I have been working on this one for several weeks. Yesterday I wasn’t satisfied with the other half of the painting and split it in half and switched the orientation and found out that I like it better this way! I added a bit of yellow acrylic and now I feel satisfied that it is finished.
I follow my inner creative in my decision making in what to paint or how. I had no preconceived idea on how to start this painting or finish. I wait until I get an idea of a shape or color and then follow along.
Setting aside a painting, especially an abstract is important, sometimes it takes a while for creativity. It is very odd that I’ll work on a painting and then discover that the orientation is different from my original plan. Here are the other posts about this series: Moonlight Abstract #1Moonlight Abstract #2 and FallsMoonlight #3 & Co.
*A word about photos. The photos on my blog are mine, taken by me and copying them would be stealing from me. If you find a photo that you would like to copy or use, I request that you ask me for permission and I expect you to give me full credit for my own photo. Thank you so very much.
I felt like a wet on wet painting day going for an atmospheric minimal kind of approach. This photo doesn’t show the depth of color as it should but you get the idea. This is the second time I have painted this particular scene which is Sand Pond looking away from the Sierra Buttes, here is that post (painting #2) Watercolor Mayhem. I might bring in just a tad more value changes but then I might leave it alone. I have found that Fabriano is wonderful for wet on wet work. After using other papers, Fabriano doesn’t have the texture that I adore. I want a paper that has a responsive surface, Fabriano has a cardboard feel to me. I do enjoy using the Softpress variety of Fabriano, so when I discovered that Fabriano is perfect for wet on wet, I decided that I will be buying more of it. One of my favorite artists, Cheng-Khee Chee uses Fabriano for his saturated wet on wet work. I almost decided not to buy it again, I am so happy that I changed my mind. It is also perfect in wiping off color to the white of the paper with this technique.
painting #2 wip on Arches 300# rough quarter sheet
This is a painting that I started over a week ago as a plein air and I am not so sure if it is finished or not. It started out as a waterfall but I liked it turned around and now it looks like an abstract river landscape. I have been keeping it up where I can easily view it and as I see what I need to do, I work on it, otherwise it sits quietly waiting. What’s the rush?
colors used: Cerulean Blue, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Hansa Yellow Med., Green Gold
Learning Points:
Wet on wet is fun!
Starting a painting without drawing exercises the artistic eye, no harm done.
Don’t be afraid to let a painting sit unfinished, sometimes it takes a bit to cook a fantastic painting.
*A word about photos. The photos on my blog are mine, taken by me and copying them would be stealing from me. If you find a photo that you would like to copy or use, I request that you ask me for permission and I expect you to give me full credit for my own photo. Thank you so very much.
I painted this one about a month ago and was undecided if I liked it or not. I do! I have been reading about the watercolor techniques of Edgar Whitney and I have been actively working on painting minimally. Whitney says that we are artists have a story to tell, don’t religiously copy a reference photo, take the artistic plunge and be creative!
painting #2 on Arches 140# quarter sheet
This is the same scene but painted even more simplistic, especially those trees on the left embankment. I wasn’t too concerned about making them “real”, almost a calligraphic approach.
painting #3 on Arches 300# quarter sheet
I painted this one yesterday and was striving for drama, so I worked the values to the hilt. I am not too sure if I like that rock shape in front but then at least it isn’t boring! Early part of the week I had gone out to plein air paint on the South Yuba river and I based this painting on one of my photos of that trip.
This one I painted today. This is a scene on the river that is my ultimate favorite. If I could, I would paint this at least 20 times, there is something about it that reminds me of our trip to Canada when I was a child.
Standing up for me while painting is something that I have been doing for months. It gives me a better perspective and I am able to step away, tilt my head which for some reason really helps me to see what I need to do.
Taking the time to do a value and design sketch is so important. I am a very impatient person but this is one thing I plan on doing from now on. Again, something that I read that Edgar Whitney felt was important in the endeavor of picture making.
Let loose and see what happens, I take to this approach like a duck to water but I realize that it can be difficult for some people.
I lie! when I first started painting in watercolor, I was timid and it hasn’t been until last year that I started to become very bold with the medium.
Don’t be afraid of the dark, adjust those values if needed.
I use large brushes in most of all my painting, it helps to be bold and not to treat your painting as precious.
Paint what you love and know. Why would I paint Venice? I haven’t been there and I am not interested in painting scenes that don’t mean anything to me.
