Pastels and Watercolors (and a few other art media)

[terri]

@snowbear: Really nice job on the Chinese calligraphy. It's harder than it looks. You have to be so careful because you're recreating another language.

I did this ONE time, for this painting. It's a Japanese water fountain, and I was tempted to skip the sign just for the above reasons. I could only find the meaning of the bottom symbol, which translates to "water."

The rest was just an excuse to paint the basin, the foliage, and make totally surreal water with my recent fave, cobalt blue.

Now that I'm looking at it closely again, I am also happy how that bamboo pipe turned out. I was sweating the Japanese symbols and doing tons of layering with the OP's on this one.

 

[snowbear]

Nice job. I'll have to go back through my paperwork and do my name, again. The instructor gave us Chinese names - some were variations of our English name but most were what she saw as traits or personality. IIRC, one character was something about thinking (or overthinking) before doing. Hmmm ... sometimes, I guess.

A pink box was delivered today - Georgetown Cupcakes. MLW got a Congrat's Grad assortment for Lazy Lobster, now that they have their BFA. I figure I can have one, this week.

 

[snowbear]

PANDA!
PANDA-PANDA-PANDA!

 

[SquarePeg]

Painted this tonight. It's not exactly a copy but more inspired by something I saw on Instagram. I used the salt technique on the background but didn't think of it until I was on the second wash so the "snowflakes" are not white but I think they work. I used Kosher salt because it's chunkier. I tried Kosher vs sea salt on a scrap paper and the Kosher salt is a lot more effective. I wish I had put fewer of the short stubby branches and I'm not a fan of the way the ground came out... do you think some very soft shadows would improve it?

 

[terri]

How pretty! I like the use of the salt I'm seeing here in some of these paintings.

About the ground: I can only offer up that the base of the trees have that "floating" look of having no grounding coloring. You might try some bluish or blue-brown tones around the base of each tree. It's kind of subtle, but can add a lot.

 

[terri]

Like this, kind of, though it's not a snowy ground but the concept is the same, a shadow under the tree to ground it:

 

[waday]

Wow! I seriously am impressed with the time and meticulousness of this drawing. You mentioned pens, so this must be ink. All those tiny, perfect little strokes....just amazing. I see cross-hatching, too.
.

Terri, I’m going to start tracing more often!

I agree, if a sketch gets you there faster (especially for something this detailed), then have at it!

Great job.

Thank you, Terri!

 

[SquarePeg]

My attempt at copying an abstract poppies watercolor. Ran into a few issues when my paper dried on me before I was done loosely spreading the flowers. Probably due to a doggie gotta potty interruption. Tried to fix that issue and it didn’t really blend out the way it was intended. A bit of a cool abstract from far away and a bit of a hot mess from up close. Now that I know what went wrong, I’ll be trying this one again. Also from what I’ve read, the cheap paper works against me when trying this wet on wet loose technique.

 

[waday]

My attempt at copying an abstract poppies watercolor. Ran into a few issues when my paper dried on me before I was done loosely spreading the flowers. Probably due to a doggie gotta potty interruption. Tried to fix that issue and it didn’t really blend out the way it was intended. A bit of a cool abstract from far away and a bit of a hot mess from up close. Now that I know what went wrong, I’ll be trying this one again. Also from what I’ve read, the cheap paper works against me when trying this wet on wet loose technique.

View attachment 192706

Gorgeous!

 

[terri]

Well, I love it, and I can't see that it's a hot mess from any angle. We're all hyper critical of our own stuff, likely because only we know what we were trying to get at during creation.

I think it's lovely! I'll be interested in seeing the next one.

 

[SquarePeg]

I think I would like to just paint poppies every single time.

 

[waday]

Here’s a near final.. I meant to take several WIPs, but I ended up being a little more lax with this one. Mix of pen and charcoal

 

[terri]

Aww, I love the little guy! Nice details with those whiskers. Cute composition.

 

[snowbear]

Sharon - try adding water dripped from a small sponge or a brush (think water drops for photos) to re-wet a small area; you should have better control in placement.

We've been busy rearranging furniture, getting the new table, taking stuff to storage, and trying to get the carpet dry from when the washing machine decided to take a big pi$$. I have the POTM Voting thread up, so I should have some time this evening for drawing or painting.

 

[waday]

Aww, I love the little guy! Nice details with those whiskers. Cute composition.

Thank you!