Live Wedding Painting Tasmania!
It’s been a while, folks! I went off and had a baby in August and am just dipping my toes gradually back into work, comics, and events. What a whirlwind!
I jumped back in a couple of weeks ago for a live wedding event where I sketched and painted during a ceremony at the Port Cygnet Cannery in Tasmania. It’s such a unique venue and it was an honor to be asked to do this.
Setup and ready to go!
I prepped some papers and took some reference images of special mementos for the couple in advance to be sure to include these extra special images that are incredibly meaningful on their day. Then it was time to start!
The ceremony has finished, sketches are planned, and now it’s time to make everything look fabulous!
I used my favorite pen ever, the Pentel Brush Pen, which is permanent ink. In addition to this, I used my Yarka watercolor paints and lush Fabriano hot press paper. All archival materials ensure these little moments will last forever. Here is a snippet reel of everything in action on my Instagram:
If you or anyone you know is interested in hiring me as their wedding artist, I would love to come up with a special plan just for you! Get in touch via email - alyssa (@) alyssabermudezart.com
A Guide For Buying Paints - Watercolour Edition
I’ve been teaching drawing and painting for a DECADE now. I hardly feel old enough to say that, but it’s true. And most of the two decades before that was spent drawing and painting as well. I’ve always loved this, it’s no secret.
Watercolours weren’t always a top choice for me. They are spontaneous, challenging to control and not as forgiving. When I started out as an illustrator I was convinced that I needed the opposite of all of those things. I wanted realistic details and control!
Something that changed my perspective on watercolour was a technique I learned during an MFA class at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Sergio Ruzzier was our guest demonstrator, and he showed us how he tints his paper yellow first. Because watercolour is a transparent medium, the yellow acts as a tint for all of the colours that are layered on top. It’s basically a warm filter that unites all of the future colour layers together. This blew my mind, and I have painted in watercolour so much since then — always with soft yellow first.
The soft yellow becomes the white of the paper. In watercolour you can always go darker, but never lighter.
Something that also makes a huge difference is the quality of watercolour paints. I’ve tried them ALL. Paints are made up of pigment and binder. For watercolour paints, the binder is gum arabica. This can be diluted with water for various results. Different companies/manufacturers also add other elements that may help the flow of the paint.
If you want your paintings to last, they need to have lightfast pigments. This means that as it is exposed to light or humidity, it will not fade or change colours. Do you remember how your classroom grade paints faded into nothingness? They are not for use beyond there. They are mixed with fillers and extenders so you actually need to use more of them to get a decent result. And no classroom paint layers will ever add up to the vivid colour you may need. If you want your painting to last more than a decade, it will need to have permanent lightfast pigments. Each paint tube should have a lightfast rating on it — excellent, very good etc.
Some of my students are like “but I’m just starting out” and they feel as though they somehow aren’t good enough to buy “real paints.” I encourage anyone who really wants to dive into what watercolour has to offer to upgrade to literally anything above classroom quality. This way you can really see what vivid pigments can do on the page. It is magic!
Colour charting your own paints is something I highly recommend.
Infinite Colour Choices?!
The thing is, you don’t need a set with a million colours. With proper colour theory and colour mixing exercises, you can mix most colours from the following type of list. However, I would add that you do need more tubes/colours if you are using watercolour instead of acrylic. This is because the more you mix watercolours together, the faster they dull. If you want the most vivid colour imaginable, it will need to come from less mixing. If you love more muted and natural colours, go right ahead with fewer options to mix with.
A Cool Red
A Warm Red
A Cool Blue
A Warm Blue
A Cool Yellow
A Warm Yellow
Pthalo Green
Umber or Sepia
Paynes Grey or something like it.
Most sets have options with those as the minimum starting point. Each brand might have its own option, and artists have their personal preferences as well. You don’t need black because you can make a very dark colour imitating black that has more life in it. Shading your colours with sepia or paynes grey can be a nice alternative to black anyway. You can make beautiful oranges and purples from those mixtures, but if you use tons of purple and hot pink in your paintings I would suggest adding it to your palette separately.
