Playing with Wet On Wet Watercolor
There is a huge amount that I don't know about painting with watercolor and I periodically try to play with some techniques to improve my skills. This week I scanned the book Wet On Wet Watercolor Painting by Ewa Karpinska and then painted - flooding my 140 lb watercolor paper with water.
Here are the 4 samples - each made by dropping in two colors while the surface was very wet. I loved tilting the paper and watching the pigment flow. As the paper dried, I added a few paint lines and tried to mop up a little color.
New York street planters are filled with Spring flowers this month and I sketched tulips and daffodils while walking to the post office. I painted the flowers and let them dry overnight. The following day I thoroughly wet the backgrounds with water and dropped in a few colors.
I really enjoyed the lack of control painting with very wet paper and will continue to explore how to use more water to achieve effects I want. Next: Time to paint canal water in Venice for practice!
Comments
Hi, Shirley,
These are so delicate and they are just singing Spring! I see that spring has hit NYC!
Lovely!
Elsie
Posted by: Elsie Hickey Wilson | April 7, 2012 8:49 AM
Lovely, Shirley, just lovely!
Posted by: Gwendolyn | April 7, 2012 12:21 PM
The daffodil painting is really lovely! you got the delicacy and movement so well. Can you see yourself painting the flowers wet in wet directly,rather than painting after the drawing? I wonder? I bet you could do a beautiful job.
Posted by: Liz Adams | April 7, 2012 3:55 PM
Gorgeous, love the effects of the watercolour painting and the flowers look great - full of springtime happiness!
Posted by: Rachael | April 8, 2012 1:47 PM
How fun they look! Love the gentle blend of colors, beautifully drawn Shirley!
Posted by: Alex Tan | April 9, 2012 6:01 AM
Great effects with the watery backgrounds, I love how many effects you can get with watercolours.
Posted by: Cathy Holtom | April 9, 2012 1:12 PM
These are wonderful pages! And I feel comforted that you still feel like you don't know everything about watercolor. Sometimes I feel like I'm just scratching the surface!
Posted by: raena | April 9, 2012 7:53 PM
Nice! Love the fruits of your experimentation!
Posted by: suzanne | April 9, 2012 9:37 PM
They are just lovely ... they embody some of the things I love about watercolor. nancy
Posted by: nancy t. | April 17, 2012 8:50 PM