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Monday, July 8, 2013

A Snail's Tale ...

I believe I left our friend here ...

I did some thin washes of bright colors for an underpainting - alizarin crimson, aureolin and quin. burnt orange.

Then I started glazing and glazing and glazing, sometimes with the original colors, sometimes  with a dark brown. I did the same with the body - layers of different hues of green.

I have finally reached the stage where he has the appearance of being backlit by a soft light.  I still can hear the instructor, in one of the two sets of watercolor classes I took, saying "darker ... darker", every time she commented on my painting. I have a tendency to be tentative until prodded.

And I am still playing around with the geese, trying to bring a stronger focus to the goose with his wings out. I've gone over the entire background - geese and all - with a red-orange wash, and the other two geese in the daylight got a thin wash of cobalt blue. I may yet bring out some more intense shadows on the #1 goose, and do more with the ground.

Thank you for dropping by, and, as always, your comments are welcome. 

17 comments:

  1. We cannot imagine either of your paintings to be any more beautiful!
    love
    tweedles

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  2. Love your idea of painting a snail! Very nice!

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  3. Fabulous, the snail and the geese!

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  4. Ooh, I'd be so reluctant to do anymore to those wonderful geese!!! They are fabulous and still fresh - careful not to lose it! I read a quote once and I can't remember who said it, but it said that once your brushstrokes stop making a difference for better or for worse, that's the moment a painting is finished. I really love them - so alive!! And that snail is looking great too! :0)

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  5. Love them both Kathryn!...The geese painting looks amazing! The intense shadows on the goose with the wings out would absolutely finish this piece.!

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  6. The snail's great. I think you hit dark enough. The geese painting is wonderful. I like your suggestion of more geese in the--geese house? The streaks of cadmium liven up the interior.

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  7. The snail process is beautiful. As I scrolled down I could see the snail emerging out of nowhere!

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  8. Both of these are masterful!! Interesting too.

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  9. As noted above, both paintings are beautiful, Kathryn!
    Darker is very often the way to go to make a work outstanding! There can be no light without the dark for contrast.

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  10. Hi Kathryn,
    I lovw the snail.So cute.
    and your geese are getting better and better.
    I can learn a lot from your blog.

    Btw,I'm back to my blog.hahaha.

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  11. The snail looks perfectly back lit. There is a lot going on there in that small body of his. I think thats brilliant. And I think as you said if you make the shadows of the first goose a little stronger at a few places and tie him to the ground with something dark he will stand out.

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  12. Oh I loooooove your snail painting!! The soft back light you describe is so realistic, and all the details on him. I really truly love it, this is very fine work my friend. Makes me think of that new Disney movie coming out 'Turbo' my kids are dying to see it.:)

    And your geese look beautiful too. I love how you made the ones in the rear look further back with those subtle cool glazes. Nice. :)

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  13. Much as I'm not keen on snails - that one is brilliant!
    Don't go too far with the geese, its looking so good as is, I'd hate to see a Bruno the Eighth happening here.. :) x

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  14. very beautiful snail! thanks for the w i p! and i love the geese too :)

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  15. Love the snail and think he looks magnificent with the simple soft background!

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