Watercolor Painting of a Cyclist in Motion, Part 4

Shifting Gears ©LWatry2016

This is part 4 of my cyclist in motion painting. I added more value to the skin tones and I also increased the shadow on his jersey.

The helmet now has some shadows and I added some of the colored markings on the helmet and the jersey. I started painting in the wording on the jersey. I tried to keep it simple and slightly blurry so that it wouldn't be too distracting and would add to the feeling of movement.

Shifting Gears ©LWatry 2016

Next, I started painting in some of the blacks. I don't use a tube black. I generally mix Pthalo Blue and Permanent Alizeran Crimson to make a black. I use more pigment and less water in this mix and some times I let the mix be cooler (more Pthalo) or warmer (more Alizeran). Tube blacks tend to not have as much life as a mixed black.

I painted around the lettering on the shorts and then went back and blurred some of the lettering by softening edges and lifting some of the color back off, leaving a ghost of the black still there.

I also added a little orange on the yellowish stripe in the background to help add some warm to the cool background. The warm color in the background mirrors his warm skin tone and helps move the viewers eye around the painting.

Watercolor Painting of a Cyclist in Motion, Part 3

Shifting Gears ©LWatry 2016

I have begun to add more value on the shadows of the figure and now the arms and legs are starting to look muscled. I painted in the hair with mixes of ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and some quinacridone magenta that creates a dark blue/brown.

I painted in the shiny gold/orange sunglasses. I have started adding the colorful stripes and markings on the bike with new gamboge yellow and sap green. I am looking for areas that I can paint in to help describe the shapes before I paint the black on his shorts and the bike.

I will continue to make adjustments to the values as I add shapes. I can already tell that I may have to darken the shadow on the side and back of his jersey. 

Watercolor Painting of a Cyclist in Motion, continued...

Shifting Gears ©LWatry 2016

I am continuing to work on my new bicycle painting. I decided to title the painting, 'Shifting Gears'. I have added more layers to the cyclist's skin to increase the value and start to introduce the lights and shadows I am using the same color mixes I talked about in the first post of this painting, but I have started to increase the amount of pigment in the mix to increase the values.  When working with a figure in a painting, I usually start by painting the face. That way if the face is not looking right, I can start again if I need to without having invested a lot of time into the piece.

I will continue working on the figure a little longer and then start the clothes and bike. I am still thinking of adding a warmer stripe of color in the background, but will wait until I get more of the cyclist done before deciding.

As far as watercolor paint, most of the paint I now use is from Daniel Smith. I would highly recommend these paints because the pigment is very saturated and they reconstitute and become juicy even after drying in the wells on my palette.

Watercolor Painting of a Cyclist in Motion

Cyclist ©LWatry 2016

I started working on this cyclist last week. I have had this photo for several years now and every now and then I think about painting it. Then I heard of a show that will feature bicycle art and decided now would be a good time to try it. The background is blurry because when I was taking the picture I panned with the cyclist as he was going by, thus blurring the background. 

I started the painting by masking off the cyclist and bike using masking tape and liquid mask to protect them while I painted the background. Then I wet all of the background and started painting on the colors that were blurred. I may still go back into the background to adjust values or add some brighter color. But, I will wait to make adjustments until I have more of the cyclist painted in.

Today, after removing the mask from the figure, I cleaned up the edges and then started by painting a base coat on his skin using a very thin mix of cadmium red with a little aureolin yellow mixed in. After this dried I started layering thin glazes of color onto the face and limbs. I used mixes of Permanent Alizeran Crimson & burnt sienna, Perm. Alizeran & Ultramarine Blue, as well as the Cadmium red & Aureolin Yellow mix from earlier. I will continue adjusting and adding to these layers to create the shadows and highlights.

His shirt was painted with a variegated wash of cobalt, manganese, quinacridone rose, and aureolin yellow. I used the yellow to make the front of the shirt glow. Normally I would paint the shadows in last, but because there are some defined graphic shapes and lettering that I don't want to possibly blur, I started with the shadow.

