Work in Progress: Plumeria II (Three Versions)

I've been working on some drawings for new paintings today, and looking through photos for some new painting ideas, but I still managed to work on the second plumeria paintings for a little bit more. Since I am not sure about which technique and surface would work best for it, I decided to develop three version of it on different supports: Fabriano Artistico #140 Cold Press paper, Arches #140 Cold Press paper, and Ampersand Aquaboard.

The first one is painted on the Fabriano Artistico #140 Cold Press paper, which I have just started to experiment with recently, and did the last plumeria painting on. It has a soft, delicate surface, great for lifting, not so easy for glazing. For this painting, I have underpainted the shadow areas with Winsor Violet (in areas which will be overpainted with yellow) and Cobalt Blue ( in areas which will be overpainted with pink and magenta), then with some triad grey to further darken parts that needs to be darkened. I am done with the underpainting, now trying to glaze over them with the local colors of each pedal.

Plumeria II,  Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, WIP 6

The second version is painted on Arches #140 Cold Press paper. Arches are famous for being touch and can really withstand an abuse, but unless you use transparent non-staining colors, lifting is really difficult on it. I decide to glaze from light to dark on this one, starting from the local colors -- all the pink hues near the edge of the pedals in this case. I will build up the glazes using Permanent Rose and Cobalt Blue to develop the shadow areas, then glaze various yellow-orange hues near the center to complete the flower in the end. So far, I've been happy with this version -- it's also my most familiar surface to work on, and the method I've most comfortable working with. So my goal here is to use less layer of glazes and try to nail both the color and value in as few layers as possible to retain the freshness.

Plumeria II (Version 2),  Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, WIP 1

The last version is painted on Ampersand Aquaboard, a surface I am completely unfamiliar with. I've taken a two-hour workshop with artist Karen Vernon, who has painted exclusively on this surface for years, and have done some really beautiful work with it, so I thought I'd give it a try. The workshop was several years ago when I just started painting in watercolor, so I did not remember many things from it, except that you should wet the whole surface at least once thoroughly before start painting to release some air bubbles from the surface. It seems to dry really fast, but actually the surface stays cold and damp for much longer than ordinary #140 paper. However, when the sheen leaves surface after applying clear water (which is really fast!), the applied strokes of color stays pretty much where you put them, with the exception of some irregular, creeping edges developing, so doing soft, wet-into-wet painting are almost impossible  -- unless I am not doing it the right way. I did manage to get some soft passages by first wetting a local area, then add a stroke of color quickly, followed immediately by a stroke of clear water at the edge you want to lose. The timing is so critical it's almost acrobatic. But I like the how brilliant color stays on this surface after drying -- it does not sink in at all! And you can do some spectacular granulating effects on it due to the surface texture -- I really liked the purple passage in the background formed by dropping Cobalt Violet on shining wet surface! Also, you can glaze on it without lifting the underneath colors if you use a soft brush and apply the strokes lightly, and you can use a stiff brush to lift any painted area to a very light, off-white tint. 

I did the background on this painting first to get familiar with the handling quality of paints on the unfamiliar surface, then moved onto the flower using glazing. Since the surface does not stay wet for very long for soft color transition effect to develop in each area, I had to wet a small section each time, paint one or two strokes of color, and then move to the next area and wait for the painted ones to dry -- which actually takes quite some time, since the surfaces stays cold and damp for much longer than ordinary #140 paper, so it is going to be a very length process to complete this little painting... (I'm trying not to rush it and take it as a learning experience...)

Plumeria II (Version 3),  Watercolor on Ampersand Aquaboard, 5"h x 7"w, WIP 1

Blushing Plumeria (Finished!)

After quite some struggle I was able to finish the Blushing Plumeria painting today. Overall, I'm not unhappy about how it turned out. I managed to unify the color scheme on the pedals a bit, putting some really warm hues (New Gamboge, Winsor Orange, Quinacridone Gold and Quinacridone Burnt Sienna) near the flower center to draw attentions there, and using some Cadmium Red / Permanent Rose mix to glaze over the edges of pedals to make the pinkish tones more vivid.

