Monday, February 24, 2014

Sunlit Foxgloves

Sunlit Foxgloves
Image size 26" x 18"
Watercolor
I painted from this photo before but didn't like the way that one of the background blossoms was not covered by a foreground flower so I've painted it again.  This time it was painted on a full size sheet of paper (22" x 30") but I've cropped it to 26" x 18".  I painted it oversized so that if I do a giclee print of it on a gallery wrapped canvas, the image will continue onto the sides of the canvas.  I love that contemporary look and it also makes a frame unnecessary.

The other reason I wanted to re-paint this was because I wasn't happy with the paper I used for the first one.  I used resist for the white ring around the dots inside of the blossoms and the paper I used (Fabriano Artistico) was so soft that it tore when I removed the resist.  I've never had that happen with any paper in the past.  Have any of you had that problem with Fabriano?  This time, I used  Arches 300# paper.  Arches can be really abused and doesn't break down.  It was probably a bit more work using the 300# paper than 140# would have been but I don't have any of the Arches 140# left and I refuse to buy more paper until I've used up what I've already purchased which means that I will be using a lot of 300# Arches, Fabriano Artistico 140#, Waterford 200# and Lanaquarelle 140# for the near future.  All of these papers have nice qualities but now I know not to use resist on the Fabriano.  Live and learn, right?

Here is the picture of the first painting.  Which do you like better?
Foxgloves
Image size 22" x 11"
Watercolor

8 comments:

  1. Well, I like them both, but I must admit that I love the new one! Love the flowers, love the background. I have always shy'd away from doing Foxglove, although I love the flower. You inspire me to try!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Nan. I'm glad you're inspired. Can't wait to see your version.

      Delete
  2. First of all, I thought this was a photo, Nancy! I love both of the watercolors...maybe the first was a bit looser.outstanding paintings !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The first one is a bit looser but I think they are both pretty tight paintings.

      Delete
  3. Love this new version, Nancy. You have so beautifully captured the light!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am a fan of the newest one, I think you took what you learned in the first and enhanced it. Prefer the darker background as it makes the flowers pop. Nothing I can share with the paper as I yet to have gone to the "good" stuff. Am intrigued though with your process so offline with ask you about it and how you go about selling - assuming you are doing it one line. I agree with Hilda, it looks so realistic. Nice job Nancy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Doing a subject more than once definitely makes an artist get to know about it. I doubt that I would do this again but I'm sure if I did, it would be a learning experience.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails