FIve Mintues

That’s all the time I had this morning.

The rest of this week will be one for working fast. I think I’ll try to use less water the next time.

Backgrounds

While there's nothing exciting with these backgrounds, I did one where I started with the background.

I did one where I ended with the background. I like the brighter, clearer colors of this one. Plus, the reds are sharper both on purpose and from working with another color. You can get nice reds by mixing Pyrrole Orange and Quinacridone Magenta.

A Pair of Red Pears

It’s still watercolor pears and will be through the upcoming holiday.

They look so different from the time they are mostly dry to really dry. I keep getting surprised by that and, frequently, add more paint. Sometimes I like it better afterwards.  Sometimes, I don’t. It’s a different situation than the one in my last post.

Since I’ve been doing so many pears, I haven’t been posting all of them, but I’m also trying not to cherry pick (or pear pick) the best ones. I want to show the good, the bad, and the so-so on this blog.

Stop, Stop, Stop, Just Stop!

Sometimes, or a lot of the time, I need someone to say "stop, stop, stop, just stop".

This morning I worked on both a quick painting and a household task. In alternating between the two, I was able to let the painting partly dry, so I wasn't working in too wet of an environment. I worked quick, sweet, and simple with a background where I removed paint and added back layers, so I had 3 distinct values. 

All was well, until................I decided that I needed to make one change. This caused something I didn't like, which led to another change, and another, and another. It end up okay, but I think it was better before I fell down this rabbit hole.

Take Away, Put Back

I did a background, mostly let it dry, took away a vague pear shape, and rewetted the background (to try to fix something). Since everything was still wet at this point, I added color to the pear to see what would happen.

Playing around with watercolor this way makes me feel a little like a kid playing with fingerprints.  Although, I would also say that working with watercolor is an experiential reminder that we have less control than we think we do in watercolor, in life, in everything.

Emerging From The Shadows

I think I've tapped into something with these backgrounds and mostly removing, rather than adding. It's like something previously hidden is stepping out into the light.

Gentle, Gentle

I am not known for being gentle, gentle. This phrase comes from an annual occurrence at Christmas time. No matter how carefully the lights for the tree are packed up in the prior year, they are always a tangled mess when it’s time to put them on this year’s tree. Inevitably when I am trying to untangle them, my spouse will give me that kind, but cautionary, look and say “gentle, gentle”. It makes me smile at the time and throughout the year when it pops into my thoughts when I realize that a situation needs a little gentle, gentle. By the way, he usually gets to be the one to finish untangling the lights.

I am continuing the new watercolor background experiments. I played with a second sheet that I set up like the first one, but the background color was harsh. It got in my way and I don’t like what I did with it or how it turned out.

This one was done in the hand bound book I made from Roz’s online class. I stared with a light outline of a pear in pencil. It’s not a watercolor paper, so I couldn’t lift any color in the dried background. While the color changed in the area where I rewetted, none of the color came up. For a change, I stayed gentle, gentle with adding color, didn’t overwork, and let the water do its thing. I liked the finished product in person much better than the picture.  I like the outline. It’s a combo of the pencil lines and how the watercolor settled. The fact the pear is floating is making me a little crazy, but I think it’s better to leave it, as is.