Something to be aware of is the transparency of your watercolour paints. Many tubes/pans will have a little circle on the back to indicate whether the colour is transparent or not. This is only important for your layering as you will need to put down your least transparent colours first. This will make more sense when you’re actually painting.
Lastly, the staining of each paint colour differs. This doesn’t necessarily mean the quality is better or worse, it just means you won’t be able to “lift” out certain colours because they stain the paper permanently. You’ll get to know this with your own set. It doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.
A classic painting exercise that I highly recommend for any medium.
Some of my favourites, which I will link to below.
Pans vs tubes is a personal preference. Pans need to be reactivated by water, and the tubes need to be diluted with water.
I find that I waste more paint if I use the tubes, however, watercolours can be reactivated after they are dry. That means you never have to waste the paint you squeeze out. You can save your palette with all of your paint on it, and just wet it again when it’s time to paint! Sometimes they become a bit crumbly or it requires a bit more effort to reactivate, but it still works. This is not possible with other paints.
You might prefer tubes if you are doing larger works and find it easier to have tons of colour accessible when you require it for broad strokes.
For shoppers in the USA/Canada:
The following section contains affiliate links with Dick Blick, meaning I would earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through these links:
Top Choices for a Beginner Enthusiast Watercolour Set:
A gorgeous, ever-popular set of watercolour paints by Winsor Newton— There are several options, and this half pan set of 12 has all of the essentials. Other options include a super cute travel set and individual colours to extend your palette if you wish. You can’t go wrong with something like this.
If this is way out of budget, I still encourage you to paint. Some decent student grade brands include Reeves (tubes) and Grumbacher.
Another beloved classic set with VIVID colours and add on options would be Daniel Smith! If you have no other colours, the 12 set is perfect. If you want to extend your palette, they have beautiful colour scheme sets too.
Top choices for the Watercolour OBSESSED -Most Gorgeous Sets Ever:
Schmincke paints are not for beginners unless you just have cash to kill and bigger ambitions for your painting journey. They are the most beautifully vivid quality pigments and would be a prized possession and tool. The 24 set is already a luxury, but they do a 36 set too… which to me seems like overkill. That being said, if someone anonymously dropped off the 36 set to me, I would not complain.
If you want to be just like me, this is my current watercolour tool kit:
I have been using Yarka paints for the last seven years or so. As a student I couldn’t afford Schmincke paints, so I found this brand as an alternative. (Winsor Newton and Daniel Smith would also be suitable high-quality alternatives). The first set I got was the Yarka Original Set of 24. I paint pretty often and I haven’t had to replace many of the pans. I use cadmium yellow the most, so I keep an extra in the tray. It has beautiful, vivid colours and has produced MANY illustrations for me.
Click through to shop this set at Dick Blick
Once I became addicted to that set, I found their “Sequel Set” which has more turquoises, hot pinks, and a beautiful indigo blue which I now use for everything. Depending on the style and your colour palette you might not need something like this. It works beautifully for what I do.
A bird painting after my sequel set.
A few of the new pinks and purples in my Yarka Sequel set.
A whole bunch of my brushes.
Brushes for Watercolour - Where to start?!
Brushes are always a personal preference, but there are some that will make life a bit easier when painting with watercolours. The shape, flexibility, fibre and length of the bristles all do different things.
Shapes: These are all personal preferences and depend on your type of painting and style.
The most versatile shape would be the round. Round brushes hold water and also have a nice point for precision. I personally love natural pointy round calligraphy brushes from China and Japan. They hold TONS of water and retain a beautiful point.
Other really useful shapes are riggers and spotters. They are also pointy and round, but the length is different. A rigger brush is wonderful for outlining, long continuous strokes etc. The spotter brush is short so it has less flexibility and is great for extreme details.
Some might like square brushes or big mop brushes depending on the texture and style you are going for.
There are natural or synthetic fibres in brushes. Generally, the natural ones hold a point longer and hold more water, but there are many synthetic brushes that are wonderful too and will be more cost-effective. It is important for round brushes to retain their shape, so if you can afford one natural fibre round brush, spend your brush money there and buy synthetics for other shapes. Some of my favourite types of brushes are the ones that have synthetic and natural fibres mixed in so it has the benefit of natural and cost reduction of synthetic. Check them out below:
The following section contains affiliate links with Dick Blick, meaning I would earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through these links.
