NCBG IEW Nov. & Dec. 2020

 

At home I finished adding the masking to the mushroom tops.  I added dots and whole areas of masking that I gently rubbed after the masking was dry.  These two masking techniques can be used to create texture and they help soften the side that needs to be softer.  

I started adding light washes of color to the mushrooms.  I started with warm yellow (Spanish orange) and warm red (pyrrole scarlet) plus purple blue (ultramarine). I added a second pass of washes on the middle mushroom.  I did this before class for drying purposes and to speed the process for the demonstrations. 

I used water and a brush to go over the entire background to subdue the texture.  Often the textures created are too distracting and using  water and a brush or some glazing is needed to push them back. 

I mixed a dark (the 3 primaries) and wet an area and added a shadow.  I used the dark to also attach the base of the stems to the ground. I made marks and added some brown to the bottom of the mushroom stems to ground them.  I will add a few darker darks at the bases of the mushrooms in the shadow areas at some point.  

I demonstrated the light washes of color (warm yellow, purple blue, warm red) to the mushroom and the stems (orange, warm yellow, and red).  I used a dark brown ( the primaries leaned towards red and yellow) to start adding some details and shadows to the mushrooms.  I used the dark from the shadow to add shadows and details as well.  More refining still needs to happen.  

I removed the masking.  I used a brush and water and a paper towel to soften any unwanted hard lines made by the masking. 

 

NCBG IEW Nov. & Dec. 2020

 

Texture made with wax paper.  I wet the watercolor paper, dropped in color, crumpled the wax paper, placed it over the wet paint, and placed something to hold it down until it was dry.

Texture made with plastic wrap.  Wet the paper, drop in color, place the plastic wrap on the wet paint, and scrunch and/or twist until you make interesting shapes.

Sanding texture made with watercolor pencils and a strainer.  Wet the paper and drop in some color if you wish (i added some yellow). While this is wet, color watercolor pencils on a strainer over the paper so the tiny pieces fall and make a spotted texture.  The yellow wash area and to the left of it is a place where I sprayed water to show what too much water can look like. The right side and along the top is the way it can look.

This is the start of the mushrooms using salt as the texture.  I wet around the mushrooms and dropped in dark color (you decide on the color and how dark).  I used both table salt and larger sea salt.  You can see the differences in size.  Add the salt when the paper is shiny, but not puddled..  I will most likely be adding more color and glazing this as it will be too distracting as is.  I also started adding masking fluid on the mushrooms (the gray stuff on there).  I will finish adding it before class.  

Before class I did a small part of the branch with a mixed dark gray color (the 3 primaries leaned toward blue).   I also started adding a light blue, like a glaze (ultramarine) to the petals.

I worked on more of the branch with the mixed gray (warm and cool red since plus warm yellow plus green blue), I glazed parts of it with blue and yellow.  I still need to adjust the values on the branch a little.  I added more ultramarine blue to the petals as well as some of the gray from the branch (but lighter).

Colored pencil (work in progress) over a dark watercolor background (that was another painting covered in dark color)

White gouache (work in progress) over a darkened watercolor painting of the artichoke.

The artichoke before I added a red glaze

The artichoke after a red glaze was applied to the background and the start of some edges being cleaned up.