Tag Archives: still life

Ballroom Dance watercolor painting and Three pears watercolor painting (new painting)

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Ballroom Dancing Watercolor Painting (after revision)

Ballroom Dancing Watercolor Painting (after revision)

Ballroom Dancing Watercolor Painting (before revision)

Ballroom Dancing Watercolor Painting (before revision)

I have done two different things in watercolor last night.  I have put on some minor details in the Ballroom Dancing painting and also darken the shadow area under the ballroom dancers.  I have put it up on an easel and look at it every day as I walk by and still are not too happy with the painting.  I don’t know what it is yet but I will come back to it later on when I find out.  Appreciate any help from the comments.

Watercolor Painting - Three Pears 15 x 20 inches

Watercolor Painting - Three Pears 15 x 20 inches

Besides that I have started another painting.  It is three pears on a 15 x 20 inches Strathmore cold press watercolor paper.  I started off with a light pencil sketch of the pears on the watercolor paper.  Because of the time I already spend on revising the Ballroom Painting and the sketch of this new painting, it was late in the night.  I cleaned my palette but forgot to change the brush cleaning water.  So as soon as I dip into the water and put some on the palette, I can see that it is a dirty grey.   So I found out that you have to replace your jar with clean water often or have several jars of water before you start.  It is important to have a clean palette and clean water always.

Daily Watercolor Painting – Five Pears (touch up)

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Watercolor Painting - Five Pears - after darken shadow ( 7.5 x 22 inches)

Watercolor Painting - Five Pears - after darken shadow ( 7.5 x 22 inches)

Watercolor Painting - 5 Pears (before darken shadows)

Watercolor Painting - 5 Pears (before darken shadows)

I did quite a bit of watercolor painting and drawing last night but have not much to show for.  I have changed and fine tune the ballroom painting to get it more detail on the gown and darken the shadows on the floor.  For the Five Pears watercolor painting I have shown above, I have darken the shadows with several layers of watercolor wash.  I always felt that the one before I darken the shadow seems not finished and there is not a complete range of light and dark in the painting.  I always try to achieve the total range of brightest to the darkest in my painting except for the ones that I desire a certain mood to it.  It is this whole range of grey or tones from brightest to darkest that gives a painting the spark.   I think it does make a difference in the Five Pears watercolor painting above.  Also I would always try to save as much non painted white space to let the whites of the paper shine through.  I don’t think I have left any in this watercolor painting but I will try to do it and learn to do it more often.   Last night I also did a sketch of three pears on a cold press watercolor paper so I will try and put the watercolor paint on tonight.  I value suggestions and comments on my work so we as passionate watercolor painters can benifit on this ongoing learning process.

Watercolor Painting – Garden sheep sheer hand forged

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Watercolor painting - Hand forged garden sheep shears 7.5 x 10 inches

Watercolor painting - Hand forged garden sheep shears 7.5 x 10 inches

I have finished doing the watercolor painting on the hand forged garden sheep sheer.  If you have read my yesterday’s blog, you know that I have done painting most of the sheer plus a layer of very light wash on the background.  Last night I have added anther wash to various area of the background where the wood grains are and use a darker color to do the shadow outline of the wood grain.  The knots on the wood is also done by applying several washes and finally with a darker color using very fine liner brushes.  Shadow on the wood was painted with a mixture of Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson and French Ultramarine Blue in several watercolor layers.  Each one is added after the layer is completely dry until the desire darkness is achieved.  Then the highlight is lifted off the painted shadow area and also darker wood grain is added.   Picking the correct watercolor pigment is important so that it can be lifted and not too staining.  It was lots of fun doing this wood texture background in watercolor.  It is also very important to find a place for your signature so that the finished painting is well balanced.  When it is time to sign the watercolor painting,  I found that it is best to turn this watercolor painting in a vertical position and sign on the lower left near the sheer.  Although it takes a while to do the wood texture background, I think it is lots of fun and I haev learned a lot from doing it.

