Happy Easter!!

The Lemke Chicken Coupe

 

 opaque watercolor on toned paper  5" x 7"

I am visiting family here in Sonora, CA.  The weather was beautiful today yet very quickly alternating between cloudy and sunlit.  It started raining as soon as I was ready to paint!  I went inside and painted looking out of the window.  This is watercolor with some white gouauche here and there.  I painted this right in the sketchbook which has beautiful warm toned paper.

Work in progress...

I started this painting a while back.  It still needs some work but since I enjoy seeing other artists works in progress - I thought I'd share.  It is oil on lined mounted on board.

The proceeds from this painting will go to aid these Dalit people in India through the Dalit Freedom Network.

Digital Background paintings from Dreamworks Sinbad

These were a blast to paint - the layouts were really beautiful.  I remember Max Boas did some beautiful layout work.

Plein air sketch - Bette Davis Park

I wasn't able to paint last weekend - here is an older sketch I did close to Disney Studios...  

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

Tangerine Still Life II

finished drawing

I've opted for a less centered composition.

As I stated in the previous post, I'm taking more time for accurate drawing.  Here, I'm using a brush to find the center lines.  You can see in the above drawing that I've drawn this vertical center line and the horizontal line as well.

Now I'm ready to start laying in color.

Here as before, I've approached this by laying largest area and then progressed to the bowl.  I go to the bowl next because it's edges are neighbors to the negative space.  I want to blend those edges before they dry.

Using this type of paint - it's very easy to get a fluid blending to happen.  Because the paint dries so quickly, it's also easy to get dry brush effects.  I'm cognisant of where I want each effect to occur.

5" x 7" opaque watercolour on cold pressed Arches

detail

still room for two more sketches there...

Tangerines in opaque watercolour

My initial setup

 Every time I pull out the watercolours I hear the voice of one of my art instructors , "Do you want to be great in one medium, or good in several?"  This was at least 15 years ago!  Back then (as now) I mostly painted in oils - but occasionally was enticed by the fluid characteristics of watercolour.  Whether what he implied was true or not - I've opted to enjoy both mediums. 

completed pencil drawing

 I recently saw a Michael Klein demo where he painted some plums in watercolour.  I suppose that is what inspired me this time around.  For many years I applied myself to painting the landscape en plein air.  My foremost goal during that time was to get better with color - trying to match the sublime color of nature.  Every plein air painting is a race against the movement of the sun.  That being the case - I saw color and composition as most important and focused less on accurate drawing.  Lately, I find myself re-dedicated to careful drawing and this is especially important with watercolour.

frisbee on an open Box M pochade

 Here - against my better judgement, I've decided to let you in on a little secret.  Yep... the ideal watercolour palette is a frisbee.  Cheap and utilitarian!  In fact, I prefer it to my $90 Holbein palette.  I don't know if all frisbees have the built in wells like this one - but that is what I like about it.  There is also plenty of room to mix color.

There are many ways to begin a painting.  Here, I've opted to cover the simplest and largest areas.

 

 One of my favorite things about the setup was the translucency of the bowl.  I've begun to tend to that here.

I've begun to block in the masses of color.  Simple to complex... I've laid in the color in patches trying to identify the differences between each piece of fruit.  Once I'm satisfied with this - I'll begin to refine.

  I'm refining here - adding the far side of the bowl - paying attention to the beautiful color effect of the bounce light, translucency, and reflection.

5" x 7" opaque watercolour on cold pressed Arches 

detail