20140430 - Deer - Work in Progress

I thought you might like to see how I create the under painting using pen & ink. I've been working on the a deer feeding in winter. This is a "work in progress", so you get to see it before I add the watercolor to the painting.

As you can see, I try to outline my subject, then use a waterbrush to create the texture of the painting.

All of what you see is just pen & ink work. I am using a Noodler's Ink brush pen. The ink is Noodler's Ink Polar Brown. It's a permanent ink that binds with the cellulose in the paper and becomes quite permanent and lightfast. But by using the waterbrush it may not be as lightfast as I would like. So, the watercolor added to the painting solves any problems due to fading.

You can also see that I by using my pen & ink I tend to get an image that feels as if it comes out of an illustrator's guide, rather than a pure watercolor painting guide. But that's okay, since I am really drawn to the pen & ink work with watercolor.

As you can see, I also provide a small copy of the reference photograph that I am using. As you can see, it's a wonderful photograph.

Hopefully you will enjoy seeing the work in process and the resulting painting.

20140429 - Deer

Today's painting is an autumn scene. I happened across a delightful wall paper scene of four deer at the edge of a glade beside an autumn forest. I wish I could give credit to the original photographer that took the picture of the deer. Unfortunately these free wall paper sites probably lifted the picture without giving credit or funding to the original artist. I would normally not use such a site or photograph, but it presented two unique challenges.

First, the photograph included four deer. While I've been tackling harder and harder subjects, I have not jumped into painting animals (other than the birds). So, painting for deer was a big new challenge for me.

Second, painting a misty forest scene requires several different techniques. One is that you need to paint an overall wash of the background color. Then you need to add and then immediately dab away trees and limbs in the background.

As you can see, I took the original photograph and cropped it to just the central image. This felt more interesting. Additionally, when working in watercolor, it is sometimes important to get the main object in the painting large enough to paint well. Smaller and it would be much more difficult for me to get the detail of the deer correct.

I did the deer and trees with pen & ink, using Noodler's Ink Polar Brown ink.

Those challenges made this scene an interesting lesson. I'm fairly pleased with my rendition of the original photograph. It's a warm, autumn scene.

What could be better? Well, the foreground is too dark / blue. It should be warmer (redder) and lighter in color. A yellow green would have been a better choice. I should have put more branches / limbs / twigs into the painting. Next time I try something like this I will try to use the ink for the small detailed limbs / twigs. That might feel better and attain the look that I want to see.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this painting. It was a fun learning process.

20140128 - Gold Finch

Using similar techniques as I used with the cardinal, I painted this gold finch on a branch. As we brace for winter weather, it helps to have something cheerful to brighten the day. I hope you enjoy the results.

In case you are wondering, the black in the painting is Noodler's Black Ink, which is one of the "eternal" Noodler's Inks. It does not fade, even in direct sunlight. The yellow of the gold finch is Noodler's Yellow ink. It is supposedly an "eternal" ink, but testing by others has shown that it does fade in direct sunlight. So, this painting will need to be put behind UV protecting glass or acrylic. The remaining colors are watercolors.

20140128 - Carinal

Here's a cardinal sitting on a snowy fir tree branches. I decided to take what I've learned with the Chinese Brush Painting (the little that I've done) and mix it into more western style pen & ink with watercolor painting. I hope you enjoy the results.

20140110 - Robin

Here we are in the midst of January as I write this. It's a cold, bleak time of the year. It's a perfect time for a harbinger of brighter days. Isn't it about time to see the harbinger of hope, the robin? Well, probably not. But we can certainly remember their cheerful appearances and allow that memory to brighten our day.

Sigh! Sorry it took so long to post this picture. It appears Blogger is having problems with Google Chrome. But it worked in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Go figure.

I will probably mount this onto a pale golden colored backing paper. Here's hoping you enjoy today's project.

20130914 - Dragonfly

Well, the dragonfly painting is done. There are some things that I would correct. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with this one.

Want to know what I should improve? Here goes. They are not "nit picky", but they don't absolutely spoil it either. But it is a chance to learn more as I work on a piece.

Here's the first item. The upper right lily pad is not oval enough. Thus, it suddenly feels as if the perspective of the painting warps. You go from looking down and sideways toward the lily pads to down onto that upper right one. Lesson learned.

The second item is that the color of the purple in the lower two wings (toward the body of the dragonfly) was created rather than selected from my palette. The purple works better when it's from the palette.

The third issue is that the wings are a bit darker than I would like. They would appear to appear to "shine" more if there was more of the white of the paper showing.

There are other minor things. But as I noted. For the most part, I'm pretty pleased with this one.

There are some things that are right. I got the right gossamer wing effect. You can see through the wing to the lily pad in the center. And I tinted (using a glaze) the wings to make them slightly green in that area. That worked well.

But the most important thin is that I hope you enjoy seeing this as much as I enjoyed making it.

20130913 - Dragonfly Start

Well, my last painting got me thinking about lily pads and ... dragonflies! .. Yup. I started a new painting. And while doing my research, I found a wonderful video to demonstrate how to paint a dragonfly by Judy Bergsma.

So, I am basing this painting on the style she uses in her demonstration. However, I decided that it should be a pen & ink with watercolor painting. I used her template as a guide. As you can see, the dragonfly is in flight above the lily pads.

I've finished the pen & ink drawing. I've done a little bit of shading work. Now to tackle the painting. I think I will use some of the techniques that she presents. However, I will attempt to show a little more of the background through the wings than she has in her painting, which you can see in the print of her painting.

Also as you can see from her print, there is a lot of detail in her painting. More than I am ready to try to tackle. I want to get a simple painting looking "right" before I attempt to tackle a more difficult background.

20130726 - Cardinal on Limb

Here's a painting of a cardinal on a limb. It's a fun angle. I'm finding that I'm drawn to unusual points of view. I do not intend to accent those points of view, but seem to do so anyway. Enjoy!

20130718 - Hummingbird

After several weeks of not painting, I once again picked up my painting. Here's a picture of a hummingbird. The background did not come out as well as I would like. Thus, the painting feels a little more muddled than it should.

20130427 - Butterfly on Sunflower

While hunting for butterfly pictures, I also found a great picture of a butterfly on a sunflower. This is my second butterfly picture. I will try to enter this and one other painting in the Fine Art League of Cary 11th Annual Senior Show. Enjoy this one!

20130425 - Butterfly on Rocks

This is one of my earlier paintings. I had managed to leanr some of the basic techniques. I decided to try a more difficult picture. Using Google Images, I was able to find a photograph of a butterfly on rocks. I decided to add dew drops. Enjoy!