Rainbow Bisque

I think this is my first attempt at creating something furry in watercolor. That technique seemed to be something far off - something I would only get to try once I was some kind of watercolor master. That was sort of a silly thing to think. A lot of practice and study is sometimes all it takes. Since this creature was based on imagination and I skipped the research phase, there are some funky spots. Most of the time, I had no idea which direction to make the hair flow. Over all, I think it looks pretty good. I'm excited to be able to try this technique on some real life animals (though I don't think I'm done painting monsters). My least favorite thing in the piece is the lollipop. It looks fine - it just isn't as shiny as I would have liked. That might be something I have to look into soon.

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 ev...

After a few attempts at similar effects, I've come to the conclusion that masking fluid may not be the best method for creating certain details (like veins in a leaf). It's difficult to get a consistent line width with masking fluid. It's even more difficult to create thin lines. Maybe I just haven't found a good applicator for this, but I think I would rather just lift out the veins. A technique I am fond of is this wet-into-wet technique. If I mix my colors ahead of time and use the proper amount of water, I can fill in a complete shape and add the areas of darkness and discoloration in one go. I'm not always successful with it, but I feel like my washes look a little more sophisticated and professional this way. Speaking of mixing color - I still feel like I need a lot of improvement there. I'm not having trouble obtaining the correct hue - that's the sort of thing I dream/think about on a daily basis. I just haven't figured out the best practi...

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I'm lucky to live in a place full of trees representing all the great colors of Autumn. I took a quick trip to the park and gathered a small collection of leaves to paint - this is my first one. It took some time to figure out the best way to paint this, but I eventually found something that worked.I layered in some watery washes of color to fill the body of the leaf, then I dabbed more saturated color into the edges. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it took a couple tries.I considered adding a drop shadow, but I think it stands on its own.

Conflicted on this one. I got impatient. I didn't use enough water. I didn't work on individual sections like I planned. I didn't approach this like a watercolorist. The color is pretty close to my reference though. Dry brush really looks pretty bad on the main part of the squash, but I like it on the stem. This is how it goes though. I stepped away for a week and a half. I should warm up a bit before I start tomorrow's painting.

This is an exercise taken right from a book. I don't think the style is a fit for me. None of this advice seems practical. The author is using small brushes and calling for colors I don't have in my palette. I've second-guessed myself every step of the way. I don't have the benefit of actually seeing the painting as it is created and...this just isn't the right fit for me. This book is causing me to make mistakes I wasn't even making on my own. I'm calling it a night. Painting can resume tomorrow.

This painting was created using step-by-step instructions from a book. I don't think I got quite the same result as the book, but I am still pretty pleased with the painting I got. My only real problem with this lesson is the sky - why and how does the author use a number 6 round to fill in the sky? I used a number 12 round (which I still consider small for this task) and ended up with a fairly uneven wash. I know some of this has to do with my paper choice (I use 140 lb. paper because it's inexpensive and easy to find) and some short brush strokes on the right - I just wonder why the writer didn't mention a flat or hake brush for the expanse of the sky. Weird.