3rd blog

Here is a photo of the watercolor I completed Thursday in the hospital.  I used 5.5" X 8"5" watercolor paper, and Cottman  Winsor and Newton half pan watercolors.  I used Arne Westerman's step-by-step demonstration on pages 85-87.

Got my "how to" book today

I have already checked out several books from the library about watercolor painting.  One of the books featured several artists as examples.  One artist I liked was Arne Westerman.  I checked him out on the internet and noted he was well respected in the watercolor artist community.  I checked out his own site http://www.arnewesterman.com/ , and decided to buy his book "Paint Watercolors Filled With Life And Energy."  I received it in the mail today, and practiced on one of his portraits while in the hospital with my wife, who is receiving chemotherapy. 

It came out pretty well.  I'll try to figure out how to post a photo of it later. 

First blog

This is my first blog ever.  I have been reluctant to type blogs.  I admit I am starting this one because it is part of a community college class I am taking.   My name is Brian.  I am 53 and am attending Central Texas College in Killeen, TX.  I learned from a Statistics class here at CTC that I am a statistical outlier, way older than the average CTC student.  In fact, I am more than two deviations from the center of the bell curve.  That's how I came up with the name CTCoutlier.

I choose trying to learn watercolor portraits as the topic of this blog, as I am an Art student here at CTC, and am really interested in this topic.  I think I have some artistic ability.  I  have already taken  9 hours of drawing and design classes.  I also took 3 hours of oil painting.  I recently started watercolor painting because I could paint while in the hospital with my wife.  I purchased a Winsor and Newton half pan set that isn't much bigger than a point and shoot camera.  Winsor and Newton is a good brand, and the paint has strong saturation.  Hopes this works.