Red Chili Pepper

Red Chili Pepper - 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch on cold press watercolor paper

This is another red chili pepper study I did.  It is really lots of fun and I recommend anyone who likes to do watercolor try these ATC (artist trading card) size studies.  These are done using Winsor and Newton artist watercolor paint on cold press watercolor paper.  I will try to continue with my larger ballroom dance painting I started but I seems to have a block on continue with it.  Could it be that I have done so many of these 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 small studies that larger ones like the 15 x 20 inch ballroom painting is too intimtating?  Anyone got the same feeling before?  May be I should go on with an intermediate one of 8 x 10 before I go on bigger ones.  Anyone, I must get over it because I like to started painting ballroom art because that is one of my passion too.

Wet into Wet Wash

Last night I did some practice on my watercolor wash.  It is so important to know the different kind of wash and what it will do for you when you do a painting.  First one I did was the wet into wet wash where you wet and saturate your watercolor paper with clean water, then wait for it to dry to a certain point and paint on it with fully loaded juicy watercolor.  The effect is shown above.

Ballroom Dancing Watercolor - Pencil Outline

Ballroom Dancing  - 15 x 20.5 inch on watercolor paper 
(pencil outline)

I have attended a ballroom competition on the weekend and took more than one thousand photos of the very exciting event.  I have been thinking of doing some painting of ballroom dancers in the back of my mind for a long time.  I know I need to capture the elegant movement of the dance as well as the energy behind the dance.  One thing in my favor is that I am a ballroom dancer myself and hopefully I can transfer some of that passion and emotion into the ballroom painting.
I am doing this in a 15 x 20.5 inch watercolor painting on cold press watercolor paper.  I have choosen a this dancing couple in my weekend collection of photos for their brightness of the ladies dress.  The men are usually in their black suits contrasts to the glittering of the ladies costume.  Also I like to choose some are more representative and I like the the dances to show less of the face in the painting.  I have started my pencil outline drawing as shown here and will continue with it in the coming days.  My aim is to do a series of ballroom paintings if I can find enough good photograph for the exercise.

Pear on watercolor paper

Pear Study - 5 x 7 inch pear on watercolor paper

I did a painting of a pear on 5 x 7 inch watercolor paper.  It is a cute little pear but it gives me lots of challange in this particular watercolor study.  First of all, I would like to make it more transparent by using wet in wet wash instead.  The color on the watercolor paper dries too quickly to give me good control of the medium.  It turns out ok but a little more transparent would be better.

Habanero Chili Pepper in watercolor

 Habanero Chili Pepper- 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch on watercolor paper

Did another one of the Habanero Chili Pepper in watercolor.  Love the orange color and it's shape.  I am still struggling with the watercolor wash for the body of the pepper.  I would like to make the orange part more transparent and try a wet in wet wash next time instead.  Making mistake is how you learn.  In the library I  come across of a good book on watercolor wash by Joe Garcia.  I think I have loaned it out before and is called Mastering the Watercolor Wash.  It is a very informative book on different types of watercolor wash.  I think I might try to get a used one from ebay for my own reference.

Asian Persimmon - Lum Chee

Asian Persimmon - Lum Chee - 5 x 7 inch on watercolor paper

I try to paint this asian persimmon or lum chee in watercolor.  It is a typical Asian fruit call lum chee in Chinese. It is around from August until this time of the year and has a sweet taste to the orange fruit inside. 
This is painted on a 5 x 7 sheet of watercolor paper.  The control I need to learn is to mix (lightly) in the palette and paint (lightly) on the watercolor paper.  I try using the back of a piece of watercolor paper to test the paint before I put on the painting.  This helps me to feel and see the hue and intensity of the mixted watercolor paint.  I found it quite different when paintied on paper then it is on the palette.  It will eventually change to a duller color when the color is dry.  So by painting dabs of color on the scrap piece of watercolor paper I can gauge the overall match of the color to the subject, in this case the asian persimmon. 

Abstract 002 - Flower

Abstract #002 - Flower 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 on watercolor paper

This is another one of my attempts at abstracts using watercolor. I found that it is fun to do abstracts because you need to free yourself from paint within the lines. Also minor mistakes can be covered and ideas can develope as the painting goes on. If you fill your brush with juicy watercolor and paint it by touching it lightly on the surface, you don't get the brush to absorb back the paint the same as when you rub your paint back and forth on the paper. And another watercolor tips is not to mix your watercolor paint too much on the palette and watercolor paper. Let the color mix itself more and you will avoid getting muddy color.

I heard Windsor and Newton's produces a new line of watercolor large pans and I would like to try it some time in the future..