GRAPHITE/WATERCOLOR MIX IN A JAPANESE PALETTE

 Ordered a set of the Derwent graphitint watercolors with graphite - and it took forever - and I kept getting notices that the order was delayed.  So I finally cancelled that order (from Dick Blick) and found this Japanese set on Amazon for half the price.  

Since I am working in monotone, I thought these would also work well to add a little muted color in the future to studies.  Lovely muted colors and you get 6 different colors in the palette.  

As you can see, you get reddish black, purplish black, brownish black, bluish black, greenish black and yellowish black in the set.  

They come in small cakes and you just wet them and go!

LITTLE MONOTONE SKY STUDIES

 

Another small one from the Turner’s Apprentice book demos.

I’ve been doing these on Hahnemuhle 140# cold press paper and think I’ll switch up the paper and see how I like them on something different - but I do like the Hahnemuhle paper and will order more.

A FEW MORE LITTLE SKY PAINTINGS

 

More colorful.

And back to monotone to get the shapes - layering until the darkest darks are there.  

SKIES

 

Just a couple of small cloud studies copied from the Turner’s Apprentice book - good demos working with a single color and getting the brush strokes right.

These are on a pad of Hahnemuhle 140# cold press watercolor paper I bought to try out.  I separated each sheet into 4 smaller sections for painting the sky studies on.  

I like the Hahnemuhle cold press paper but would buy a block next, not a loose pad.  

TURNER’S APPRENTICE

 

Slowly working my way through this book.  Some cloudscapes, skies and impressionistic landscapes to come...

March and April should be good months to look to the skies.

MORNING MIST

 A misty morning in the field.

SPRING + EASTER BUNNIES

 

Just a couple of little cards with a little bunnies on them for spring.

WHEN IN DOUBT, SPRAY IT OUT

 

I painted the background in a solid Shadow Violet from Daniel Smith.  Didn’t like it.  So I sprayed a bit of the background off with a strong spray bottle and water.  I then added a bit of green for a softer look, otherwise the pale flowers didn’t look good.  

BIG BLUE AGAIN

 Another version - lots of water and messing around in the background before painting the bird in a really wet way.

BIG BLUE

 

Great blue heron on fourth sheet Arches 140# cold press paper.  

A LITTLE CRITTER ON A LITTLE FLOWER

 A little painting of a little crab spider on the back of a little flower.  Sweetie critiqued this one (it’s from one of his photos) by saying, “You forgot his eyes and there are 8 of them”. This is why I don’t paint portraits - I really love anything from nature (most people wouldn’t want to paint this subject).

STORMY STORMY SKIES

 

 

Evening skies somewhere - not sure where the photo was taken.  Not as pretty as I wished but you can practice skies forever and still not get them the way you want - either too blue or too yellow or too red or too purple!! ha ha. Saw the Weather Channel the other day and the weather-man was talking about the stormy purple skies over Nashville, TN.  Pretty.  

SMALL PAINTINGS - MISSING FLOWERS BLOOMING

Just a couple of small ones to keep the brushes wet.

On small scraps of paper.