Imagine

No comparison to Van Gogh's sunflowers, but so far this is my favorite. I love the combination of warm pastel colors in this painting. I learnt the usage of the colors of the same family like green, blue and purple to give a variation to the green background. Also, I figured out how to draw shadows depending on light source and the focal point of the light.  Sun Flowers

I had to go that for day the painting class and I had not done my home work :) So I picked up an easy painting from the book "The essence of wercolor" by Hazel Soan.  I was very happy with the sky it came out very good. I could finally get the Sun right. All these days I tried to make the Sun by painting it yellow but I realized that not painting anything on the spot makes sunniest Sun. Venetian Dusk

In this painting, I learnt how to use sketch pens and crayons in watercolor paintings to give certain effects. In the background, I had made some swirly patterns (not very clear) with crayons, and when I did a color wash on it those patterns appeared. I also used some sketch pens to give a vague definition to the objects, which merged gracefully with the watercolor. This gave a nice definition to the objects without being dominating. I crossed a big milestone in this work - I painted the flowers by looking at actual flowers and not by imitating a 2D image. And that is one of my goals - to look at a 3D view/object and convert it into a 2D painting. This was a small achievement.... but very fulfilling. Tulips

I loved the sky in this painting. I used water spray technique again to give an even transition between two colors. I know the boats havent come out good. Need to fix that! s 

After my first class, Jenney insisted that I use the same technique at home. I tried the same "wet-on-wet" technique at home. I saw this painting in one of the books (Robert Wade's Watercolor Workshop Handbook) I got from the library. This was an ideal candidate for a start, as I could use what I had learnt in my previous class. I had a challenge of creating depth in this picture: I had to give an effect that the rock in the center is a bit far off and there is water in between, and there is some fog coming in. I somehow achieved it but not to perfection. I did manage to fade off the rock which gave an effect of it being at a distance and also the presence of fog. But somehow the effect of water in between is not convincing enough. I also learnt that the paper which I have been using had very high absorption which forced me to paint fast and didn't let me play with colors. I also noticed the difference between my pigments  and Jenney's: mine looked dull and h...

After struggling a lot with my water color skills I finally decided to join a painting class. It is a very enlightening experience, in every class I get answers for all those small queries which I had in my mind since long. My teacher is a very good instructor, she can look at my painting and tell me how I would have arrived at those flaws, and of course she demonstrates the techniques to resolve them. In the first class I learned a simple wash technique called "wet-on-wet" to create gradation in colors. Also I learned to use a water spray to give a dramatic effect of clouds. The birds in the pic and there positioning gives a perspective of depth and distance in the painting. You may not feel all that in my painting...... after all I am just a beginner!! :) About to rain