Week 2: Done with the Basics!

Week 2


Back in the world of watercolor painting again! My plan was to produce two flower watercolor paintings, and I think my other one is better than the other one. However, I think they're both better than the first one I've done, so that's an achievement! Level~up!!


Before tracing and painting without really learning the basics, I read some articles, which could help me to enhance my painting. I must confess...I have messed up a few trials, but wasn't thinking enough to keep them to show what I have done wrong and keep a track of my progress. From now, I will try not to throw out any bad ones to show how much I'm improving each week. Thanks, Jenna, for the advice! However, I am trying to find a way to fix mistakes, because unlike oil painting, where you can apply more paint to hide the mistakes, watercolor painting is impossible to fix. If you try to add more water, the paper rips, and the paint diffuses EVERYWHERE! So I tried to find a solution.

Correcting Mistakes in Watercolor

There are many ways:

1. Lifting color before it dries with a damp brush, tissue, or a sponge. (I've seen my grandma use this technique many times. She told me to make sure to apply a lot of water.)

*One disadvantage to this, I think, is that the paper might rip. Use enough water to diffuse the paint, but not to much!

2. Glazing transparent color over dry paint to modify colors

3. Scratching with a stencil knife or razor blade

4. Rubbing dry paint with an ink eraser

The thing is, if I wanted to be a professional, I would get transparent/opaque glaze, or scratch the dry paint with a razor, but since I am not, I think I'm just going to stick to #1. But I think it was nice to learn all different types of methods. Who knows, maybe I'll become an artist and have to use these skills!



Difference between Mixing and Visual Complements


A shocker! All my life, I've been misformed into thinking that the opposite colors, such as red and green, or purple and yellow, made the colors more vivid. However, now that I see the difference, it all makes sense!


So for those of you who are unsure...

MIXING complements are pairs of colors that are the "opposite" of each other, where they neutralize one another. An examples would be red and green. As you can see on the pictures below, they are located on the opposite side. I guess they are like magnets, where opposite attract! I wonder if that has anything to do with being the Christmas colors... An interesting fact is that if you paint them together, they produce either really really dark gray, or BLACK!


VISUAL complements are the ones that I want to keep in mind, because they willl enhance my painting by giving more of a "vibrant" feel. According to the article, they said it's related to how our wonderful eyes work, called simultaneous contrast. I will make sure I use this technique when I'm watercolor painting off of a photo! That would definitely enhance my painting...right?

Painting #1

This was my second time drawing off from the watercolor book, yet it was WORSE than the first one. The tracing came out too dark and rough, and the yellow seemed to childish in this picture. Because I didn't like anything on here, I decided to start over.

Painting #2

So this is my second try, drawing the same flowers. Though I admit it's not perfect, I think it's an improvement to the previous one. I even added a shade of blue in the background to maximize the effect. It was quite hard, even with the watercolor book next to me, to paint white flowers, because since you don't use the watercolor "paint", you have to be able to paint shades really thoroughly. 

So... now that the second week is over, I will start on sketching and watercolor painting off of a picture. I have a photo that I want to paint, and I will have to find another one. Even though I will be trying my best, don't expect anything too great! My goal is two get 2 paintings done. I'll see how the process goes...

Works Cited

"Making Corrections in Watercolor." Making Corrections in Watercolor. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.

"WetCanvas: ArtSchool Online: Watercolors: How to Correct Mistakes in Watercolor." WetCanvas: ArtSchool Online: Watercolors: How to Correct Mistakes in Watercolor. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.