I will try to post the stages of the painting as I work on it.

Self Portrait in Watercolor

Reflections of Mystelf ©2016

I am a member of a cooperative gallery in Colorado Springs. During our winter months when the gallery traffic is a little slower we don't have featured artists in the front windows, but do group shows instead. This year we decided to have some theme months from January to March. We chose to do self-portraits for January.

I decided to have fun and not do a conventional self portrait. I love to paint metal and glass and I new my sons baritone would make a great way to get a reflection of myself. The horn automatically flipped my reflection upside down, adding to the fun of the image.

I did not want to spend a lot of time on this painting because I had to fit it in around other paintings, classes, and the holidays. So, instead of masking a lot more of the lights in the horn, I only masked the whites and tiny highlights. You might be able to see a little masking fluid on this first image.

After masking, I started on the grays of the baritone and then jumped over to work on my self portrait. I figured if I didn't get my face right, I could start over before I got to far into the painting. One of my favorite grays to make now is ultramarine blue and italian burnt sienna.

Reflections of  Myself ©2016

I continued working around the painting. You can see some of the other reflections in the horn now. I also started the blue water bottles that were behind the baritone and reflecting in the metal.

I wanted the paint on the palette in front to be warmer and provide a contrast to the blues and greens in the back. For the palette, I used pure pigment, and put it on pretty heavy, so that it would appear solid like the paint in my real palette.

I started to add more darks (mixing ultramarine and italian burnt sienna as dark as it would go). As, the painting neared completion, I added some warm reflections in the horn and completed my hand in the lower left. I like to start my skin tones with a warm mix of cadmium red and aureolin yellow. Then I add layers of other mixes.

The last time I did a self portrait was college. I am actually pleased with the final painting.

Reflections of Myself ©2016

Reflections of Myself ©2016

Time Flies When Having Fun With Watercolor!

I can't believe it has been almost a year since my last post to my blog! This last year has flown by and I have decided to make an early resolution to get back to adding a post to my blog at least once a month. I took time earlier this year to update my website, www.LWatryStudio.com, and I have been busy teaching classes, entering juried competitions, and taking workshops.

The following paintings started as my demo pieces for some of my classes:

Watercolor "Guarding the Gold" ©LWatry 2015

This painting was for my class - "Closeup on Trees and Rocks". I had taken this picture of a chipmunk among the gold aspen leaves. It fit perfectly for the tree and rock class with the rough textured stone that the chipmunk is standing on. The little tree and the aspen trunk in the background satisfied the tree part of the class. I love the dramatic lighting of the image and the warm glow of the gold leaves.

Sold

Watercolor "Blue Birds Fly" ©LWatry 2015

"Blue Birds Fly" was for my bird watercolor class, as you may have guessed. I took the picture of these blue birds several years ago and always wanted to paint it. It was a snowy, cold day and the birds were on their way through Colorado. Their bright blue colors and fluffy feathers were a nice contrast to the neutrals and hard angles of the fence.   Sold

Watercolor "Through the Ages" ©LWatry 2015

In June, I taught a pouring watercolors workshop and my demo painting was "Through the Ages". This image came from my photo of a sculptural piece on the side of a building in Paris. The photo was all in grays. For the pouring workshop we masked all of the layers, starting with white and then poured the watercolor. We kept  masking the next value and pouring color until only the darkest value was left unmasked to receive our darkest color. After removing all of the masking fluid, I went back and added some texture and value to some of the areas.

Watercolors "Show Stoppers", "Bufflehead Duck Reflections"
and "Spectacular Sunrise" ©LWatry 2015

I also taught an aspen class, a reflections in water class, and a dramatic skies class. My demo paintings for these classes are to the left.

I just finished my class listings for the winter/spring of 2016 and they are now available for viewing on my website at:
www.LWatryStudio.com/classes.html
If you live in the Colorado Springs area or will be in town, perhaps one of my classes will fit into your schedule. I am also available to give workshops in other locations.

 I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with art!

