Deb Ward, GWS, OWS, PWS, WSI - WATERCOLOR/WATER MEDIA - My passion is teaching adult “beginners”. Weekly classes in my home; workshops; classes for Cincinnati Recreation Commission. My work is nationally recognized and published - see “Featured” on my sidebar. I’m a Signature Member of Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana state Watercolor Societies, Cincinnati Art Club, past-President of Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society. Contact info below under “Class Information”

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

SUNFLOWERS - AGAIN!

Once again I’ve done a sunflower, this one for a class project. It’s the same flower as before, even the colors used are the same, but the effect is quite different.

I think I like this one better than the first; I think it shows a bit more maturity in the style, and the colors aren’t so “in your face”.

The technique was exactly the same as before:
Miskit was poured
Paint was poured, yellows first, in two or three pours
The miskit was removed and more paint poured
Then the drawing was transferred to the paper and adjustments were made for the leaves and stem
I then separated the petals with a bit of Daniel Smith vermillion hue and some yellow (forget what I used!)
I then laid in some darks in the center and began to firm up the leaves and stem
Negative painting around the leaves, stem and some petals finished the painting

At least, I think it’s finished – all suggestions and critiques are welcome!

Sunflower, Fabriano Artistico 140

6 comments:

Arti said...

Beautiful...very interesting technique that you have used here, Deb.I like the negative painting around the petals.Looks really stylish!

Chris Beck said...

I love this technique -- you always get the most fascinating paintings out of it -- beautiful sunflower!!

Ginny Stiles said...

Wow...even Chris Beck liked this painting Deb! I got my Watercolor magazine today and there was Chris's "Snail Mail" painting. Wow. You are in very elite company!!! And you know what, Deb, this painting was JUST what I needed to get me started on this. I may put the architecture aside for awhile or even work on two paintings at the same time. Do you do that?

Kathy Wirth said...

Very interesting approach to a sunflower! Unusual composition, soft colors - not the usual bright sunflower yellow. It's a little on the high-key side. I tend to prefer more darks and more contrast. A matter of taste, I guess... I applaud your taking a different road with this sunflower.

debwardart said...

Thanks guys -
Chris - I do like this technique and find myself using some variation of it quite a lot.
Ginny - I work on 2 or 3 sometimes!
Kathy - of course, I fiddled with it a bit more and did add some more darks, will have to photo and post that soon and you can compare (not sure just how much difference there will be, we shall see!)

Mary Fox of Fox On The Run said...

Your paintings are amazing! I am enjoying your blog. Mary