Watercolor Again

Really liking exploring a new medium. 

I've used water color paint before, of course, but never in a really organized way (if you can call what I have been doing lately organized...) I have been following along with Watercolor 101 on Lori Plyler's blog, Studio Waterstone. The latest lessons have been  focused on using an enhanced wash as background to inked drawings. 

Here are the two washes I prepared. Lori had us do a flat wash, then drip water and colors onto the surface to see the backwash and blending that took place. Just to be difficult, er different, I started with a red wash. Then, when that did come out quite the way I expected, I used blue as Lori had!

Our next assignment was to draw flowers in ink on the washed and blended background. I started with the blue one - the one I did "correctly."

Okay, maybe not exactly according to directions, but close. I loved some of the colors on the enhanced wash too much to cover them with another layer of paint.

Next up, the red wash. I disregarded most of the directions, and had some fun. 

Can't wait until the next assignment!

Exploring a New Medium

Beginning a Journey in Watercolor

A few weeks ago, I posted a painting that I made in response to the photo challenge, Focus on Life: Create Art.

I knew I wanted to portray a sunrise in watercolor. I wanted a certain transparency, luminosity. Pretty big words for someone who has not tried to capture anything in watercolor paint in at least thirty years! The only classes I have taken were many years ago, and were more focused on stage renderings than landscape painting.   

This past summer, though, I learned a painting technique called Thick Painting on Glass, from a talented decorative painter named Sandy. I think it whetted my appetite for painting. 

I've also been doing a bit of painting on metal jewelry components with specially made inks. 

But painting on paper is different. And watercolor offers so many effects based on the amount of water used, thickness of paint, paper texture, brush used, and on and on. So many things to explore. So I am starting a journey to explore watercolor technique, and maybe even see how it effects my jewelry making. I will be joining with others, following the lessons at Studio Waterstone, Watercolor Painting 101, with Lori Plyler. If you have a hankering to paint, why not join us? 

Here is my contribution to Lessons 1&2.  

My art table

Color wheel with some brush stroke explorations.

Thanks for stopping by. If you decide to join us in our lessons, please leave a comment below. (Or just leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you!)