I am not going to paint scenes that accomplished watercolorists paint just because they do it or because it is a popular scene. I have my own story to tell by golly!
*A word about photos. The photos on my blog are mine, taken by me and copying them would be stealing from me. If you find a photo that you would like to copy or use, I request that you ask me for permission and I expect you to give me full credit for my own photo. Thank you so very much.
painting #1 on Bockingford eggshell 140# quarter sheet
I truly adore this colored paper. It is called eggshell though it is light blue compared to normal watercolor paper. I reserve it for paintings that are either warm such as a sunset or in this case, I chose it because the rocks in this particular painting were in shadow and I wanted to see how it would work.
I struggled with keeping those rocks on the right side in obscurity. After applying several washes of cobalt blue and adjusting the values, I hope I nailed it. I had to resist the strong urge to work on the various values within the rocks. I based this upon one of my photos but I had to take artistic license and make the center rocks the focus.
colors used: Daniel Smith Quin. Gold, Cobalt Blue, Hansa Yellow Med., Prussian Blue, Green Gold
painting #2 on Arches 140# quarter sheet
I wanted to dash out a quick painting of a hike from an area that I love to explore and paint. Right now it is under about 6 foot of snow and they are currently trying to plow the road going up to that area. This is a post from that little plein air trip last year: Bear Lakes Loop- World Watercolor Month #2 I wanted to practice not getting bogged down in detail and working on contrasts.
Painting #3 on Bockingford eggshell 140# quarter sheet -reference photo provided by Mary Lee Davey (Thank you!!)
Bockingford rocks! I think that those trees look like people hoping to catch a cosmic ride to somewhere, don’t you think? I wanted to explore shapes, value contrasts and a wild sunset sky. You just have to go wild sometimes, let out that crazy, dare to be different artist that awaits in each of us.
I haven’t been doing a learning points list and I think that I will start doing that again.
Learning Points:
Keep going wild! what is there to lose? Nada!
Don’t treat watercolor like a delicate princess, get loose with that paint, paper and brush, you might be surprised with what you’ll discover.
Push the values, go dark and play with contrasts, again, nothing to lose.
Turn over and start another painting, there are two sides to a piece of paper.
*A word about photos. The photos on my blog are mine, taken by me and copying them would be stealing from me. If you find a photo that you would like to copy or use, I request that you ask me for permission and I expect you to give me full credit for my own photo. Thank you so very much.
Interesting that WP continues to mess with me. Sorry I am not able to size my photos correctly. All I see is the code for the photo and I have to trust they get uploaded once I post this.
This painting was more of a study of values and shapes. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on detail or rendering. I think that it gives an abstract feel to the painting.
I whacked this one out in a day and didn’t want to spend too much time on it. I rendered it more than I probably liked but I have found that it exercises my patience and observance of a subject. I think that I will take back a value on that section of the mountain on the right, the shadow is too dark.
This is a painting that I have been working on for over a month little by little and I haven’t taken the time to post the finished (I think) painting. I come back to this subject often because it is such a beautiful area of my world. I chose not to bring the trees to a more detailed finish because the Sierra Buttes is the subject of interest. They are simply applauding.
Hey, I did it! I wrote this whole thing within 10 minutes! I can’t do squat with my photos but at least I was able to type without WP freezing up.
Not sure about what is going on with WP but I have tried all day to upload this post. Of course I had difficulty composing it because of all the glitches, once again I am driven to the point of no return with this blog!
This is a studio piece using some reference photos from a recent plein air painting trip to an old haunt of mine. I tried to include a few posts of this same location but I am not able to link up to them. Sigh!!
I started the painting below of this simi waterfall as a plein air and I finished it up in the studio. I was freezing by the time I had several studies started. I have never attempted to paint this before because I am always passing it by to go paint at the river.
The painting above is a little plein air, nothing special but while I painted it, I had a wonderful sense of knowing how to paint it. Once I got it home it seemed a bit lack luster. I hiked a total of about 5 miles to one of my favorite areas along the river. I have to get a different set-up because my back and neck was in pain which continued into Mother’s Day, believe me, no fun.
This painting was a quick fun painting, loose and fancy free using one of my photos taken while hiking out to the river.
