I am used to just winging it when it comes to painting, but this time I
tried a more controlled approach. My vision was of a fox spinning gold inside his winter home, where he could feel warm and cozy. Here's the process behind the painting, "The Golden Thread" -- a sequence of photos taken for your wonderings. I left little notes here and there about what mediums I am using and what the heck I'm doin' drawing with crystals. Never a dull moment out here in the woods.
Prismacolor colored pencil on bristol.
4B Graphite pencil on bristol.
Here I am transferring the pencil drawing onto the watercolor paper. I lay tracing paper over the final drawing, ink it and flip it over where I coat the tracing paper in graphite. I flip it graphite side down onto the watercolor paper and begin to trace over my lines with a crystal wand. The wand is comfortable to hold and rolls over the lines smoothly.
This view. These colors! Out the window of my foxes den!
I wanted to get the most luminosity from the watercolors as possible, so I had to plan ahead with the color scheme in photoshop first. This took away some fear because I was playing with colors that I had not yet worked with. It turned out to be really a fun process.
A friend of mine recently told me how much she loved working with parchment paper and watercolor. Do a wash, wrinkle the paper and lay it over the wet wash. Set books on top and when dry, peel off and be marveled!
Working with the first layer of color wash. I love love love watercolors!
Drawing in the details with a squirrel hair #5 brush.
Adding gold watercolor to the frame designs.
I had a nice texture behind the piece by using parchment paper, but it felt too empty at the bottom of the image. I took kitkitdizzy fern leaves and painted them with gold and brown acrylic paint, then stamped them into the piece.
Complete! A thorough experiment in control over watercolor, and I loved the process of using photoshop to map out the colors. Final piece measures 11" x 14".
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