Artist Barbara Rosenzweig's Blog: Art, Gardening, Photography, and Ramblings: Bicycle Racer Bike Rider Painting

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Bicycle Racer Bike Rider Painting

"Bicycle Racer"

11x14 matted to 16x20 $52
8x10 matted to 11x14 $37
sold matted for standard size frames

I love to change it up and challenge myself. For this new painting in my Sports Series, I chose a bike rider. I knew that it would be difficult figuring out how to arrange the legs, with the arms overlapping, as well as getting the color combinations right. This first attempt (below) was a disaster! I didn't like how the colors were mingling and the perspective was wrong. After working on it for a couple of days, I decided that it would be better to start over.

Starting over was really helpful. With watercolors, unlike oils, it is difficult to rework and dramatically change the colors. Oils are opaque and you can cover dark with light colors easily. Here, the color can stain the paper and once the light colors are covered with darker ones, it is really hard to go back to light. Here, I've corrected the perspective by widening the wheels. I then mingled different color combinations. To do this, I used one color, quickly cleaned my brush, and then touched a new color to the edge of the first watching them do their magic! I continued this throughout the painting. Below, I found that the legs looked confusing and I didn't like the red under the green arm.

Finally, I made a lot of progress. Because the shadow under the front wheel was too light, I added a touch of red under it and blended it into the rest of the shadow. This made the wheel appear to rest on the ground a bit more. Next, I worked on the legs, correcting the colors. In order to remove the red, I carefully lifted it with a slightly wet brush, stroking and removing as much as possible. Next came the handlebars and gears, trying to stay with the plan of mingling the colors, but allowing for the necessity to show which body part was behind and in front of the bike parts. This process took a long time, but I wanted to give you some highlights into my challenges and thought processes as I created this painting. I'd love to hear any of your comments or suggestions!