Watercolor Painting Daily – Garden sheep shear hand forged

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Garden Sheep Shears Hand Forged 7.5 x 10 inches watercolor painting

Garden Sheep Shears Hand Forged 7.5 x 10 inches watercolor painting

This is an unfinished painting of a used pair of hand forged garden sheep shear.  I like the texture of the shear and it’s rustic color.  I hope I can convey that through my watercolor painting.  It is 7.5 x 10 inches watercolor on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper.  The shear itself was done by layering a mixture of French Ultramarine, Burnt Umber and Alizarin Crimson and other pigments.  It was done using layers of flat wash with some lifting on the less intense spots before the paint is dry.  All the outlines are drawn in pencil before the start of the painting.  I have also paint a very light watercolor wash for the wood grain background so I can let it all become dry and hopefully I will finish it tonight with a wood grain textrure.  Should be fun and a learning experience for me doing the wood grain texture for the background.  I have try to learn by reading books on watercolor texture but each uses their own technique and are quite different.  I think I will just try out my own and hopefully will turn out nice.

Watercolor Painting Daily – Antique Corkscrew #3

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Watercolor Painting - 7.5 x 10 inches corkscrew
Watercolor Painting – 7.5 x 10 inches corkscrew

This is an old corkscrew watercolor painting I painted last night.  It measures 7.5 x 10 inches and is on cold press watercolor paper.  There is flickering technique involoved with an old toothbrush where watercolor is being applied on the tooth brush and is being flicked on to the taped surface.  The corkscrew is done on gradated watercolor wash and the background in a gradated wash as well.  It was fun to do this small objects just to get warm up for painting something larger.

Daily Watercolor Painting – 5 Pears 7.5 x 22 inches

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Daily Watercolor Painting - 5 Pears

Daily Watercolor Painting - 5 Pears

Being the holiday season and I have a few days before I post, I painted a larger watercolor than usual.  It is a watercolor painting of five pears and it measures 7.5 inches by 22 inches.  I was lots of fun although it has taken me much time in painting each pear.  After all the pears has been painted, each pear is taped to cover the rest of the painting.  Watercolor paint was then applied by flicking a tooth brush with dark watercolor.  It was a time consuming process.  After all the pears are done and dried, a background is painted using gradated wash and the bottom was painted with a value to demonstrate a table effect where the pears are sitted.  Last but not least, the shadow is being paintined on with a watercolor wash.

Watercolor Painting – Corkscrew Ladies Legs

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Ladies Legs Corkscrew

Ladies Legs Corkscrew

I have managed to finish my 7.5 x 10 inches corkscrew painting on the Ladies Legs corkscrew.  I continue with where I left off from yesterday and apply watercolor paint on the rest of the corkscrew.  I used wet into wet, flat wash and gradted wash on the painting.  On the pink strips of the legs, I first painted the stripes and then apply a wash on the total area.  I then lift some of the paint from the stripes by using a hog hair oil paint brish.  The background was the most troublesome for me.  At first I leave the background all white whithout painting any shadows but later I noticed that it looks more like a illustration than a painting so I apply some paint for some shadows.  Once I did that I feel I would be better off painting a slight background and the above is the final painting of the Ladies Legs corkscrew.

Watercolor Painting – Flower Arrangement (Washing Off Technique)

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7.5 x 10 inches Watercolor - Floor Arrangement

7.5 x 10 inches Watercolor - Floor Arrangement

I have reworked my watercolor painting on the flower arrangement using the technique called washing off.  It is a technique where you subject a finished water color painting under water and use a scrub or a brush to remove the surface color.  Then the painting is dried and repainted to yield a more richer and more fully integrated effect.  I have picked my flower arrangement painting for this technique becuase I think the background was too dark and disorganized.

7.5 x 10 inches Watercolor painting - Flower

7.5 x 10 inches Watercolor painting - Flower

I have posted the ‘before’ painting in the Dec 14 post above and you can see how dark the painting used to be.  I have shown after the washing off technique with layers of watercolor being applied on the background including the dark shadow areas.  I still need to work on the flower area, a bit on the shadows  and on the flower pot as well.   Painting everyday is very helpful to my watercolor progress, a time to quiet down and listen to music on the side.  Do a small watercolor sketch or part of one  if you do not have time to do a whole painting every day.