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You've sketched out a watercolour painting, you've slaved over it for a while, and then your cat/ child/ dog/ {insert unpredictable being} had brushed by and made a mess all over it. What to do? What to do? (Well what to do that doesn't involve strangling said being!)... here's some ideas so that you don't just throw away that painting.
1. Lift the colour
Using a damp tissues, cotton bud, or water loaded paint brush, gently apply clean water to the paint to be removed and blot off with a clean tissue or cloth. Some colours like Veridian green or Pthalo blue have high staining ratings and will never come clean.
Look up the watercolour's maker site for details about light fast and staining qualities.
2. Incorporate the mistake into the painting.
Some mistakes can't really be masked, like a fluorescent pink mark across a regency lady's white chemise. But many times you'll find that with some creative thinking, that black streak in the sky could be a bird, or that red spot in the grass becomes a ladybug. Put the painting aside if you can't think of anything at the time, you may be surprised that the 'mistake' isn't as big as you think it is when you come back.
3. Fix the problem with another art medium
Change media and turn it into an acrylic painting. Try ink, charcoals, coloured pencils
Kinuko Craft is an amazing artist who paints oils over watercolours - see here techniques here The Art of Kinuko Y. Craft
4. Prime over the top of the piece of paper and use as a ground for another painting/ drawing
No reason to throw away good paper! Use if for experimentation! The Sentinel is acrylics on watercolour paper.
5. Cut it up and use it for a collage or assemblage piece.
6. Flip the paper over and paint on the back (this will depend on how buckled the paper is and how heavy you are with the washes.)
7. Scan the painting and fix it digitally.
Ok you're not going to have the original, but it may be the beginning of a beautiful new painting. My piece Contemplation was rescued after I made a number of errors in the watercolours. I've now started working digitally in a way that allows me to use scraps of sketches as the basis for paintings like Teal
8. Cut out unpainted sections and use them for small artworks such as ACEO cards or OSWA paintings. ACEO's are 2.5" x 3.5", while OSWA normally are around 4 x 6".

Hi all!
Well it's been some time since I've updated my site, but I have still been painting. I'm trialing a new HTML newsletter format so please let me know if things have gone awry!
New Art
http://nicolecadet.com/DarkBrand.php
Dark Brand: A cover commission for Robert C Fountain's Dark Brand: Book 1 of the Forge of Atuma. The book is available from http://www.lulu.com/content/941988 and is a fantasy novel set in a dark, Industrial Revolution world where beasts, sorcerers, shamans, warriors and rogues all walk side by side. I will hopefully be releasing prints of the cover.
http://nicolecadet.com/Eir.php
Eir was a Norse goddess of healing (Viking). She's sometimes attributed to the Valkyries, as well as being a hand maiden of Freya. A common herb used for healing by the Vikings was Angelica. Reference used - the lovely Ida Mary Walker
http://nicolecadet.com/Eriu.php
Ériu is the namesake of Ireland, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann (Irish gods). Currently standard prints have been released, however I will be releasing Large prints soon.
http://nicolecadet.com/Chaenee.php
Chae'nee is another character in Gary Allen's series. She is an assassin who has been possessed by demonic forces. Prints available on request.
http://nicolecadet.com/GypsyLightsSketch.p
A sketch for a painting featuring a gypsy seated in the forest. Prints available on request.
If you want a print and that hasn't been released, just reply to this newsletter.
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Deviant art painting - prints available from http://nixjim13.deviantart.com/art/Drago
Also check out my Deviant art account as there are a few unreleased paintings in there: http://nixjim13.deviantart.com/
Zazzle Store
I've opened a store at http://www.zazzle.com/nicolecadet - at the moment there's only a few designs, but I'm hoping to add more in the future. Currently there are t-shirts, cards, magnets and stickers with designs from the 'Cats knows best' series and some fairy paintings.
Etsy Store
I'm in the process of working up some smaller format pieces to release through Etsy (such as ACEO cards and OSWA paintings). I'm also looking at some limited edition prints of a few of my ACEO cards that have been sold in the past. Due to changes in Ebay policies I probably won't be selling through EBay for a while. Etsy is different to Ebay in that it doesn't have an Auction function, but it has all the other features of feedback ratings.
I'm finally a member! If you're on the lookout for a character commission, but don't want to go through the commission process, you may be able to pick up a suitable character portrait here. The pricing may be cheaper in some instances, but that's because I'll be painting characters I want to paint (without any structure/ restriction/ direction). There may be some aspects that can be customised, however they will be fairly minimal. You can also submit descriptions that a number of artists may choose to work on (no guarantee that I'll be one of the artists doing the work). Then you can choose from the selection.
Go to Portrait Adoptions for more information [Please note I haven't got anything available there yet! I'm working on it!]
Closed until mid March 2008.
How do I start the new year? By starting a new blog of course! What do I hope to achieve with this blog? Inspiration, creativity, diversity, world peace... um, yeah. The truth? I want to be a testimonial (maybe more a mark on the page) that you can work full time, and still carry on artistic endeavours professionally, and with some modicum of success.
You see, I'm an artist. A part time artist. Some weeks a very, very part time painter. I'm also a software developer, working full time for a government agency (.NET for all you geeks out there). I've been straddling the two careers for several years now, sometimes successfully, other times not.
So with this in mind, I intend on focusing on
* productivity - balancing time, life and art
* creativity - how you keep your 'muse' in check
* being a microbusiness - will I have a life and keep my sanity?
* being an online artist - galleries, products, marketing oh my!
* reducing stress - yes, having multiple hats can be stressful!
* reviews of books, products, websites, tips & tricks related to art and creativity
* any other related tid bits
Until the next update
Keep smiling :)
Nicole
http://www.nicolecadet.com