Combo of Natural and Synthetic (the best of both worlds)
I have some of these brushes and they are gorgeous. The natural and synthetic combination makes them amazing for shape retention, quality and feel. This set of three would be perfect:
Silver Brush Set of Three
For A Fully Synthetic Set Option
This set is cheaper because it is a synthetic fibre, but it will work beautifully for smaller paintings.
2 Round, 1 Rigger and 1/4” One Stroke
Heavier weight paper for more water.
When it comes to other types of painting, the paper or surface doesn’t really matter. For watercolour, however, the paper makes a huge difference! You might think you’re saving money on crappy paper, but if your paper starts literally pilling and coming apart, it defeats the purpose of the whole endeavour.
First, your paper needs to be acid-free. This means it won’t turn yellow and it will endure the test of time. The pad/sheet of paper should say acid-free on it. I always recommend using your crappy whatever paper for testing colours and techniques and then using your acid-free good quality paper for actual paintings. You don’t need to use your fancy stuff for a colour wheel exercise.
Second, your ideal watercolour paper should be made out of cotton! This means you can scrub it, add tons of water to it and it will let you. If you use a different type of fibre it will limit your technique.
The weight of the paper is up to you. If you use thinner cotton paper it can work, but it might buckle as you add more water to it. One way around this is “stretching” your thin paper which requires soaking it in water and taping it to a board with special tape. ( I am usually too lazy for this, but it’s actually amazing when you do it.) To save time and effort you can do a thicker weight paper, like 140lb/300gsm+.
Hot press vs cold press means the texture of the paper. When the paper is pressed into shape, the temperature makes a difference to how it turns out. Hot press eliminates most texture, so your paper will be super smooth and bump-free. Cold press will leave a texture. This is definitely a personal preference. I prefer hot press for my illustration work so I can control things a bit better afterwards. Cold press is lovely for landscapes and other paintings that texture will add character to.
You can buy paper in pads, blocks, rolls or gigantic sheets. Sometimes I recommend students get a big sheet of hot press and cold press so they can cut them up and decide for themselves which they prefer going forward.
All of my book illustrations are done on hot press arches or fabriano watercolour paper, tinted yellow first.
The following section contains affiliate links with Dick Blick, meaning I would earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through these links.
Cold Press, Heavy Weight, Budget Friendly:
I have used many many many blocks of this Strathmore Paper. It’s great! 140lb/300gsm means you can really play with it.
Hot Press, Some of the Most Gorgeous Paper Ever:
Arches and Fabriano paper are my personal favourites. 100% Cotton, these pads come in blocks where one edge is gummed together, or all four edges are. That just helps it retain shape with water.
Other things!
In the world of watercolour, there are endless things you can add to this list to make your head spin: masking fluids, mediums, accessories, watercolour boards, etc. It can be overwhelming, so if you have no idea where to start - pick a simple paint set, 2-3 brushes, and some paper.
What sorts of watercolour exercises are you interested in learning about? Comment below, email, or reach out on Instagram @bermudezbahama
Inscape Tributes 2021
Creating tribute pieces for Inscape Tasmania is pretty much one of the best gigs ever. It is so special to listen and learn from patients in the Royal Hobart Hospital — all with unique stories to tell! Here are some recent ones:
When people reflect on the special moments in their lives it’s always something simple but profound. For Sandra, it was the sound of bagpipes at her wedding, roses, the colour yellow, researching her family tree and a funny moment with her husband and a seal. It’s so fun to put these together in just a few hours and special to see their reaction to it when it’s done.
Ingrid generously shared some of the things that bring joy to her life and we immediately clicked. Sometimes that connection leads to an even more special illustration. This is the fabric of Ingrid’s life and it’s one of my favourite tribute pieces to date.
I created a tribute piece for Elizabeth- a patient at the Royal who loves nature, animals, crafts and fossicking for gemstones. It was wonderful to hear some of her favourite memories and turn them into art for her to keep.
For Colleen, it was a quilt representing her love of sewing and the fabric of her life which involved so many special things. She also had the best smile.
