From Darlica's Drawers

[Darlica]

I'm painting again!

I haven't been working with watercolours for a very long time, it was even longer since I painted just because I wanted to...
This will be my birthday gift to my SO's mother.



Link to my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/21661703@N07/2593360373/

I was perhaps a bit too concentrated, I thought I've been painting for perhaps two hours and it was about 10:30 pm when I looked up it was 1:25 am...   

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

My respects. I never learned to use watercolors (I have a hard time controlling them). How did you manage the edges?

[Darlica]

Watercolour  include a metric ton of different methods and some of them are considered a little finer than others, no sketching and a lot of water is supposed to be the finest and most artful technique...

I'm a practical person so I don't give a dime about that (that's perhaps why I'm an illustrator and not an artist).

I have a nice photo, I make a sketch of the object, try different dispositions etc. when I'm happy with the result I scan the sketch, mirror it and print it out after adjusting the size (if needed).
Instead of using carbon paper I use the mirrored sketch, I tape it to the paper and rub gently over the lines with a smooth stylus or a medium soft pencil, the picture will now be transferred to the paper.
I now fill all areas with their base colour (with watercolours that's the lightest shade in the area) after that I fill in the edges/contours, where needed, with a darker shade of the same colour to hide the grey from sketch lines.

The trick to get even colouring and more control over the paint is to work with smaller areas and well kept brushes. This way you can use the lines the watercolour makes when it dries as contours.
The longer I work with a picture the dryer the paint, the first layers are flowing but after that the paint gets dryer and more concentrated. I might add a final flowing layer to brighten some colours, for example if I want a more lustrous green or red I can cover the green or red areas with a very thin watered down yellow coating.

However some people would say that I'm not really painting with watercolours I draw with them...

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

However some people would say that I'm not really painting with watercolours I draw with them...

Maybe.

The results are excellent, however.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Rumble. That's gorgeous.

[Darlica]

Thank you!

[Swatopluk]

Beyond pure geometric forms my own painting/drawing talent is extremly limited and I am a lost cause with the free use of colors (i.e. more than filling out defined areas). All the more I appreciate the ability in others.
Do we have a clapping hands smiley?

[Sibling Chatty]

That is lovely. Absolutely gorgeous.

[pieces o nine]

Really very lovely, Darlica!



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I took watercolour last, instead of first, and never learned to "let the paper sparkle through." 
I tend to oilpaint everything, regardless of the media!

[The Meromorph]

Words fail me, but my admiration and enjoyment don't. 

[Aphos]

D@mned good painting.  Beautiful.

[Alpaca]

That's quite beautiful. Lovely.

[Darlica]

 

[anthrobabe]

It is lovely---

[Darlica]

*cough*

I think it's time to dust of this thread...

I haven't been painting or drawing much lately but I do other things.

When I have slow hours at work I knit or crochet.
-I'm much nicer when I'm not bored so I try to find ways to keep myself entertained...

So far I've knitted caps and scarf's/mufflers and I make little crocheted critters.

The mouse/rat and the hedgehog in the first pic have movable limbs.
The dragon just have movable "arms". A Lion in the same style is in the making right now, it just need another hour or two.