Blushing Plumeria,  

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2012 #3

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I've learned quite a bit about Fabriano paper by doing this painting -- I've really pushed the paper to its limits by repeatedly glazing on certain areas, and lifting color off other areas. At a certain point, the surface sizing of the paper would be gone, and the paper just does not hold moisture very long on its surface any more. After that, painting on these areas would become tremendously difficult. And that happens after you have wet the same area with either paint or water for about 6-7 times. It's an interesting point to keep in mind next time I use the same type of paper. But I love its handling quality, the fantastic granulation effect on it, and the fact that I was able to lift almost any color back to white. It is very different from Arches which I usually use, but I'd definitely like to try it some more. But next time, I will plan the glazing steps a little more carefully to avoid unnecessary wetting of any areas. In other words, each time I wet the paper, I better get as many paint passages going into it as the drying time allows! This is both exciting and a bit scary...

Work in Progress: Two Plumeria Paintings, Continued

I painted the upper right pedal of the first plumeria flower -- it looked very dark compared to the reference photo, but I have decided not to let it bother me. However, I am not so happy with how chalky and muddy the blue in the shadow looks, and the yellow near flower center also lacks brilliance. So I paused to set it aside and think about whether I want to continue in the same direction for the rest of the pedals, or completely lift this pedal out to repaint it. I did like all the lifted whites on this pedal and kind of want to keep it...

Blushing Plumeria,  

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 6"h x 6"w, WIP 4

For the second plumeria, I tried to wet the shadow shapes on each pedal, and mingle colors in one go to finish it, adding New Gamboge, Winsor Orange, Quinacridone Gold and Quinacridone Burnt Sienna near the flower center, dropping in the triad grey in the shadow part, and finally using Permanent Rose and Quinacridone Magenta near the pedal's edge. However, in the process, somehow I have lost the identity of each color, and everything seemed to have mixed together on the paper to make mud... I really did not like how it looks after painting the second shadow area, and decided that I shouldn't try to rush things this way.

Plumeria II,  Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, WIP 2

Luckily, Fabriano paper is really great for lifting. So, off they goes -- with a Robert Simmons Sapphire Round brush (synthetic fibers, softer than bristle and does not harm the softer papers such as Fabriano or Lanaquarelle, but still very effective in lifting colors off the paper), I "magically" erased the two dirty-looking shadow areas:

Plumeria II,  Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, WIP 3

I repainted each of the shadow areas in two passes -- one with Winsor Violet and Cobalt blue, setting the tone; the other with the triad grey, getting the details of the shadow shapes:

Plumeria II,  Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, WIP 4

Finally, I started the over painting of the local colors of each pedal -- Permanent Rose and Quinacridone Magenta for the outer edges, New Gamboge, Winsor Orange and Quinacridone Gold / Burnt Sienna near the center to add brilliance and depth. This time taking it slow, wetting each section first, adding colors only when the paper surface is still wet enough to avoid the chalky look, and put down my brush firmly when it starts to dry -- after all I can always rewet an area after it has thoroughly dried, and float in more colors...

Plumeria II,  Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, WIP 5

This is how far I've got today, and I'm relatively happy with how it looks at this stage. I'll cross my fingers to hope I don't mess it up in more layers of paints. I have also drawn this image again on an Arches #140 Cold Press paper so that I try a different method of painting -- more glazing, less lifting and trying to put down the local colors first, then adding the shadow colors to see if it gives a different look. I love these little experiments and exercises. Only if I would not get so mad when they do not turn out right!...

Work in Progress: Two Plumeria Paintings

Here's what I got so far on the Plumeria painting...