Watercolor Painting of Baritones Part 3

I started a painting of my son playing the marching baritone with his high school band in May of this year, 2014. I finished the painting in July of this year. I realized, while looking through some of my blog posts, that I never showed the final steps of the painting. Part One and Part Two are available if you click on the following links: Watercolor Painting of Baritones Part 1 and Watercolor Painting of Baritones Part 2. 

Baritone Painting LWatry© 2014

In the first two images you can see that I have started working on the instruments to give them a shiny, metallic feeling. The way to do this is to paint the things that are reflected in the surface. So, I look for all the changes of color and value and I also include the places that look shiny white to help with the illusion. Since this is a marching band, they were warming up outside and so there is sky and trees and other things reflected in the metal surfaces.

I continued to work on each of the instruments. There were a lot of abstract pieces in them as well as distorted reflections. The painting is mostly a cool value painting with lots of blues and greens, so I wanted to highlight the oranges and skin tones that I found reflected in the horns and on the figures skin. I tried a variety of grays and ended up mixing small containers of my favorites. I found a new mix that I really liked - Italian burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue make a great gray.  

Even though I was working on the horns a lot at this stage, I kept going back to the skin tones in my sons face and those visible on the other musician's arm and neck. Because I now had a lot more values from dark to light in the painting, I could more accurately judge the skin tones to see if they needed adjustments.

"Fanfare" watercolor by LWatry©2014

Here is the final painting. I love the way the layering of the horns and gloved hands looks. I wanted the foreground horns to be less in focus, so I softened the edges with a damp brush after I finished them. I decided to title the painting "Fanfare" and I think it makes a great memory of my sons time in the Liberty High School marching band!

Winter Landscape Watercolor

"Where the Tree Tops Glisten" LWatry©2014

I have started my Christmas card early this year. I started creating a winter scene painting for our cards about 11 years ago. This year I am teaching a snow scene class and so I am using the opportunity to create our Christmas card at the same time.

I chose to do a painting from a photo that I took after a big snow storm in Colorado Springs. For my Christmas cards, I started adding an ornament or two to make it a little more festive, but still keep the look of a quiet snow scene.

"Where the Tree Tops Glisten" LWatry©2014

I started the painting by masking off the foreground branches, snow, and pine needles. I also masked off the little dots of white where the ice collected on the ends of the pine needles. I added 5 ornaments to the drawing to make it a Christmas scene. Then I started painting in the background snow and trees. I used some sponging and some direct painting with a brush. I did several layers and changes of value so that there would be depth in the back.

After the background snow and trees were to a place that was looking good, I started the foreground branch.The second image shows the progress with the snow shadowed and some of the needles and branches going in. I also painted in the 5 ornaments in red so that they would stand out against the cooler colors. I used a slightly warmer brown and gray brown on the branches so that they would look sunlit and closer than the cooler background trees. I still have some of the masking on the little sparkles of ice snow on the needles. I will continue with the foreground branch and post the final painting when it is complete.

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!

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Thirty

"Camera, Colors, Cup of Cocoa, Create, Clouds, Car, Complete"
LWatry©2014

Day 30 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and I have "Completed" the challenge!

When I decided to do the challenge I chose to work with a theme to give myself some direction. The theme I ended up settling on was -Alliteration in the Titles. So, my paintings had to contain things that started with the same sound. I am glad I chose this theme because I ended up painting a lot of different things that I might not normally paint or paint together in the same painting.

The final painting is not really busy, but it ended up with 8 'C' words in the image - Camera, Colors, Cup, Cocoa, Create, Clouds, Car, and Complete.

I like how the camera strap feels like a road that the car is traveling on, the colored papers look like colorful fields, and the steam rising from the cup of cocoa could be creating the clouds in the background. I decided to ad an image in the lens of the camera for interest but also to show the Finish Line has been reached or Completed.

