There's Something New in My Art Space!

Nothing is now sacred when I am working on my art journaling. 

Bartholomew tramples across my pages, drags his paw across wet paint, sticks his nose in my coffee cup, and swats my Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils across the kitchen floor.

I was working on a journal page inspired by the beautiful photos in Sarah Ahearn Bellemare's Painted Pages, and learned first-hand the challenges of having a new little creature in the house.  I had gotten used to my aloof 15-year-old cat, Stella, who couldn't be bothered to concern herself with my affairs!

But the real "something new" in my art space is my Niji waterbrush.  I have been seeing waterbrushes discussed here and there, and was motivated to try one for myself.  I found the medium-size (12 mm) Niji brush at my local A.C. Moore craft store, for $8.99 (though I was able to use a 50% off coupon to ease the pain).

With a waterbrush, you fill the barrel with water, and have a constant reservoir to use as you paint.  No need to dip the brush in a cup of water.  To clean it, you just squeeze the sides of the barrel and touch it to a cloth until the water comes out clear.  Super easy, super clean.

I've discovered two great ways to use it so far, but am only just getting started in my explorations.  It works very well with watercolor pans (above), and has turned around my feelings about my watercolor pencils. 

To use the waterbrush with watercolor pencils, I just have to touch the end of the waterbrush to the end of the watercolor pencil and squeeze lightly to wet the brush.  The color from the pencil tip transfers to the brush, and I can then apply it to the paper.  Or, I have found that the wet tip of the watercolor pencil now applies a nice juicy color to the page, too.

I don't have much in the way of examples to show you, since I've really just been informally playing around with the waterbrush for about a day.  On Friday, though, I'll post the art journal page I was working on here; I used the waterbrush with my watercolor pencils to color some of the details.

 You might want to hop over to YouTube to check out some of the instructional videos there to see if you might not want to add a waterbrush to your own repertoire of art supplies.

And if you are already using one, please let me know how you are using it, and any tips or ideas you can share with the rest of us!

Happy painting!