Thinking with watercolor

A good habit I have been trying to develop is working up an idea before jumping into painting on the canvas.  With still-life oil painting I usually do a small 3 x 4 inch black and white sketch, these cartoons help with developing the compositional lay-out.  But sometimes an idea needs more and that is when watercolors are perfect.

I had a photo from last summer, of morning light at the edge of a tree lined stream.  I want to paint it in oil but just did not know where to start.  So I did a quick wash in watercolor to get a feel for the colors.

Liked the rough wash so kept going.....

"Light at the Creek Bend"  14 x 11 inches
Available at DPWs

Working with the watercolors is a natural way for me to determine tone and edges, possibly because it is the medium I know the best.

After finishing this one, another idea came to mind, with all the materials out and ready, I just kept going.

16 x 20 inches watercolor
"Contemplation of Each"

With this one I wanted to see how hard it would be to free hand a mirror image.
Not a perfect (or even close to it) mirror image but it was great practice!  There was something fun and interesting about trying this, I was tempted to work with a brush in each hand....huh 
Think I see my next experiment :)

Mary

Cats, cats and more cats

A friend ask me to paint her daughter's cat.  I told her give me photo and I will work one up.
Well I got a couple photos, and they are "challenging" photos :)  Decided to dive in and give it a try.
Because the photo was a little rough, decided to go to my comfort zone media;  watercolors.

Pulled out a full sheet of watercolor paper, divided it into quarters, and just dove in.

Have a personal favorite out of the first 4 paintings,  and found myself really enjoying working with the watercolors.

Having fun and not really sure this was one my friend would like, pulled out another sheet, divided it up and did some more.  Also decided to work up at least one of my photos for my self.

By the time I was on the second sheet, ended up with two that my friend will probably like.

By now I was on a roll and just wanted to keep going....

Think my friend did me a favor,  got me going on watercolors that I had been ignoring for some time.
This is where I stopped today.

11 x 14 inches, Over the Shoulder.

Added this one to my DPWs site.

Mary

More than three

16 x 12 inches, ink on watercolor paper

                                                        Available at DPWs                  

Winter is over, and time to celebrate Spring.  After working on yard work for several days, decided to treat myself to some flowers.  It will be a while before there are any flowers blooming outside,  so having some in the house feels wonderful.  Of course with fresh flowers, they must be painted.

14 x 11 acrylic on canvas sheet

I pick a few flowers from the bouquet, set them on the table with just the right light and started painting.

14 x 11 acrylic on canvas sheet

  After three paintings set the blooms aside, back in my kitchen.  Studied the paintings, although I liked them, they just say what I wanted the paintings to say.

 14 x 11 acrylic on canvas sheet

 Today while walking through the kitchen, I noticed how well the light and shadows looked on the bouquet, so got my watercolor pad out, a couple brushes, and my inks.  Standing in the middle of the kitchen, I painted them just as they looked, (minus the dishes in the sink), and was finally happy with the painting.

Sometimes it takes more than 3 times to get some right.

Only Color

Thought I would do one of Daily Paint Works challenges today as part of the 30 paintings in 30 days.
This was really suppose to be painted in black and white but, when I do watercolors I do not use black.  I have always mixed my own black, do not even own a tube of black watercolor paint.
The only time I use black with watercolor is if it is mixed media, ink and watercolor because the ink is black.  But the mixes I came up with still worked pretty well ......

Watercolor, 14 x 11 inches, "A Window View"
Available at DPWs

    

Capturing a Moment

Sometimes the perfect picture just suddenly appears.  Or in this case it was the "purrfect" picture.
It has been really cold here in Michigan, below zero last night.   So we had a nice fire going in our wood burning stove, the cats playing in the living room, just a nice evening.  Well my old cat, Hanna wore herself out and stretched out by the stove.  Lucky foe me, I had my Arches watercolor pad and pen handy.  And Hanna stayed still long enough for me to get an ink drawing done.....

This morning I finished the work with a watercolor wash and posted the original on Etsy for sale, and on Zazzle for prints.

Here is the finished work.........

9 x 12 ink and watercolor onArches hot press paper, Matted to 11 by 14 inches, "The Yarn Wins"

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Learning to Paint

Sometimes I have to paint something, so I can paint it.  This is an example.

This set looked interesting to paint, flowers, pottery, and a cup.  I first painted everything.

But it felt a bit busy. 

 

 

So I did the next one simplifying all the objects.

