Medicine Dropper Illustration

Medicine Dropper Illustration

Another must have in my studio is a medicine dropper. It is the kind that came with one of the medicines my kids were on when they were young. I find that this dropper is fabulous for adding water to paint to make it more juicy or when working wet-in-wet. A nice drop of water at the right time can make some pretty neat blooms, as that big drop of water pushes pigment away. 

Here is the painted version of the dropper:

Here is the photo that I used for reference and when combining the painted version with it:

The Disappointing Blow Dryer

Illustration of Blow Dryer

When a book is put together, there sometimes tends to be a few mistakes and other things that are overlooked. One of those mistakes in Watercolor 365 was a mix up with one of my favorite illustrations. Instead of the above illustration of the blow dryer being put in, just the photo made an appearance. 

Did I mention that this was one of may favorite illustrations? I believe I have. So it was a disappointment to discover that it was not in the final book. These things happen though and maybe my blow dryer was just meant for big and better things in the future.

 My favorite part of the whole painting was the shadow. I tried to make it much more interesting than the shadow in the original photo. 

Here is the painted version:

And of course the photo that appears in the book:

Sylvan Shore

Sylvan Shore

15x22"

Two weeks ago I taught a workshop on how to paint landscapes. For this workshop, I showed my students some fun techniques for painting foliage and rocks. The image I used to demonstrate these techniques was from Botanical Beach on Vancouver Island. This beach is one of my favorite places to visit and I have gotten a plethora of inspiration exploring these shores. 

To begin the painting, it was first drawn out on a half sheet of watercolor paper.  The sky was painted by first wetting the paper, then adding a wash of yellow and a red across the paper on a diagonal. The yellow I used is something new for me - Winsor & Newton's Transparent Yellow. The red is Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Rose. After I did a wash of the yellow and the rose in the top half of the painting, I then added a mix of Cobalt Blue and Winsor Blue to the top and bottom of the painting. This was laid flat to dry. 

After the wash was dry, I masked out the sky area and what I refer to as "sky holes". These "holes" are the bits of sky seen through the trees.

Then I splattered paint, starting with yellow, moving to green and blue and finally to a dark green by adding the rose to the green.  While splattering, I also sprayed the paint to get it to move and blend the colors. I also splattered some burnt sienna and cadmium scarlet into the trees while working with the different greens.

After the splattered paint dried, the mask was lifted and the rocks were painted. To do the rocks, I used burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue. While wet, plastic wrap was placed on top of the paint. This was allowed to dry and the plastic wrap was removed to reveal rocks. I continued to use the plastic wrap to create more rocks, leaving space between them to allow for the water and seaweed. These rocks were further defined by adding darker paint to create more crevices and shadows. Then the seaweed was painted with transparent yellow and Winsor blue, adding a touch of salt, to create texture. 

Finally I painted in the tree trunks to finish off the painting. 

Cobalt Blue and Cadmium Scarlet Illustration

Cobalt Blue and Cadmium Scarlet Illustration

Two of my favorite colors when combined are cobalt blue and cadmium scarlet. The combination makes for a beautiful sky color, with using pure cobalt higher in the sky and then warming it up with the cadmium scarlet as it moves towards the ground.  I have an illustration of this mix in my book. 

This is the painted version:

And this is the photo:

Hole Punch Illustration

Illustration of Hole Punch

This illustration did not make it into the book but I just loved painting that purple handle and the many colors and the purples and blues of the shadow. That is why I chose to make that part of the illustration the painting and the other part the photo.

As I have mentioned before, I painted each tool from a photo I took, then combined that painting with the photo. 

Here is the painted version:

Here is the photo:

I ended up painting the handle with more blue than in the photo. I did this for a couple of reasons. First of all, the light in the photo washed out the purple color of the handle. The original hole punch is slightly more purple. Second, I liked how the blue in the purple mixture granulated. And finally, I preferred the way the pink of the photo combined with purple in the illustration.