A Word in Private

I have not been blogging lately due to holiday commitments.  I know everyone can relate.  The title of this post is what I have decided to title the latest painting I have been working on.  Below you will see four pictures of the progress.  It is not finished but I am very pleased with how it is turning out.  This is my first time to ever do an animal.  Plus even more intimidating, is the fact that this is on a full sheet of 300# Arches cold pressed paper, 22 by 30 inches.  Seems huge to me!  This painting will be for sale when it is finished.  Surely living in Fort Worth, it won't be hard to find a buyer!  Wish me luck!

In this first shot above, I had started working on the figure and laying in warm tones as under coat colors for the horse and saddle.

Then I added richer colors on the horse and saddle.  Sorry I don't have a shot of the rest of the under colors before I started adding the texturing on the horse and saddle.

Above you can see the beginning of the textures on the horse and the saddle leather.  Also there is a pink-coral wash on the background.

More work on the texturing as well as adding a violet blue wash over the background and adding salt for texture.  Still more work to do on the figure, horse, the mane and other parts of the leather pieces.

Freddie at four years old

Well, I can't even count how many times I have used this old photo of my son as subject matter.  Charcoal, pastel, graphite and at least four watercolors!  I love this shot of him.  He's now 43.  Guess I should get some current shots of him to use, huh?  Anyway, this is on Arches 300# cold press, quarter sheet.  I work mostly on quarter sheets especially for portraits.  Somehow those faces drawn on a half sheet look so overwhelming to me!  Huge!!

Progress on Brazos

I'm really pleased with how this is looking.  I took the masking off of the hair against his hat and did a light wash of a lighter version of the hat.  I think it looks pretty good.  First time I have tried that!  I have also done some work on his clothes.  This is on Arches 140# stretched cold pressed paper.  My intention was to do some of the pattern in his scarf but I have changed my mind and erased the pencil drawings I did of those designs.  Before I attempt something that detailed on a real painting I think I will do some practicing on scrap paper to see the results. 

My husband, Jim

Thought I'd take a stab at doing a painting of this shot of Jim from one of our vacations a few years ago.   Of course I still have work to do but I think it is turning out pretty well. This is on 300# Arches cold pressed.

Boots



I took a picture of a cowboy with these interesting boots and spurs on his feet back in May when I attended an event in the Fort Worth stockyard area.  Lots of folks in costume as well as the cowboys who drive the Fort Worth herd.  The Fort Worth herd is a herd of longhorn cattle and they are driven down the main thoroughfare of the area daily.  It is a very popular tourist attraction and basically I really love the stockyard area overall. 

While snapping pictures of interesting cowboys in their very authentic dress, one pointed out his friend's boots and spurs.  I agreed that they were unusual and snapped a few pictures of them from different angles.  I chose this one to start and drew it onto 300# Arches cold pressed paper a couple months ago.  Then I couldn't decide how to start or what I wanted to end up with so it just sat on a shelf until yesterday.  I liberally used masking on the metal parts of the spurs in order to save the highlights.  I know I don't want just a pair of brown boots, so I have added some washes that include plum and blue shades along with the brown.  I have also started adding a few details, working slowly so that I don't mess it up.  I often get in too much of a hurry and add other layers or details too soon.  We all know how that turns out!

Work with Soon

Well, I wrote all of this just a bit ago and somehow lost the whole thing!  Yikes!  So here we go again,

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.

Ted

In March of this year, I attended a five day workshop with Ted Nuttall.  I have mentioned several times in this blog how much I learned from Ted during that week.  I feel that my painting took a big leap forward under his instruction and my subsequent almost daily practice.  Here is the snapshot that I took of him during one of his lectures and the painting I am doing of that picture.  The first shows some of the early washes and a bit of detail emerging.  The next is how the painting stands now.  I still have work to do.  Ted paints entirely on Arches 300 pound hot press paper.  He encourages his workshop students to use that paper during the workshop and I have been using it almost exclusively since then.  However, I wanted to try this portrait on 300 pound cold press and I am pleased at how it is handling.  Different, to be sure but actually quite a pleasure to work on.  I think I will be using it more and more along with the hot press.  And I can't say enough how much I LOVE the 300 pound paper!  No warping, no stretching!  A bit more money?  Yes, but I work mostly on quarter sheets and usually use both sides, since I am in the practice stage and not the masterpiece stage!  LOL!!!  So that makes it a bit more affordable.  From my days of sewing, I learned that nothing replaces quality materials.  If I am going to spend my time doing something, I don't want to be trying to accomplish good work with inferior or bargain materials.  Thanks for reading!

Chandler, another WIP

Another from a cute little snapshot when Chandler was maybe 18 months old.  Watering flowers with a spray bottle.  My usual paper for my portrait work is Arches 300 pound hot pressed and I've grown really fond on that paper.  This is on Arches 300 pound cold pressed and it is really different!  Need lots more water in my brush or it behaves like a dry brush.  I'm also not accustomed to doing flowers or foliage in the background so this is quite an experiment for me.  I'll post more stages as I go along.  I have to keep telling myself that I am learning and there will be bummers along the way.  I'm pretty much Type A when it comes to wanting things correct from the beginning.  Wrong attitude for a water colorist, huh?