SO FAR ... Works-in-Progress ...

Voodoo is getting some background - permanent rose and quin. burnt orange.

Right now, I am in the process of darkening it. I'm sure I'll have to intensify the shadows on his head as well.

I used this as a reference photo for the class yesterday.

Again, I masked what I wanted white, in this case the few balsam standing at the edge of the pond. I wet  the paper thoroughly, and applied aureolin, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue, then sprayed and let the colors blend on their own. I did a second similar wash, using quin. gold instead of aureolin. Then I covered the sky and water with scrap watercolor paper, and spattered gold, quin. burnt orange, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue, and then sprayed to let them flow together.

Here, I have removed the masking, and am working on the trees, and getting some strategic dark shadows around the focal area.

That's it for now. The sun is shining warmly and invitingly, and Bruno awaits! He is in serious shedding mode - hair flying everywhere.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

Tugboats Re-visited ... a Watercolor Painting Process

I masked the tugs, and then covered the light areas with old watercolor paper and masking tape. Then I spattered and spayed greens across the top to indicate trees. There was a light blue/grey wash over all except the tugs.

This was the result. Spattering gave a much more natural look to the trees.

I painted a w/w grey/blue wash over the top again. It softened some of the green of the trees, and I quite liked the effect. Then I used a darker grey/green to give the feel of fog below the trees.

I did two separate w/w washes of green for the water.

 ... and then wet all the water and did it again. I think it may need a few washes.
The colors I am using so far are indanthrone blue, aureolin, quin. rose and alizarin crimson.

The last version of the tugboats was good, but didn't really say what I wanted. I was painting it for my saint of a landlady, and she agreed. Also, she preferred green, so off I went ...
I changed the format to "portrait", to enhance the grandeur of the forest, re-sketched one of the tugs, and started. I must admit, I really like the green better than the blue, but that's just a personal preference. And I find the vertical format gives the painting more of an imposing presence.

Thank you all so much for dropping by! Your comments are always welcome.