Saturday, March 13, 2010

WORKING ON THE "DRIZZLY" CROWS

I applied miskit over the birds and some other areas and then did more drizzling and dripping of the paint.







It's making me think of marshes and Spanish moss and...still not sure where it's going but it's going..perhaps with the beach and all, it should be called Carolina Crows?


When I removed the miskit, it took a lot of the color off the birds - so I'll need to reintroduce the darks there and work on the branch and beach.




















I'm also working on a project from WatercolorWorkshop (the Yahoo group), which is a monotone (in sepia) painting of a crystal bowl. The photo is by Vicki Greene and Susan Roper did a pdf file of the demo so we all could try it.


I got started and drew a lot more than I normally do (actually, just traced over the photo so I knew I'd get it right).


Then did the first wash...





And when I went back to look at it after it dried, I couldn't see any of the lines!!! Frickin-frazzen-fuddle-ump!!!

This photo is the drawing - see how detailed I made it and I took such time and my back was killing me when I straightened up from the drawing board :( poor me - at this point I was testing colors to see if I wanted to use the sepia (far left), or burnt umber (that would work, too, but I decided it was too brown), or hematite (no way - too granulating and ugly for something so beautiful as the crystal bowl).

So now - what would you do? Start all over and make sure my lines are DARK - or try to fudge it and just do a contour drawing over this and be patient with lifting the lights (which is what this project is about)? Or maybe have some cheese with this whine??!?

15 comments:

Christiane Kingsley said...

Rhonda, I love those drizzles!
As for the drawing of the crystal bowl, I would redo it if you think that you are going to spend a lot of time and energy on the painting. Otherwise, I would be lazy and would wing it:-)

Barb Sailor said...

The same thing happened to me when I applied the first sepia wash - I had to redraw the bowl - I could see a few of my lines but most were gone including all of the shadow area where I had indicated the light areas. I know how your back has been bothering you and am sorry to hear this happened to you too.

Melanie Statnick said...

i love these colours! and the drizzle is somthing i have done with many of my paintings

debwardart said...

Frickin-frazzen-fuddle-ump!!!
Wow, now thet's sum cussin'!!! LOL
My vote - re-trace/draw the crystal to give it a good try. (If you used Saral it probably just washed away - you almost always have to lightly trace over those lines).

Marthann's Musings said...

Very nice work. It has been drizzling here in Missouri all week, so I identify with your wonderful work. I am new to blogging, so am loving all of this. I just started mine about 3 months ago. Come take a peek sometime.
Love your work.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Love the expletive such a funny word. Crow piece coming along really interesting and I like the background colour seeping into them. As for the crystal bowl, at this stage I'd just go for it directly with the paint brush filling in shapes - no lines and see what happens!!!! You can always bring it together with some contour lines at the end.

Teresa Palomar Lois said...

Ouch! I feel your pain sweetie. If the goal of the project is lifting the whites I wouldn't redo it at this point, just redraw over the paint already laid, unless it's not the paint you wanted to use of course, but if it is what's the point on redrawing repainting probably loosing some lines again in the darkest dark areas and then lifting the whites? or maybe I'm just that lazy lol, but seriously, why not play with what you already have? if it doesn't work you have time to redo it anytime! Or have some cheese...

RH Carpenter said...

Well, I went with the lazy way! ha ha I can just barely see some of the lines as I work on this, with the photo close at hand and trying to imitate the shapes. I've begun some lifting, too, but it doesn't look bright white enough to me yet...maybe I need a better scrubber brush. Thanks, Christiane, Barb (ouch - you, too? I wonder how many struggled with this part?).
Thanks for stopping by Melanie and Marthann, I will definitely check out your blogs!
Deb, you have my permission to use those cuss words - if you can remember them! And yep, it was Saral - an old used up piece :(
Thanks, Joan and Teresa - had some cheese and just jumped in. I felt yucky all day yesterday with a sinus headache and pressure (we are having rain rain rain) and I find when I feel ill, I can slow down, look carefully, and move slowly on something like this so I should always paint more complicated work when I'm sick!
Teresa, more cheese please!

Pam Johnson Brickell said...

Love your post, drizzles and whine and cheese party!! Great comments too :) Can't wait to see the next steps in both pieces!

Anonymous said...

Rhonda,

I'm enjoying your pursuit of these crows.
have you seen the work of http://www.craigkosak.com/2007.html
might be right up your wing?

Keep at it:0)!!

Sincerely
Paul

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Pam and Paul! Paul, thanks for turning me on to this artist - his raven series is awesome!!

carol king said...

Love the drizzles and the crows. As far as the bowl goes, I say wing it and see what happens!

RH Carpenter said...

Carol, I think I'm on a wing and a prayer with this bowl - will post soon :)

Nick said...

that bowl is really good, Rhonda! On the crows, it's the second one in this post that I think works the best - it's the one where you have used water the right way, and watercolor is all about the h20. The moment the color looks dry, worked, or scrubbed in, the medium isn't being used properly IMO. What you did there is what I think you should be striving for in all your work, it's great!

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Nick, I do agree with letting the watercolor be watercolor and not controlling it so much - hard to do but I'm working on it more. Wet-in-wet is something I have to strive for more and more.