Art for April

Two new paintings using professional grade watercolors.

Finally she is finished, a difficult one to complete.

"Lady of the Field" has taken what feels like months to complete. She was put on hold to prepare for the art show/reception then afterwards...eh...just didn't feel like finishing her. The painting was in that awkward phase of painting. Nothing looks right, hard to see where it's going, etc.

And I have to be honest, I hated the mushrooms! I think I still had the mushrooms from "Lady of the Forest" in my head intending these to be the same.

Duh, they can't. They're a different kind of mushroom.

What I also discovered through this piece is that painting will take some getting used to now. I feel like I'm learning watercolors all over again....except this time actually learning from the books. Watercolor has always been self taught for me, really.

So when I got my new palette and paints, I hesitated. 

I felt like I was going to mess up and just couldn't afford to. I felt like a senior in high school thinking ahead. Thinking that the piece I'm working on MUST go into my portfolio, therefore I must NOT screw it up. Heh, watercolor always screws up...it's what you do with that screw up that makes the difference. In my opinion.

I had to remind myself that I did know what I was doing...and that I do understand watercolor. Then Brian said something profound "Babe, just use purple for the shadows." ...like I always do.

There's a difference between following the book word for word, and reading the book, then applying it to what you already know.

She finished pretty quickly after that stressful night. 

The next piece I worked on went much quicker, smoother, and my head didn't feel like it was going to explode trying to equate color mixing. Although "April's Diamond" did have it's challenges (limited palette + composition) it didn't pertain to the paints or color mixing themselves.

If you paint in watercolor and you haven't done the "multiplication color chart" (as I'm calling it) please do! It's an awesome reference, even if it's just trying to pick out a palette for a painting. :)