Still working with Paul Foxton’s latest still life workshop. Went a bit beyond where I intended today as this was just meant to be a color block in. May work this up some more
Rose Still Life Color Study
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Polishing the Squash
I don’t usually go this far with an oil painting but I thought ‘why not?’ and polished it up a bit. Had to dig out the tiny sables and the mahl stick. Dialed back the chroma a little to give it a quieter air.
Threads Monthly Challenge – Squashes and Edges
So much going on this week but I managed to get a stab at this month’s Threads challenge. The object was to include a variety of edges in a still life. Not sure I’ve pushed it as far as I could but it’s a good first pass.
Last Beginning Watercolor Session – Sunflowers
Here are few progression shots of today’s class painting. As you can see things always look flat and almost cartoonish until quite a way through the painting. Then the darks go in and everything comes together. It’s one of the most difficult things to do in watercolor – holding back with the detail and getting the basic shapes and values right. It takes faith and a bit of experience but always reaps rewards.
Today was the last zoom class in my Beginning Watercolor Workshop for the Newton NewArts center. It’s been a fun 6 weeks and I always enjoy these classes. It’s good to get back to basics and go slowly through mixing colors, values, washes, and putting them all to use in paintings. However, I’ve decided to rethink this set of lessons. There’s a lot to get through in 6 weeks and I’m going to break it down into shorter 1 or two hour sessions based around techniques. These are going to be available in the next few weeks via YouTube and facebook livestreams. People will be able to buy them one by one depending on what they’re interested in.
I still love doing the whole painting demos and I will be offering these in parallel. This way you can take a technique class or two followed by a painting class or vice versa. I’m hoping this will work well and we had a great discussion in class today about what works when you’re starting out with watercolor that reflects these decisions.
Sunflowers in Progress
Was thinking about doing this as the last beginners’ class subject. However I think it’s a little too involved. Fun though.
Kathy Speranza Roses – Online Course Pass 2
Pass 2 on the Kathy Speranza rose workshop. This is lesson 6 and the second pass putting on color. I’m finding this tricky but slowly getting into the slow pace of things. Usually I would be finishing up by now but I think there are a few more steps to go. Each with a week’s drying in between so we’re in for the long haul. This one was refining the background, values and edges. I also introduced some more chroma into the centers. A very little paint goes a long way with this method and I’m starting to enjoy it very much.
Here is the first pass
Still Life Value Study – Rose with Silver Mug
Yesterdya’s Paul Foxton workshop session was cancelled but I thought I’d go mad and do a watercolor value study instead. Sheesh!!! So hard getting those close values in watercolor and still keep the form and light. But I think I did pretty darn well .
Here are some intermediates :
Kathy Speranza Roses Online Course – Pass 1
I was watching Kathy Speranza’s online rose course yesterday and thought I’d have a go. She makes it look so easy! And boy can she paint.
I’m not doing her exact method. She does an underpainting first and a number of preliminary drawings but I thought I’d have a go at the block in to see what happened. Pretty happy so far.
David Austin Roses
Just seeing if it was a fluke. Doesn’t seem to be 🙂
The initial block-in.
Blue Diamond Rose
I’m gearing up for another Paul Foxton workshop and we had a free livestream paintalong today. Really pleased with this one and I’m loathe to touch it any more even though I can see areas where it needs it.
Here’s it alongside the reference.