Pink Peony WIP

I have been having a lot of fun looking through all my recent photographs of peonies. It's now time to get down to work and use at least one of these photos as inspiration for a new watercolor.

 I intend to use many glazes to achieve a rich dark background as in the previous two peony paintings below.However, this time, instead of painting a white peony, I have chosen a soft pink one. The bloom was past its prime, but at least there was a bit of sunshine and shadows on this one.

Below you can see the work in progress on Arches bright white 140 lb CP. The size is approximately 11" X 14".

The first photo shows the work as I am leaving it tonight: the background is almost finished. It's black and dark green...The green may not show very much on certain monitors. The flower and leaves are covered with either liquid or film miskit.

 The second photo shows the drawing with the miskit. I spent more time than usual on this drawing: I worked on it during a two-hour train ride yesterday:-) I removed many leaves that were on the photograph..I will see if this was a wise decision of not...

I hope that I will find the time after work this week to complete this painting. I need a small painting for a show starting Sunday.. I will keep my fingers crossed that this one will be good enough. Otherwise, do you think the previous peony would do?

Have a great week.

Golden Venetian Door on Red Bubble

When I finished Golden Venetian Door last weekend (see previous post), I really was not sure at first if I liked it or not. It was such a departure from what I usually paint. However, I have been looking at it all week and going back to it to add a touch of paint here, a shadow there...and I now really like it! And it's just been featured on Red Bubble.

I think that I will get this one framed professionally: at about 8". X 11", it should not be too expensive :-) I usually frame my paintings myself, with sectional metal frames and a plain mat, but I feel that in some cases a professional framer may be able to bring out more the best in a painting.

Any tips about framing watercolors?

Experiment #2- Arches 300 lb Cold Pressed Paper

Last week, I painted a quick sketch on Fabriano 300lb Hot Pressed paper that I was using for the first time. You can read in one of my previous posts that I was not totally enchanted by that paper. However, I will try it one of these days for a floral watercolor.

In my search for that perfect watercolor paper that would not need any taping or stapling and still would not buckle, I purchased some Arches 300 lb CP  paper. Today, I redid last week's sketch of a Venetian balcony:  I spent about the same amount of time on the painting and used very similar colors.

What is the verdict? Have I found the perfect paper for ME? Let's see...
The Arches 300 lb CP is very sturdy - I don't think I would have to stretch it even for my pours. It seems to be quite forgiving and allow some lifting of the wet paint without damage to the paper. I like that! This paper gives me more control over the flow of the paint than the 300 lb HP Fabriano. It reacted beautifully to the use of the salt technique....better than the Fabriano and better than the Arches 140lb CP. However, the paper is more heavily textured than the Arches 140lb...so much more that I went back and checked my bill to ensure that I had not bought Rough paper instead of the CP. This texture does have an impact on the application of the paint...drybrush effects are very easy to produce...even when that is not quite what you want to do:-)
The paint dries much lighter on this paper because of its blotting effect ....you have to use more paint.

Do I prefer this paper over my regular Arches 140lb CP? Certainly not...at least I am not used to it enough to prefer it over my old standby. I like the sturdiness of this paper, but I have not succeeded, at least in this first experiment, to achieve the luminous quality that I can sometimes get with the 140lb.

I still have over 3/4 of a sheet of this expensive 300 lb paper...I will certainly experiment some more with it. , but may not use it for my next larger painting.

Any comments about this paper and tips about the best ways to use it?