One of the greatest struggles of watercolor is the balance between modelling the color and value of your subject accurately, and maintain that precious freshness that is best obtained by go over the same area with as few passages as possible. I have living this grand struggle through every single second of this painting, which has since formed a very intense love-hate relationship with me. In one passage the colors seem to glow with exuberance, and with the next wetting it inevitably lifts, leaving a mess, reminding me of the ruthlessness of Fabriano paper. On the other hand, when I tried to do all the modelling, all the color and value variations in one go, it seldom ends up with any level of satisfaction -- wet colors have a will of their own, they move and blend in wonderful, mysterious ways, however, very rarely resembling anything that looks remotely like the objects I am trying to portray in the end. This is further complicated by the fact that the soft surface of Fabriano paper does not contain much sizing, and therefore absorbs water much quicker than harder surfaces paper such as Arches -- which means you have even less time to try to move and manipulate color wet-in-wet. Well, for all these frustrations, erasing everything and start over is not too hard on this paper -- almost everything lifts right back to white with a soft synthetic brush (not the abusive bristle brush that actually bruise the paper surface!). But then again, a three-times erased passage is almost certainly bound to be a tired passage with not a great amount of energy and freshness to it. I am agonizing over the challenges, not willing to give up just yet -- like any hopelessly foolish lover, barely hanging on to the hope of that glorious ending...
Petal Light III,
Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico140# Cold Press Press Paper , 10"h x 14"w, WIP 4
Hello Arena!THE PAPER ... this problem is really great,for me !
ReplyDeleteI have not found the paper that I like! Each sheet-paper-brand gives something, each paper-sheet-brand, takes something away! Fabriano paper is not as strong as Arches ...
and every time I buy everything seems changed to make things harder! Working putting the colors closer to get the result immediately when it happens ... if happens ... and when it does not happen ... the great struggle begins again!
Hi Rita, I totally get what you say! It seems that every paper I buy has that one trait that I really love and makes me come back and try it again and again, despite of all the previous miserable failures. However, they also all have some terrible properties of their own which makes it a struggle when I want to obtain a particular effects that can be easily achieved on some other paper! Ah! If only I can find a paper that is tough, slow to dry, lifts easily, glaze easily without lifting (you have your dilemma right there!), maintains color intensity, and allowing pigments to granulate beautifully on it, as well as in the same time allowing a fine level of details to be achieved (another dilemma)! Ah....
DeleteArena . . . I think this looks fantastic. I can't tell you've struggled at all!! :) Amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt's blood, sweat and tears every step of the way... At times I have the urge to get a plane ticket and fly up to your place and watch how you deal with this paper... (I know you use the soft press while I use the cold press, but in my understanding the soft press should lift even more easily, which makes it even harder to glaze on... Really, what is your secret, Kara?... )@&#( *$&()Y(#*___*...)
DeleteThe painting is superb, Arena. And watercolor really is quite a love/hate relationship. I took a close look at your painting today, and was amazed and impressed by the detail of you sketch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Kathryn. I almost always put in too much details which makes drawing and painting an image takes forever... But, I think I have OCD and omitting the details deliberately drives me crazy!... I think when I start to paint larger I would have to learn how not to put in every blade of grass in the preliminary drawing and let the brush do some of the suggestive work...
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