Slow Going

Man, this piece is going slow. I'm having a difficult time getting into it. I'm only working like 10 to 15 minutes a night on this. I like what I have done so far but just am not enjoying the work on this one.

Landscapes

Had my watercolor class last night. We worked on landscapes. A lot harder than I thought. First we did cloud studies.



Then I tried to push the colors. I guess I pushed too hard.



Next we tried resist. A liquid mask. You put it down, do the sky wash then lift the resist and you have some pretty clouds.

Mine weren't very pretty. I didn't do well with the resist. I need more practice.






Next I tried to add some tress to the sky. Again, not very pretty.



But I didn't give up and tried another one. This didn't come out too bad. I was surprise how difficult this was. I've have not tried a watercolor landscape before. It's obvious I need a lot of practice. Next week I will work from a photo and do a complete picture.

Watercolor Mess

I went to Plymouth Massachusetts over the weekend with my family. Two days and one night. We took 151 pictures! My eleven year old son wanted to carry the camera. I think he took a photo of every inch of the Mayflower II. I also took a bunch of reference photos for future art pieces.

Normally on vacation I bring my sketchbook and at night when everyone has gone to sleep I do a bunch of sketches. This time I decided to try an abstract watercolor. I soon got nowhere fast. I didn't start with a plan or an idea. I was hoping one would come to me as I worked. No such luck. People may think abstract painting are easy, but I disagree. My hat is off to those who are good at abstract painting.

Here is my mess of an abstract.

Color Figure

I did the figure in color last night. I think it went well. I had the body done with an hour left in class. So my teachers said, go ahead and do the face. I jumped right in. I wasn't planning to do the face so I didn't sketch it well as you can tell. The head is a little too big for the body and the jaw line is also too big. At least the body came out well.

Quick Sketch

Here is a charcoal and fountain pen sketch I did early in the morning before anyone else was up. This is the view from my back porch.

inch by inch

inch by inch I am getting there. If I could change one thing I would have liked the green stems thinner. But because of the liquid mask I am left with stems this thick. Just a minor pick at this point. So far so good.

All Clear

I took the liquid mask off. Pretty easy too. Looks pretty cool like this. This photo didn't come out too good. When I am finished I will scan it in so it looks better.

Liquid Mask

I am using liquid mask for the first time. And I went with a bold approach. I didn't draw on the paper first, just straight into the mask.




After the mask dries I can slop down a background and not worry about the flowers. Here is the first slop.

Watercolor Class

We painted the figure last night. I remember doing this at least 20 years ago in a class and not being very good at it. I was excited to try it again. I wanted to do a wash in sepia. I didn't get to finish because time ran out, but I think it looks pretty good at this point. Next week I am going to try flesh tones.

Run Away

The fourth in a series of four. All done. Charcoal and pastel again.

The next series will be of flowers. A friend in Vermont took a bunch of pictures for me. I'll start in watercolor, but may stretch my artistic muscles into acrylic.