Watercolor paintings, tutorials, and videos
This was an experiment to see whether I could translate the oil process back into watercolor. Partially successful although I did lose the form a little on the left hand rose.
Here he is half way through. There’s a nice softness to it which I like.
We planted three David Austin rose bushes this year. Our track record with plants is hit or miss to put it generously so I was pretty pleased that they all flowered albeit sparsely and with tiny blooms. However – these are our own roses grown by our own fair hands. I don’t think this is quite finished yet. I need to leave it on the easel and see what it needs in the next couple of days. I’m pretty happy at the moment though. The values are good, the edges have a nice variety to them and they have some life.
Here are some intermediates:
This is the block in stage with the major values. Pretty much 2 or 3 for each flower, 2 for the leaves and 2 for the background. All hard edges right now and it looks pretty nasty.
All the edges are now softened with a combination of a comber brush and a soft sable. At this point I can start to see which areas will be left soft and which will be sharpened up.
This is right at the start of the process of refining and sharpening up the edges. Only a few edges have gone in but you can see it start to come to life. This is the magic bit!
This is the current state. The edges have been redefined, some petal detail has gone in and some extra values. A good day’s work I think.
It’s a long haul this oil painting lark. Today was a 4 hour block in session. I’m working larger today on a 16″x20″ panel which was a lesson in itself. More paint, bigger brushes, and trying to keep the shapes interesting at a bigger scale.
All the main colors were pre-mixed as we’d already done a color study.
The main rose colors went in along with some of the dark greens to check values.
More colors on the background flowers.
And the final block in with all edges softened. Next will be refining the drawing, sharpening up some edges and putting in detail. Phew!
The color study is done and I’m happy with it. It’s not a painting – just blocks of color but it seems to hang together well. This is 8″x10″ and I’m planning maybe going up to 16″x20″ for the final thing. Unless I chicken out of course.
Here’s the state of the palette. I try and keep it tidy with so many colors on the go but it gets confusing.
Paul Foxton’s workshop today and we started a color study for a larger finished painting. Almost 4 hours for this – it was intense.
Some intermediates and palette shots
Second pass on this one. I think I’m probably done with this one although already I can see stuff to do.
