Tag: watercolor

Posted in painting

Friday Finish: Dash for the Splash

Posted on by Laura Kate

A baby sea turtle, hurtling its little body toward the safety of the sea. This watercolor painting was made as a donation to the 2025 6 by 6 art sale for my local art association. The reference image was found on Unsplash – so many years ago that I lost track of the photographer.

Friends, I know that I have been inactive for three weeks. Life has been full of other stuff. But the turtle painting marks the start of what I hope will be a steady flow of new objects on Daily Fiber.

I liberally applied masking fluid with a toothbrush for the wave action, and with a tiny brush for the white shell markings on the turtle. Pigments were yellow ocher, burnt umber, burnt sienna, Winsor Green blue shade, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and white gouache. A few Micron pens stipples were added to suggest motion.

Posted in painting

Improvisation inspired by Blue Brightly

Posted on by Laura Kate

This week’s Artist Way focus is on recovering a sense of abundance. Today when I viewed Lynn Wohlers wonderful photographs on the subject of Deciduosity, I was struck by the abundance of Autumn colors she had captured during her recent visit to the east coast. I just had to get out my watercolor paints to respond.

Her images of Shu Swamp inspired me to try an abstract painting of the scene. Grabbing some student grade paper, I started by making doodles with Micron pens in the general shapes observed. The water went in with blues and pinks first, then, without thinking too hard about it, I just began laying in colors, lighter to darker: green gold, yellow ochre, quinacridone gold, and burnt umber.

The whole time I was moving like I was in a trance – I think it is because I was working more abstractly. It was a soothing and satisfying experience, and a welcome break from the pressure of finishing the dog portraits.

I highly recommend that you visit Lynn Wohler’s WordPress Blog.

Prepare to be blown away.

Posted in painting

Watercolor Wednesday in October

Posted on by Laura Kate

“She offered me a hummingbird” again

Finally finished this last 6 x 6 for our local art association fundraiser. This one was important for me to get right because it faithfully reproduces the layout, colors and feel of the actual event.

When the visitor offered me the bird, it was in her hand extended forward to me. The bird was in this posture – wings stretched back into a V and head slightly raised.

I used two reference photos. The hummingbird came from Unsplash, it was taken by B Hong. I rotated his image until it had the posture I remembered in the live bird.

The hand model was me again. I chose a bright sunny day and held a button in my palm to try to recreate the shadows.

It was enough for me to get the idea. When I needed help, I took the painting to Open Studio today for advice on attaining better shadows. Cheryl Bryan was there. She advised me that I should not try to match the photograph. Softening the shadows and allowing a little space between the palm and the bird made for a better painting. Then I kept darkening and tweaking everything until a good range of values was present. I finished the details with white gouache and a few colors of Micron pens.

For those interested, my pigments are raw sienna, transparent orange, Winsor green blue shade, Winsor green yellow shade, carbazole violet, Paynes gray and white gouache.

Posted in painting

Admirable Weeds

Posted on by Laura Kate

My inspiration for this painting happened during a camping trip to Kansas in late March. At the site, I noticed a dozen or so Red Admiral butterflies floating around an open area near some trees. After following them around for awhile, I realized that they were taking nectar from two weedy non-native plants: henbit and dandelions. My thoughts went something like this: Those two plants are disdained by gardeners and the general public. Yet one of our most beautiful native butterflies found them attractive. There is something to be valued here that I wish to explore.

The henbit was lush and blooming profusely.

I grabbed another photo in my backyard, which I used to create my drawing.

For the butterfly reference, I went to Unsplash.com for this lovely by Don Coombez.

https://unsplash.com/photos/a-butterfly-sitting-on-top-of-a-metal-pole-PLyR1XIwcsU

Reference in hand, I started work, first by testing colors in my sketchbook.

Next came a pencil sketch which was transferred to Arches cold press paper.

Stages of the painting:

Masking fluid applied and Initial wash laid down.

First round of colors dropped in.

Foreground painted and additional layers added.

Masking fluid removed, some shadows and details painted in.

Finished up by adding highlights and cast shadows.

I’m relieved to have finished. These complex organic scenes are still very difficult for me. And while I can’t say I love every bit of my painting, I did achieve my objective.