Watercolor sketches

My little watercolor muse has unfurled her wings again - my brushes and paintbox have been dry for too long.

Painting can be relaxing, it can be frustrating, it can be educational, and most of all it can be JOY!

Bringing joy to the front for me means trying new things, seeing where it takes me, going along for the ride and improvising as things unfold. I'm trying some new-to-me techniques, of pouring pure colors and moving them with a spray bottle, seeing what emerges and then going in for details with the same pure colors.

My first excursion, after viewing a video session with Lian, resulted in this sketch of grapes. Using only Cadmium yellow, Napthol red, and Prussian blue, it was great fun to see the blending, meandering colors develop, moving them around a bit with fingers and blowing on puddles. With a basic idea in mind, plus where the focal point would be, the colors were free to present opportunities for further development with a couple of brushes (round 4, flat 8).



Because I want to use this basic, loose method to do a painting of beach rocks, the next thing was to see if rock shapes and textures could be developed. An instructor from eons ago, when I was playing with oils and palette knife painting, told me (very tongue-in-cheek) that "Rocks are hard."

This time I used Gamboge (a yellow), Ultramarine blue (because it granulates, to make textures), and Burnt Umber. The Ultramarine and Umber were mixed in various dilutions, giving me some luscious greys. After spraying the 140# paper in different areas, the greys were poured on, then more pure Ultramarine and Umber dropped in to move things around. For a pop of color and a strong focal point, Gamboge was poured on, with a few dribbles of greys and blue dropped in to start the rock-making process. Using the same two brushes, details started forming, shadows developed, real rocks started taking place! Some additional texturing and blending with a seasponge resulted in some pretty nice rock forms, textures and colors.

My venture into new territory is pushing me to loosen up my painting techniques, which helps keep color alive and gives the subjects more zip. The next sketches will work towards rounding the rocks for more sea-tumbled shapes, getting some sand textures worked out, and then see what else shows up in the paint!

Watercolors are a medium I love to play with. Creating is an adventure!