Golden Dreamscape

For this watercolor I wanted to achieve a tonalist look. I did a light pencil sketch then sprayed my hot-pressed paper all over with a squirt bottle. For the sky I did a Quinacridone Gold wash and then glazed over it while still wet with Daler Rowney's sepia ink watered down so that all it did was tone down the gold color. I added the same gold color to the bottom area, then painted over that with watered down acrylic green gold. I added the trees with sepia ink, which tends to run on a wet surface, making some nice soft edges.  I carried down the sepia to suggest tree roots and added granulation medium for texture. Size: 11.5" x 7.5"

Tangled Undergrowth

I'm still on a roll with watercolor texturing. I think I even prefer this one to the previous post, because the colors are more muted. I used Daniel Smith's perrylene green, transparent red iron oxide and Dailer Rowney's sepia acrylic ink. I used granulation medium on the sepia ink in the foreground which breaks up the ink and creates these wonderful textures.

Aftermath

I love experimenting with textures. A few of my favorite artists who use lots of texture are Ann Blockley, Jean Haines, and Australian watercolorist John Lovett. It's not as easy as it looks from their paintings. Ann Blockley creates such interesting paintings using lines and squiggles and watercolor mixed in with acrylic inks, gouache, granulation medium and plastic wrap. After much practice, I was quite pleased with this one. However, I made the mistake of using all warm colors and not having a contrast of warm against cool, so I glazed over the sky area with indanthrone blue mixed with alizarin, hoping it wouldn't ruin the piece. I think it worked. A good friend came up with the title for me. It does look like the aftermath of a big storm. I used acrylic inks and watercolors for this one. I'm enjoying exploring with mixed media for special effects.

Blackberry Season

When we take the dogs for a walk with the family on the local Oakwood Trail my grand daughter likes to pick the wild blackberries. She takes along a container to collect them in but by the end of the walk most of them end up being eaten rather than collected.  The prickly branches of the blackberry bushes grow every which way and I tried to convey that somewhat in this watercolor. Size is 11.5" X 7.5". I used Winsor and Newton's indian yellow and alizarin crimson and Daniel Smith's moon glow and quinacridone burnt orange.

Dandelion Heads

I have been practicing these dandelion heads for some time and only now have I managed something half decent.  Thought I would post this one even though there were a few things I could have done to make it more lively. I should have spattered masking fluid before starting to preserve some whites. And maybe cobalt blue would have been better than the indigo I used.  I will definitely work on perfecting the technique. I bought this great bottle of masking fluid by Daniel Smith that has different size applicator heads, including very fine ones for masking out the the fine white lines of the dandelion. Other colors I used were Daniel Smith's quinacridone gold by itself and mixed with alizarin crimson in areas. Lots of spattering and some salt also.

Last week I went to a demonstration of Daniel Smith watercolors and I must say I am quite smitten. They have some beautiful colors and I ended up spending way too much stocking up on a lot of their granulating colors because I love using textures in my watercolors. The representative from Daniel Smith told us that their watercolors have more pigment in them than other watercolors. They can also be resurrected after they have dried out. I tested this and the colors stay as vibrant. Quite impressed.

Textures In Watercolor

I like using textures in my watercolors and am a great admirer of Ann Blockley's watercolors and her innovative use of textures. She incorporates acrylics, inks and sometimes paints with sticks rather than brushes to achieve her goal - all with very effective results. These teasels grow on the mountains around Marin and make an interesting subject for using textures. For the teasels I used sepia ink and scratched into them to create the spikiness. Remembering that one should paint dark against light I used a watered down burnt sienna and cobalt blue for the background.  The painting below was done with acrylics and I was really just doodling as an exercise to loosen up, but liked the result so decided to post it. I thought it ended up resembling an abstract leaf design.

Ocean Sunset

I cropped off the bottom three inches on this piece because it did not add anything to the painting. I wanted the focus to be on the reflected light on the ocean in the distance. One always has to remember the focal point.  I like it better now and it has sold.

Early Evening Light

Trying to catch the early evening light for a tonalist effect on the landscape in this watercolor. I started with an underglaze of raw sienna followed by burnt sienna and indigo for the sky. The foreground is burnt sienna and French ultramarine. Had to do quite a few glazes for the sky to get that dusky look. Size: 13" x 10"

Lone Pine

The hills around Marin County turn a lovely wheaten color in summer. I have been trying to find ways to reflect them in an impressionist or atmospheric way in my watercolors.  Need a lot of practice still. I used burnt sienna, raw sienna Payne's grey and some sepia indian ink for the tree and darks. Also used granulation medium for the hill textures.

Dappled Moonlight

Another atmospheric watercolor. Trying to capture the moonlight I see over the bay from my living room window. If I were to do it again I would not put so much detail in the tree on the right. This would be better with just a few abstract strokes. Size is 13.5" x 9.5 inches. An underpainting of raw sienna was followed by using French ultramarine mixed with burnt sienna for the rest of the painting. I used a coarse painters brush for the sea to get the effect of dappled moonlight.