Friday, July 20, 2007

Friday, July 20, 2007 - Poinciana Test Swatches and Initial Sketch



Seems like whenever I do oranges, I glaze to get them - so doing a few test swatches to make sure I'm using the colors I want. When glazing, you have to let the first layer dry bone dry before putting the second color over the first - so it will take some time.
Where you see a "+" sign, that means I'll be glazing another color on top of that one to get the color I want for this. Naples Yellow is the only opaque color and I should glaze that over something else to get that whitish yellow color in the photo.

I also decided to flip the photo so the buds are moving towards the upper right corner. I don't know why, but for some reason I like paintings and photos that have the movement from lower left to upper right - it just seems more uplifting to me.

Wating for glazes to dry teaches me patience and makes me think more about the painting as I wait - which is why I don't like to use a hairdryer to speed up the process.
Stay tuned for the start of the painting tomorrow.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh. Much improved sketch. I like it. Happy painting tomorrow. I'll be joining you but across the river, so see you Tuesday with a finished painting!?!
Sandy

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

Rhonda,

Isn't it interesting that you flipped the photo so the buds are going from lower left up toward the right? I usually orient things from the lower right to upper left, I wonder why that is preferable one way or another to us? Also, when working without a reference photo, I almost always will choose my light source coming from upper right going toward the lower left corner diagonally. Strange!

This is going to be a good one and I love that color in the photo so I will look forward to your glazing process to achieve it.

Susan

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Sandy - so you painted in Ohio Saturday?
Susan, yes, I always want the diagonal to go from lower left to upper right - haven't gotten much done on the painting, though.