Season Change (30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge: Day 6)

Season Change, Watercolor on Arches140# Rough Paper, 5"h x 7"w, 2013 #8

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In this deceptively simple-looking subject I rediscovered the joy of sculpting into wet watercolor paints with a damp brush and pull out the bursting white seed pod shape out of the background, and painting negatively around a light shape. Simple as it looks, it actually took me several trials to land in one that I am relatively happy with. The difficulty lies in leaving enough room in between each brush stroke so that when the wet paint travel and expand on paper, there are still enough white paper left to suggest the seed pods of the bulrush plants. Of course, you can always carve out the lights when the paper is drying, but to achieve the really beautiful diffused edge that suggest the fluffiness of the pods, it is best to leave the soft edge created by the initial movement of fluid paint on very wet paper -- which, of course, is hard to control as wet paint has a mind of their own...

This is one of the trial runs that's on Jack Richeson Stephen Quiller #140 rough paper -- I found the texture effects of granulating paints are not as evident on this paper compared to Arches, and removal of even non-staining paints are somewhat more difficult. (I will report back after more experiments...) However, I did like the interesting shapes on the bulrush seed head formed by uneven drying of paints -- getting this kind of "happy accidents" are one of the major draws of watercolor...

Season Change (Version 2), 

Watercolor on Richeson Stephen Quiller140# Rough Paper, 5"h x 7"w, 2013 #9

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