Prom for Chris

Birth of First Grandson

Week 4-5

EXPERMENTING WITH COLOR:  One of my last favorite watercolors that I painted was in 1990 for my mother for Mother's Day.  It was a drawing of some Easter Lillies.  I thought that would be a good place to start since Mother's Day is just around the corner.  The following pictures are photos of a few processes I am playing with. 

I first scetched some Easter Lillies and did a few light washes of color.

Next I wet the entire paper around the main lily with clean water and introduced 3 paint colors separately. I painted at an angle to encourage mixing.  You can see that wash on the right side of the painting below.

I wanted to try negative painting.  Negative painting is on of the most exciting approaches to watercolor!  The technique is a unique approach of painting around an object to define it in a composition. Watercolor has a challenge that other mediums do not.  It is what we don't paint that becomes the most important element. With each layer of paint I create a new negative shape and darker values.  Unfortunatly, I have lost some of my vibrant color and am moving towards "mud".  "Mud" is another challenge of watercolor--it is loosing the integrity of the color as you mix them.

This painting still has a long way to go as I drop in my darkest darks and smallest shapes.  When I finish it, I will be sure to post the final painting but for now, I need to move on to the portraits to reach my goal.