Paper Play

This fine gentleman is still a work in progress...I've been trying new papers and this was a sheet of Saunders/Whatman and I'm still on the fence as to what to think of it...Experimentation, exploration, expansion and sometimes exasperation(or exhaustion!) are all a part of what we do..

Color Names

I had received alot of comments and emails that the color names were not visible from the picture in my previous post(sorry about that)...Here are my colors starting top left and going around clockwise: Permanent Yellow Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Permanent Yellow Deep, Gamboge, Cadmium Orange, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Naphthol Red, Dark Red, Cadmium Red Medium, Alizarin Crimson, Rose Violet, Opera, Permanent Magenta, Winsor Violet, Permanent Violet, Cerulean Blue, Winsor Blue, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Turquoise, Hooker's Green, Perylene Green, Peacock Blue, Sap Green, Ivory Black, Payne's Gray, Sepia, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna.

Palette layout

Today I thought I'd share my palette with you...some colors change on occassion, depending on if I run out or want to try something new..but in general this is what my line-up looks like. I also made a chart of favorite mixes and color combos in the center sections. This is a handy thing to do for anyone, because it familiarizes you with your palette layout (which I should be able to dip into blind-folded..don't make me prove that :))

The Blues

Tomorrow it will be a year since my father passed away...a year without...but I treasure the over four decades I had with him! I did this painting from an old B&W photograph of my Dad and I wonder if the shades of blue were a subconscious indication of my state of mind.

pencil road map

I was asked in a comment recently if I do a pencil drawing first before I watercolor...this pertained to one of my figure studies...and yes I pretty much give myself a road map drawing first and then put in my washes..this goes for my other work as well. Some pencil work is done quickly and then others can take more time and be more precise...depends on my mood I guess!

Keepin' on

My figure practice continues...I am seeing shapes differently and getting more comfortable with proportions...it is still a tough subject, but I'm enjoying the process and know that with each graphite mark and brush stroke I am gaining experience!

Mr. Parrot

Now this was a painting that seemed to paint itself...The colors cooperated, the washes worked out and Mr. Parrot was keeping an eye on me the whole time to make sure I was enjoying myself! I was..and I'm going to paint some more of his kind...birds of a feather...(22"x10")

Red with pink

Memories painted from a Cape Cod visit and captured with Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red and even some Opera! I sometimes glaze my reds after they are dry with Opera or another bold translucent pink ..it seems to pop the red and make it glow.

sets galore

Is everyone as guilty as I am when it comes to having too many watercolor sets? I have lots of purchased ones..but I also make my own. The two in the middle and the bottom right are made in mint tins. I used sculpey (oven bake clay) and made the dividers for the pigments..the bottom right one has cups I repurposed from a dollar store kid's poster paint set and glued in the tin then squeezed in my own tube watercolors...any lidded tin is fair game!

Faces

I had a blank sheet of paper just screaming out for some scribbling, playing and random pigment splattering...so here is the result...faces done from vintage photographs...I had a question about my last post that I will answer here...someone asked what I meant by keeping your washes clean... It means that you shouldn't overmix your pigments and if it looks muddy on your palette it will look muddy on your paper and you have to wait for previous washes to dry all the way...

Negative shapes

Back to my old tricks of layering negative shapes upon negative shapes. My backgrounds start out quite loose and then I slowly "carve" out the leaf shapes by painting progressively darker washes. The trick is to keep the washes clean and wait for the previous ones to dry! These irises are 12"x18".