’t completely dissolve, it’s easy to hide it with gouache, and it’s also effective in adding textures:

Tigger, watercolor and gouache on paper, 18 x 24in.

A few notes about Caran d’Ache:

  • It’s versatile but overall, works better in expressive drawing – where you don’t care to hide your marks.
  • It’s useful in finalizing or amending a painting,
  • I am not entirely satisfied with the way I am using it, still too careful and too timid.
  • I feel like if I am more competent with or have more confidence in my drawing skill, I could make better use of this tool.
  • I’ll keep playing with it. I have a hunch that it will set me free some day. 🙂

100 Day Art Challenge (4) – Day 76 – Day 100

Leave a reply

For the first 75 days, see 

Click on the thumbnails to see a bigger image:

  • Day 76
  • Day 77
  • Day 78
  • Day 79
  • Day 80
  • Day 81
  • Day 82
  • Day 83
  • Day 84
  • Day 85
  • Day 86
  • Day 87
  • Day 88
  • Day 89
  • Day 90
  • Day 91
  • Day 92
  • Day 93
  • Day 94
  • Day 95
  • Day 96
  • Day 97
  • Day 98
  • Day 99
  • Day 100

100 Day Art Challenge (3) – Day 51 – Day 75

1 Reply

For the first 50 days, see 100 Day Art Challenge (1) – Day 1 to Day 25, and 100 Day Art Challenge (2) – Day 26 to Day 50.

Click on the thumbnails to see a bigger image:

  • Day 51
  • Day 52
  • Day 53
  • Day 54
  • Day 55
  • Day 56
  • Day 57
  • Day 58
  • Day 59
  • Day 60
  • Day 61
  • Day 62
  • Day 63
  • Day 64
  • Day 65
  • Day 66
  • Day 67
  • Day 68
  • Day 69
  • Day 70
  • Day 71
  • Day 72
  • Day 73
  • Day 74
  • Day 75

New Pages Added

Leave a reply

My site zhisu.art just grows a bit with new pages on “Watercolors“, “Acrylics“, and “Oils“. Please take a look and click on each image to see more.

I also updated the “About” page, now “Meet the Artist” to expose a little more about me.

Putting oneself out there is not easy, and I will do it one step a time. 🙂

Steps, watercolor on paper, 14 x 20 in, 2014

Copying Masters (12) – Modigliani (1884 – 1920)

Leave a reply

Amedeo Modigliani is an Italian artist famous for his uniquely stylized portraits. I always like his paintings and attempted a study years before. Somehow Modigliani’s Madame Amédée reminded me of my neighbor’s cat, and my original plan was to use the composition of the original painting, and replace the head with that of a cat’s. It didn’t work out and I switched back to the lady. The result wasn’t much of a copy, and you can still see the trace of my deviation.

Original

Madame Amédée (Woman with Cigarette), oil on canvas, 39.5 x 25.5 in, 1918

My copy:

Woman with a paw, acrylic on canvas panel, 16 x 20 in, 2016

This is another try. This time it was not a copy, but I tried to stylize a self-portrait. I meant to focus on the inner world of subject, but somehow it was all spilled over into the background. As a result I went way beyond his typical palette, which is quite muted.

Me with a hat, acrylic on canvas board, 16 x 20 in, 2017

After learning drawing and painting humans for a while, I find myself even more fascinated by Modigliani’s ability to go beyond realist forms while stay true to the spirit and character of his subjects. I probably will do more studies of Modigliani in future.

