I am inspired by trees lately. It makes sense since it’s Fall. For this piece I started out painting with watercolor. It was just the idea of a tree. Then I added the ink. My tree looked a little too squat, so I made the branches longer. Then, I went back in and added more color and the splatters. I like working square. I think it adds something.
Am I channeling Spring? I don’t think so. So far the Fall weather has been perfect! But these blobs just looked like tulips, so that’s what I made them. Hope everyone had a good weekend. 🙂
Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I love those sunny, crisp, blue sky days. Unfortunately they lead to damp, grey, cold days! Today is the perfect Fall day. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts! 🙂
This painting was part of my painting party. I worked very wet, letting the colors bleed together, only hinting at each leaf. I added several layers of paint. After I was done, I added some details with ink.
Today I set up the table like I was having a painting party – although it was all for me! I set up 4 different seats. I grabbed a couple of different leaves from the yard and some apples. I sat at 3 of the seats, working from a different subject each time. I went back and added paint to the fall leaves painting (left) and the red leaf painting (middle). I’m excited to add ink to the fall leaves painting!
I decided to work this way because:
Last week I had a lot of success with my sunflower project, where I started the painting several times. Ironically, I thought the success was what I turned the outtakes into. Not the final sunflower painting! So, I wanted to start a couple of projects and see what I could do with them.
My personal painting party:
The other day, when I was painting sunflowers, I started several versions before selecting one to work on in more detail. Today I decided to see what I could do with two of these “outtakes.” I used an ink pen and started scribbling away.
The first outtake immediately reminded me of a feather (when the sunflower’s center flowed all over the paper). So I added ink and made it a feather.
Outtake #1:
The second outtake, looked like a bunch of sunflowers, so I added ink to make it look more finished. Lately I’ve been having fun playing with ink. In the past I shied away – thinking the outline had to be precise and perfect. Now I’m just scratching away, the way I would with a pencil. Is my style coming out?!
Outtake #2:
I wasn’t sure how to start my painting – detailed or loose? I tried different ways and moved forward with the more detailed one. [See the final painting here.] I took this photo at a farmers’ market.
Each time I added paint, I added more details to tighten it up. I wanted the center flower to be the focal point and the rest to blur away.
I decided to mount today’s practice watercolor and ink onto pretty paper. I was inspired by artwork in the background of the Pottery Barn catalog. I think it looks cute. 🙂
Lately I’ve been warming up by painting vegetables. I’m playing around with adding loose ink lines, like I did with the swim goggles. I had a fruit phase, now it’s veggies, probably because I need to eat more of them! I wish I could say I painted from actual vegetables, but I used photos I googled for reference. I’ve been working alphabetically, so next I’ll try cucumbers. Those I have on hand! I’m not committing to the whole alphabet, but it’s something to paint when I sit down and don’t know what to start with.
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