Blushing Plumeria,  

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 6"h x 6"w, WIP 3

I've done another layer of Cobalt Blue and Winsor Violet underpainting on all the shadow areas of the flower, and they look a bit too saturated to me, so I might adjust that by glazing over them a light layer of triad grey mix (Permanent Rose, Aurelion Yellow and Cobalt Blue) to dull down the color a bit. Compared to my reference photos, these shadow areas are already looking too dark, which might create some problems later, since the flower has to read as off-white, which should not have shadows of >6-7 values (in a 1-10 scale with 1 as the lightest, and 10 as the darkest). But I am not too thrilled at the overall washed-out look of the flower in the reference photo, and this might just give me an opportunity to spice things up a bit. The problem at this stage is that pink, blue and purple area right now are almost equal in value, saturation and surface area on the flower, which does not emphasize any area as the focal point. I know the center of the flower would be golden-yellow, and the edge should reads a little magenta-rosy. How I could accomplish that needs careful consideration. So I'm putting this one aside for a little bit to give it some thought -- sleep over it, as one may say. 

Plumeria II,  Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, WIP 1

This is another plumeria painting I'm starting today. I think they are good little projects to practice different color schemes and get familiar with the handling quality of different paper. So far I've learned that Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press is a wonderful paper for lifting and corrections -- you can life any color almost back to white! However, this creates some problem for glazing over an area, and the surface is somewhat quick to saturate and congest with pigments, creating a chalky, granulating look. Therefore, I am trying to not glaze over another for too many times (I will reserve that for paintings done on the good old Arches ;-), and painting the purple-blue underpainting and the triad grey layer in one go. This requires doing more paint maneuvering in one wet session of the paper, let's see how it goes... Well, more practice definitely helps!

I am hoping to finish the first plumeria painting tomorrow, and if needed, I will paint it again incorporating everything I've learned painting it the first time -- thinking this way gives me more courage to experiment and not to treat what's already on the paper too preciously. I'd cross my fingers and pray...

Morning Glory and Work in Progress: Plumeria

I finished this small painting of morning glory today. Since there are a lot of contrast between the dark background and the back-lid flower, the photo is not ideal -- it does not show all the subtle color differences in the dark background, from cooler greens and blues to warmer red-purples. Also, the very light lavender and violet hues in the flower are almost washed out. If only the camera could work better!...

Morning Glory, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper, 5"h x 5"w, 2012#2

Sold!

Since I do not like the very hard edge created by masking fluid, I painted this picture without using masking. All the painting around has proven to be challenging, but dividing the whole image into sections and finish each section wet-in-wet in one go helps. I am especially happy about how the leaves turned out. 

I also had time developing the plumeria painting a little bit more -- finishing the leaves and backgrounds surrounding the flower. I find putting in some darker values helps gauging how dark the shadow on the light pedals should go. On a blank sheet of paper, they almost always look too dark to me! I guess I have a long way to go in eyeballing values accurately...

Blushing Plumeria,  

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper , 6"h x 6"w, WIP 2

At this point the flower looks way too pale. I will glaze over the shadow areas on the pedal with a grey mixture of Permanent Rose, Aureulian Yellow and Cobalt Blue to give it a bit more depth, then do the yellow flower center. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Fresh Start!

OK, it is almost the last minute of the first day of the new year. In my first attempt of no longer procrastinating, I will take this scary step and finally create a blog for my artistic journey AGAIN.

As a first post I should perhaps list my new year's resolutions, plans and goals, etc. But... Well, baby steps first, since my first attempt of creating a daily painting blog failed miserably years ago. For now, I just want to make a promise to myself -- I will try to finish two paintings every week in average, posting them every Wednesday and Saturday of a week, and list them on my Daily Paintworks gallery page for sale. But the most important part of the promise is -- I will try to post everyday here the progress in my studio, even if it is slow as snail's race. I will share the works in progress of my smaller work for online sale, as well as the "grander" attempts of larger pieces for entering juried shows. I will also post the studies I do as a means of self-improvement, including master-copies of past and present artist's work I greatly admire (of course, with acknowledgement to the original authors), and drawing exercises, sketch group works and work done in classes/workshops under the guidance of a master artist. 

So, the first piece I will share here is one that I have created in 2011, which will be in the 2012 Richeson 75 Small Works show. 

High Summer Dream, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 14"w, 2012 #1

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