Painting on Watercolor Canvas - Purple Waterlily

Purple Waterlily ©L Watry

The best laid plans of artist and teachers go oft astray...The plan was to begin painting my new full sheet waterlily painting as I posted on March 7th. If you would like to see the post, here is the link: New Waterlily Painting
However, I don't like to have a lot of projects laying around. So, I decided to put it off a little longer and work on getting the demo paintings from my classes finished.  What you may ask does this have to do with the title of this blog - Watercolor Canvas? The painting at the left is a demonstration of watercolor on canvas. I used Fredrix Watercolor Canvas from a large roll that I stretched on stretcher bars, size 12"x12". The painting is still in progress. I have more to do on the waterlily pads and the reflection of the lily stem in the water. The water itself was from an overcast, cloudy day and was gray. I really liked the gray in my original water, but it didn't have enough value change. So, I decided to throw caution to the wind and add some darker, shadowed areas in the water. Canvas is fun to work on, but it can also be frustrating. It is very easy to lift color off of canvas which makes it very forgiving. On the other hand because color is so easily lifted it can be hard to work with. My challenge in the water was to add some color without changing or taking out too much of the previous grays. I am not sure I like the water right now. Instead of looking like a gray, cloudy day reflection, it sort of has a dirty water look. The warm color of burnt sienna keeps wanting to separate from the ultramarine blue that I mixed it with to make gray. I may have to remove the current water and reapply it.
  I do really like the lily flower, though. I have a little more shading to add to some of the petals, but it is mostly finished. I will post the finished painting when it is completed. In the mean time if you have questions about working on canvas please feel free to ask.