It's nice when you can finish a project in one day, but it doesn't always happen that way.
This one, the cover image of the Piker Press to accompany Ndaba Sibanda's story "The Escape Route in the Dark," began with the part with the man's head near the bottom.
Following through with admonitions to let everything dry, I skipped to the form of the woman, the skulls and skeletons, the cows' heads, the bees.
I let the work stew for a day, then added the colored brush strokes, all with the same brush you saw in the previous post. (I love it!)
In the next step, I taped the picture to my watercolor board on the tabletop easel, and wet the paper in the bottom right corner; the picture was taped up so that the colored pigment would flow to that corner. When that was dry enough to stop flowing, I brought the paper into the house to dry in the furnace's warmth.
Finally, I used my Pilot V7 pen to outline each brushstroke, with a Staedtler .1 pen for the really tiny bits in the smallest skeleton. From there we were Photoshop-bound to add in the black background.
Now the original resides in my scrapbook, protected by tracing paper. I'm thinking I'd like to add the black background in ink, and then frame it under glass. Time will tell. I was pleased with the result.
This blog is a spur, a goad, a nagging voice -- or perhaps it's a carrot on a stick, a gold star, an encouragement -- to simply make the use of my time and create something every day.
Showing posts with label watercolors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label watercolors. Show all posts
Monday, January 20, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Tinkering with Watercolor
Nothing like a clean studio to make you want to do something in it.
I set out four sheets of watercolor paper on my watercolor boards for stretching, but then turned to dry paper to mess with the paints while the ones in process dry.
Yes, I know, those are just your basic kiddy watercolors from Target, but I like the colors and I don't have to worry about getting them all gunked up.
I did some geometric shapes on one dry sheet, and then had to let them dry before I can do anything more with the page. A book on watercolors I got at the library had one important point which I knew about but kind of evaded: you have to let them dry.
So I moved on and got really too ambitious, but what the hell, and I got this much done for the day. I'm enjoying it so much I know I'll get back to it soon, and I'll post my progress in the future.
The picture of the daylily is my reference picture. Really, really beyond my skill, but who cares?
One thing I know, the new brush I'm using is fantastic. It's called a "#7 Pro Arte Prolene Plus. I'm getting tiny lines and nice full swaths, and I'm convinced I never had a brush good enough before to make watercolors fun. (And it was inexpensive.)
A bit of creation every day. Feels good.
I set out four sheets of watercolor paper on my watercolor boards for stretching, but then turned to dry paper to mess with the paints while the ones in process dry.
Yes, I know, those are just your basic kiddy watercolors from Target, but I like the colors and I don't have to worry about getting them all gunked up.
I did some geometric shapes on one dry sheet, and then had to let them dry before I can do anything more with the page. A book on watercolors I got at the library had one important point which I knew about but kind of evaded: you have to let them dry.
So I moved on and got really too ambitious, but what the hell, and I got this much done for the day. I'm enjoying it so much I know I'll get back to it soon, and I'll post my progress in the future.
The picture of the daylily is my reference picture. Really, really beyond my skill, but who cares?
One thing I know, the new brush I'm using is fantastic. It's called a "#7 Pro Arte Prolene Plus. I'm getting tiny lines and nice full swaths, and I'm convinced I never had a brush good enough before to make watercolors fun. (And it was inexpensive.)
A bit of creation every day. Feels good.
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