Happy Monday everyone! As I've mentioned before, I love sketching quickly and freely with a contour line using a fine tip Sharpie (or other waterproof black felt tip pen) on watercolor paper (cold or hot press, I think, works best). Then adding bold washes using a limited palette such as Winsor Blue (Thalo), Permanent Rose, and Lemon Yellow. Here's a more detailed view:
You can find some relatively affordable seasonal bouquets that a really quite nice nowadays at your local grocery store. I was drawn to the purple/red/oranges of the lilies, daisies, and carnations (as well as their varied shapes and sizes) balanced with dark warm greens of the leaves and cooler blue green eucalyptus. Plus, I find it really uplifting to paint bright, colorful flowers on some of these gloomier autumn days.
To add more pattern to the painting, I chose my clear Lismore pattern Waterford vase which has a big chip in the rim. Which brings me to why I don't paint more florals. Because my handsome gray tabby Dashiell boldly attacks any type of botanical matter. It's really only his bad habit. Since he's an otherwise excellent studio muse, I find I have to paint fresh flowers very quickly. Otherwise, it only seems to take an instant before all the flowers are shredded and the vase is rolling away on the floor...Anyway, I still enjoyed working on a watercolor that has so many colors and shape varieties.
It's a cool, dreary Monday here so before I get back to painting, I also need to start my big pot of Alton Brown's lentil soup--if you like lentil soup I highly recommend it. As always, if you have any painting questions, would like a quick online critique, or want info about my classes, please email me. Enjoy the rest of your week! P.S. Mom if you're reading this, I'm saving this one for you! :)
