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Wasp Wisp

Sort of a success and a failure all wrapped up in one. The concept in my head was, "what if wasps could glow?" I found some excellent reference photos of wasps - I just had to put it all together. I changed the black to a light blue and filled the background with washes of yellow (and a touch of that light blue for harmony).

I wanted a contrasting darkness to surround the light wasp and make the glow more intense. This is where I messed up. I didn't mix enough of the dark color (a combination of payne's grey and purple lake) to evenly color the area. I used a large flat brush to apply the color - which created hard edges. To top it all off, I went a little too far in and destroyed some of the detail in the wings.

Big washes like this have stumped me from the very beginning of my watercolor project. I have a really difficult time knowing how much paint to mix. I never seem to use enough water. If there are obstacles to paint around, I have a tough time keeping everything even. This is just one of those things I need to work on. There has to be something in a book or a video that can help me out.

The best thing about failing in art is that you can always try again. I still have my pencil sketch - I can transfer it to another piece of watercolor paper when I learn how to correct my mistake. There's so much more to paint and learn - this isn't going to slow me down.

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