Here are two fun postcard-sized paintings to promote some holiday cheer!
Watercolor Wednesday Holiday Theme
Tag: still life
Life is a………
Last month at Open Studio, expert watercolorist Cheryl Bryan presented this example to our group. The lesson was about painting in shadows.
I wanted to do this lesson, but felt that painting five cherries was not enough subject matter to keep my interest. So I chose this reference photograph, to supplement Cheryl’s example.
Initial sketch:
Lots of masking fluid added:
First washes, background and beginning to paint the subject.
To get this subject to work, each cherry must be painted individually, with multiple colors of paint worked in.
Most of the painting is finished, masking fluid removed.
Finished:
The cherries look luscious, but my favorite thing is the bowl. What a dreamy color!
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Agate Painting Revisited
On Sunday I returned to work on the Agate still life watercolor begun in January. (I’ve developed a habit of setting aside partially finished paintings and I’m making a promise to myself to stop doing this.) Here is my last posting:
https://wordpress.com/post/dailyfiberfun.wordpress.com/4678
And here is the finished painting.
I found it very soothing to build up the various rings with glazes using matching and contrasting colors. To add more texture, I applied salt to the wet paint in places. After it had dried, I scribbled with a black Prismacolor pencil on the outer layer and darkened some of the rings. To finish, I flecked on spots of copper metallic paint using a toothbrush.
Paints included raw sienna, burnt sienna, quinacridone red, Payne’s gray, cerulean blue and Prussian blue.
The reference photo is found on Pixel and was sourced from the Natural History Museum of London.
https://pixels.com/art/natural+history+museum+london+agate
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Sketchbook Sunday
This past week, I completed a 4-week drawing class. The final lesson involved sketching from life. This is my rendering of a pint of grapes sitting on a book with drapery over top and in the backdrop.
When we had finished our drawings, the teacher asked us to add one or two colors with pastels or pencil. I chose the yellow to highlight the container, and purple to pick out a few luscious grapes.
This lesson was so fun and relaxing. It made me wonder why I don’t stick with graphite instead of beating myself up with watercolor painting.
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Sunday Sketching – Agate
I wanted to try the geometric glazing technique that I used for Belize Memory on another subject. This is an image of an agate in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.
I thought it would work well as a subject for the technique.
I started with an ink drawing showing the major lines in the striations.
Next I created a color swatch and a gray scale to guide my work.
With a lot going on today, I had to stop working. Here is my agate painting with initial washes and a few details.
At this stage, I’m encouraged. Perhaps I can finish up tomorrow.
Micron pen on watercolor paper with raw sienna, burnt sienna, quinacridone red and Payne’s gray.
Daily Fiber 