After sitting a bit and look at the first two paintings, I realized the flowers were the most interesting to me.  So with the final painting I focused only on the flowers. 

The last painting I feel like I learned how to paint this subject, in other words, I painted to learn how to paint.

14 x 11 inches, watercolor

                                                    Available at DPWs

Mary

Schiros_Art

Emails and art

9 x12 inches, watercolor on Arches watercolor paper

                                                                        Available at DPWs

One of the best things about being a painter is sharing a bit of your self.  Every time I send a painting out, I am sending a part of myself out.  Some times a painting will go out and all you know is where it is headed, other times sending a painting out creates a new friendship.   It is a nice surprise when an email comes back about the painting.  I have had emails with pictures of the art hanging in a new home, and emails with simply interesting photos and information about buyers. 

Recently a new friend in CA sent photos of her pomegranate harvest.  This was really interesting to me, living here in MI there are no pomegranates growing, so seeing them fresh was pretty cool.  Having a new idea of what they look like growing gave me the push to try painting them. Thought I would share the new painting with you.

6 x 6 inches Oil on Ampersand clay panel

                                                                               Available at DPWs

And here is a photo of one of my paintings framed and hanging in a new home:

Mary
Schiros_Art

One Sunny Day

   Today at last a sunny day in Michigan.  My cats were enjoying the sun sleeping and resting, a perfect time to get a few quick ink and watercolor  paintings done.

 

And of course there is always a critic in the bunch

 Just wanted to share some sun shine with you.

Mary
Schiros_Art
 Also did you notice a I added a page that has my youtube videos?

From drawing to painting

After watering

Lines and Painting

    A local art  supply and gallery Boundless Arts has an open studio once a month, which is a great get together time for artist. 
A still life is set up and everyone can paint or draw it, or work on what ever they please in the company of friends.
This time I decided to combine drawing and art. I used Derwent Woodless Aquatone watercolor pencils, violet and yellow to draw the still life, pushing myself a little bit more, used only parallel lines. Using parallel lines keeps me focused on my line work and offers a consistency to the work.  With watercolor pencils it is easy to turn your sketch in to a painting, just brush over the lines with a wet brush.  Finished up with a focal point of the fish in light red.  Another pencil I like by Derwent is the Inktense with these once dry, the color is permanent and can be worked over with other media.
Time for art is great, time with friends and art is priceless.

Before watering

Try it all

Media makes a difference

A simple subject, such as a dog profile can change significantly, depending on the art media used to express the subject.  For me the media often sets the tone of the feeling being created in the picture.  How you express with different tools is some thing to keep in mind when working on a subject.

With pen and ink detail and design sing out.  Ink and a summi brush will be loose and free spirited.  When using acrylic color and texture dominate.  But then if the paint is watercolor the mood and color will create a totally different style.  This is why I love to try new media, just to see what the media has to teach me.  There is something to learn from every tool we try.

Color Please

I love doing this style of abstract painting; it is like putting a puzzle together.

This can be done in watercolor or acrylic.  If you use acrylic, fluid acrylics work the best.

The trick is to let the colors flow and blend on the paper or board (I am using Aqua boards in the examples. Blowing on the colors will help direct drips and runs.  But the key to making it work is to really plan your color choices first and then stick to them.  The main colors; magenta, crimson red, viridian green, Quinacridone gold, (golden fluid acrylics) teal and Indian red ink.  The first time you do this try using just 3 colors.  Limiting the colors will help prevent ending up with a puzzle in shade of mud.  Wet your paper or board in random areas, then drop colors in not letting them touch until you tilt and move the paper.  When you get some interesting colors and drips set it aside and let it dry.  There should be distinct colors, blended colors, and plenty of white spots in random shapes with a far amount of drips. I also just use one large flat brush and a disposable pipette, because at this point I want the picture to paint it’s self in the water.

   After it is dry, start painting in colors, mixing some neutral colors from the ones you started with adding white or black to create light and dark neutrals.  Let that dry completely.

     The last step is to add some detail, I use paint markers.  Also, Working on more than one at a time, help pass the time as each one is drying.

my tools that start the painting.

randomly wet areas

the first drops of colors, I usually start with just 2 colors.

one more color and some more swirling.

My colors choices, for the 3 boards I will work up.

drops and swirls

more drops

more drips

Starting to add more color

the three mid way thru

 

 

 

One done 2 more to go.

An example in watercolor and ink