Morning Commute #Arches #Watercolor #DanielSmith

So I've switched to a 9 x 12 inch Arches wirebound watercolor pad. The main differences I see from the Strathmore Aquarius II is that I can lift more color and the paper buckles more, even though this is 140 lb versus the 80 lb Aquarius II.  And the colors are different in intensity.

I got fancy for this painting.  Fancy for me, at least.


I  even did a pre-drawing to make sure I wouldn't have trouble with all those legs, and to figure out my values.  That is almost unheard for me!

Liquid frisket was used to mask the shape of the sheep (ooh. A bit of a tongue twister, that). Then I laid down a very light wash of Cerulean Blue Chromium for the sky and Raw Sienna for the lower half. Before it could dry, I put down some plastic wrap and scrunched it up real good.

With a small brush, I made some three runny washes of Quinacridone Rose, Pyrrol Scarlet and French Ultramarine Blue, and let the paint run underneath some of the bunched up places in the plastic wrap.

The next day, I removed the plastic wrap. I didn't get quite as much texture as I hoped, but afterwards, I was glad -- I think I got just enough.  I glazed over the whole painting with more light washes of the Cerulean and Raw Sienna, keeping the washes very pale because I wanted the texture to show through.  If I'd been thinking I would have taken a photo before applying the glazes.  Next time!

Then it was a matter of filling in details and building up the values.  I used the same colors with the addition of Quinacridone Burnt Orange and a dash of Phthalocyanine Green.  My darkest values were a mix of the French Ultramarine Blue and Quin Burnt Orange.

Colors used:
Winsor & Newton Raw Sienna
Qor Cerulean Blue Chromium
M. Graham Phthalocyanine Green
Daniel Smith - French Ultramarine Blue, Quinacridone Rose, Pyrrol Scarlet, Quinacridone Burnt Orange,

I found my reference photo at the Morguefile free photos archive.

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