Monday, November 16, 2009

Reach for the Sky


Wow, I'm really on a roll. Here is yet another project that was left unfinished for several years because my frustration level reached it's limit. This is a watercolor on watercolor canvas which, at the time, I thought was a brilliant new surface. That was until I tried it. I like to paint watercolors by building layer after layer of color, gradually achieving value contrasts. With this surface, when I tried to add another layer I lifted the previous one so it was hard to add dark values. I'm sure these canvases work well for many artists but it's not for me. This painting has been staring at me in the studio for far too long and I have been pushing myself to not give up on paintings so I decided to finish it. All I can say is that I'm glad it's done. I have one more of these watercolor canvases in my stash of art supplies but I will probably paint it with acrylics or oils unless I have a day where I'm feeling really adventurous.

Reach for the Sky
Image Size 14" x 11"
Watercolor on Canvas
Unframed

3 comments:

  1. Oh Nancy! This has to be one of my favorites! I love that the background sky looks rather stormy and as usual with storms, certain things just seem to pop with color - as these flowers do. What a beautiful painting!

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  2. In spite of the problems with building darks, you did pretty well with dark green background! As far as trying new surfaces - nothing ventured nothing gained, right?

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  3. Thanks to both of you for your kind comments. In hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a horrible surface on which to paint.

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