Char's Jars

Last weekend I attended a meet of fellow watercolour artists who I met through the online artist's website wetcanvas.com. This was the 9th  annual meeting and it was wonderful to see all our friends again. Each year one of us leads an all day workshop and we all paint from the same reference photo. This year Charlene McGill led us painting some of her old mason jars. Here is my interpretation.

Colour Burst finished

I worked on the petals again but mostly on the lily pads to correct the colours. I am going to call this one finished. I could keep on fiddling with it forever but you have to choose a time to stop. I usually wax my paintings to finish them but this time I'm going to varnish it so the shine adds to the wet look of the water.

I have to work a long stretch of night shifts so I won't be painting again for a couple of weeks so I'll get this one finished and framed in the next day or so.

Step 8

Not a lot of obvious changes but I worked on the values all around the painting and did some more washes of colour. The lily pads still have a lot more work to do on them but the lily is getting closer to being done.

Colour Burst step 7

Today I got at least one wash on everything that needs one. Colours still need to be intensified but the main problem is in the values. If those are right the whole painting will be right. I need to change the reference and this step into black and white and compare the values. I don't know why I chose a reference that was so hard to do. :-)

Step 6

Today I made a decision to change my magenta colour on my palette. The one I was using dried dull and chalky looking so I changed it to Quinacridone Magenta. That probably won't make much sense to anyone who doesn't paint but it means that I now must go over each petal fixing the colour to unify the painting.

I also added a couple of washes of quin gold and magenta over the center of the lily then removed the masking and fixed the stamens. That area is getting close to being finished.

I worked some more on the lily pads but there is still a lot left to do on those. One day at a time I guess but the deadline looms nearer and I don't think I'll have time to do a second painting before the end of the month for another show in June.

Colour Burst step 5

Another couple of hours today and I got a little more done. The stamens will look a lot brighter once I take the masking off.  The petals vary in colour from the lightest of grey/pink to a deep magenta. Difficult to reproduce in paint.

Step 4

Today I got some masking fluid on the stamens in the center of the waterlily. I was then able to add some of the darks in the center. It still has to get a lot darker there. I was able to add the first washes on some more of the petals as well.

Colour Burst step 3

This painting is turning out to be very slow going. I had hoped to have a lot more progress before now but working so large it's hard to see the big picture when working on a patchwork of shapes close up. Once the background is finished it will go faster. I was going to start on the center of the flower but decided that I need to mask some tiny lines to protect them before I go farther. I'll have to wait for the fresh paint to dry before I apply it.

Colour Burst step 1 and 2

OK. Now I'm embarrassed by the length of time since my last post. What can I say? Work and life have gotten in the way of painting. The good news is that this blog will once again be a lot more active. I have three paintings to be done before June so I'll be painting whenever I'm not working. The good news is that I am retiring as of Aug 1 so I will be devoting a lot more time to my art.

This new painting is for a show at our local museum with my art club. The theme of the show is "Bright Earth" so I thought the reference photo I took a couple of years ago of a water lily in my pond would suite the theme. It is 25 x 21" on Fabriano Artistico 300 lb paper with a variety of artist quality watercolours.

Step 1
I started with the background because I wasn't sure if I could do the blurry shadows. After a couple of washes and some scrubbing then another wash over top, it looks like I wanted it to. I also couldn't resist starting the first washes on the center of the lily although it was more for placement of  the stamens than accuracy of colour.

 Step 2
I added more washes of greys to the background as well as dark details in the reflections. I also blocked in a few of the green leaves to get an initial wash on them. I'll leave the flower for last as it will be the most fun.