Thanks for following along on this painting journey! Today's painting "Camera, Colors, Cup of Cocoa, Create, Clouds, Car, and Complete" is a 6"x6" watercolor and it is available on Daily Paintworks for $90. Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty NIne

"Toys, Tazo Tea, Toast, and Tic-Tac-Toe" LWatry©2014

Day 29 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and my alliterative title begins with 'T' words - "Toys, Tazo Tea, Toast, and Tic-Tac-Toe".

I wanted to paint a few of the toys I had sitting around my studio, yes they are mine. But, I couldn't seem to figure out what to put with them. Then I hit upon the tea and toast. The tic-tac-toe came to me as I was headed to bed.

The toast was interesting to paint. I couldn't quite get the crumbly feel on the surface until I used a small sea sponge and got just the right texture. And of course after taking my photos for the painting, I drank the tea and ate the toast. Killing two birds with one stone, as they say.

This painting, "Toys, Tazo Tea, Toast, and Tic-Tac-Toe" is a 6"x6" watercolor and it is available on Daily Paintworks for $90. Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty Eight

"Chickadees, Chess, Checkmate" LWatry©2014

Day 28 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. I chose to tackle a painting that I thought would be a lot of work and time. But, after I got going on it, I found my process of painting the chess pieces and moved along fairly quickly.

The chess set is a huge human size set from a photo I took on vacation. So, I have shrunk it down to work with the chickadees. I decided to try Quinacridone Burnt Orange for the main color in the brown pieces and I loved working with it. It is a very vibrant color and I didn't have to do many layers because of that.

I chose to have the background be a bright blue and some of the blue reflects into the lighter areas of the chess pieces.

The chickadee that is flying adds a bit of motion to an otherwise static scene.


"Chickadees, Chess, Checkmate" is a 6"x6" watercolor and is available on Daily Paintworks for $150 (framed). Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty Seven

"Lego, Limes, and Lamp Light" LWatry©2014

Day 27 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days found me back playing with toys again! This time the painting is "Lego, Limes,and Lamp Light".

The Lego was from my sons childhood collection and the lamp is an old lamp base that came from my Grandma.

I had fun trying to create the feeling of light in the scene from the lamp. There is an upper light and a lower light on this lamp.

The Lego was actually pretty easy to paint. They are made of bright colors and only took a few strokes of paint to create the shapes and shadows.

"Lego, Limes, and Lamp Light" is a 6"x6" watercolor available for purchase on Daily Paintworks for $150 (framed). Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty Six

Day 26 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. Today's painting is inspired by the beautiful fall colors of the Colorado Aspen changing colors. The painting is titled "Apple, Aspen, and Album".

I decided to make the photos in the album soft focus or blurred so that they wouldn't distract from the foreground apple and aspen leaves. I started the painting by blocking off some of the leaves and painted in the photos using wet-in-wet washes of color.

When I was taking my picture I looked for the shadows of the leaves to add interest to the scene. I also changed some of the colors of the leaves to make sense of the jumble on the stem and give them fall coloring.

"Apple, Aspen, and Album" is a 6"x6" watercolor and it is available on Daily Paintworks for $150 (framed). Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty Five

"Green Glass, Goldfinch, and Grapes" LWatry©2014

Day 25 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days and I finished a few minutes before midnight! The title for this one begins with 'G' words - Green Glass, Goldfinch, and Grapes".

Once again this glass painting seemed to go faster than I though it would. It is all about painting the little abstract shapes and make sure there are good values. The glass is a few pieces that I have collected from depression era glass. I like the glow of the juicer.

I enjoyed painting the goldfinch and ended up getting a nice glow around his head.

The painting is not quite as intense in color as the image appears on my screen.

"Green Glass, Goldfinch, and Grapes" is a 6"x6" watercolor was juried into the 2014 Randy Higbee Gallery, 6" Squared Exhibition and Sale. The paintings are available through the gallery and online at: www.DailyBrushwork.com

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty Four

"Monopoly, Marbles, and Mints" LWatry©2014

Day 24 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days is done. It was a late night completion, but I persevered!
This painting is "Monopoly, Marbles, and Mints".

