Sock in the Darks!!!

There are days in our painting lives when we either find inspiration from nature or get inspired by things we have seen which attracted the eye, either with light, colour or texture. Last night whilst going through some paintings by wonderful artists I read how one artist had used a spray bottle to wet the paper over the pigment which was applied to the paper quite thickly. She let the water disperse over the paper and waited till it was dry before adding the detail to her painting. Seeing that I was in a floral mood, I decided to have a bit of fun last night and explore this technique as well as bubble wrap.

The flowers below are from my imagination - could be a Lupin, Larkspur or Lilac, anyone's guess!

After adding pigment straight from the tube onto a shaped piece of bubble wrap, I pressed it onto the paper in different areas of my page. Then taking the plastic off the paper I sprayed quite intensely with my spray bottle, keeping the paper at an angle so the pigment and water could run off down the page. Not all the pigment bleeds away which leaves intense colour in parts where the flowers are (or shadows). Going back in with more bubble wrap to intensify the darker side of the flower and leaving wonderful deep colours of pigment. I washed in the background colours after the paper was dry as well as adding some foliage at the bottom.

I'm not too sure if this is finished though! I'd like to add in a few highlights where I lost some of the light on the tips of the flowers. I quite like the effect and the way the purple flowers glow.

How fascinating it is when you have a vision and are able to put it on paper. You also discover along the way that with a bit of imagination, you could experiment with other things to create textures and shapes.
I love this medium so much.....Watercolour, with all its subtle colour and value gradations and its many welcome surprises, is the perfect medium for capturing mood.

-on watercolour
The only virtue to it, is to put down an idea about what you feel at the moment. (Andrew Wyeth)

....until next time!