I have been attending watercolor classes with Soon Warren the past two Thursdays. I want to bring you up to date of the things I am working on in those classes. Below is the reference photo of a sunflower in a crystal bowl, which is the group project, and my WIP on this project.
I started with Arches 300# cold press, which works best for Soon's techniques. After transferring the drawing, I did a TON of masking to save the whites in the crystal. Next I wet the entire sheet and did pale washes of a mix of aureolin and cad yellow on the upper parts of the paper and permanent rose on the lower part where the cloth is and lower areas of the bowl. When all of that was dry, I did the next wash on the flower which is a stronger mix of cad yellow and aureolin. That is the extent of the progress at this point.
Next is a painting of a young girl in Africa, the reference of which is a photo by Babasteve. Steve generously gave his permission for me to use this image. This work is on Arches 140# stretched cold pressed paper. After transferring the drawing, I used making fluid to saves whites in her eyes, on her hair, a few places on her face and the zipper on her jacket. Then I began the washes. First a thin wash of cerulean blue on the wood on your left against which she is leaning. Then washes of a mixture of aureolin and cad yellow over the rest of the painting. Once that was dry, I began to add stronger mixtures of those colors along with quin gold, burnt sienna and permanent rose, developing shadow areas and hair patterns. This is a totally different technique and look than what I learned with Ted. I'm thrilled to have two techniques that I love and can use depending on the subject and feeling I want to convey.
This morning I started on this painting of a railroad worker. It is on Arches 300# cold pressed paper. After transferring the drawing, I masked the whites of his eyes, a couple places on his ears and the fringes of white hair on his arm. Once that was dry I proceeded with washes of aureolin and cad yellow on his skin, adding darker mixtures that included quin gold, burnt sienna and permanent rose in shadow areas. I also did a mixture of cobalt, mineral violet and burnt sienna for the shadow areas of his cap. I'm pleased with this so far.
hi, dena. i was wondering when you would be able to post some of your work. i will be interested in seeing how the still life progresses. i really love the little african girl. great start. so, is the new technique the masking? order you are putting down the washes? i think it is fair to say that i never use masking fluid and i am beginning to think that i am missing something. i can say, though, that i don't think i have the patience for it. i am in much too much of a hurry to get the paint on the paper ...so much so that i frequently don't even finish the drawing before i am splashing away! good work here and you leave me wanting to see more!
ReplyDelete