Have you ever taken a photo and said… “I’m going to paint this scene after I’m home!” … and then never did?

Well, that’s TOTALLY my M.O.! So many photographs, so little time! I took this photo of shorebirds on my recent trip to San Diego. (I tried looking them up… are they Marbled Godwits?)  I was definitely going to take my watercolors out and paint them.

BWA-HA-HA!!!!!     … that was a month ago.

Enter the Waterlogue app. First off… you’ll need and Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 7. The two creators, John Balestrieri and Robert Clair are working on a version that will run on a desktop/laptop Mac running OSX but it isn’t available yet. And sorry, you Android folks are out of luck.

Waterlogue will allow you to choose from 12 algorithms and paints an image as you might, sketching first, then painting light to dark.

Click each image to enlarge.

Waterlogue – Natural

Waterlogue – Bold

Waterlogue – Luminous

Waterlogue – It’s Technical

Waterlogue – Travelogue

Waterlogue – Rainy

Waterlogue – Illustration

Waterlogue – Soaked

Waterlogue – Shallow

Waterlogue – Color Bloom

Waterlogue – Fashionable

Waterlogue – Blotted

I’m rather fond of Natural and Color Bloom but each choice is amazing!

Is it original art? No, after all, it’s still a copy. Will I give up my watercolors? Heck no! But this is so much fun just for the immediacy of it, I envision using it as a model to emulate with my brush and paints.

It’s the best $2.99 I’ve ever spent! Find it in the App Store and prepare to lose yourself as you play. Isn’t that what art’s all about anyway?