Tag: Creek’s Edge

Covered in Paint

A workshop all day Saturday, playing with Yupo (a plastic paper) and masking fluid.  What did I accomplish?  A familiarity with two unknown – unfamiliar – items.  I produced not a thing worth talking about, and truth to tell, if a friend at the workshop hadn’t shown up, I would have been down in the dumps – I FORGOT TO BRING MY PALETTE OF PAINTS!

Oh, well.  But, it did get me rolling, and this has been a weekend spent immersed in watercolors and studying techniques by watching videos on YouTube, specifically, those by Rick Surowicz.  I followed two of his, one called “Creek’s Edge” and the other called “The Inn at Brandywine.”  His stuff is great.  The question is, will I carry his lessons into my own paintings, not copies?

So, here is what I did this weekend – the first is the “Creek’s Edge” and the second is my rendition of the “Inn at Brandywine.”

Creek’s Edge – Another Study

Once more, Rick Surowicz has produced a video for study, and I did it.  This time it was more successful than the one on negative painting, probably because I used better paper and was not too fussed about things.  I had been to a workshop earlier in the day, and though I didn’t produce anything noteworthy in the workshop, I was warmed up and ready to go!

I watched it three times!  First to just see it, second to take notes, third time to follow along.  The biggest point to it, for me, was the cool greens used in the beginning were nicely complemented by the warm green glazes at the end.  I used a 300# paper, which is the first time I have ever used a paper that weight.  I was pleased with the end result.

The color differences are notable.  Surowicz used colors I don’t have, such as royal blue and peacock blue.  I’m not sure what the colors in my palette were as my color reference wheel is packed up some place.  I do know that I used cobalt teal in place of turquoise and a lot of Hooker’s Green, while he stuck with sap green, which is more yellow, and a lovely color.  I also mixed some greens differently, such as using cobalt teal and quinacridone gold.  The colors, while important, were not the main focus – the focus was to follow the steps and get an idea what to do!  The photo Surowicz used is for compositional suggestions only – the execution is very individual.