Skip to main content

Work from Everyday Watercolor - Day 4 - Abstract composition

 

Another challenging exercise. This time working on day 4 of the popular book Everyday Watercolor. This seemed to take way longer than expected by the author. It took time to pick out the 6 colours. I like the set I picked well enough but don't love them.
 
The exercise challenge is to balance warm and cool colors, stay within lines and practice painting right next to previous washes of paint. This seems to work on water control and gauging drying time.

I also got a bit of practice fixing mistakes. I had a couple of large blooms I wanted to fix and one or two drops that got outside of lines.

I was very happy with the Winsor and Newton Cotman #6 brush this time. The springy tip did a great job cleaning up tiny edges. Previously I had issues with this brush dumping little bits of water and the tip "squaring off" sort of but not this time. Maybe it was the amount of paint I was using?

Learning:

  • Choosing and using a larger palette (6+ colors)
  • Water control
  • Fixing mistakes by picking up paint 
  • Smoothing out blooms with a slightly damp brush
  • Cleaning edges with the very tip of the round brush

New to me:

  • Mixing orange with these Cotman paints
  • Using Indian Red as a neutral. Used here to tone down Cadmium yellow and Alizarin Crimson

Materials:

  • W & N Cotman watercolor
  • Strathmore 400 Cold press 140 lb.
  • Princeton Neptune #8 round
  • W & N Cotman #6 round

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Little clock drawing

  The shiny look is due to cheap sketchbook paper that can't take any moisture. I am waiting on two Canson XL sketchbooks to be delivered - That will be exciting 😀! One is a small mixed media one and the other is the watercolor one with 30 sheets. Looking forward to trying them both.
Post a Comment
Read more

Major art supplies haul

  I have been waiting for this order for over a month. It was held up in the pandemic lockdown. Finally! A basic set of Gouache Fingers crossed that this works out. I have heard mixed reviews on the brand. It is less than half the price of the major brands though. An amazing looking watercolor palette This looks like one of the best options available. I will be filling it with W&N Cotman colors. Sometimes I feel guilty about all the palettes I have purchased (6 of them now) but then I realize they are all in currently use except one. New sketchbook! And papers Looking forward to using this spiral bound sketchbook with mixed media paper. Right now I am using a bound cartridge paper book that was only $5. It isn't very good with water at all as you might guess.  Not pictured: Tracing paper. More drawing supplies India ink, ink droppers, bamboo pen, gum eraser a couple of small brushes. Not pictured: Erasing shield.  More Cotman colors I am upgrading from the Staedtler s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art book first impressions: Get up and Gouache. Also first ever gouache!

I just received this new book late last week. I was a little disappointed initially because it doesn't look like the level of the exercises builds very high? I was hoping to see some step by step breakdowns of the more exciting, storybook art pieces in the back such as "Lost". The only more complex piece with a breakdown is "Magical Mountains". However I probably just have hubris and the exercises will probably be very challenging. We will see. I jumped right in and did the first project with my Turner Design Gouache. This was my first ever try with Gouache! This exercise turned out to be a great way to test the paints because there were lots of colours to mix. Main takeaway: Wow! Gouache is such a bright and rich medium! I can't believe this colour of red! However, I realized I screwed up when purchasing my basic set. I didn't purchase a dark blue or dark green. Those are now ordered and on the way. I will update this review after...
Post a Comment
Read more