This week I explored a different approach to watercolor landscapes. I had a breakthrough, and will be practicing this more. The artist starts on wet paper and thinks of the whole piece. I often start mine on dry paper, and work one area at a time.
There were a couple of florals. Honestly, I couldn’t think of what to paint so I used my default. Again I was trying for a loose and sketchy looks. They fell short, but I am happy with both of them. 😉
A series of patterned abstracts brings me to mid-month and closes out the week on a bright note. I have included some close ups, the details are sometimes lost in low resolution images. I am working on 6 x 6 paper, the coneflower is 4 x 6.
Day one left me painfully aware that getting back to painting, was not going to be easy. I haven’t touched a brush since our February gathering. My first piece was meant to be a loose and sketchy coneflower. Small, 3 x 5. I painted it five times. Still, it is not loose, or sketchy. My pen lines all but disappeared. I did finally manage to get some decent blends.
Feeling frustrated, I decided to do some abstracts. Hoping again for organic, free flowing shapes and colors. One led to another, and soon I had a series of three. These are all 6 x 6, mixed media. Watercolor, paper, acrylic and Inktense pencils. The paper is lacy, mulberry paper.
After watching a video by Kristin Van Leuven, The Easiest Way To Paint Watercolor Trees. I was excited to try her process. It looked like fun. HA! For this out of practice watercolorist, it was very challenging. Days 5-7 are all watercolor on paper.
It all comes down to timing, and the amount of water on the paper. Basically you have a blob of color at the top, the trees. And a blob of color on the bottom, the land. You connect the two with tree trunks. If the colors are still wet, the colors will blend in the trunks.
I plan on doing more of these. It is fun, as well as a great learning practice. And I still haven’t got it quite right. I completely filled the space. Big huge blobs for sure. A stand of trees.
I want to work at varying the tree shapes, lacing them out. Create softer colors, washy tones, loose and organic. So there you have it. I suppose that is my theme for this month. What I struggle with the most. What I attempt, year after year. To loosen up, and stop trying to control the watercolor.
For the second half of the gathering, I explored the desert landscape, minimal abstracts and florals. Along the way I moved from collage mixed with digital collage, to digital collage alone. Pattern remained a constant.
For the last three days of the month, I reworked old paintings. These are from 2015. Can they really be that old? I started a class, that reminds us to revisit old work, and see if we can adjust or update it, to use for different purposes, such as licensing.
Here are the originals. The last, was a tiny bookmark.
