"Bertina on Her Wedding Day"11" x 14" transparent watercolor
I'm thoroughly enjoying Ted's approach to teaching the workshop. We begin the day at 9 a.m. with Ted setting the tone for the day and giving a slide show. This morning he talked about several artists. Ted's approach to shadows is to darken them with the same color, and he uses warm colors in the shadows. He does, however, tone the darks down at a certain point. He does that using a very thin layer of ultramarine blue. The result is a very lively painting.
I continued to work on my two pieces. I added soft colors into Bertina's cream dress and tried to use "sloppy dots" as Ted describes the bits of broken color he uses in his paintings. I also did a variegated background layer. Ted suggested I finish by enhancing her nose and mouth and adding a thin layer of ultramarine blue over the background and the shadow side of her hair. I was not happy with my application of the final layer of paint, but I am calling this done. I kept fighting with the 140 lb. Fabriano Hot Press. I do like the 300 lb. Arches better. Sometime I would like to paint Bertina again, after I have had time to become more comfortable with the new techniques.
Baby Bob needs a bit more work, but I want to consult the master. I also started painting an old woman who sold eggs and chickens at an open air market in the Dordogne section of France. Tonight I drew my granddaughter Jamie in preparation for another piece.
6 comments:
This looks like a great workshop and you are getting so much from it. I love this painting and thanks for the explanantion
Mary, this is wonderful and the skin tones are so fabulous. She also looks as though she could step from the paper; I think that final layer to the background added a nice depth! Lovely piece!
Wow... a great workshop and you're painting your heart out on top of that. what a winning combo. Love the "mood" you created with this beauty.
I absolutely love this. The colors are beautiful yet subtle. The subject shows much character. I particularly love the background and would love to know the color you used. It really compliments the whole piece.
Jean
Jill, thanks for visiting and I've joined your blog.
Sherry, you are such a good blog friend and very encouraging.
Sheila, thanks! I love to work hard in these workshops. They are such a wonderful opportunity to learn. Ted is a fine teacher.
Jeanne, thanks for your comments. After talking with Ted today, I am happy to report, he likes the background color and he will show us a technique for embellishment tomorrow. This was achieved with layering very watery washes -- 1) ivory, 2) cadmium blue 3) ultramarine blue. Ted always uses layers for his backgrounds and usually alternates warm and cool layers. He might start out with a color without a clear thought about what the final color choice will be.
Jean, I forgot one of the layers. After the cad blue, I used its complement orange that had been grayed down just a bit. Then the ultramarine blue.
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