Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Painting "White" Demonstration 1


Above are the two paintings demonstrated in the current "Painting White" watercolor workshop.I have begun the first layer of lightest tones in the flowers using wet-into-wet application of rose madder genuine + winsor violet + viridian + some yellow mix of Aureolin, New Gamboge, and Quin. Gold. The flower area was dampened randomly with clean water, then RMG and WV brushed in and allowed to diffuse. Some Viridian + yellow mixed to make a warm green and added as the half-tone (next-to-lightest value) to compliment some of the pink "white" areas of the pedals. While still damp, the yellows were painted in the centers leaving small dry spots to create some texture.
The "background" flowers were painted slightly darker and more neutral than the forward flowers. I will complete the flowers throughout the painting repeating this first step and then begin the first step of light values in the background.
For the background, I am choosing to use the same color palette as I used for the flowers. (This may change with later glazes/ layers). I first dampen the area of the background to be painted and then brush in my transparent glazing colors; Aureolin, followed by RMG and Viridian. I rotate the paper and allow the pigment to mingle. When doing the background, I consider my initial value sketch, where the light source is coming from and how the background will unify the shapes.

1 comment:

Elizabeth Seaver said...

Wow--gorgeous! I told Elizabeth that you were a mean teacher to make them paint white flowers, but I was just joshing!