100 Day Art Challenge (2) – Day 26 – Day 50

1 Reply

For the first 25 days, see 100 Day Art Challenge (1) – Day 1 to Day 25

Click on the thumbnails to see bigger images:

  • Day 26
  • Day 27
  • Day 28
  • Day 29
  • Day 30
  • Day 31
  • Day 32
  • Day 33
  • Day 34
  • Day 35
  • Day 36
  • Day 37
  • Day 38
  • Day 39
  • Day 40
  • Day 41
  • Day 42
  • Day 43
  • Day 44
  • Day 45
  • Day 46
  • Day 47
  • Day 48
  • Day 49
  • Day 50

Experimenting with Materials (1) – Rice Paper

Leave a reply

I did a watercolor painting on pre-matted rice paper (xuan paper) before, and I tried it again recently with different paints:

After Feiniaogongzuoshi, 12 x 12 in.
Crazy Hair Day, 8 x 8 in, June 2020
Kaydee, 8 x 8 in, June 2020
Nikki, 8 x 8, Jun 2020

A few notes:

  • The paper I used is something like this, but I bought it from China and it was a lot cheaper.
  • The first two paintings were done with Chinese paints that commonly used for brush painting on rice paper. The brand is Marie, and it’s available on Amazon.
  • “Kaydee” is done in sumi ink, a cheap one from Daiso.
  • “Nikki” is in western watercolor.
  • The Chinese colors are a lot more opaque and hold better on rice paper, which is very absorbent.
  • The western watercolor dries very light and very flat. I went back multiple times trying to enhance the value. When the paper is wet, the pigment swims away to wherever with a blink of eye.
  • There’s no lifting with rice paper after it’s dry. You can pat it with a tissue paper and lift some pigment, but you can’t get rid of edges that way.
  • Sumi ink is the most staining of all.
  • I absolutely don’t know how to apply the skills involved in the first painting (the rooster one) to the later ones.

100 Day Art Challenge (1) – Day 1 to Day 25

2 Replies

I’ve been doing the 100 Day Art Challenge at New Masters Academy for a while. I chose to focus on the figures and portraits for this challenge. Here are the first 25 days of the paintings and drawings I’ve done.

Take a look (click on the thumbnail to see a bigger image) :

  • Day 1
  • Day 2
  • Day 3
  • Day 4
  • Day 5
  • Day 6
  • Day 7
  • Day 8
  • Day 9
  • Day 10
  • Day 11
  • Day 12
  • Day 13
  • Day 14
  • Day 15
  • Day 16
  • Day 17
  • Day 18
  • Day 19
  • Day 20
  • Day 21
  • Day 22
  • Day 23
  • Day 24
  • Day 25

Pairs (IV), Ink Resist Revisited and Reuse Old Paintings

1 Reply

The first one is sumi ink, and the second one is ink resist with gouache. Both are on watercolor paper and they are separately composed.

Caroline, ink on paper, 9 x 12in, June 2020
Thoughts, ink and gouache on paper, 10 x 14 in, June 2020

A few notes:

  • The ink I use is from a Japanese dollar store called Daiso, and it’s really cheap.
  • You can manipulate the ink to some extent while it’s wet but when it’s dry, you can’t lift it as watercolor.
  • For ink resist with gouache, please see my previous post “Try New Things (1).”
  • The second painting is done on the back of an old painting (of a broccoli). When I soak the gouache painting in ink, I got some unintended texture. It’s probably because of the unevenness of the paper. I might have done some lifting or scrubbing for the old painting. I decided it didn’t hurt.
  • In general it’s fun to think about how many ways you can deal with a subject.

Now a few more words about old paintings. Good watercolor papers are expensive, so I never throw away old paintings, no matter how ugly they are. There are always ways to reuse them:

  • The obvious one is to paint on the back. If the paper is not flat, you can soak it in water, then lay it flat and add some weight on it (or re-stretch it). Sometimes the texture of the paper on the back is different. It’s still workable.
  • Another way is to examine the old painting and see if there are some elements can be used. The flames in the second painting was modeled after the leaves of the broccoli on the other side. Look at it upside down, side ways, hold it up against strong light, you may discover something different.
  • You can also directly use it. Tear it apart and make it into a new collage.
  • Take a picture of it and manipulate it into a new digital art with Photoshop, Procreate, etc.
  • These methods are not exclusive, and that one piece of paper can generate many artworks!