Monday, December 13, 2010

PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR...

Many artists have painted boxes wrapped in ribbon, pretty boxes in various color combinations.  This time of year is a good time to do this.  It's fairly simple, so you're guaranteed a bit of success, and you can choose your colors in any combination that pleases. 


Here's one I've worked on for a few days, just a bit here and there with other things in between taking me away from it.  I began with a pale wash of raw sienna and naples yellow and then did a yellow underpainting (Hansa yellow medium or New Gamboge) in areas on the ribbon and then carried on from there. 

I was happy with the outcome, especially the dimension of the ribbon.






The finished piece is 8" x 10" on Fabriano 140# cold press watercolor paper.

I was going to have a black background, but I'll just clean up a bit of the color on the upper left edge and leave it white. 

Wonder what's inside??

16 comments:

laura said...

Gorgeous, Rhonda--the red is stunning; you really have captured the dimension and the rich feel of it.
There must be something very good inside!

Cynthia Schelzig said...

Beautiful!!

Vicki Greene said...

Rhonda, I like it! You did a beautiful job on the bow.

jgr said...

It's beautiful, and yes-perfect timing!

debwardart said...

Great job on this one!

Barb Sailor said...

I love big bows on packages - this is so festive and well painted. Great job.

Christiane Kingsley said...

What's inside? The bow is too pretty to be removed to open the box:-) Very well done!

Jeanette Jobson said...

Very pretty, love the big fat bow. I'd never make it in the wrapping department, mine look they've been through the hands of the Grinch! :)

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Laura. I was really pleased with the way the bow turned out.

Thanks, Cynnie, Vicki, Jane and Deb!

Thanks, Barb and Christiane. I like big bows, too, pretty packages even better than the presents at times.

Jeanette, you and me - mine look like a 5-year-old wraps my presents to others. I try to be pretty and creative but it doesn't come out in wrapping things.

Thanks, Prabha. Can't wait to see what comes to mind when I get these goodies in the mail.

Gillian Mowbray said...

That looks sumptuous, Rhonda - so velvety and rich. It would make a perfect Christmas card image. x

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Gillian. My husband said the same thing so I may make a few cards for family from this one.

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

You aced that bow, Rhonda! It has such depth and all of the drapes and folds are just right. Since gift bags became popular, I have gotten even worse at wrapping presents and making festive bows than I was before, and that was pretty bad! I guess a painting of one of my gift bags wouldn't make a very good painting as your gift box did, though....

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Susan :) I was pleased with it and have to remember how easy it is to work with mostly Perinone Orange = a good lifting and shaping color! I know what you mean about gift bags - I use them when I can, too.

Ricardo said...

Great job,it's beautifull

Pam Johnson Brickell said...

This is beautiful. The bow is so lifelike!

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Pam! Thanks, Ricardo (I enjoyed visiting your blog for a while today!!)