Quarantine Art - DIY Colour Wheel!
So you’re quarantined with some acrylic or gouache paint you say?
So the whole world is suddenly thrown into social isolation or quarantine. Watching the news around the world and worrying about friends and family has left me emotionally and mentally dysfunctional. As of today, April 1st, I’ve already lost a friend and colleague to the virus and heard of many others in the hospital being treated for it. It’s easy to say that everything will be okay, but it’s hard to believe it. I am incredibly lucky to still have enough illustration projects to financially support me, and I am holding onto that gratitude dearly.
In a time like this, with many people at home, it’s an opportunity to put your art supplies to use. Many of you out there have random art supplies in boxes or sheds that never get touched. I have tons in my home studio, but many things such as my acrylic paints and coloured pencils are quarantined at the Nolan Gallery where I usually teach.
SO… I bring you these ideas to try — not for the sake of perfection or of becoming an artistic master. I bring them to you so you can find small pockets of joy and mindfulness in your quarantined days.
Here is a pile of the paints I currently have at home.
Why do we bother with colour wheels?
The colour wheel is a great way to introduce yourself to the magic of colour mixing. It also shows us the relationships between colours. For this one I have included shades, tones and tints as well to get the fuller scope of this relationship. With certain approaches to painting, you can also use it to create colour schemes for your future paintings. You could take it a step further and add tertiary colour segments.
When you use less tubes of paint and mix more, you not only save money, but you also have more unified colour. This is another reason why making your own colour wheel from primaries is a great idea. When you discover that you can make at least 24 distinctively different looks from just 3-4 tubes of paint, you will see the world with new eyes!
For this exercise you will need some primary colour paints! Red, yellow, blue and white (more on the specifics in a minute). I am using gouache for this because my acrylics are quarantined away. If you would like to follow along with acrylics, it is basically the same theory. Watercolour will be slightly different because you don’t use white- instead you use WATER.
You will also need a few other things - paper, pencil, a brush, water and paper towel/rags to wipe off excess water. I also like to have scrap paper nearby to test colour on before I make a mark on the final paper. I have included a plate to trace a circle onto the paper. Feel free to freehand yours!
The most important part of this is the colour. Because I found these random gouache paints at home, I wasn’t sure which ones were appropriate to make this colour wheel. You see, not all yellows, blues and reds are the same. I eyeballed my choices from the look of the tubes first, and then tested a few of them out.
The yellow I chose was a bright and light yellow. I eliminated the other one because it already had white mixed in to soften it. Not ideal…
Reds can be biased towards orange or purple. The red I chose was deep and a bit more purple in its bias. You’ll see why this matters later when you try to mix purple.
Blues can be biased towards green or purple and I chose the more purple one again. Ultramarine is always a safe bet.
I am happy to chat with anyone more about this, but don’t let it discourage you from getting started with whatever you have.
Once you’ve chosen your colours, it’s time to setup the layout. Don’t torture yourself over this part, the point is to mix colours, not have perfect pie pieces.
After you trace your circle onto the paper from a plate or freehand, draw a line to split it in half.
From there, find the middle and mark it with a dot. You will then connect that center dot to the outside of the circle at 2 points to create 3 even-ish sections on one side. Repeat on the other side until you have 6 pie pieces. If you want to make them exact, knock yourself out!
Then we are splitting up each pie piece to have small sections at the edge. We want 3 small sections. You can do these one pie piece at a time, or all at once. Whatever makes you happy! Haha
From there, label the pie pieces in this exact order (doesn’t matter which spot you start in): Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet. Use initials if you like. You want to end up with something closely resembling this:
Yay! Ready to go!
The first step is to paint directly from those tubes of red, yellow and blue paints into your inner circle layer as you labeled before. Don’t mix them with anything else, but you can water them down slightly to make it glide on the paper easier. Just don’t add so much water that it becomes transparent.
Then we start mixing! Using the same red and yellow, you are going to create an orange mixture. It’s not necessarily a 50/50 split, so gradually add small bits of red to some yellow until it’s not too red orange and not too yellow orange, but looks just right to you.
Then do the same mixing your yellow and blue to make a just in between green.
