Adventures in Art, Product Design, Home Decor, Cooking, and Gardening
This painting was based on a tutorial from Fiona Peart’s book, “Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Watercolor Flowers.” I may drop in a background at a later date, but for now I’m calling this painting done. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was an internationally celebrated architect, designer, and watercolor artist. His paintings did not become popular until after his death in 1928.
This is my mom’s third painting. The improvement over her first two paintings is remarkable. She now has her own watercolor supplies and has begun painting on her own. Can we get a collective, “go mommy, go mommy?” This painting was based on a tutorial from Sherry C. Nelson’s book, “Painting Butterflies and Blooms.”
This is my sister’s second watercolor painting. Aren’t these tulips gorgeous? For this painting she combined two tutorials. The tulips are based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor” and the background is based on a tutorial in Janet Whittle’s book, “Watercolor Roses.” What a great combination. You rock, sissy!
We had such a great time. I’ll be posting the completed paintings tomorrow.
I just completed this painting a few minutes ago and was so pleased with the results that I had to post it right away. I darkened the background a bit behind the leaves on the right-hand side to increase the contrast, I added veins to the leaves using a negative painting technique, and added veining to the rose petals using a very diluted brilliant red violet, though next time I would dilute it even further because I think the lines should be even paler than what’s shown here.
As I mentioned previously, this painting was based on a tutorial from Janet Whittle’s book, “Roses in Watercolour.” Since Ms. Whittle stressed that using the right type of paper was very important to achieving this type of background wash and I didn’t have the paper she recommended on hand (Arches 140 lb. Not paper), I practiced her wash technique on the four types of paper I had on hand–Fabriano Artistico Hot Pressed, Fabriano Artistico Cold Pressed, Canson Aquarelle/Acuarela Cold Pressed, and Aquarelle Arches Cold Pressed. It was a worthwhile experiment because the results varied widely with each type of paper, and the Aquarelle Arches Cold Pressed 140-lb. paper was the hands-down winner.
My palette consisted of Winsor Newton opera rose, aureolin, quinacridone gold, Winsor red, indanthrene blue, Winsor violet, and perylene maroon as well as Schmincke brilliant blue violet, May green, helio green, and brilliant red violet.
I will definitely be using this wash technique in the future as well as some of the other techniques I learned from this book. I highly recommend it.
This painting is based on a tutorial from the book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” by Fiona Peart. I’m really loving the intensity of the colors in this painting. I only have two more paintings to go, and then I’ll have worked my way through the entire book. Watercolors on cold pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.
I worked on this painting for several hours today but had to put it aside to go to a dentist’s appointment–I hate it when that happens! For this painting I used a base coat of cadmium lemon on every item except the blue background and vase, then glazed additional colors on top, mixing them directly on the paper instead of on my palette.
My palette consisted of cadmium lemon, cadmium yellow pale, cadmium yellow deep, permanent rose, cobalt turquoise light, winsor blue (green shade), and indigo. My daughter said my palette always ends up looking like a rainbow, and she’s right. Here’s a photo of my palette:
I love the lighting in this photo and the close-up view that shows the texture of the paper. This painting is a departure from my typical cool color scheme. I used only four paint colors (permanent rose, winsor blue, cadmium yellow deep, and indigo) by Winsor Newton. Watercolors on cold pressed Artistico paper by Fabriano.
My latest painting–another lesson featured in Fiona Peart’s book, “Vibrant Flowers in Watercolor.” Watercolors and acrylic ink on cold pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.
My finished painting–completed during our Memorial Day family watercolor fest. Watercolors on cold pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.