Spring Blooms and Paperweight

Sometimes I just feel like fresh flowers and dichroic glass.

Here I have completed all the initial washes; I painted each object separately wet-in-wet, then painted the background and foreground wet-in-wet as well.  I am enjoy the bright pink color of a paint called Opera even though it's a fugitive color.  I will need to frame this painting with UV protective glass or plexiglass.

Here I have darkened some of the mid and dark values and begun to neutralize the background.

Finally I have darkened the darkest areas and stroked on colored pencil as needed to help some inadvertantly dulled areas sparkle again.  Your comments are always welcome.  This piece is 10" x 15" and is available for $285 unframed, or $450 framed.

Ball Jar and Wine Bottle

I couldn't wait to get to this painting!  Lots of juicy color and lots of glistening detail - perfect!  As always I started with a detailed drawing on 140# cold pressed Arches paper and reserved the lightest lights with Winsor & Newton colorless resist.

I laid in the wet in wet washes around the Ball jar first, trying to tie the large shapes together with soft edges between shapes.

Next I laid in the wet in wet washes in the Ball jar, indicating where the shadows and greens would be.

The wet on dry washes of darks and mid values were next.  I had to lay in the darkest dark of the wine bottle label in order to correctly gage the rest of the values.

Beginning to add mid size details to the jar and bottle.

Restating the darks in the background and the back of the table.

After I removed the resist, I spent quite a lot of time cleaning up the reserved light shapes so they weren't ragged or 'out of bounds'.  I apply the resist using a gutta applicator bottle with a #9 metal tip which I plug between applications with a corsage pin (find them here http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1708-AA.shtml ) 

I think I will buy a few more bottles and try the #5 tip which should be finer and may save clean up time.

Finally I restated the darks in the background, greyed out the reflections in the foreground and darkened some of the finest details in the jar.   Here's the finished piece, it's 9" x 14" and available $280 unframed or $480 framed.

The farmhouse near Waterville

Here is the drawing and the premixed colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Port Townsend Garage

Just before sunset on a warm afternoon in late March we drove by this fabulous old garage 'nestled' in the brush just west of Port Townsend. 
Earlier we had taken some photos of a small lake nearby - I just love the rosy blush of twiggy bushes in spring.

I started with a fairly detailed drawing on 140# cold pressed paper and used frisket to reserve some of the lightest areas.

I premixed some of the watercolors I would use for the underpainting.

Here I am laying in the mid values....I forgot to photograph the first wash.

 

Here I have begun to overlay the watercolor with pastel.

And here is the finished piece.  I especially love the deciduous trees in the mid ground!

Heidi and Kricket

These two lively girls sat very patiently while I took a few dozen photos of them.  As usual I started with a detailed drawing and a little frisket to hold the white areas - especially necessary when there are such fine details as their beards and eyebrows!

Next I washed in soft shadows shapes and a few mid value shapes too.  I needed some of the darkest dark though to gage values better so I began adding their dark masks.

I may do a little more work in the background fabric of the chair, but I am pleased with the life
and sparkle in their eyes - they are such precious pups!

Kelp Forest

I drew several nearly full size sketches, some with 'cute' seals and jelly fish,
but ultimately decided that I just loved the dreamy quality of the kelp.


After I finished the design on newsprint, I scribbled graphite on the back of the paper to
create 'feaux carbon paper'.
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I transfered the design to a block of 140# Arches cold pressed watercolor paper.

After the design was transfered it was pretty spotty, so I redrew all the lines with a #2 pencil.

I used Winsor & Newton resist to reserve the portion of the painting that would be oranges and golds. 
I taped off the paper so the area I would be painting was 1" bigger in each direction than the finished size.

I mixed large puddles of the blues, greens, and golds that I will use for the initial wash. 
I got the paper really wet, then mopped up the puddles.

Here is the first wash - very juicy and soft.

After the second layer of washes I removed the resist and mixed puddles of the colors for the next kelp.

I tested the colors together in the margin of the paper to ensure that they were harmonious
with each other and with the colors already on the paper.

 

Here I have finished all the watercolor painting and will begin adding pastel to give more
definition and interest to some of the kelp.

 

Here is the finished piece - the photograph doesn't do it justice, please come to the annual
fundraising dinner for Feiro Marine Center to see "Kelp Forest" in person.