Sand and Seashell

I think I've had more trouble mixing colors for this painting than any other watercolor I've done since this project began. This particular variety of seashell is a warm tan color that doesn't exist 'straight-out-of-the-tube' in my palette. With some work, I was able to create a nice approximation of the color using vandyke brown and cadmium yellow (with the occasional charge of permanent rose).

The sand effect was created by masking out the seashell shape using contact paper, then spattering various yellows, browns, and greys (and some cerulean for color balance) onto the rest of the paper. Everything else that followed was pretty straight forward. The seashell was broken up into sections, and each section was painted individually.

There are definitely some areas that got a little messed up. The area near the bottom where the shell opens up looks a little flat. I am happy with the places this painting went. Seashells are really interesting, and I hope to paint more in the future.

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