Colorful Cabbage

Colorful Cabbage

Image Size 14" x 21"

Watercolor

This started out as a poured painting.  I poured about 3 layers and then removed the resist and finished it by painting directly because I wanted soft edges within the leaves.  I again used the QoR watercolors because I wanted to see if I needed less paint when mixing my colors for the pours.  I needed A LOT less paint than with the watercolors I've used in the past.  I started with small dabs of fresh paint in my water mixtures and had to add extra water to each color to tone down the intensity.  I was really surprised at how much less paint was necessary.  Usually, I have to keep adding more and more paint to each container to get the level of color I need so I am really happy to have found a paint that is so intense.

By pouring the paint, I got the color blending of the purples in the middle of the cabbage with the greens of the outside leaves.  I think pouring gives the colors in a painting a cohesiveness that you might not otherwise achieve.  It also gives the colors a beautiful glow.

I used a limited palette for the cabbage.  Usually, when I use three primaries there is only one secondary color that is pure and the others are a bit muddy.  I used Alizarin Crimson, Indanthrone blue and Quinacridone yellow.  With these three colors, I was able to mix a beautiful purple and a lot of clear shades of green and although I didn't use orange in this painting, the Alizarin and yellow make a pretty good orange.   I think I've found my favorite triad!

I know that it's supposed to be possible to mix every color from the three primaries but I wanted a warm brown for the background and I didn't feel that I was getting the color I wanted from these three colors so I used a mix of burnt umber and burnt sienna for the background and then brought those colors into the shadows of the cabbage to warm them up a bit.

Silverado

I painted another poured painting this week.  Looking at it in the photo, I realize that I have a bit more I want to do on this one.  I think I will do another pour with the resist off to add more color.  I like the red but think I need more.  I also want to darken parts of the trees and add more detail and work on the water some more.  For now though, I will tape it to the wall and study it for a few days to decide exactly what to add.

The photo I used for this painting was taken in the canyons not too far from our house.  I've painted this before and plan to try it in oil and possibly pastel in the future.  It's fun to see the different results with each medium.  The first time I painted this, I used watercolor and painted almost exclusively wet into wet. The poured painting was also painted very wet but is a very tight, graphic painting since resist was added after each layer of paint.  So even though the same medium was used, they look totally differnt.  Below is the first painting I did of this scene so you can see the different effects.

So far, I like this first one better but hopefully, when I make the changes to the poured painting, I will like it equally.

Silverado

Image Size 22" x 30"

Watercolor

Laguna - Poured Painting

I haven't done a poured watercolor painting for a long time so I decided to do one this week.  Poured paintings have a very graphic quality, which I really like.  Each time a layer of paint is poured and dries, another layer of resist is added to areas that don't need to be any darker to save those values from future pours.

This is a large painting, 22" x 30", and doing each pour was a bit messy.  I ended up with a lot of the paint on my shoes.  I haven't quite learned how to keep the paint on the paper while I'm blending the colors together.  I think I might be using too much paint.

I didn't stretch the paper because I have been told that the paper can be manipulated better if it's not stretched and can be bent to make the paint go where you want.  This paper, Arches #150, dried with big vertical ripples in it which made subsequent pours very difficult.  I think I'll try the next poured painting on stretched paper and see how that works or maybe I'll use a thicker paper.

By the time a poured painting is done, it is almost completely covered with resist so it's hard to know what it is going to look like when the resist is removed.  Taking the resist off is like opening a package.  You don't know what you're going to find.  It's really fun!

Laguna
Image size 22" x 30"
Watercolor

McCharles House

Here is my second painting that I'm entering in the "Scenes of Tustin" juried show.  I'll find out next week if they got into the show.  The McCharles House is one of many beautiful Victorian style houses in Old Town Tustin.  It is a tea house (I don't think that's what it's called but can't think of a better term right now) and they also have small weddings there and special events I think.  Anyway, it's a charming place and the food is good too!

This started out as a poured watercolor.  Usually I would use mainly just red, yellow and blue and let them mix on the paper to create the other colors.  For this painting though, since the house is green (a much brighter pea green than I've painted it) I also used a green paint.  It is definitely a green painting, isn't it?  Of course, I love green paintings - they are my favorites.  I think it doesn't have the look of a traditional poured painting because there is so much green in it but really, if the house is green and the foliage is green the painting is going to be green, right?  I'm happy with the soft, antique effect the muted greens gave to this painting.

Mc Charles House
Image Size 15" x 22"
Watercolor

Puerto Vallarta Sunset

This painting was my second attempt at a poured watercolor.  I think my first attempt, Colimilla, was more successful but this was a learning experience.  I may try it again because I think this scene works well for pouring.  I would like to get more color variation next time.

My reference photo was taken just south of Puerto Vallarta and I loved the white light glistening on the water.

Puerto Vallarta Sunset
Image Size  11" x 15"
Watercolor

Colimilla - Poured Watercolor

Colimillia is such cute little town.  It is in the lagoon by Barra de Navidad, another charming town in Mexico.  Both are about 40 minutes north of Manzanillo.   They were hit by a hurricane a couple of weeks ago and many of the buildings on the beach in Barra were badly damaged.  Colimilla was protected from the waves by being in the lagoon but I think there might have been some flooding.  We will be visiting there soon and I'm anxious to see how the people in both towns are doing.  The hurricane was only a category 2 luckily.  It was supposed to be a category 3 when it hit land but fortunately it lost some of its power.

I painted this from a couple of pictures I took last spring.  I love the serene feeling of the calm water and the setting sun.  The pangas (small boats), like the one in this painting, go between the several restaurants in Colimilla and the Grand Bay Hotel and Barra de Navidad.  It looks like it's time for a cocktail - and maybe some ceviche and coconut shrimp.  : )

This is the first poured painting that I've tried.  I went to a demo by Linda Baker a couple of weeks ago and this is the technique that she uses.  Of course, she made it look really easy.  I wouldn't say that it was hard but there is definitely a learning curve.  The next one will be much easier.  I really like the look that pouring watercolor gives to a painting.  It has a very graphic quality, which you should know by now is the look that attracts me to a painting.  I can't wait to try it again.

After saying in the last post that I was done painting flowers for awhile, the first thing I started working on the next day was a floral that I'd started last spring.  Sigh.....  At least this post isn't flowers but I'm afraid next week's probably will be but they will NOT be pink!

Colimilla
Image size 11" x 18"
Watercolor