Pepper Trio

"Pepper Trio"

Image Size 14" x 14"

Watercolor

The majority of this painting was done on saturated paper.  I'm really happy with the colors and softness of the background.  I used a blend of green, blue and purple in the background to bring out the complementary colors of the peppers but in this photo only the green really shows.  I probably could have painted the blue and purple a bit bolder, but didn't want to take away from the shadows by having the background darker.

The Red Hat #2

"The Red Hat #2"

Image Size 11" x 11"

Watercolor

This is my second attempt to paint my friend Beverly.  I still don't feel like I've captured her essence and I know the reason for that is that both paintings I've done show her not smiling.  I'm surprise I even have any photos of her not smiling because she's always smiling.

I will try it one more time using a reference photo with her smiling.  I have several good ones but have hesitated to try painting her smiling because I don't want to deal with painting teeth.  It's probably not a big deal, but that's one more thing that I've always found intimidating.

Cerulean Sky

"Cerulean Sky"

Image size 7" x 11"

Watercolor

I haven't painted a skyscape for a while so that was this week's project.  I love the colors in the sky, going from ultramarine at the top into cerulean at the horizon.  I remember the first time I saw a distinct color change like this in the sky was when I was visiting Lake Powell.  The colors always seemed to be more intense there than in So Cal - probably because of the cleaner air.  It was as though those two colors had been used directly out of the tubes to color the sky that day.

So, that is what I did in this painting.  The sky is the focal point of this piece and the sand dune/water is less important to me.

I painted the sky on saturated paper and after it dried I added the land and water.

Guacamole II

"Guacamole II"

Image size 11" x 18"

Watercolor

This probably looks very familiar to you because I've painted it before.  I wasn't happy with how all of the values were in the middle range so I painted a second one with a very dramatic background.  I masked the subjects so that I could get a very smooth background and used colors that lift so that I could soften the edges after I removed the masking.  Unfortunately, since they were liftable colors and I didn't get the darkness that I wanted with my initial wash, when I added more washes, the color lifted.  I don't usually use an airbrush, but for this project, it worked perfectly to achieve the darkness and the variegated background.  After removing the masking, I wasn't able to soften the edges anyway so I'm not sure what was happening - suddenly, the liftable colors weren't lifting.

I really like my idea for this painting but I can't really say that I'm thrilled with either version.  I like the value contrast of this one but I should have used a different background color.  This is too much green, even for me.

Here is a picture of the first painting:

 I would love to hear your honest opinions of these two paintings.