Fire Bird, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 5"h x 7"w, 2013 #35
Bid at My DPW Auction (Starting Bid $50)
After taking the good advice I got on facebook regarding this one, I gathered my courage and put in a near black mixture of French Ultramarine and Hematite to darken the background value, and put in the shadow shapes on the leaf behind the flower in approximately the same value. Now the yellow of the flower is really popping out! Thank you all who gave the much needed feedback, my artists friends!....
Jungle Fire, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 8"h x 10"w, WIP 7
After a couple more glazes I have now taken the masking fluid off this one -- as usual the resulted white shapes appear to be quite harsh. Now for the finishing touches the challenge is to tone down and refine the edge of these masked shapes using thin glazes which does not disturb the thick, saturated pigments which are already on the paper... I started with the petal on the right most side, using squirrel quill brush to gently lay in a warm yellow glaze on the right side of the petal, then changing to a No. 2 Kolinsky Sable brush to put in all the thin red lines suggesting the reflective pattern on this very shiny petal with a very stiff mixture of pigments. The previous washes for most part stayed unmoved -- which is great. Now I just need to repeat it for the left side petals... Fingers crossed!
You can purchase my 2013 wall and desk calendars here:
Love the finished Fire Bird, wish I could paint this small it definitely takes some skill
ReplyDeleteBoth look wonderful on my monitor!
ReplyDeleteThat's spectacular Arena, love your work. Lots of color.
ReplyDelete~Randall