More watercolor and mixed media

Watercolor, Elegant Writer Pence and Intense blockso on Arches cold press paoer

Watercolor and Elegant Writer pen on Arches cold press paper

Watercolor and Inktense blocks on Arches cold press paper 

Playing around with some techniques I gleaned from Karlyn Holman's Making Your Mark book and DVD.

Back to the easel

Mixed media (watercolor and ink) on Arches cold press paper 

Underpainting done with Speedball Elegant Writer pen brushed with water.

Mixed media abstract, watercolor and Posca pens

It's been a while since I posted. So now I need to catch up!

I've been watching a lot of video tutorials and reading quite a bit about watercolor but haven't spent much time putting my learning to practice. Finally tonight I dusted off the easel, wet the paints and went to work.

Tonight's project was a painting of Rudbeckia. I was inspired by a video by watercolorist Karlyn Holman to do a drawing using a Speedball Elegant Writer pen. The trick is to use a wet brush to activate the pen's ink after you complete the drawing. Once the ink is wet you can spread it around with a brush, and after that dries it becomes permanent. While wet the black ink tends to separate into green and pink and shades in between. Very cool. You can stop after 'painting' the ink with water (see underpainting above), or you can layer watercolor. The trick before painting with watercolor is to make sure all the Elegant Writer ink has been activated with water (either via brush or a spraying a fine mist of water) and letting it dry first, otherwise you will be spreading ink when you layer on the watercolor.

The bottom painting was done with watercolor and Posca markers. I think it looks like an overgrown potted plant.

More watercolor

Watercolor on Arches cold press, by Vicky Christensen 

Watercolor on Arches cold press, by Vicky Christensen

Watercolor on Arches cold press, by Vicky Christensen

Watercolor on Fluid cold press, by Vicky Christensen

It's been a while since I posted. Still working on my watercolor skills. The sweet little doggie in the first painting is my sister's Charlotte.

Flowers, flowers, flowers

Qor watercolor on 12 x 16 Fluid cold press, by Vicky Christensen 

Qor watercolor on Fluid cold press paper, by Vicky Christensen 

Qor watercolor on Canson Plein Air Watercolor Artboard, by Vicky Christensen 

This week I painted some 12 x 16 paintings, including an abstract. I think I like the abstract the best.

Watercolor bouquet

Watercolor on cold press paper, by Vicky Christensen 

It's a new week. Here's a bouquet to cheer you up.

Falling behind

Watercolor on Arches cold press, by Vicky Christensen

Watercolor on Ampersand Aquabord sample, by Vicky Christensen

Watercolor on Arches cold press paper, by Vicky Christensen

Watercolor on cold press paper, by Vicky Christensen

I'm still at it, honing my watercolor painting skills. Above is a sampling of the paintings I have done in the past several days.

More watercolor practice

Still working on my watercolor skills. For whatever reason I am having a hard time painting loose with watercolor, but I keep trying. The top two were done on what I consider my practice brand of paper. I wish I had used Arches instead. The bottom painting was done on a sample of Aquabord.

Hydrangea abstraction

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on Canson Watercolor Artboard

I bought a Jean Haines video today. After watching I was revved up to put color and water on paper. Here's the result.

Ampersand Aquabord samples

I ordered some samples of Ampersand Aquabord from Dick Blick. The idea of painting on a surface that won't warp when wet is appealing, and you can varnish it so could hang the paintings without putting them behind glass. So far it's not as nice to paint on as good quality watercolor paper, but close. One big plus: it certainly is much easier to lift color back to the white than paper, without causing any damage to the surface.

Peeking through the picket fence

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Here's a flower I saw a couple weeks ago, peeking through the picket fence, begging to be noticed. And now it has been immortalized in watercolor.

Purple Coneflower

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Another day, another flower painting. The local season is winding down, so I'm capturing them while I still can.

