Mangrove Morning
28 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in Paintings Tags: crane, Florida, Ft.Lauderdale, mangrove, morning, New River, river, water bird
The photo I used as my reference
First, I sketched out my lines and then painted white mask on the areas that I wanted to remain white and on the mangrove roots.
- Sketched Picture and painted with Mask
The picture was a little too plain, so I wanted to include a water bird we see around here all the time. As reference, I looked up a picture on the internet for a white crane. They are so pretty and graceful. I like the peacefulness of the bird in contrast to the tangleness of the roots behind him.
Sky - Morning glow
I painted in the sky and reflection in the water with wet on wet, using windsor yellow and orange and reds. Then I let it dry.
Greens
Then I painted in the greens of the trees and in the water.
- Rubbed off the mask
After putting most of my background, I let it dry completely and then rubbed off the mask. This is where I really spent a lot of time sharpening and painting in the details. Here is the finished product.
Mangrove Morning
Boy Fishing With Dog-Watercolor steps
27 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Paintings, Uncategorized Tags: boy, coconut trees, dock, dog, fishing, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, New River, pier
Assaulted with all the turmoil and unrest broadcasted in the news lately, I escaped into a quiet place while painting this peaceful scene of a little boy ( I picture my son when he was little.) and my dog, Sammy. I used a photograph that I took a couple years ago of a place along the New River in Fort Lauderdale, across a marina there. I loved the large graceful coconut trees in the picture.
The paper is 22″ x 30″ cold press Arches natural white paper. Here is the progression of this painting:
First I sketched in the main lines and then painted on white mask (liquid frisket) on the areas I wanted to maintain white and light.
Worked on the background.
After wetting the paper, I used olive green with various other colors to get the lights and darks.
Then I painted in the bottom (river).
Rubbed off the mask from the dock and trees and then applied it again to the highlighted areas. Then worked on sharpening and details.
Here is where it took some time to paint in the negative areas – the darks. I painted in the dock using burnt umber with other colors for darks and lights. The little boy was fun as he was created from a fun memory of a trip to the keys with my Mom (Mima), Dad (Papo) and the kids, fishing the old-fashioned way – with just a spool of nylon string and a hook with bait. Papo was the only one who caught anything! But, it was fun all the same.
The finished painting.
At the end, I removed the remaining mask and then sharpened those areas. Then I used watercolor pencils for added highlights.
I loved my escape to old Florida and this quite place. I’m taken there each time I look at the finished painting. I hope this post was able to take you there as well for a little while!
Blessings!
