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.

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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 Skies

Pikes Peak Sunrise  LWatry©2014

I recently taught a class on painting skies in watercolor. The painting to the left of Pikes Peak is one of the finished demo paintings that I did for the class.

Before I began the painting, I masked the moon in the upper right and masked the edge of the mountain so that I could paint in my sky without having to worry about painting around those areas.

The sky in this painting was done wet-in-wet. I started by painting clear water onto the sky area and then I used peaches, pink and blues to paint in the colors of the sky. I let the colors bleed together so that they would have soft edges. The blue is ceruelian blue and the peaches were made from permanent rose and aureolin yellow.

Because this is a sunrise scene, the land needed to reflect some of the same colors that are in the sky. So, the white snow area received a wash of some of the peachy pinks that are in the sky. Then I used some purple to add the shadows. The lower part of Pikes Peak was painted with muted or grayed down colors and I let the color fade at the bottom to give it a misty effect.

There are many techniques and ways to portray skies. Experiment and have fun, don't over work them. Some of the best skies are done with minimal brushstrokes and the color and water is left to mingle and create exciting passages.