Monday, February 9, 2009

Muted Colors - Drybrush


A monthly project painting at WatercolorWorkshop is to paint a la Andrew Wyeth in just a sepia or a monotone. I had the perfect photo for this - taken at Shaker Village in Kentucky. Simple, interesting, and lots of textures.
And just to torture myself, I decided to try it all in drybrush. We'll see how long I can carry that on! ha ha
Started with a simple sketch...


and then slowly, slowly adding pigment. It's not really a monotone but very muted color that I think will work for the project challenge, too. What do you think? Have I bitten off more than I can chew?









8 comments:

Suzanne McDermott said...

Neat exercise! I think it's looking good! As for whether you've bitten off more than you can chew.... You'll have to tell us!

Angela said...

You've bitten off more than I could chew - but you seem to be doing just fine with it!

What a great reference photo and interesting approach to painting it.

I'm looking forward to seeing this completed!

(the remainders of that awful ice storm you all just had is finally making it's way up here - yuck! And you all had it so much worse - I can't even imagine!)

Vicki Greene said...

I think you may suprise yourself. It is looking great so far.

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

Yes, you can do this and no...you have not bitten off more than you can chew! Just keep on keepin' on with this and it will paint itself, I promise! Keep modeling that wall texture with some of the sepia and it will all come together the way it is supposed to be.

Myrna Wacknov said...

Great textures! Do you know how to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Keep chewing!

debwardart said...

You are off to a good start!
Now I gotta go blog something quick before you take me off your list!

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Your photo has a lovely gentle quiet feel and you've already started to bring it to life. How difficult is it to keep the brush dry and cover such large areas?? I'd love to see how you would create the monochrome exercise with this greatly contrasting tonal subject. Maybe you might think of doing both???

RH Carpenter said...

Yes, I liked the photo a lot - simple, like Shaker Village things. Thanks so much for all the comments on this one - I'll work on it more tomorrow.
Myrna, you are so funny!!! One bite at a time...
Deb - I only start worrying if you haven't blogged in over a month, then I start asking people about you - only if I still don't hear from you, you may be dropped - but that would have to be after 2 months or so...:)