John's free water colour course for the first time painter.

Hi everybody, no matter where you are in the world and which of my pages you like whether it is my John Jackson page, my Free Water Colour Course, my Retiring or Retired page, my Nature page, my Gardening Tips page, my Old John’s Vlogs page or my How I Wrote My First Book page, I have decided to put all the pages’ information onto a page I am going to call “Old John.”

Admin, from Facebook, are sending me information telling me my pages need updating so, to make life easier for me and to let you all know where you can receive my information, if you want to, I am going to put all the notation on my new page called “Old John.”

I thank you for all your support, in the past, and hope you will continue to read my information.
I will leave this information on all my pages, for a while and then cancel the pages so that it does not confuse new readers and that everybody knows where to find any of my subject matter.
Your friend John.

Tips of the day.

When you are painting, or drawing a subject, you can add a person into the picture to create a sense of distance or height. You can, as an example, add a person in the shadows to create a little bit more interest to your picture. If you are not used to drawing or painting figures, you can draw a letter M and a letter W underneath the M and then work on the stance of the person walking and so on.

Sometimes, if you draw or paint a person coming towards the person viewing the picture, there is less interest to be gained than if you draw or paint someone going in the opposite direction into the picture.

Always remember, there is no one way of doing watercolour paintings and if you have found a way which works for you stick to it.

Over a period of 20 years, I have seen 100s of water colour demonstrations and when I have tried to paint, as they have suggested to me and tiring so hard to do things their way, it has set me back years.

Sometimes, I have been to demonstrations where the demonstrator was making it up as they went along and there have been demonstrators who insist on having one size of paper, the most expensive paper possible, the most expensive paints and brushes too. Novices have come away from the demonstration with a piece of work which they could not master purely because of lack of experience.

If you are painting, for the first time, there is no need to purchase professional artists water colour paints but you can if you wish to.

Professional paints are much more expensive than other paints but you can cut your cost by just purchasing paint colours you like. In the main, I find that professional paints are either clearer or add a bit more clarity to the colour. Six or seven colours are a good starting point and, at first, it is best to avoid purchasing white, you will have a white canvas to start with.

Some people prefer to use tubes of paint and if you are painting all the time, there is nothing wrong with them. If you are like me and you do not use paints for a while-I love to draw-then tube paints can often harden. To the novice, it looks as though the paints have become unusable but you can split the tubes and gouge the paint out and reuse it by adding water.

The other thing about tubes is that the screw caps often stick and are very difficult to unscrew. While trying, in the traditional way, to unscrew the cap, you can easily twist the tube and create a hole in the side of the tube and the paint will harden once exposed to the air.

There is an easy way of unscrewing a water colour cap, without doing any damage to the tube, and that is by carefully soaking the tube in hot water until the cap unsticks itself.

I hope you have found some of my information of interest to you.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask my and I will give you an honest answer. If I do not know the answer to your question, I will not make one up and lie to you.

By for now. John.

Hi everybody, in the past, on my free water colour information page, I have concentrated on showing drawings and how to undertake to do the artwork, in the main, making each line part of an overall end product. To do this I would have probably gone back into the drawing many times until I was convinced I could not make it look better.

The same rule, although there are always several techniques you could use and please use the ones which work for you, can be applied to painting.

There is no reason to think that you have not put enough paint on. In my view, and it is a technique I like to use, it is often better to keep layering up as you go along. That way you are less likely to keep throwing your work away. I learn more from my mistakes and even more by finding out how to turn my mistakes into something that may, eventually, look good.

In the past, I have mentioned , in my view, there is no need to purchase expensive materials when first starting to paint and I still believe this to be true but, once the artistic talent develops, you may like to consider purchasing expensive paints and paper too. I like ‘hot press’ paper and prefer, when painting flowers, to use the shiny side up. The water colour paints are called professional paints.

By now, using the cheaper paints, you may have a good idea of the colours you like to paint with and what works best for you.

With that in mind, it is cheaper to buy separate paint blocks than it is to purchase a full pallet of paints. There are different number sizes of pallets and some of them have wonderful colours you may like or not like but you may end up never using some of the colours. Today, and this has altered since I first wrote about the free water colour information, there are some wonderful colours to choose from.

Tips of the day.

When you add water to your paper then add paint to the paper, you have already thinned the paint out.

If you decide to put out too much paint, which I do not recommend if you are only using a small amount of paint, on your pallet, you have probably used lots of water and this gives a result of having watered the paint down twice.

If you are adding water to your paper, before adding paint, then you will have thinned the paint three times.

