Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Stormy Sunset -- Opaque Watercolor/Gouache



This one I did a while back. I have only painted in gouache a couple of times. Most of my watercolor work up to now has been using watercolor pencil. Gouache is interesting to use. You can use it like regular watercolor when you use a lot of water, or it is a lot like painting with acrylics with a dry/dryer brush. Gouache allows you to paint light over dark (with a dryer brush), which is the opposite of regular transparent watercolor. The colors can be much brighter than transparent watercolor. This painting was done in the watercolor mode - lots of water.  I put the dry watercolor paper on a pliable plastic cutting board (Walmart sells them - or you can use a plastic table mat), and soaked it with brush and water. As the paper becomes wet and stretches, it may try to buckle. Just lift it up and lay it down flat again. The paper when totally soaked will lay flat and hug the plastic board. Then you can have fun with lots of paint (wet on wet). I deliberately added extra paint and water to make the paint to "bloom" or move around on the paper. I did have a deliberate picture of a sunset in mind as I worked on this. It came out better than I expected. It was a fun learning experience. (My gouache hydrangea picture below was painted wet on dry. I used regular amounts of wet paint on dry paper. I blotted the sky and green hill to soften them. The hydrangeas have three layers of paint, getting darker and darker. The hydrangea white highlights were done with a totally dry brush.)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Hydrangeas -- Opaque Watercolor/Gouache



This is my first attempt at trying to paint Hydrangeas. I love them. They are one of my favorite flowers (after roses). This was also my first attempt at trying to paint a picture I completely made up out of my head. Found out also that it is easier to paint from a photo, as the highlights and shadows are there to copy. Here I had to make them up, and with limited success. It's not a masterpiece, but it was still fun-- I was playing with paint.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Blue Moon -- Watercolor Journal



This is a painting I did last year and posted on another group site. Therefore some of you may have previous seen it. However, I never got around to posting in on my painting blog.   This was originally painted in my watercolor journal. I deleted what was previously written on the side. It needed a new quote since it was being used in a new way. The inspiration for this painting  came from a photo that  caught my attention. The glowing of the moon illuminating the building and the sky created such a wonderful effect and beauty that I had to try to copy it in paint. Also, the glowing blue of the night sky really drew me in. This was done with Reeve's watercolor pencils.