Experimental Landscapes: Abstraction, Playing with Multimedia

The third week of the watercolor class through Winslow Art Center and taught by Cynthia Armstrong was about playing with multi media, watercolor, resists, using granulating mediums and ink as well as playing with different mark making tools.

Here I used a candle to create a resist and then applied water wash before adding watercolor.  The credit card is dipped in pigment and used to make marks on the page. 

Just playing with mark making using a wax candle.  The base was a wash of clear water and Brusho crystals sprinkled on the water wash.  Then watercolor applied on top with a brush as well as credit card.

Granulating medium used as a base,  then wet watercolor washes or brush strokes applied.  Stroke of the brush dipped into the granulation medium can be seen as white blooms.

Granulation medium as a base, ink, watercolor, graphite pencil,  rubber palette mark making tool.

Experimental Landscapes: Sunsets and Skies

This week we focused on dynamic skies that can be seen just at the perfect time.  So we painted from southwest sunset images.  The challenge for me was painting on a hot press paper.  If you work over it too much, the surface of the painting starts to get muddied and pilled.  So the trick is to know what you want to do and the sequence in which you want to lay down your paint.  This will allow you to get nice blending of color and keep the watercolor looking fresh.

My son had taken a beautiful photo while on a fishing trip on the Olympic Peninsula.  It was a challenge to get the variation of the sky and cloud colors so I ended up painting the scene twice.  The second version was closer to the color of the sky.  Testing out your colors and selecting a palette of colors is always a good idea if you are trying to color match.  

In the first painting the blue color of the sky was too cool although I preferred the way I handled the clouds in this version.  The second version was closer to the true color of the sky and I was more successful in creating the sense of depth with the mountains.