To make a violet, you’ll mix some of your red and blue. This one can be tricky depending on what red paint you found at home. If the only result you get is looking brown, it’s probably because your red is too orange. That’s okay, don’t torture yourself over it, haha!
Now you have a basic colour wheel, but we aren’t just basic people are we…
We are going to add more! Next is your SHADE layer. All colours have shadows in the absence of light. The next step is an extra challenge to your colour mixing if you don’t have burnt umber or black (yuck, don’t use black unless you have to)
What you’ll need to do is make BROWN. If you have burnt umber, feel free to use it. If you have never made brown, what are you waiting for?!
To make a neutral brown, you will need to mix some of your red, yellow AND blue together. This might take a bit of back and forth, but since you have the basic colour wheel already done, it can guide you!
For example if your brown is looking too purple, look at where purple sits on the colour wheel and put more of the OPPOSITE colour in (yellow). This will neutralise it.
Feel free to do this on another palette and spread out a bit.
If it’s too red, add a tiny touch of green.
You are going to use that brown colour (or burnt umber) to create a shade colour for each pie piece. Mix a tiny bit in at a time until it feels right to you. There is no such thing as going too dark, you’re doing this for fun, remember?
Voila! Shade
After that’s done, it’s a good time to refresh your water if you haven’t already. Using dirty water will potentially influence the colours you put on paper.
The next step is to create beautiful neutralised versions for each colour! I call these the tones.
To do this you want to add a bit of your brown AND white to each original colour.
We need toned down versions for most colours, otherwise our paintings would be too chaotic to look at! It’s also a good trick to create depth in paintings.
They should look like muted versions of your shadow. If you still have your shade mixed, you can try just mixing white to those. Or start each from scratch to really control the colour.
BAM! We have tones.
Definitely rinse your brushes off again, because our last layer needs to be bright and crispy! We don’t want any brown to tone it down.
It’s time for TINTS a.k.a. your light pastel pretty layer.
To do this, mix white with each of your original colours. My advice is to always add the colour gradually to a little bit of white instead of adding white to your dark colour. This just preserves the amount of white paint you will need to use. You just do you though!
Pastel pinks and blues, yes please.
And there you have it! Your very own colour wheel to use based on your own paints.
If you are obsessed with charting and have multiple types of paints, I would suggest making one for them all! ie: Watercolour wheel, acrylic wheel, gouache etc. Try ones with different versions of your primaries, but be sure to label which ones you used on each wheel so you know how you got that colour in the future!
You will be a colour mixing genius in no time!
Let me know which other art projects/exercises you’d like to try. Be sure to share your colour wheel and tag me on insta @bermudezbahama !
New Semester Activities
This semester, FIT's Illustration MFA program includes jam packed studio time and hands on work (... and let's not forget about thesis writing). Mondays and Tuesdays we have "Exploring Media" through which we are currently exploring oil painting techniques with Martin Wittfooth. I guess I've been a fake artist up until this point because I have never ever touched oils before! Our two underpaintings will soon be brought to life with color. Thursday is "Traditional and Digital Integration" where we are getting refreshed in Photoshop, Painter, and Corel with Monika Maniecki. Saturday we are digging a bit deeper in Rudy Gutierrez's "Narrative Art" class where we are currently illustrating the modern evils emerged from Pandora's Box (images to come soon). Even though the schedule is so full, I'm looking forward to the new body of work at the end of this several month span.
The first assignment in the Digital & Traditional Integration class- Photoshop painting inspired by my recent Thailand trip.
My two oil underpaintings for exploring media. Top is Lucy Honeychurch from A Room With A View, Bottom is a model study so far.
Dreams Lived Dreams Shattered
Dreams Lived, Dreams Shattered: MLK, JFK 50 years later
Work of MFA Illustration Students and Faculty
Gallery FIT
November 9 - December 7, 2013
Students and faculty of the MFA in Illustration program at FIT visually reflect on the 50th anniversary of two seminal events in American History.
My piece for this exhbiit is titled "Bankruptcy"
"We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt." In the last fifty years, Americans of different races, genders, and ages have continued to demand their freedoms. The funds are growing and more checks are clearing, yet the richness and security of equality seems interminable.
Bankruptcy