Long-Billed Curlew: Gouache Resist

This is another goauche resist. I have decided that I like this way of working and will be creating one every so often. The print of ink was so strong in this one that building up of color ended up looking  very simplistic and I didn’t appreciate it, at first. I looked at it for some time before completing it.  I went back into the background around his head and across the top and rubbed into it with a bristle brush and water. This gave the surface more of a textured and worn look to go along with the roughness of the ink design. I then added more water to the bird’s shadow to disturb the pigment there. It was too neat, at first.  This process of putting a painting up somewhere and looking at it for a few days has been something I have had to learn to do over time. When I first started painting, I just wanted to rush it done.

Directions for this technique can be found on Wet Canvas here.

Raji at  Artpearls has posted another gouache resist.

Dachshund Pup

I am playing with my watercolors and couldn’t resist painting this pup found on the wet canvas site.

“Over the River and Through the Woods…

…to Grandmother’s house we go!”

As a child we would travel either to Granny’s or Grandma’s house and it always included singing this song. The poem and brief explanation about its writing can be found here. Those of you who are traveling, be safe!

Yesterday, Kokot awarded me the RA bloggers’ award. Thank-you Kokot. I feel greatly honored and will pass it on in seven days.

Painting with a Friend

                      

     Tracey                                                 Leslie

             

        Tracey                                                  Leslie

                         

    Tracey                                                    Leslie

If you ever get the opportunity, paint with a friend. Years ago, Tracey and I began to get together and paint outdoors from life and indoors from reference photos. We learned together and laughed a lot about mistakes or hard challenges. I remember one day when we drove around the entire time and never found anything we wanted to paint or draw but came home with some great reference photos. I find that I learn a lot just from watching others draw and paint. We are always amazed by the differences in our work even though we are painting the same subject. I have posted several of the things Tracey and I have painted above. You can click on them if you would like to view them larger. Tracey’s blog can be found here.  Tracey does incredible paintings and drawings of local Indiana landscapes and buildings. Recently, she has expressed an interest in learning to draw and paint animals so I am lucky enough to share that journey with her.

I have also added a Student Page to my pages above. I did this because some of you have expressed an interest through your comments and e-mails in viewing them. Thank-you to my students for giving me permission to photograph and post your work.

City Skylines

  New York

The above project is what we worked on the last night of watercolor plus class. It is a combination of using some gesso, found or purchased papers, and watercolor.

Here are the steps we used:

 step 1

We drew a line for the top and bottom of our skyline.

  step 2

We gessoed (acrylic gesso) the city and left the sky and foreground the surface of the paper. This would not have to be done, but I wanted to try this technique for future reference. I do think the gesso added a textural quality to the skyline area that wouldn’t have existed in these, otherwise.

  step 3

Wash in the sky and foreground areas with watercolor. The burnt sienna swish you see on the left was to demonstrate how you can watercolor on the gesso and then lift it out using water and also the different appearance of watercolor on gesso.

  step 4

We then cut pieces of pictures or print in the shapes of our buildings and glued them to the gesso using acrylic matte medium. The matte medium dries without a shine and is acid free. I used mostly different rice papers for this Chicago scene.

 step 5  Chicago skyline

We then painted in the remaining spaces of the skyline with watercolor. I also added a second wash to the water to darken it.

Other collage work can be found on Jack’s Blog.

Beth Parker has taken this a step furthur on her blog here….and here.

Graphite and Tape Resist

 Royal Tern

 Heron

This week,  in creative drawing, we masked off areas of our paper with torn and cut pieces of painters tape. We then drew into these with graphite. For an explanation of supplies and how we did this check week six on the creative drawing page.

Cactus Wrens

The challenge with this painting was getting the cactus to read like cactus. I ended up scumbling the shadow areas with mixtures of the blues and neutrals I used in the rest of the painting and finishing with a liner brush to make the spiney prickles. The wrens were fun to shape in and they took several layers getting more detailed with each layer.

Global Warming

This week in Watercolor Plus class we started our paintings with tape resist. We taped a design or picture onto our watercolor paper using painter’s tape and washed some washes over it to begin our painting. I tore strips of painter’s tape to create the starburst pattern that you see in this abstract. I also splattered liquid frisket to act as a resist . After removing the tape I worked the trees at the bottom into the painting with shades of red, green, and sepia watercolor with texture medium. To enhance the effect of the starburst I worked iridescent medium into the yellows and golds.  After everything dried, I splattered with green, sepia and red.

Amber at Aswirly has also used painter’s tape as a resist here.

Learning To Pace

I created this drawing/painting from one- reference photo  by re-scrambling its segments. What an exercise in value, line and composition! I listed my process under Week Five on the creative drawing page.

Morning Workout: Gouache Resist

A few weeks ago I posted a rhino in this technique. I liked the technique so well, I decided to teach it with my Watercolor Plus class this fall. I like the block print look of them coupled with the more creamy look of the watercolor. After you wash the ink off , the paper still retains some gouache. I think it is this remaining gouache that mingles with your watercolors to make them respond different on the paper and look more creamy. We followed Sonia Leggett’s directions posted in Wet Canvas. I originally learned of this technique from Raji.