I have finished the watercolor painting on the Red Brick House. It was fun doing this watercolor and although the painting is small, 7 inches by 11 inches, it takes much time because of the details. At the end, I have gone over many dark watercolor areas with a mixture of Ultramarine Blue, Widsor Red and Winsor Green. All Winsor and Newton Aritst grade watercolor. Some of the lighter areas are being lifted to produce a better color contrast between the darker color. Overall I am quite pleased and enjoy the process of this watercolor painting.
Tag Archives: watercolor
Daily watercolor – Red Brick House watercolor painting
I have continue with the watercolor painting of the red brick house which is done on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper. Red brick painted with mixture of Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre etc all of Winsor and Newton Watercolor paint is being used. Wet in wet technique was used in the beginning. Later, dry brush technique is used for the texture of the brick. The top left corner of the window was painted first and below it I started off with a dark earth watercolor and later the cross window screen was lift off with a wet brush. Right side window was painted with mixture of Winsor Green, Ultramarine Blue and Winsor Violet with a touch of grey.
Old brick house and window watercolor painting – 7 x 11 inches
This is a small watercolor painting of an old brick house and a window surrounded by green plants. The painting is approximately 7 x 11 inches and is painted on cold press watercolor paper. A blue green wash compose of Ultramarine Blue and Windsor Green watercolor paint is applied on where the plant is going to be. Then the leaves are painted in a darker watercolor tone. After the layers are dry, a thin wash of Burnt Sienna watercolor is used for the wall color behind the plant. Left wall is being painted with several watercolor washes along side several watercolor washes for the plant. The right side showing the thin watercolor washes in contrast with the left. Part of the window frame and the brick window sill is also being painted in several watercolor layers using the wet in wet as well as the dry brush technique for watercolor texture.
Daily Watercolor – Fish Market watercolor painting
I wanted to try painting a different subject in watercolor. I found this photo of a fish market which I though would make a good watercolor painting exercise. It is not a complicated subject and is good for practicing value study and watercolor washes. I found that I have trouble in doing interesting blacks and this watercolor subject with the amount of blacks creates more problem but it is the way to learn. I used Ultra Marine Blue, Winsor Violet and Windsor Green mixture to create a deep black. Sometime Payne’s Grey is also used in the mixture for a darker watercolor black. I will search for more ways how watercolor artist create their blacks and will share it in a later blog.
Daily watercolor painting – 3 pears – Fruit watercolor painting
This three pears is painted on 8 x 10 inches cold press watercolor paper. The left pear was painted first and then from left to right, each pear was painted with layers of watercolor wash. The background was painted last with several layers of Burnt Umber mixed with Winsor violet and Ultramarine blue. It is a challenge to mix black without using black watercolor paint. I have added some spatter with a tooth brush for the final touch on the pear watercolor painting.
Daily watercolor painting – Sea shell watercolor painting 8 x 10 inches
A small 8 x 10 inches watercolor painting done on cold press watercolor paper. It is a close up watercolor painting of a sea shell. Layers of watercolor wash was applied first with the background and then onto the subject itself. A variety of red and orange watercolor paint was used on the inside of the sea shell. Watercolor wet into wet in areas of the surface of the shell and the shaded areas to give it a three dimensional look. Finally paint is being splash on and colors lifted on to produce the various highlights.
Daily Watercolor painting – Sea Shell 15 x 22 inches ink and watercolor painting
I have finished this watercolor painting with much struggle with the dark shadow areas. I painted the shadow areas between the sea shells with layers of watercolor in a wet in wet technique and found that it was to dark and contrasty comparing to the brightness of the shells. I wanted to change that to give a feeling of sand in the background. For that I tried to flick white gauche paint onto the dark background covering the shells. After I have done that, the contrast is gone but the painting does not have a three dimensional feeling to it. The background is now too light and competes with the sea shell. I then try to paint over the white gauche with watercolor and that resulted in a mess of grayish mud like color. I had the painting up for a few days trying to find ways to repair the mistake. Then I apply permanent black ink that I use for ink transfer technique to the very dark shadow areas and leave some areas a lighter tone. I found this works well for the painting and this is what I have done to the rest of the shadow areas.
Daily Watercolor painting – Sea Shell watercolor painting – 15 x 22 inches
I have worked on this 15 x 22 inches watercolor painting doing layers of under painting over a few days. I have choose to use 140 lb Arches hot press watercolor paper because of it’s smooth texture. I have always painted on cold press paper which gives me a little paper tooth for putting on my watercolor paint. This time the overall feeling is so different when applying paint on to a hot press paper surface that I have to rethink what I need to change with my technique to accommodate the new experience. I found that the paper is more absorptive and color applied on the surface get dried quite fast. It gives me less time to work on compare with the cold press watercolor paper. Especially when doing a large area, you have to work really quick or have a large brush and lots of paint.