After days of waking up with the project in my head, and knowing that I have to finish other things first, I am blessed with a precious morning to put brush to paper!! Looked at a piece of Fabriano paper I've hoarded for years and never tried, but discarded the idea knowing that I'll be sorry if I go THAT far away from my comfort zone. I have already decided that somehow I need to go from dark to light, which is totally against my normal approach. It means doing a dark background in watercolor so I can take advantage of the beautiful wash I want, and then go over that with either gouache or acrylic paint to get my fishies to "pop".
No telling what comes next, I will depend on my preliminary sketch and pray a lot. It may be a collage, this is fun, but I'm in way over my head already!
Spending Superbowl Sunday with the game going on in 2 rooms, words not sync, so it's just noise in my studio. Which is fine since I'm painting anyway. Did some research into the work of Billy Aronson and Maurice Sendak, 2 of my favorites, and had a talk with Brad Hicks. Now I may be on the way to something not so bad. I've learned a whole lot about what I can get away with on a piece of Arches cold pressed 300.
LOL - it’s in the ugly phase? Mine too I think!!! good thing we have some time left!!! 👍
I'm probably about halfway through my piece, having finally found a way to put bright colors onto a dark watercolor wash. However, now I'm looking at it and wondering if it's cute, pretty or just plain awful.....
It's good we have a lot of time. I've got my "beautiful wash" on paper and am now experimenting with how to put lively, bright colors on top of it. Not easy, it turns out. Have tried acrylic paint, casein, house paint, and even nail polish. I think pastels would give me the color, but not the "comic book" edge I'm looking for. This is indeed an adventure!
love everyone embracing the process - and sharing their struggles! I’m right there with you!! 👍
I'm with you, Margaret. . . . feeling in order my head! Lots of ideas, but can I get them on paper ? ?