Intertwined - a new watercolor

Okay, a new painting..."Intertwined". This piece will be showing at the Art and Antique Studio and Gallery for the months of September and October.
The masking on this painting was pretty intensive; there was a ton of detail. I have to admit that I love getting lost in the mechanics of producing a work like this. This piece is painted on a half sheet (15 x 20 inches) Arches 140 lb. cold press and was created with my layering technique (see older posts for details on the process).

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think and thanks for your patience between posts. Now that I am in school, it takes much longer to produce my paintings. I have just started another piece on canvas, a landscape. I'll post it as soon as I complete it.

ShellABration - watercolor on canvas

Yeah! Another eight by eight inch watercolor on canvas painted for the Art and Antique Studio's ART of Eights Project. This is such a fun little art project to be involved with. You can find out more on their website: http://artandantiquestudio.com/ArtOfEightImages.htm
I have completed a few of these little gems and they really are fun. I have sold a couple of paintings through this project and the exhibit looks so nice as all the paintings, although in very different styles of the different artists, all of the paintings are the exact same size and shape.

I love painting watercolor on canvas. It's such a nice experience to feel the "bounce" and life of the canvas under my brushes.

This piece was done with my Layering Technique explained in previous posts. My husband dubbed it, "Shell-A-Bration". The sunny colors make it feel like a celebration.
I love hearing from you. Let me know what you think!

Annual Watercolor on Canvas Final Stages

Now for the big "reveal"!
I use a masking fluid pickup tool to lift the dried masking. It is a great little tool, inexpensive and very clean and efficient.

I took the mask off this piece after only two layers because I didn't want to go too dark too fast. I wanted to see what had transpired and then go from there.

As you can see, the values are still a bit light. I love to have strong value contrasts from very light to very dark as this adds lots of drama to the painting.


I can still see a small bit of the graphite I applied, so I know where I want to add some darker glazes.

I used a variety of colors from my palette and glazed on white a few layers in small areas using a number six round natural hair brush.

Be sure not too scrub your layers on, just gently float them on. If you scrub, the canvas has a tendency to let go of the color previously applied. This is good if you don't like an area. With canvas you can lift all the way back to the white quite easily, but I didn't want to lift on this painting. I was happy with what was there - it just needed some punch.
Stay tuned, the big reveal will be in my next post!

Annuals - Next Step

Okay, back to the Annuals painting...
values with a graphite pencil. With each layer of paint much of this graphite will lift off, so I pencilBecause I will be using lots of water and very wet pigments on this piece I gently scrub in my darkest in quite a bit to see where I am going.







You can see I use quite a bit of pencil so that I will have graphite left after each application of paint to help me navigate my way through to the end.

Just be sure you don't push too hard with your pencil. Use a soft lead so that you can deposit a good amount of graphite without damaging the canvas or scratching through your absorbent ground.
You can mask either before or after this step to save the whites (value number one).

Preparing a Canvas for Watercolor

I have been asked often how to prepare a canvas to make it work with my watercolor and layering technique.

Golden makes a product called Absorbent Ground. I use White Absorbent Ground, mixed with one part ground and 2 parts water as a gesso on my canvas. It's important to use this mixture over any canvas before painting with watercolor. I like to purchase the pre-gessoed canvas then apply my ground mixture before I paint. I apply 4 - 5 very thin coats evenly over the entire canvas. Allow each coat to dry thoroughly before applying the next. This creates a beautiful, sturdy surface to work on with watercolor. It takes quite a bit of abuse and handles the masking and layering of pigments well also.
The most fun part of working with watercolor on canvas is that I can lift it completely if I choose. Use a wet brush and scrub the surface, then dab with a paper towel or dry cloth. It's a fun surface and has lots of potential.
Once your painting is complete, spray a clear UV coating over the canvas to waterproof it and protect it. I love to work with gallery wrapped canvases so that I don't have to worry about framing!
I am starting a new small canvas today. I'll try to post photos soon.
Here is one that I finished and sold recently. It is called "Eau Gallie Market".
Hope you enjoy it and let me know if you try watercolor on canvas!