If you are painting outdoors, on a hot day, and your paint mix is drying out quickly, you may have to add more water which could have thinned your paint down four times. You will probably not notice, at first, that the paint is now watery than you expected.

There is a further consideration for when the paint dries it can look even more faded so, in a way, you could think of this as having watered the paint down five times.

Having said that, if you do not like what you see. You can always go over your painting, wherever you are adding the paint, over and over again. The trick is to make sure your paint is bone dry before trying to add more paint. I once used over 100 thin washes on a leaf I had drawn and although this was very laborious, the overall paint work looked as if the leaf was a real one. On each wash, I left the leaf to completely dry out before adding the next wash.

If you are painting something which needs to be separate from the part you are painting at that moment in time, make sure there is a dry space between each segment. If that is not possible, paint one section and while this is drying, chose another part of the painting, that is far away from the piece you have just painted. That way, the first piece of paint will not run into the second part of the painting you are doing.

If you are doing intricate paint work, it is best to do the little bit you want to paint and then go away from the painting so that when you go back to it, maybe half an hour later, it is completely dry.

You do not have to go away from what ever it is you are painting if you have two or three paintings going at the same time for by the time you have undertaken to paint the third painting, on a warm day, the first painting will probably be dry for you to work on again.

If you have found your own way of doing things and it works for you stick to it. Feel free to give me tips which you may think of being interesting to me and anyone who reads my page.

Please feel free to ask questions and I will try to give you honest information but please remember, there are always several ways you can approach any water colour problem and what works for one person may not always work for someone else.

John.

Hi everybody, this year, so far, has been a wonderful garden bird watching exercise, for we are being visited by Goldfinch, on a regular basis, something we have not known for a couple of years.
One of the birds to stay away from our garden, although I have heard them calling in the local park, is the Greenfinch but, this year, they have made a return to our feeding stations after a few years’ absence.
My method of feeding the birds, has always been to keep the feeders clean and wear rubber gloves when putting the food out for them. I want to avoid cross contamination at all costs.
This year, and it appears to be working, I have altered the way I feed the birds by putting less food out for them and shaking all the old seeds out before topping up with new. Any seed, which drops to the ground, is soon snaffled up by ground feeder birds which keep coming.
This year, I am using quality de husked sunflower seeds and there are all manner of birds coming for them.
I have fat balls at the side of the feeding station and, for the first time, Blackbirds have found a way of clinging onto the metal container the balls are in. The Robin and Woodpigeon have been able to do this for some time now and the Grey Squirrel hangs upside down, to take food from the fat balls.
Last year, we were lucky if we saw three species of birds in the garden and the Blue T**s deserted the nest box but, this year, so far, my wife and I have logged more than twelve species of birds and the Blue T**s appear to be very active in and out of the nest box.
Last year, I erected a second nest box but it was taken over by bees and although it was an experience to be privileged to watch the bees, I am sorry to say they were affected by a fungus and they all died.
For more information, about my bird feeders and many more subjects, you can find my short free videos by going onto YouTube and typing in Old John’s Vlogs.
Some of my films are about nature, they inform people, when they are out walking, what to look for and for those of you who may wish to draw what you see, when out on a field trip, I have made a film giving basic tips on how to draw. I am, at the moment, making films about the village I live in.
I hope you have found some of my information to be of interest to you.
By for now.
John.

Hi, everybody, last week, due to the weather being so mild, I was able to go out into the garden and undertake to do my first drawing, of a border flower, of the year.

The weather conditions, something you must take into consideration when drawing or painting outside, are all important if you want your flowers to look realistic while they are still in the ground.

I started off well, due to the sun being out, with my first open Tulip of the year but, because the light source went in behind thick clouds, the flower bud closed up on me and this curtailed any further drawing but I had a trick up my sleeve.

I had taken the trouble to undertake to do my initial drawing with a H pencil. You will remember me telling you that H stands for hard. Once that part of the drawing is in place, I can revisit the flower again when the weather is kinder to me and use all manner of pencil numbers. Has it happened, it has been snowing since that time and I have been unable to go out and continue to draw.

Having said that, a tip for you to consider is when you unroll your pencil case holder, have all your compartments numbered; mine is on the canvas using a marker pen. When you come to put the pencil back in its pouch, do not put it all the way back. Leave the top of your pencil protruding out of the pouch holder. The reason for this, when you have used another pencil, is that you instantly know which pencil you used the time before. You may think this is not necessary but, when out on a field trip, there can be many distractions-including people wanting to speak to you-and you may forget which pencil you used last time or the time before.

