Zebra in Color Watercolor Painting in Progress

As you may have guessed, I love vibrant color! Besides my flower paintings, with rich luscious colors, I created a whole series of Sports Figures using color in a very different way.

 

Here's an example of this type of painting, my recently completed "Ice Hockey Goalie."

"Ice Hockey Goalie"

fine art print of original watercolor painting

 

I decided to start of series of paintings using this mingling technique with animals. This is my first attempt, a Zebra! Hope that you enjoy seeing the progress!

 

 

Probably the most difficult part so far, besides the drawing, is not getting lost in the stripes. After a while, they seemed to be running together. While working on this, I'm thinking about the next painting. Maybe a giraffe. Any suggestions?

 

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Beach Boy and Girl, Painting in Progress

I just love painting children on the beach! I guess that there's so much nostalgia involved that it keeps me young, if only in my mind.

Here's a bit of insight into my painting process. For this one, I decided to start with the figures instead of the background. I'll try to capture the warmth of their relationship in this painting.

 

Below, I've started to rough in the water, surf, and sand. I've used lots of earth tones in the sand to give it character, as well as dragged my almost-dry brush sideways across the paper to take advantage of the heavily textured 300 lb Arches cold press paper. 



 

In order to give more interest to the horizon, I've added a distant shore and, since I want to give the water greater depth, I've painted over some of the surf.

 

 

I didn't like the way the water was looking, so I decided to remove it. This is not an easy trick with watercolors, but I'll share some secrets with you. First, wet the brush, then lift and blot as much paint as will come up. Next, use a special short, stiff-bristled brush called a Fabric Dye Brush by Loew Cornell, to lightly scrape the color off. If all else fails because the paint is a staining color, use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!

Now that I improved the colors in the water, I started to define the waves at the near shore.



 

Painting completed! I finished the water by making small, close strokes at the horizon and created longer waves nearer the shore. I also worked on the water and boy's beautiful blond curls, added more bright white foam to the surf, lightened the boy's shirt so that it would move more to the foreground in front of the blue water, and defined the feet.

I hope that you enjoy my new watercolor painting!

Beach Boy and Girl Original Watercolor Painting

Art Prints Available

 

 

 

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Alstroemeria Pink Flower Watercolor Painting in Progress

 

I just can't help myself! I've put it off for as long as I can, but I can no longer delay painting these fabulous flowers!

 

When I first saw Alstroemeria, I thought that they were "fake" silk flowers. It wasn't until I actually touched them that I realized they were indeed real! I have been buying fresh cut Alstroemeria for quite some time now because not only are they beautiful, but they last weeks!

 

Here is the beginning of my painting of a bouquet of salmon-pink flowers. After I penciled them in, I started to lay in the colors to get the general shapes and experiment with the background.

 



After weeks, it's finally starting to look like something. I'm trying to get that luminous quality that these flowers are known for.

 

 

I still have a long way to go, but I will keep working at it. It's the tiny details that make all the difference! I hope that you enjoy getting a glimpse at my painting in progress. When I finish, I'll post the completed Alstroemeria!

 

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PAINTING IN PROGRESS - PART 2

Analyzing how a painting progresses is a constant process. With my little girl in the daffodils, a few things really started to bother me. For one thing, I found the small purple crocuses in the foreground distracting. For another, I don’t find the horizon of trees in the background pleasing. I will try to remove both and see if I can come up with a solution that will unify the painting and help focus more on the little girl and flowers.



Once I carefully removed layers of watercolor paint, I was able to rethink my composition. I decided to blur the background in soft greens.

Finally, I added layers of golden yellow to give a sense of light, created a shadow under the child, carefully redefined each of the daffodils, and deepened the shadows of the jacket. FINISHED!

I hope that you enjoyed seeing the decisions I made and why as I created my "Girl with Daffodils" watercolor painting!

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Posted by Barbara Rosenzweig

PAINTING IN PROGRESS - PART 1

Here's a new painting that I thought you would enjoy. It's of a little girl getting ready to pick her first flower of spring - a daffodil. It's still chilly, so she has her coat on.

I'm going to show you a few steps at a time to my creative process. This really takes weeks to complete, but I'll speed up showing you the process.

Here's the beginning of the painting. I have the little girl with the start of flowers - the basic composition.

Now, I've added more color to the flowers and grass to add depth. Not sure that I am pleased with the horizon or the distracting purple crocus in the foreground.

Although the shadows on her jacket are not done yet, I want to see what a line of trees would look like in the distance at the horizon.

Don't think that I am pleased with the horizon trees yet. I'll have to think about it and work on another part of the painting.

That's all for now. I'll bring you up to date in a bit. I'd love to hear from you and learn what you think of this painting so far. Any suggestions?

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Posted by Barbara Rosenzweig