Daring Watercolor #10

I am in love!…..with Watercolor! I love this medium. I am the type of person that I don’t like the ho hum drum of the usual. Give me something that is on the edge of excitement, no I don’t like roller coaster rides. Perhaps I am not conveying this correctly. I like the quiet world that I reside in. I love books, I don’t care much for television unless it is a good story that keeps me interested. I love nature, I hike and of course plein air paint as much as I can but I am always looking for depth and meaning.

Watercolor keeps me interested because it is not the same story every time. You never know if it is drama, action or romance. Today it was romance! yep….romance! and plenty of it. The soft lights, the subtleties that will keep you coming back for more.

I will not give you a reference photo for my first painting because it just came to me last night and I had to go out and take several photos with the perfect lighting and then come up with more photos. That creative unction felt like it came from God Himself…..I am not kidding, it was there and wouldn’t let me go and I hopped onto that train.

I now realize that having a “push hard as you can challenge” is exactly what I needed. I often have so much going on and yet nothing going on. Well, actually I have a lot of outdoor work to do right now but I’m talking about on the average day. I often don’t know how to go about with being creative, I think I need something that gives me traction and this challenge has done that for me.

Alright here is my first painting:

 

A close-up of the painting….colors a bit too dark and strident here.

 

My first photo is just about spot on but….the pinks are richer in my painting and those blue spots among the leaves are not as bright as they are in my painting. For some reason I am running into the blue not being represented correctly.

My process is that I wetted around the flowers and foliage with french ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, cobalt blue. Then as it wasn’t yet dry, I dabbed into my leaf mixture (lemon yellow, cobalt blue) and while that was barely dry, I dabbed in my flowers and bud with permanent rose. I had more fun using my lemon yellow and dabbing it strategically in the flower centers and watching it push back the other colors. Anything to get a little excitement in my day. I let the paint do its thing…..just show me the way Mrs. Watercolor! That is the way to go with watercolor….watch it dance and play and you are invited in that dance.

I was thinking about going back in with soft pastels and touching it lighting with color but decided not to after what I was seeing.

While I was planning, painting and waiting for paint to dry, I was reading Debi Riley’s posts from the past. I ran across this post that inspired me to try what she suggested.  Debi Riley Thank you Debi! By the way if you haven’t seen her blog and her paintings, you have been missing out. I have learned so much from her and I keep going back and reading through her posts. They are chock full of good information.

I spent 20 minutes on this next painting and yes, I used a timer.

My reference photo for the 20 minute exercise

 

By the way this reminds me…..make friends with ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, a painter’s dream come true. You can get all kinds of beautiful effects, learn to play with it.

I dare you to dance and play with watercolor, stop trying to lead because you will get stepped on!