Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Striped Orchids


30 x 40 watercolor I'm working on.   I mostly do my color mixing on the paper itself.  This one uses a limited palette:  Winsor Lemon, Permanent Rose, Permanent Sap Green, Cobalt Blue and Indanthrene blue. All winsor and newton artist tube watercolors on Arches cold pressed 140.

And here is the finished piece.

2 comments:

  1. Although I am an impressionist painter I love the detail in your paintings!

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  2. Thank you very much Ingrid. You might not be surprised if I tell you my early influences include the Impressionist. I like how they let your eyes mix the color. Makes for very vibrant coloration. I also try to apply the same principle whenever I paint watercolors. I do most of the mixing on the paper and I would often work in layers. I would put a passage of paint in one color. Let that dry. Paint another color over it and if you look from afar, it looks to be a new color. That is why I prefer transparent watercolors.
    The details of this orchid was achieved through the same principle. I like to sometimes refer to it as illusion of detail because it looks very detailed but actually, I do only the most detail on one or two focal points and just suggest the rest. But it often does the trick and people think I do the most intricate detailing. I think of all the styles, the impressionists are the ones who came closest to understanding how the human eye and brain works. And I go nuts over their use of color.

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