Stepping Across

Wow! Where have I been? Dunno. Just know I haven't been posting. I have, however, been drawing and painting. I had an idea to paint stepping stones as a new subject. I like the metaphoric, multiple meanings. I found a photo online

and started from there. I sketched on my paper, 11 x 14, which is twice as large as the screen on my Ipad. I extended the sides, the top and bottom. . I did not enlarge the stones. It was not intentional; I just wasn't thinking. The very thing I wanted to be the focus of my picture, shrunk in relation to all that water. I also changed the scale by accident. It's real easy to change the whole composition, if that's what you want. I enjoyed making this piece, but if I do it again, I would address the issues I just listed. Oh well. I'll use this experience as a stepping stone to creating pictures closer to what I envision.

The Daily Dahlia

As you may know, I've been struggling with drawing/painting a big red dahlia from a not-so-great photo that I took last summer. I painted this one and it took so long and when I finished, I realized that I wasn't clear on what else would be in the picture. I began to doodle and so the spheres arrived on the page. I then remembered a video demo I saw recently where the artist used a wash of gesso on top of his watercolors. The result was soft, dreamy texture and muted colors. I'd been wanting to try it so here was the perfect opportunity. I wasn't afraid of ruining anything... So I put about 1/2 teaspoon of white gesso in a plasic cup, added about a tbsp of water, swished it around, then white washed everything on the page except the dahlia. Here's what it looks like. I really like the effects of the gesso background with the detailed flower in the spotlight. To make this piece I used watercolor, watercolor pencils, gesso, gloss medium to make the flower a little shiney, pastel pencil and ink. It's 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper or about 11"x14". Click the pic to make larger.

Hello Dahlia

I had a photo of a big red dahlia from my garden last summer and I wanted to paint it. I struggled and started over three times. It's amazingly complex and I continually overworked the paint. I was attempting to build up translucent washes of watercolor that would create a feathery scarlet hombre, with subtle shadows and accurate but impressionistic detail. Hah!

Since I hadn't mastered the painting of it, I decided to go back to drawing it. I enjoyed that, especially as I decided to use various pencils, pens and charcoal. Messy but satisfying. I think I'll practice painting the dahlia another time.

Back to Birchin'

I love watercolor. I love everything about it. I love that it's so challenging. I love that it's so easy to wreck a picture. Making mud on the page or putting in too much content is so easy to do. I respect that. I'll make a sketch in pencil, watercolor pencil and/or paint. Sometimes, if it's the first time I'm doing something, I have to do it over and over. Getting the pic the way I want it rarely happens on the first try. Of course, the hope is that I improve with each attempt. If it doesn't get better, if I'm no longer enjoying the process, I stop and do something else. I may or may not come back to it.

Here is a birch pic as an example.


#1 In this first try, I used masking fluid to keep the the trees white while I painted the background. The background also got some masking in random areas. I thought that might be interesting. It wasn't. It looked like the paper was torn. I also made mud out of the trees. So I decided to do it again.

#2 I can't explain this one. I just was not in the flow.

#3 Getting closer, but I went too quickly as I often do. I did not tend
to the little island part that should anchor the trees.

#4 Finally. I felt like I could live with this one. I like the more stark look
of the background and trees. I also like the little dots of red flowers. Less is more.