Sunflower

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on Canson Watercolor Artboard

This is my first painting on Canson Watercolor Artboard. I had a few problems glazing the center of the sunflower as it had a tendency to reactivate the underlying dark pigments. It's a cold press finish and very thick, so it stands up to lots of water.

I keep running into hydrangeas

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

I discovered another beautiful hydrangea bush on a walk today and had to paint it. There's no way I have enough skill to capture its beauty, but this painting tries to capture its essence.

Shrub roses

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on Arches cold press paper 

Trying to loosen up my watercolor painting style with this one. I passed these shrub roses on a walk a couple days ago and snapped a photo with my phone.

Another hydrangea painting

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor and gouache on cold press paper 

Keep trying til you get it right. I didn't use masking fluid this time, painted around the buds but ended up  losing some of the highlights after an ill-fated attempt to glaze them. Fortunately I have a starter set of Windsor and Newton gouache so this gave me a reason to put the paints to use. Everything else is watercolor.

Hydrangea blooming

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Another flower found on my daily walk - a hydrangea just starting to bloom.

Another flower gets a close-up

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Still working on my watercolor techniques, this time with another floral painting. Thanks to a beautiful photo I found on this Facebook group.

Orchid

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Today's painting was inspired by a photo of an orchid I took at a botanical garden when I visited my nephew in Hawaii in 2014.

Name this flower

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

I saw this flower while taking a walk yesterday and took a photo. I think it's a Gerbera Daisy, but I'm not sure. In any case it is a beautiful flower and I hope I did it justice.

PS, I'm an idiot. It's a zinnia. 

Purple Coneflowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

The Coneflowers are fading as Summer wanes. Here is a watercolor painting to memorialize them.

Rose

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

This was supposed to be an exercise in negative painting after watching a Linda Kemp video. The underpainting didn't go quite as planned so I had to improvise a bit. So it's not as loose as I hoped. But I like it anyway!

Spring blooms

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Here's another watercolor painting done with Qor watercolors. Enjoy!

Watercolor Iris

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

I had an underpainting set aside that looked ready for an iris so that's what I painted today. This is my first time using Golden Qor watercolor and I had a few problems glazing over some of the colors. I'm not giving up, just need to get used to the brand. The pigments are beautiful.

Here is what the underpainting looked like:

Saran Wrap peony

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

This one started with an underpainting that used Saran Wrap to create some texture for the flower and leaves. The key is to apply the crumpled Saran Wrap on still wet paint, then wait for the paint to dry completely.

Negative roses

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper

I've seen some really exceptional watercolor painters who take negative painting techniques to great heights. This is a watercolor skill I really want to work on. This painting started with a loose wet on wet underpainting of pink and yellow.

Joe Pye Weed

Paintingby Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper

 I'm still finding my way with watercolor. I did a painting yesterday (see below) and I was unhappy with results, primarily the background was sloppy. I gave it another shot today and took a different approach. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks? Okay, I know I have a lot more to learn, but that's half of the fun.

Craftsy Lily

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on 9 x 12 inch cold press paper

I learned how to paint this Lily in an online class at Craftsy, Close-up Flowers in Watercolor, instructor Nan Carey.

More roses

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on paper, 9 x 12 inch

Here's another rose! Enjoy!

Big sunflowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic mixed media on 14 x 18 inch canvas

This is the third painting in my flowers series, employing sgraffito on black gessoed canvas.

Big fat pears

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on paper 

Here's three big juicy pears. Enjoy!

Watercolor practice

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on paper

 I've tried watercolor in the past and never felt confident doing it. Since I help some senior citizens paint with watercolor once a month, I figured I better improve my skills. My first attempt at urban sketching is below. It didn't go too well. Today I decided to paint a rose (above). The background is a mixed bag but I'm satisfied with the overall results.

Iris

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic mixed media on 16 x 12 inch canvas

Today's painting is the 2nd in my series of floral paintings done by using sgraffito to 'draw' the flower on a thick layer of paint/gloss gel applied to a black canvas, and layers of transparent glazes and tinted gel.