Poured Watercolor

"Viewing Paris From The Orsay" LWatry©2014

"Viewing Paris From The Orsay" is my newest painting and it will be going to Arati Artists Gallery in Colorado Springs as part of my Featured Artist month in November.

This is not a typically poured painting where you use pure color and mix them together on the paper to create your final color. I did some pure color and one pre-mixed color to create the darks of the painting quickly.

The darks of this painting were poured watercolor. To pour the paint I first had to block all the lighter areas with masking fluid and some masking tape. I started masking by trying to use masking tape and cutting out the shapes, but it didn't work very well. I was having a hard time remembering which area I needed to take out and which to leave with tape protecting it. Also, some of the shapes were very small or detailed and hard to cut around.

So, I started again and used masking fluid to block off my light areas. Then I mixed up a dark with Prussian Blue and Pyrrol orange for the upper section of the painting. I also prepared some separate containers of pyrrol orange, peacock blue, and carbazole violet to mix with the dark and provide some changes of color in the dark shadow areas.

To start the pour, I wet the whole painting and began pouring the darks on at the top of the painting, I mixed in some of the other dark color and then lifted my board and tipped it to get the colors moving.

After I finished the pour, I let it dry completely and then removed all the masking. Some of the edges of the dark areas needed to be straightened out and cleaned up before I could continue painting. The light gray and the background city view were painted in next. I had  to make the left side of the foreground figures of my original pour darker because they weren't working and I painted this in directly with a brush.

I am pleased with the final painting and enjoyed using pouring as part of the process even though it was messy!