Mark, Palm Springs
Hi, I'm Mark. I recently retired and moved back to Southern California. I'm avoiding pickleball, so I decided to try painting again after about a 50-year break.
I live at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains, so there's plenty of inspiration. I'm not good enough to paint portraits, so I mostly paint mountains, clouds and roadrunners. I'm hoping to get a good picture of a coyote this fall.
Most of what I paint comes from a photo I took, or my memory of taking it. About half my photo library seems to be clouds. They never look the way they did when I took them, but painting helps bring a little of that feeling back.
My first love is sketching, so I usually start with a pencil sketch on dry paper, then do a big wash and start painting. The watercolors don't seem to care about my lines, though. I use basic watercolors and a few brushes, flats and large rounds between half an inch and an inch. I paint wet on wet, let the paper dry, then do some glazing. Still working on that.
If nothing else, it's 30 minutes of zen.
Hope you enjoy the paintings. Feel free to use anything in my reference library for your own work. I'll try to keep it updated.
If you have suggestions for what I should paint next, let me know. Just as long as it's clouds and mountains. :)
Books
- The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and JournalingJohn Muir Laws · HeydayHow to look closely at birds, plants and landscapes, and get them down on paper.
YouTube channels
- Bob Ross@bobross_thejoyofpaintingThe Joy of Painting. Calm, patient, and still the best reminder to keep going.
- @learntopaintwatercolorWatercolor lessons for beginners.
Videos worth watching
- How to Paint with Watercolors: Beginner's Setup and TechniqueWith Rajiv Surendra's teacher Marcelo Daldoce
- Everything You Need to Know About Buying and Using Watercolor Paper
- Our Choices for Watercolor Paints and PalettesWith Rajiv Surendra and Marcelo Daldoce
- Exploring John Singer Sargent's Watercolor Technique at the Met
- Are the original paintings for sale?
- Yes. Each painting's page says whether the original is available. Write to mark.flournoy@gmail.com to ask about one.
- How are you learning watercolor?
- From books and videos: The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling by John Muir Laws (Heyday), Bob Ross, and beginner lessons on YouTube, including videos with Rajiv Surendra and his teacher Marcelo Daldoce.
- Can I paint from your photos?
- Yes. The Field Notes page has free reference photos of Palm Springs skies, mountains, plants and wildlife, dedicated to the public domain (CC0). Download them and use them for anything; credit is appreciated but not required.