Da Blues

Monday, January 2, 2012

It always helps to come back to a painting later with fresh eyes.  Of course then the problem is how much can you refine the image without ruining the look of spontaneity which is the greatest characteristic of watercolor.  Usually all I do is soften some edges here and there with a wet brush.  In this case I used both  colored pencil and pastel to regain some lost whites.  I don't like to use maskoid which is a glue like substance that watercolorists use to cover up small areas they want to keep white.  I prefer to try painting around those areas but it's hard to do during the original work because you are making up the whites as you go while laying in big washes at the same time.  A painting like this should be done several times to truly capture the character of these cups in this particular light.  I will try it again soon, this time using the original sketch here as the road map for values and color.  I intend to add more of the plate in front to act as a longer lead in to the focal area, the bright white where the sidelight hits the lower cup.  The thing I like the most about this painting is the soft warm light inside the top cup created by a gentle mingling of cadmium orange and cobalt, two lovely transparent paints that always result in an interesting and colorful gray. 

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