Michael Burns Art

Expanding Your Artistic Horizons Series Painting Session 1 Date: 08/30/2017 Subject: Japanese Maple Medium: Watercolor and Graphite Recently I came across several paintings that were done with Watercolor and Graphite. I thought this would be fun to try as part of my Expanding Your Artistic Horizons Series. I did a little research online and watched a youtube video of someone doing a landscape with watercolor and graphite. As always I did not spend a lot of time researching because I wanted to get started. I decided to do the painting in my watercolor sketchbook. Not knowing how this would work I did not spend a lot of time sketching the tree. Graphite Drawing of Japanese Maple Once I completed the drawing I wondered: Did I get enough value transition Do I have too much or not enough detail Did I use to soft of lead which will muddy the watercolor Other then a few pages in my watercolor sketchbook I am not experienced at using watercolor. I am sure more knowledge

Expanding Your Artistic Horizons Series Date: 06/19/2017 Subject: T. C. Steele Studio Barn Medium: Watercolor  View of  T.C. Steele Studio Barn Today was in the mid-'70s, which made it a perfect day to go to Nashville, Indiana. We stopped at the Brown County Art Gallery to view the 39th Annual Indiana Heritage Arts Exhibition and Sale. There was a good variety of work by well-known Indiana artists and was well worth the stop. Afterward, we drove out to the  T. C. Steele State Historic Site  to spend the afternoon. The site is closed on Monday, so you cannot go on the tour but can walk around the grounds.  I decided to take my  Watercolor Sketch Kit  as part of the Expanding Your Artistic Horizons Series . Looking for a subject to sketch and paint, I settled on a view from the porch of the T. C. Steele studio barn. The wind was blowing enough to cool the air and make you think about why Selma came up with the name "House of the Singing Winds." I must say sittin

Expanding Your Artistic Horizons Series Assembling a Watercolor Field Sketch Kit My Water Color Sketch Book Lap Desk Sketch Setup During the fall of 2016, I started looking at different blogs and websites of artists who watercolor sketch. I was amazed by how many artists were doing this and the variety of subjects they sketched. Some sketched landscapes, anything that looks interesting, and others are urban sketchers. There is a whole global community dedicated to urban sketching. You can check into it at  Urban Sketchers . Another blog that inspired me to take up watercolor sketching is written by  James Gurney . He writes a daily blog and does a lot of sketching in different media such as watercolor, gouache, and casein. He is an excellent artist and provides a lot of great information on his blog, I look forward to reading his daily posts. As I researched watercolor sketching, I had not thought about " Expanding My Artistic Horizons." Now I realize why I want