Pastels and Watercolors (and a few other art media)

[SquarePeg]

Those petals look awesome! I think you did well choosing your own palette. Myself, I'd leave those leaves alone for now - just be aware and start planning for the next painting. You could start a little lower, and swoop them out to the sides a bit before going up, to give yourself more room on the paper. That would allow for larger leaves, especially on the left side there. They don't need to be symmetrical.

I have a hard time laying off of backgrounds, but OP's are (I think) easier to handle. (Which is why I use them, no doubt. ) The way I build paintings is to plan in advance on a background and paint it in first, then layer over it. I'm guessing you can do the same with watercolors. Maybe @snowbear could advise? In the meantime, your spatters are very effective.

Nice work!

Thanks! Depending on the colors the background may or may not cause a problem with the second layer. you have to put it on pretty thick for the background her not to show through I think. I could try to do a background after but then I take a risk of screwing it up. I know a lot of people block out the subject with that rubbery stuff and then they paint their background and then they peel the other stuff off but that seems more advanced than where I am right now.

 

[SquarePeg]

@SquarePeg, there was a painting I did that came to mind when you posted your pretty cherry tree. I forgot to look for it, but was reminded just now. I took several work-in-progress pics, because it was a PITA! You were just asking about backgrounds, and these WIP photos are a fair example of how I build an OP painting.

This was done as a challenge when I was given this literary quote and had to paint from it:

"'The Avenue,' so called by the Newbridge people, was a stretch of road 4-500 yards long, completely arched over with huge, wide-spreading apple trees, planted years ago by an eccentric old farmer. Overhead was one long canopy of snowy fragrant bloom. Below the boughs the air was full of a purple twilight and, far ahead, a glimpse of painted sunset sky shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle." - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.


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So there's my "interpretation" of that literary quote. But the point here is going from back to front on this one, layering all that white over the purple sky:

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Changed my mind about that straight road later, but that was an easy fix. Anyway, there's an example of back-to-front painting that works for me with these oil pastels. I sketched the tree placement in advance with pencil up there. They needed to reach each other on top to get that canopy effect.

The trees were fun to do - a closeup:

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Wow that is just beautiful! I hope that is hanging somewhere.

 

[SquarePeg]

Have to add that Anne of GG was a favorite of mine growing up. Did you see the recent 2 or 3 season series on Netflix or maybe it was Prime? It was very good. Visually it was very beautiful with the PEI scenery.

 

[limr]

Started a color blending palette, too.

 

[terri]

Wow that is just beautiful! I hope that is hanging somewhere.

Heh. No - it is leaning against the wall with a sheet of waxed paper over it.

Have to add that Anne of GG was a favorite of mine growing up. Did you see the recent 2 or 3 season series on Netflix or maybe it was Prime? It was very good. Visually it was very beautiful with the PEI scenery.

I haven't seen it! I have the book in my TBR stack - my mom tried to get me to read it long ago, but I never did. When I read this lines, I found it and bought it.

 

[terri]

Started a color blending palette, too.

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These are great. You get a chance to play with blending before trying it on a painting, and you get to know this particular brand better, too. If WC is like OP's, they all have slight variations. Very helpful to keep at your elbow! I think I held mine up during the zoom party.

 

[snowbear]

Yay! Art supplies!
Keep getting on, Sharon - looking good.

Look at you guys! I think Terri and I have created painting monsters (a good thing).

For watercolors I try to go light to dark, because of the transparency. For acrylics / oils where you can paint light over dark, pretty much back to front. For anything that I feel is an intentional keeper, and not just quick sketches or practice, I will almost always lay out elements in pencil, first.

I've been busy working out some changes in the workspace, but I hope to put together a sketch or two this weekend.

 

[limr]

Playing with shapes and shading. Most were just blobs to see what the paint does and how layering works at different stages of drying. Here's a third attempt at doing a loose flower shape that I actually liked. Ignore the dust (didn't notice it when I took the picture and can't be bothered to take another) and the bit of orange at the bottom (I dropped the brush!)

 

[terri]

Looks good! I see you're getting some nice layering in there, and good detail in the leaves. I actually like that orange blob, it adds a tiny note of whimsy.

 

[waday]

@terri, look, I’m actually sketching first!

(LOL at the sideways; @SquarePeg did you figure out how to not have it sideways?)

Final image as soon as I get around to finishing it!

 

[SquarePeg]

@terri, look, I’m actually sketching first!

(LOL at the sideways; @SquarePeg did you figure out how to not have it sideways?)

Final image as soon as I get around to finishing it!

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for iPhone I do an edit and make a very small crop that seems to tell the phone how the photo should be oriented.

 

[SquarePeg]

I am finding that I like my results better if I don’t do too much of a sketch first I think I prefer the loose style. I used a loose sketch for this copy of someone else’s painting and I like the adlib parts better than the sketched.

 

[terri]

Great sketch. Looking forward to seeing the end result, @waday! Hopefully the camera will obey you next time.

I think I prefer the loose style. I used a loose sketch for this copy of someone else’s painting and I like the adlib parts better than the sketched.

It's always the best feeling when something you've dashed off freestyle is the part that looks the best, isn't it? Very pretty scene!

 

[terri]

Another graphite sketch. This is me, copying a Picasso sketch of his first wife, Olga. She apparently only allowed him to sketch or paint her "straight," none of that Cubist stuff for her.

It took me awhile but I got a reasonable resemblance to the real thing. Erasers rock! There's no painting from this sketch as far as I know. Just playin'.

 

[snowbear]

I've got a sketch, too. I'm just doing a color wheel of primaries and secondaries. I think I'm going to go with five petals, instead of six, and just use the leaves and stem for green. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to put down any color because the washing machine decided to leak and the water has flowed into the bedroom. We've just moved the bed and and are trying to get as much of the water up with a carpet cleaner (vac mode).