Stage 1 Watercolor Study (gift)

Watercolor

10x14

NFS

Note that this was painted on a 300 pound Saunders WC, my first time using it.I don't care for the resulting texture, very evident in this painting and the photo. It might be that the technique of wetting the paper on both sides caused the texture effect so will have to test this further. But I will have to try this again with my usual Arches 300 pound paper. Wet-on-wet with special attention to letting the paint 'paint itself' with few brushstrokes. Trying to keep the painting fresh. Now details need to be added - or other layers. Be sure to leave white paper in a nice pattern both in the sky and in the water. Using a mix of cobalt blue and ivory black to create a payne's gray that can vary between blue and gray. Step 1. Soak the paper in water to slow down the drying time, an issue in the southwest. Step 2. Brush on water with a wide flat 'sky brush'. 3. after a few moments, when the paper is still damp, brush on streaks of a pale, watery mixture of cobalt blue and ivory black for the sky . 4. paint the hills in the middle part with one or two strokes of a slightly grayer version of the mix. Let the paper dry a little first but do this before the paper completely dries so that the top merges into the sky slightly but . 5. Wet the rest of the paper again using the wide sky brush, again leaving some gaps for the pure white paper.. 6. Then paint brushstrokes (large mop) of a bluer version of the paint mix to indicate water. I did use a kleenex to wipe down a few streaks in the blue water for light reflections, before the paper was dry. (gift to family)