Painting Pretty

 

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.

colors used: Quin. Gold, Aureolin, Moonstone, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, Indanthrone Blue (Daniel Smith)

 

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.

Colors used: Quin. Red, Quin. Gold, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Indanthrone Blue (Daniel Smith)

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.