Category: Watercolour

Watercolour

A Door Leading To…

Evelyn16 Comments

Adventure…

A Door Leading To Adventure - NB
A Door Leading To Adventure…

I spent an hour or so in my studio yesterday evening painting with my watercolours, even though I was exhausted after a very hard day at “The Office”. Once I get absorbed in watercolour painting I very quickly forget how tired I am – it relaxes me.

I didn’t have any idea what to paint, I just started to move some colours across the paper. I added water with a clean brush, let it run down the paper and watched the colours mix. An image started to form – a door was appearing… ! Then I decided it needed some flowers round the door… and a door step…

I pretty much made this up as I went along… and it was nice to paint with absolutely no agenda, no pressure or expectations – just enjoying the act of painting with watercolours. I like how it turned out – to me it almost looks like something out of a fairy tale. I love it’s looseness and how it has just enough detail to know what it is…

I decided it was a door leading to adventure – for me, a door leading to lots of exciting watercolour adventures! Where would this door leading to adventure take you… ?

Technical info: Saunders Waterford High White watercolour paper – 100% cotton, 140 lb NOT, Daniel Smith Watercolours, measures 14 cm x 17 cm

Watercolour

Beached

Evelyn14 Comments
Beached - NB
Beached

A watercolour seascape sketch ~ an old weather beaten, sea worn boat beached on the shore…

Beached Colours - NB
“Beached” seascape colours

 

 

Left are the colours I used. Prussian Blue, Cobalt Teal Blue, Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Gold and Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet are by Daniel Smith; Ultramarine Blue, Van Dyck Brown and Lamp Black are by Winsor & Newton.

I did start this with a very simple pencil sketch, just very basic outlines and no detail.

I wanted my watercolour sketch to have a degree of looseness to it.

I love the colours I chose for my boat ~ all very lovely “seaside” colours…

It was painted on 140 lb cold pressed watercolour paper and measures 15 cm x 20 cm.

I’ve learnt lessons and grown from painting my boat. I’m slowly but surely improving and developing my watercolur skills. More simple watercolour sketches will follow…

Most of all I had FUN painting this ~ painting with watercolours is beautiful and exciting as well as relaxing and therapeutic all at the same time…

 

Watercolour

The Beginnings Of A Seascape

Evelyn26 Comments
Beginnings Of A Seascape - NB
Beginnings Of A Seascape

This is the beginnings of a seascape created using cling film (plastic wrap) inspired by Jean Haines’ World Of Watercolour book. The cling film creates lovely textures and patterns in wet pigment. In theory this is a fairly simple technique to use, so why have I struggled to get good results with it ?? However, I have persevered with it and above is probably my most successful attempt so far. The colours, textures and patterns in my seascape wash are beautiful. The cling film has helped to create a wild turbulent ocean. Please click the image to view it larger…

The colours I used were Winsor & Newton’s Winsor Blue Green Shade, Winsor Green Blue Shade and a tiny touch of Indian Yellow. All three are very strong pigments but they have worked together beautifully in my initial textured wash. I need to build on my initial seascape wash but I’m not going to rush it. I need to think carefully how I’m going to proceed with this painting and have some decisions to make before doing anything to it. So for now I’m just going to enjoy it as it is till I’ve decided…

Watercolour

The Kingfisher

Evelyn20 Comments
Kingfisher - NB
The Kingfisher

A kingfisher in watercolour based on both my own image (found amongst some collage material) and the demonstration in Jean Haines’ World Of Watercolour book. This is my very first attempt at the kingfisher – a trial run – and I have to say it turned out better than I thought it would.

I will do another kingfisher and I will change a couple of things. My next one needs to be a bit shorter and fatter. And also I seem to have this bad habit of starting my painting in the wrong place and ending up too near the edge of the paper, as above… !! I must address this…

All in all a successful and fun hour spent painting this afternoon!

Watercolour

The Fun Way To Learn About Colour

Evelyn20 Comments

The fun way to learn about colour (colour theory) is to just have fun with it; swoosh different colours across the paper, add lots of water and see what you end up with…

Cascade Green - NB
Daniel Smith’s Cascade Green

Above is just Daniel Smith’s Cascade Green on it’s own in all it’s glory! Notice how the colours separate and granulate with the addition of lots of water. What a stunningly beautiful colour…

Ultramarine Turquoise - NB
Daniel Smith’s Ultramarine Turquoise

Ultramarine Turquoise does a similar thing – it separates and granulates beautifully with the addition of water. You can see some of the Ultramarine Blue has separated out in places…

Paynes Blue Gray - NB
Daniel Smith’s Paynes Blue Gray & Raw Sienna Light

Above is Paynes Blue Gray and Raw Sienna Light. I like these two colours together…

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Daniel Smith’s Indigo & Permanent Orange

Indigo and Permanent Orange contrast beautifully together and mingle quite happily together on the paper…

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Daniel Smith’s Carbazole Violet and Monte Amiata Natural Sienna

I adore the Carbazole Violet and Monte Amiata Natural Sienna together – they contrast beautifully. I think of pansies when I see these colours together…