I couldn’t re-size these paintings or caption them because that option was no where in sight. Finally getting this up!
on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper 140# 15 x 21 inches (half sheet)
Finally finished with my latest waterfall which is by far my favorite. I wanted to use my imagination, so I listened to music and imagined away. Sometimes my inner creative shows up Oriental which is fine with me because I admire their view point. With this one I used my intuition and painted only the bare essentials to give you the gist of a roaring waterfall. I took quite a few breaks and didn’t rush it. If I didn’t feel it, I didn’t paint.
I painted wet on wet in some areas and dry on others, I wanted a little of a change-up within the painting which I feel gives it more creative pull and push, ying and yang, I believe the term is. I love this paper because it has a scratchy surface and dry brush is so addicting because of this feature. It is fast becoming one of my favorite papers.
This is one painting that I plan on framing, that is how much I love it.
Daniel Smith colors used: Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Indigo, Quin. Gold, Prussian Blue, Hansa Yellow Medium
*A word about photos. The photos on my blog are mine, taken by me and copying them would be stealing from me. If you find a photo that you would like to copy or use, I request that you ask me for permission and I expect you to give me full credit for my own photo. Thank you so very much.
This painting started out as a plein air on my patio hoping to capture my azaleas in full bloom. I was tittering away (bored out of my mind!) with a simple drawing and then laying in some color. I was uninspired to say the least. Then it hit me why am I trying to depict these flowers in a realistic way when I prefer not to? I was bored out of my mind trying to get the look of realism in these flowers. If you are wondering if I am making excuses, I can have done it: Daring Watercolor #7 way too fussy for me. As I painted that iris, I never felt the creative zing that I love to paint with.
I decided that saturated wet on wet was my technique of choice for this painting. I discovered something magical in this session. I think it would be easier to outline what I did.
I wet both sides of paper using a plexi-glass as my surface, it sticks like glue. My surface stays workable up to 2 1/2, this session was an hour long.
I always use fresh paint from the tube, your colors are more vivid.
I constantly turned my board around and I brushed on color only where I knew it belonged, intuitive painting through the entire process.
I kept turning and turning the board seeing it as a puzzle rather than what I “should” do.
I applied colors only when I knew what belonged at that particular area. I actually “see” the color, sometimes I feel the color should go there, all intuitive.
I didn’t paint this with a particular orientation in mind.
After the painting was finished, I turned the painting around and around until the correct orientation revealed itself.
I truly liked this process because it was as though I tricked my mind in reacting and accessing the creative in me rather than relying on my left brain for design decisions. I have an inner design and color scheme that often befuddles me. It will often turn negative and I fight against the inner critic that says something isn’t balanced. Then I do the hard work of trying to balance a painting or make it better. Sometimes it takes relying on the creative intuition for the solution, it was easy for me to tap into that with this technique.
*A word about photos. The photos on my blog are mine, taken by me and copying them would be stealing from me. If you find a photo that you would like to copy or use, I request that you ask me for permission and I expect you to give me full credit for my own photo. Thank you so very much.
The idea for this painting came to me the other night and I knew exactly how to paint it from start to finish, of course I knew how to paint it intuitively, that is! Here are my other two Moonlight paintings: Moonlight Abstract #1 and Moonlight Abstract #2 and Falls
I originally envisioned my being able to “twirl” my board and do some crazy paint flinging but I had to improvise and tilt my board to make it go like wild. I added water here and there to get the paint to move and I used my sprayer to make some texture. I re-emphasized the red dots and dashes for a little boost.
My husband wondered if that area to the left with the curved band needs something. I told him that it gives a resting area for the eye but the more I look at it, I wonder if it could use a thin dark blue band. What do you all think?
technique: saturated wet on wet, Daniel Smith colors used: Quin. Red, Hansa Yellow Md, Ultramarine Blue, Indanthrone Blue, Indigo and Moonglow.
painting #2 on Canson Heritage
I love the softness to this one and yet it needs some “zing” and at the same time, I love it the way it is. I might let this sit for a spell and maybe I’ll add more to it or call it finished.
Technique: saturated wet on wet. Daniel Smith colors used: Quin. Red, Hansa Yellow Med., Cobalt Blue, Moonglow
*A word about photos. The photos on my blog are mine, taken by me and copying them would be stealing from me. If you find a photo that you would like to copy or use, I request that you ask me for permission and I expect you to give me full credit for my own photo. Thank you so very much.
Yuba Gold 