On an Upward Crawl on the Learning Curve ...

A watercolor by Chen-Wen Cheng

Another of his works

Reference photo - I just happened to be at the library a few weeks ago when the magnolia out front was in full bloom.

Start with thin washes of quin. gold and indanthrone blue, trying to integrate the subject with the background.

More of the same ...

More thin washes, with a touch of quin. burnt orange for the base of the flower and in the mixture for the branches. I added a second branch to make a break in the expanse over which I have to do a w/w application. It has turned out to be better compositionally.

I think I'm getting it, but I have a long way to go till I feel comfortable using this technique.

In my computer photo library, I have a section titled "Inspiration". There are about a hundred images of watercolors I love, paintings from which I want to learn. Chen-Wen Cheng is a Taiwanese painter, a master of integrating background with subject. I became frustrated with the latest horse painting, and it finally hit the shower [literally] a few days ago. There are so many times, when I am working on a painting, that I wish I could successfully soften and almost fuse some of the subject with the background. So I started the magnolia yesterday as an exercise to practice this method ... and there will be many more!!!

Thank you for dropping by! 

Maggie Re-visited ...

Months ago, last September, I started this portrait of Maggie, the Stealth Dog. It's good, but I didn't like leaving the neck in limbo.

This is what I did this morning, after watching a video by Norbert Gramer on youtube last night. He has a wonderful way of integrating the animal into an abstract background.
I scrubbed the hard edges on the right with a sponge, lifting as much as I could. Then, when dry, I painted a wet wash of aureolin and quin. burnt orange. Dried that, and did some work with a black mixture. It's not perfect because of the hard edges which are impossible to remove without damaging the paper, but I like the look. 

Maggie, looking very intense [as she usually is].

I'd like to use that technique on the background for Voodoo.  I will finish of and darken his face and his topline, and somehow figure out a way to integrate him into the rest of the painting.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

Practice Run for a Larger Painting

Since I have recently done two paintings with which I am not pleased, I thought it would be wise to do a practice  run  on this one - doing the bottom half of the image.
I began with an aureolin w/w wash over all except the flowers. Then I started the buds and leaves. I had originally mixed quin. gold with phthalo green[yellow shade], but found that the blue shade of phthalo green really gave a much more vibrant green. So far, I have just laid in shapes with light w/w washes, the form and cast shadows will have to be done using complementary colors, I believe.

Although this does nothing for me as a composition, I did learn a good technique. I wet the entire painting from mountains on down [including the robes, but not the heads] and did a graded wash with quin. burnt orange. The pigments on the robes moved minimally - I was surprised at that. It just gave a nice softness to the orange shapes.

And this ... should have left it as a vignette. I tried to put a body on the calf's head and neck, and then tried to give the impression of a stall shape around the calf. Ummm ... NO! I did learn how to better add intense, dark pigments in a soft manner though, so not a complete loss ...  

These are the latest nesters!!! The barn swallow nest is built right over the door into the tack room, so I am in an out several times a day. And the little darlings are peeping and chirping every time. I honestly didn't think mom and dad would have a family here, as it is busy [relatively speaking] compared to the rest of the barn. But they did, and I love them - so cheerful!!!

I didn't want any accidents with babes falling out of the nest, so today I strung an old towel across the top of the doorway, about 6 - 8 inches below the nest.

And His Highness and I are getting along wonderfully ...

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

I Couldn't Wait till I Finished ...

W/W drop-in-the-paint wash of aureolin yellow.  

Another variegated wash, this time of phthalo green [BS].  I allowed the hills and valleys of the wet paper to dictate where the pigment would settle.  

And a much darker variegated wash of the phthalo green with some quin. burnt orange. Then I did a bit of lifting with a barely damp brush while it was still wet. I LOVE the effect! For some reason, it brings to my mind visions of fairies in the garden [not that I am a believer, but just a dreamer].

I am also starting something new - ink and wash. I used a fine Faber-Castell PITT artist pen. This is an older home in Vancouver, known as the Hobbit Home. It really does look like something out of The Lord of the Rings - love it!

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

Are We THERE Yet???

Here we go ... from the top ...

This was a bit of a scary stage. But then I thought  it's only paper!
I wet the entire background, and very carefully stroked in two different mixtures - a dark blue/gray and a dark blue/green. I don't usually do this sort of w/w application, and was worried the colors would explode all over the page. I think it has given a good impression of the out-of-focus branches.

This is where I am now. I thought about darkening some of the background branches, but I believe it would ruin the overall delicacy of the painting. So I have darkened the main branch and some of the petal centers in the focal area, and  it is done!

As always, your comments are most welcome!

Doing It's Thing

I've been trying to think of a way to paint dead hydrangea. This I started with a w/w, go where you will, wash of quin. gold and quin. siena. I must admit, I like the shapes even at this early stage.

Again, all done w/w, painting groups of petals. I am using quin. pink, alizarin crimson, quin. burnt orange, cobalt blue and indanthrone blue. 

I am at this point now, and am quite excited about how it is coming along.
This will be about 6 x 8 inches when finished.

I am also re-doing this chicken, trying to keep her nice and loose.

I needed something else, something loose, to work on with the larger hydrangea painting.  It's quite a controlled painting, and all those greens are a bit much to look at for long. I also wanted to get out of the old comfort zone and into a smaller format.

As always, your comments are so welcome!

A Rare [for me] Landscape

I've always loved this photo of birch trees that I took last year in the park. The shadows on the ground and on the trunks are so beautiful.

Initially, I tried spattering with a toothbrush and spraying, but didn't like the effect, so I tried again with sponging. 

Then I went over the entire leafy are with the lightest color I'd used, a leaf green by da Vinci watercolors.

I started some foreground w/w washes of two mixtures,  using quin. gold and phthalo blue.

This is basically what the foreground grasses look like. I find I don't have the patience to play with Photoshop to correct hues.

Studio light.

Day light

The entire painting is actually warmer, more intense, and the green is not so shocking in the foreground grasses. Anyway, this foray into landscapes was fun. I'll do more in the future. I'm not sure about attempting plein air, though - I really like to have everything there where I expect it to be, and without bugs, glaring sun or wind.

As always, your comments are most welcome. 

A Brief WIP and a Question

First washes were aureolin and two orange hues. Then I started going over those with a green mixture.

This was after the two complete washes.

I did another w/w wash with a much darker green.

Several glazes were done on the flower.

The first few glazes are done on the leaves.

I've posted about a third of the photos I've taken of this rose in progress.  I'm also working on another, the rose at a slightly different angle, and in predominantly cool colors. For a while, I have been thinking of creating an e-book, a short pamphlet of detailed and illustrated instructions on my technique of painting one subject. If it received a positive response, I would do more on other subjects, perhaps animal portraits and still life. My question is would any of you readers be interested in such a book? I have had requests to do a video, but my technique is slow, and would be about as interesting to watch as watching cement dry. I really would love to hear what you have to say about an e-book.

As always, your comments are most welcome! 

One Down, Two to Go ...

I like the effect I got using an extremely dry brush, dragged and scrumbled, to get the pink striations in the sweet peas. 

The leaves looked dead using only aureolin and cobalt blue, so I gave them a thin glaze of phthalo green. And it also looks much better cropped. So, I'm done here. Here you are, Renate!

Believe it or not, I keep adding more reds and pinks to Rhonda. I also glazed over the entire eye with a thin cobalt blue. And the teeth are done. Something still needs something though ...

As always, your comments are most welcome!