Rhodonite Genuine & Naples Yellow - NB
Daniel Smith’s Naples Yellow & Rhodonite Genuine

Naples Yellow and Rhodonite Genuine are stunning together – I love them both. They are beautiful for floral compositions – I think of roses when I see these colours together…

Cadmium Yellow & Cascade Green - NB
Daniel Smith’s Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cascade Green & Phthalo Green (BS)

I had no idea what would happen when I mixed the Cascade Green with the Cadmium Yellow on the paper but I like the result. I added a touch of Phthalo Green Blue Shade down the left side and it mixed with the other colours beauifully. These colours work well together…

I had so much fun creating these colour samples. I will keep them for future reference and have written on the back of each what colours I used. I’m going to build up a collection of them.

I would like to state here and now that in all of the colour samples here I LOVE the colour runs, cauliflowers and blooms !! For me they’re part what make watercolour such a stunningly beautiful and unique medium to work with. Also I’m a girl hopelessly in love with colour and texture, I always have been and always will be; and Daniel Smith watercolour paints do not disappoint on both counts… !

Why not have some fun with colour this week…

Watercolour

Sweet Peas

Evelyn20 Comments
Sweet Peas - NB
Sweet Peas

A loose watercolour sketch of some Sweet Peas from a demonstration in Jean Haines’ World of Watercolour book. It was painted on Arches cold pressed paper. The colours I used were Rhodonite Genuine for the flowers and Prussian Green, Hansa Yellow Medium and a small touch of Yellow Ochre for the foliage – all Daniel Smith watercolours. I love Rhodonite Genuine – it’s a beautiful pink with just a small hint of granulation (although it’s not classed as a granulating paint). My sketch measures 11.5 cm x 28 cm (4.5 x 11 inches).

It’s lovely to be back painting again after not having much time for it lately. Although I dabble with a little mixed media art, collage and acrylics my passion is for watercolour. For me there’s nothing to rival it, there’s no other art medium that excites me like watercolour painting does. Magical things happen when you mix beautiful pigments with water on beautiful cotton paper. My watercolour journey continues…

Watercolour

Rocks

Evelyn27 Comments

Here are some watercolour sketches I did over the past week. I was practicing painting rocks, as in the sort you find on the beach…

Rocks 1 - NB

The purpose of the exercise was to try and capture 3 dimensional shape and depth by changing the tone gradually from light to dark…

Rocks On A Beach - NB

I’ve chosen mostly rounded shapes for these rock sketches but I will try some more with more angular shapes. I’ve tried to capture a little texture in the rocks too by varying the tones of the paint. You can click on the images to view them larger if you wish.

These were fairly simple sketches to do; they didn’t take long; and they were fun… !

Watercolour

Sailing

Evelyn12 Comments

Sailing - NB

At the weekend I spent some time watching all the different sailng boats coming and going in the bay. I took some photographs and then sat outside to do some watercolour sketches of a few of them.

The photos I took were backlit so the boats were silhouetted. Therefore I painted them with just black watercolour paint – Lamp Black to be exact. The purpose of this exercise was for me to practice getting the shapes of the boats right – not with too much detail, but just enough to identify each sailing boat. I did start off with some very light pencil sketches first.

I enjoyed painting these and it was some much needed sketching practice for me…

#WorldWatercolorMonth

Watercolour

The Blue Mountains

Evelyn17 Comments
The Blue Mountains - NB
The Blue Mountains

This watercolour sketch is an exercise in layering colour painted on khadi paper and inspired by Hazel Soan’s book The Essence Of Watercolour. When layering watercolours you have to let one layer dry completely before adding the next (unless you’re going for a wet in wet effect). This takes PATIENCE… ! I’ve found that patience is one of the hardest things to learn with watercolour painting – just letting certain areas of a painting dry completely without touching or fiddling. Hazel Soan is so right when she says in her book (link above) that much of a watercolourist’s life is spent watching paint dry… !

My landscape above is monochromatic but the colour was mixed in the palette first. The colours I mixed together for my landscape were: Prussian Blue, Indigo and Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue – all by Daniel Smith.  I’m going to practice layering much more and start experimenting with different colours to develop an idea of how they work together…

#WorldWatercolorMonth

Watercolour

Watercolour Rose Macro

Evelyn26 Comments
Watercolour Macro Rose - NB
Watercolour Rose Macro

A rose macro painted loosely in watercolour. It was painted on Arches paper. The colours I chose to use were Naples Yellow, Quinacridone Rose and Rhodonite Genuine ~ all by Daniel Smith. This painting is my interpretation of one of my own photos shown below…

Macro Rose

Painting an exact copy of the photo is not what I wanted to do – Hazel Soan’s words ring in my ears “you are using the subject matter to create a watercolour, not using watercolour to recreate the subject”. Just capturing the essence of what’s in the photo or my own interpretation is enough. At the end of the day, for me it’s all about getting lots of practice at painting with watercolours and this was very good practice for me…

#WorldWatercolorMonth