End of wet-on-wet demo

I continued to work on making the frames more obvious, while at the same time linking the outside with the inside. I still don't think it is working -time to put on my 'what would happen if' hat...
I glazed a mixture of Quin Rose and Ultramarine blue over the outside frame, which definitely helped to separate the 2 frames, but I think the stripe connecting the 2 frames isn't working, so...

it gets a glaze also. This is working better, but it still doesn't have the look I was hoping for. This is a difficult format to work with when you aren't doing a landscape as it is so long and narrow (11" x 30"). It does work better when cropped into two individual paintings though. I think each one still needs something -perhaps I will go back into them with some pastels or pencil crayons, or collage -or just rip them up for future collage purposes???? Nothing is lost as each painting exercise, whether or not the final product is good, is a good learning experience.


So here they are as individual paintings; what do you think?



Enjoy!

Continuing with the wet-on-wet demo

OK, I have now decided to superimpose 2 boxes (making 2 frames of reference; in a box or outside of a box) onto the painting to 'hold' the rock scenes. I made them different widths to add interest. Then I decided which rock shapes would be wholly contained on one or the other boxes and which would overlap the two frames. This sounds confusing at this point I know, but it was done to hold my interest, and hopefully the viewers. Here I have begun to play with the frames, in some cases painting inside the edges of a box, and at others painting outside the box, to make a counter-change.
Here is the initial start of the painting. It is hard to see at this small size I know, so I will continue to show you the two views.
Here is the left side developed a little bit more. I 'found/invented' a twig form in the upper part just to add variety.
A longer look at this stage. This is as far as I went on Tuesday night; saving the right side for the demo on Wednesday.
Here I have done more work on both sides. I added some leaf forms to the right side. I am not happy at this stage as I don't feel you can tell what's going on. It's amazing how different it looks from 8" away, where it all makes perfect sense. As blogger will only let me post 5 images in one post, I will later on what happened next.
Enjoy!

new wet-on-wet demo

This is an idea that I got from Karlyn Holman in her excellent books on stretching the possibilities of watercolours with play. This is a half sheet of watercolour paper, cut on the long side (11 x 30") which I wet on both sides, and then began to drop wonderful pure colours into. When I was finished with that fun, I placed pieces of wax paper cut out to look like rock shapes, pieces of oriental lace and unryu papers, cheesecloth stretched out to make interesting patterns, sprinkled a bit of table salt into some of the uncovered areas, and then some scrunched saran wrap on top of all that, and left it to dry in the sun. (no peeking or you will upset the mark making!)
This is a close-up of the left hand side of the sheet so you can see it a bit better. You have to make sure you get your colours dark enough as the sheet is very wet and will dry a lot lighter. (You can click on each of these photos to see them enlarged)
This is what the sheet looked like after it dried and all the stuff was pulled off.
Here is a close-up of the left side of the painting so you can see the subtle textures better. Karlyn glues the oriental papers onto the paper, but I removed mine so I could keep it as pure watercolour. In my class tonight and tomorrow I will work on this by painting both negatively and positively to bring out the rock shapes from the texture. I can't wait as it is so much fun to work this way. Will post in progress pictures on Thursday.
Enjoy!

Sunflowers from wet on wet demo

"Sunflower Time", watercolour, 11 x 11"
This is the result of a wet-on-wet demonstration that I did for my class on Wednesday. The composition could have been better if I would have had more time to think about it, this is a crop as it is. However, it was more important to show the process than it was to get a masterpiece!
I am in a Federation of Canadian Artists show on Saturday -click the link to find out more information. I hope to see you there if you are in town.
Enjoy!