Yes, I'm a Proud Auntie ... or ... a Portrait in Progress

My nephew, my model. I half expect my niece and nephew to run when they see me coming with a camera.

Drawing

Glaze of quin. burnt orange in the darkest shadows ...

... followed by a neutral grey of aureolin, pink and cobalt blue. I also started the eyes and lips.

Began the hair with two grey-browns - one with aureolin, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue, the darker with orange, violet and indanthrone. My tray on the right has the colors ]cobalt blue and alizarin crimson]I used to build up the face colors.

Added the blue to the shadow areas in a thin glaze and softened with a damp brush. I did the same with crimson for his cheeks, nose, chin and forehead.

Started to look human at this point :)

Once I finished his eyes and brows, I thought the portrait looked quite good [though not exactly like Julian].

This morning, I did a very thin wet wash with quin. violet and a bit of orange to warm it up. So far, so good ... I hope to get the black on there later today.

It was such a pleasure to paint something just because I felt like it [not a commission, not something for a class demo]. Also, it gave me some ideas on how to go about painting the dog portrait. I enjoyed playing with this portrait more than I done in months!!

Thank you for dropping by!!

I Think a Change in Plans Is Due for the Fishing Boat ... or ... OOPS, Too Much Pink!

I left off here the last post.

Since then, I darkened the water several times with a dark blue mixture, and then unfortunately added some pink, too. It doesn't appeal to me.

I worked on this for a while this morning, adding the net, shadows and details. I'll put it aside and take another look, and maybe show it to Gary, too. My thought right now is to enlarge the ship, put it in a portrait format, and grey down the pink!

A Nautical Painting ... the Basics Are Done

My drawing, with notes on format and direction of graded washes

The NAFCO - a seiner

A photo [taken by Clark Mishler] I found on the internet - loved the local mountains in the background, and the early morning soft colors.

Masked, with initial thin washes of aureolin and quin. rose.

Washes of a blue mixture - cobalt and phthalo blue.

Another wet-in-wet wash of pink ...

... and another of the blues.

Added the mountains with a mixture of indanthrone, aureolin and pink.

GONE! That huge blob of yellow masking was throwing off my eye as to color.

More dark blue washed onto the mountains on the right of the ship.

This is a gift for a friend - one of my sister's boyfriends. He is a manager at the Acura dealership in Langley. He very kindly found a car for me after the accident I had last October.  [My car was a write-off.] The car is a beauty, and was so reasonably priced. I know Gary likes realistic watercolor paintings, and my sister suggested I do one of his dad's fishing boat. I googled the ship's name and found some images, did some drawing, planned a color scheme, and here I am - about a third of the way through. I think the ship will be relatively easy- fussy, but easy.  It's the water that is going to take some thinking and planning.

That's it for now - thank you for dropping by!!

Narcissus: Emergence - a Step by Step Process ...

My model, growing in a patch by the riding ring.

My drawing [and value idea]

I masked out the flower, and applied a thin, graded wash of quin. gold, let it dry, then did a thin graded wash of phthalo blue.

Another, more intense wash of phthalo blue

The leaves done, using combinations of gold and blue. I didn't want them to overwhelm the painting, so they were done with thin washes.

I started the flower with w/w applications of aureolin in the trumpet and reflected onto some of the petals, and phthalo blue on the shadowed areas of the surrounding petals.  

I intensified the shadows on the petals so they were as close as I could get to the value of the surrounding sky. I wanted to create a lost-and-found look - have them seem to emerge from the paper. I added some shadows around the center of the trumpet with a pink/yellow/blue mixture, let it dry, then glazed with yellow and burnt orange to warm it up.

Some thin blue applied to the perimeter of the trumpet ...

... which you can see better in this close-up.

This is drawing of another narcissus I'd like to start soon. I'll paint this one with different techniques and colors.

Thank you so much for dropping by!!!

Someone to Watch over Me - a Beautiful Process

Meet King. A good friend of mine asked if I could do a painting for a friend of hers. The woman who had King had been through  some rough times, and Lynn wanted to give this to her as a loving memory of King. King's owner wants to hang the painting in her newborn daughter's bedroom as her guardian angel, hence the name of the painting.

My drawing

I wanted to start with a color study, as I was going outside my usual territory. The colors and mood were to be light, and I do have a penchant for the dark and dramatic. I started with a wet in wet all-over wash using quin. rose, quin. burnt orange and cobalt blue. I dried that, and then mixed a blue-grey for his coat color and applied that w/w.

A bit more w/w with a warm and cool grey.

The eyes and nose, again w/w, using orange, pink and indanthrone.

More work on eyes and nose.

This morning I had a good idea for the background. I wanted to use a "lost and found" technique so King would seem to emerge from the paper. I scrumbled some orange, pink and cobalt blue, keeping the warmer colors up at his head. I'm not sure if I am finished yet, but I must admit I really like how the painting looks. I wish all my paintings came onto the board this easily - mind you, I did spend weeks thinking about it and planning.

The original drawing is 15 x 11 inches, and the color study is 11 x 7 inches. I wonder if I can create the larger painting as well as the color study???

Thank you so much for dropping by!!

The Watcher in the Woods ... Class Projects

A photo I took a few years ago. I thought the old tree looming over the open area really did look like it was watching over the spot.

This was a class demo on splattering. I masked the large tree and the bottom snowy area and covered the sky with irregularly-shaped pieces of watercolor paper and tape. Then I splattered with quin. gold, quin. burnt orange, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue. I lightly sprayed to encourage the colors to mingle a bit. When dry, I did a graded wash of cobalt blue all over the painting, then removed the masking.

Thin wash of burnt orange over the large tree, and some thin lines of grey to imply some scrub trees in the distance.

Played with some lines in alizarin, indanthrone and orange to get some bark texture.

Started to shadow the tree ...

... realized I didn't like the brown color, so glazed over it all with indanthrone.

Deepened the shadows in the bushes here ...

 ... and here

Added some softened line of blue-grey for shadows in the snow ...

... and I am here now. I think the tree needs a bit more work, but overall the painting is a nice example of what can be done with splattering.

I also had requests from some students to demonstrate how to paint eyes. Like all of us [me included], the students want immediate results! I have a feeling the idea of glazing at least four or five times to achieve the result put them off. But the effect one attains is worth it!

I wish you all a Happy Easter! Thank you for dropping by!!