Another tip to consider, if you are going on a field trip which is close to where people frequent, is to take along a completed piece of work and put it in a waterproof see through cover. The reason for this is that when you are starting a new drawing, people may judge you on the stage your work is at when they go past you. When your work is still in the rough, so to speak, people passing by may think you have just started drawing or that you are a rank amateur. This once happened to me at the seaside.

If someone stops to comment on your new drawing you can tell them, with any luck, your completed work should look something like the display piece you have taken along with you.

Attitudes will instantly change from 'well I could do better than that,' to look at that isn't it good’ and who knows they may even make you an offer for the piece you have in the clear folder.

By for now.

Hi everybody, for the past fourteen weeks I have been unable to sit out in the garden and draw. The dark nights and cold weather have prevented me from drawing or painting.
Having said that, I have had chance to reflect on a few ideas and I am hoping to be able to show you water colour tips I had stopped using or I had forgotten about.

By for now.

Hi there, wherever you are in the world. I hope you have been given a few arty things over the festive season. I was thankful to receive a few pencils and I will be trying them out once there is good light. At the moment, our gloomy winter weather is not the right light for me.

Last year, I put a few drawing tips on my YouTube page, called Old John's Vlogs, and you are welcome to look at the free notes. For those that are not sure, I have described the difference between H and B on the pencils and which pencils I like to use for different techniques.

Please keep safe and well.

By for now,

John.

Have a healthy and happy New Year wherever you are.

Hi everybody, wherever you are in the world, stay safe my friends.
John and family.

Hi everybody, wherever you are in the world, the festive season is upon us again and, just like last year, my family and I are treating the celebratory period with caution trying, where possible, to keep human contact to the minimum.
We are lucky, in one sense, due to being none drinkers, we are usually not asked to attend parties and although some people may think, by not going to their ‘get-togethers,’ we are depriving ourselves of some things we are missing out on, the opposite is the truth for we like to celebrate, in our own way, and for different reasons, several times a year.
I am not making any ‘new year’s resolutions’ but I am considering how many short stories I can present into another book for publication.
My first book, “The Diaries of a Naturalist” was a specialised read and I did not envisage selling many copies, and that is what transpired, but my latest piece of work is more commercial and I am hoping it will boost my sales.
With any luck, I am also hoping to make a few ‘vlogs,’ which I upload onto YouTube under the name of ‘Old John’s Vlogs.
So far, my free courses, on Facebook, have been about how to draw but, if I get the time, I am hoping to share a few water colour painting tips with you all.
Of course, I will, where possible, keep a video diary of my garden. It is surprising how much, over a short period of time, the garden changes and it would be nice to pick out a few old photos, of how the garden looked when we first took it over as to how it looks now.
For the people who read my ‘Retired and Retiring blogs and also look at my vlogs, I will have a few more tips coming up for you to mull over. One of the hardest things to do, in my opinion, when we are aging, is to move house. Here, I have a few techniques for you all to try and help you keep the stress levels down as you go through the uncertain processes while awaiting for a buyer, for your home, and what to think about when purchasing a new home.
I think I have covered a subject for every page I now have on Facebook and, with that in mind, I will close there but not before wishing you all a lovely Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year.
By for now,

John.

Hi there, I have been unable to send out any drawing information to you but I have put a vlog on my YouTube page, called "Old John's Vlogs,"

The vlog gives you a few tips about drawing, how to draw and which pencils I use to draw with. I have explained what the lettering, and numbers, stand for on the pencils, given out a few hints as to what types of paper to use, a couple of different drawing technique methods and what to think about as to where you should place your drawing, on the paper, if you will be looking towards framing your work.

If you like my vlog please click on the free like and subscribe buttons.

The subscribe button will inform you when I have posted my next drawing tips.

Eventually, when I get better at using voice sound frequencies, I will show you, on my YouTube page, how to use water colour painting so that you do not have to get ‘bogged down’ with some of the complexities of how and how not to use the paint.

Hi there, I have been unable to send out any drawing information, for a while, partly due to self-isolating.
The truth is, apathy has crept in but I am now pulling myself together and I am pleased to inform you I am drawing again.
My latest piece of work is a large dead leaf I keep going back to and make it look life like and realistic.
Having said that, where I tell people the difference between H and B pencils, I have put a film on YouTube under my page name of “Old John’s Vlogs.” You are very welcome to use the free service. If you enjoy the vlog, and there are lots more different subjects to look at, please give it the thumbs up.

By for now.

John.