Saturday, March 1, 2014

Watercolor on Aquabord of Monet's Lilies in Giverny

Monet's Lilies - L.Watry ©2014
I just finished this painting of waterlilies from an image that I took during our trip to France and Monet's gardens in Giverny.

This painting was done on Aquabord. If you haven't painted on Aquabord, it is a fun surface. The clay of the Aquabord gives the painting a matte feeling compared to watercolor paper. It is very easy to lift on Aquabord, however I sometimes still use a little masking if I want to save an area to keep totally white.

I started the painting by using transfer paper to get my drawing onto the board. You can draw directly on the board too. After I had the drawing ready, I used a little masking for the bubbles in the water and to save a few of the edges of the lily pads to paint later. I then began painting from the top or background of the water down. I painted the dark background water wet-in-wet and later went back after this area had dried and lifted a few more lines of the lights.

I used Daniel Smith quinacridone rose and a little opera to paint the pink lilies and various mixtures of cobalt, ultramarine blue, aureolin yellow, new gamboge, green-gold, and olive green to paint most of the green leaves. Parts of the undersides of some of the leaves also have some of the quiacridone rose in them.

Layering on Aquabord is more difficult than on regular watercolor paper, but it is possible. You need to keep your brush sort of floating over the surface and don't get scrubby with it or you will move the lower layers.

I will finish this painting on Aquabord by sealing it with 4 or 5 coats of Krylon's archival matte finish sealer. Then it will be ready to frame without glass.

6 comments:

  1. Just love what you did with this painting, and thanks for sharing your process and colors. You were able to achieve a wide range of greens, which are wonderful. The painting has such a sunny day feel!

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    1. Thanks Johanna! The waterlilies were really enjoyable to paint and it went very quickly.

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  2. Lovely picture and painting....wish i had your skills ...coloring is perfect..lokks real. Thanks for sharing your project...love it

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    1. Thanks Vi. Your welcome. I love to paint waterlilies and have done many paintings of them. This has helped me feel confident with my colors and how I paint the lilies.

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  3. Lori - this painting is just beautiful. It is so good to see how it turned out - I really liked the way you started it in class - the colors are so vivid on the aquaboard.

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    1. Thanks Margaret. I enjoyed working on the aquabord. I guess I will have to do more of it!

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