My watercolor painting is always pretty sketchy .. not in the sense of sketching but that I don't practice and I'm not very good at it. Joanna's favorite paintings are watercolors so I try to do something for her birthday cards. I had posted a photo of Indian Blankets to the Southwest Challenge for July. I thought I could paint that in watercolor and would have a card for Joanna and an entry on the Challenge page.
Not very satisfactory but here you go:
This was one of my practice pages. I really like the flowers so much better, just didn't get the same flow of paint in the water for the final card. I gave her the card and the practice a couple more pages included. She thought that was pretty neat.
In the photo there is a good deal of dark in the grasses all around the flowers and makes them pop but I couldn't get the look. With pastels, I could put in the dark and then the flowers and it wouldn't look like the flowers were pasted on. Maybe I should have sketched it in better with ink and just colored it. Like I say, I need a lot more practice.
And a sketch for Scavenger Hunt 685 I sat at the dining table and sketched in the big book with a Pilot ballpoint pen. It was about a 20 minute freehand sketch.
https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/topic/scavenger-hunt-685-july-5-july-13/
Number 2, butter dish, glass without the lid.
Number 3, childhood - a little elephant that brother Tommy (14 years older than me) gave to me when I was 2 or 3. He gave it to a girlfriend and she gave it back to him! I passed it on to his son when he was a baby and I guess it ended up at my mom's and then my sister's. She gave it back to me a few years ago. It is gray, stiff and not baby friendly anymore. I wonder what the stuffing is? Cotton, straw??? It is, after all, more than 70 years old. Yikes!!
8 comments:
The card for Joanna's birthday came out nice. With watercolors it is hard to get darks between the leaves. I tend to want to resort to using ink too. I like when people can make their watercolor lines look almost like ink. I haven't mastered that yet. lol
Love the story about the little elephant's travels to so many homes. I'm glad he is back where he belongs!
I love it. You did a great job my friend. I always like seeing what you create.
www.rsrue.blogspot.com
Watercolors a a real bugger, ...
I did start it seriously last year cause I thought I had build up an allergy against the bezene in the oils. I talked a lot with my art suply store Nienke she's a lovely sweet lady which also watercolor a little for fun but the advises she gives are worth gold. Her greatest advice was use heavy paper, the heavier the paper the quicker its dryes. I use 600 grms now, it's very quick and also can have A LOT of beating, ... besides that I use a very limited palette, ... Ultrmarine blue, Burnt Siena and Napels yellow (+ white in the end.)Someone told me the other day that watercolor is like playing chess with colours I'll guess it's true and using less colour I've got less pieces on the chessboard which makes it easier to practice.
I'm just rambling around, hope you don't mind.
The sketches are exactly what they are skecthes and I like that,... watercolors should be total worked out, ... altho David Curtis can .
Joan, thanks for the tips. I'm sure most of my problem is just practice. The elephant is too old to be cute anymore.
R's Rue, thank you so much. You definitely inspire.
René, thanks. You have done well with the wc. Lots of practice has you in tip top shape. My allergy with oils was the linseed oil. I've been using M.Graham which have a walnut oil base. Now I just need to paint, period.
Jo I think your card turned out wonderful. I am sure Joanna is very happy with this thoughtful work of art. Love your sketch of the bear and butter dish. My brother had a Smokey Bear when he was little and it got so worn out. Shortly before my dear grandma passed away she fixed and mended him and gave him back to my brother as a gift. I think he still has him somewhere around. Take care and thanks so much for your lovely visits to my blog. Hope you have a great weekend. Hugs!
Debbie, thank you so much. I try to get as many different items in the big book but there are duplicates and I'm pretty sure the elephant is one of those. Even though we are from NM and have been through Capitan, the home of Smokey the Bear, I have never had one or any souvenir. We thought of retiring there as it is beautiful in the mountains, but it is 100 miles from any hospital or airport. Very small town.
I think your watercolor turned out very nice. I just did some flowers that, well, were not as I wanted them. I wanted them loose and flowy, but they are rather tight and a bit muddy. Sometimes you can go with a darker purple or blue to make the dark between the leaves.
I have a teddy bear that was given to me when I was about 4. It has no fuzz on it and it is rather pitiful, but then it is almost 64 years old.
Bag Blog, thanks on the watercolor. Maybe I had the dark too black as opposed to bluish or purplish. I guess my elephant is about 10 or 11 years older than your bear. It is pretty stiff, I wonder what is in it but pretty sure I really don't want to know. Ha.
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