My husband loves to play Monopoly and hopes the games go on for hours. So, I enjoyed painting the Monopoly and I wanted to paint the marbles and mints again, so a marriage of M's transpired.

I started by once again using one of my new favorite colors, Ultramarine Turquoise. I used this color very thinned down for the surface of the Monopoly board.

The little game pieces and marbles were fun to paint. I just needed to make sure I used enough value changes to make them look dimensional. The highlight under some of the marbles gives them the feeling of being reflective.

I like the layout because the big letters in the word Monopoly along with the angled edges in the front looks like an arrow pointing at the viewer.

"Monopoly, Marbles, and Mints" is a 6"x6" watercolor and it is available for purchase on Daily Paintworks for SOLD. Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty Three

"Kite, Kiwi, and Keys" LWatry©2014

Day 23 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. Wow, I can't believe there is only one week left. I think my back will be happy to be done on the 30th. Way to much sitting for me!

Today's painting has the alliterative title "Kite, Kiwi, and Keys". I enjoyed painting the bright kite and the slightly more subdued kiwi and keys together. The kite fabric was enhanced by painting the thin lines of the square weave in parts of the image. The kite reminds me of flying a kite as a kid, but also Benjamin Franklin and the myth that he flew a kite with a key attached to it in a thunderstorm.

The kiwi was painted using olive green with a little New Gamboge mixed in to brighten it up a little.

"Kite, Kiwi, and Keys" is a 6"x6" watercolor and it is available for purchase on Daily Paintworks for $90. Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty Two

"Chickadee and Chalk" LWatry©2014

Day 22 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days is completed. The painting is "Chickadee and Chalk"

I decided to paint a little simpler image for this painting because I have been getting bogged down in detailed scenes that take up to 6 hours to complete.

The concept for this painting is large pieces of chalk are laying around where a little child has played and a Chickadee has landed on one. I channeled my inner child to write the word 'bird' in chalk on the sidewalk.

To write like I was using chalk, I painted the lines and letters roughly and had some edges that were softened.

"Chickadee and Chalk" is a 6"x6" watercolor and it is available for purchase on Daily Paintworks for $150 (framed). Click here to purchase.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty One

"Origami, Orange, and October" LWatry©2014

Day 21 of the 30 paintings in 30 days found me painting things that begin with the letter "O". I started with origami pieces and ended up adding the October calendar and an orange. I also thought the scene would look good with bright colors to go with the orange and oragami papers.

When setting up this scene, I kept trying many layouts and wasn't satisfied, they felt too static or boring. Then today I tried again and knew I had the setup I wanted when I saw the accidental creation of a flower in the scene. Can you see the flower? Check below for the answer if you can't.

This painting, "Origami, Orange, and October" is a 6"x6" watercolor and it is available on Daily Paintworks for $150 (framed). Click here to purchase.

Flower Answer: Look closely at the shadow under the origami pieces. Under the origami crane are the leaves and the stem points toward the left corner where the bloom is. The shadow is exactly as it appeared in the scene when I took the photo!

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty

"Bells, Butterfly, and Blue Bird" LWatry©2014

Day 20 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days and I decided to tackle some glass objects. These are some of the bells that I collected for a while and the blue bird is a statue that my grandmother had.

I am actually surprised that I was able to finish it in one day. Because of the time constraints I didn't get as picky with all the little shapes inside each bell. But, painted in more general shapes and worried more about the values.

I only masked a few little spots and that also saved some time. I just painted around the white areas using a brush with a very fine tip. The green bell was painted with one of my new favorite colors - Ultramarine Turquoise.

The photo was taken outside and I found some good shadows from a deck chair to give interest to the background.

"Bells, Butterfly, and Blue Bird" is a 6"x6" watercolorr was juried into the 2014 Randy Higbee Gallery, 6" Squared Exhibition and Sale. The paintings are available through the gallery and online at: www.DailyBrushwork.com

I have a new class list out on my website. Two of the classes still have room and will be starting in the next couple of weeks. For more information see my CLASS LINK.