Tag: Windows

And the Show Goes On

July is nearly over, and it has been a rather lumpy month.  I spent about a week in Reno with one of my favorite people in the world – Stef, an old room mate from college – and came home with a stomach bug that got better and then didn’t.  She got the same thing and got better, but I’ve been malingering.  It’s really damned dull to not have loads of zip and then hellishly hot weather to add into the mix.  So wah, wah, wah.

Let’s move on to other things!

We had a tie-dye birthday party (and used the bbq sauce from the last entry on the meat, which was quite tasty, I will say) and made a bunch of old hippy type stuff.  I’ll post about that at another time when I get some photos together.  As a group, we’re pretty talented.

And I’ve been doing some watercolors, too; I haven’t done anything pretty much since returning from Reno 3 weeks ago.  Today I just put it on my agenda and decided to do simple representations of trees.  A few weeks earlier I did windows.  And since I am not especially sure what else to say, here ya go, I then I am off for a walk with the esposo and the dogs.

 

Village Windows

Here is yesterday’s first layer of watercolor pencil, now “watercolored”.  I tried to follow the lines of the pencil.

Here is the second layer of watercolor pencil, with a little bit more detail.  The sky was done with about 4 or 5 colors, layered down with a blue, some white, some grey.  The roofs are an orange and a brown and a black.

As you can see, I also colored in the windows and am trying to add texture to the tiled roofs.  Some green, too, for the foliage in front.  After this, I then added water.  Once more, I followed the lines, such in the roofs.  The space on the lower right is a bit of a problem.  I think it needs something, but have no idea at this point.  Maybe a cafe awning so we can a shot of espresso?

As I have never used watercolor pencils for any complete picture, my cunningly brilliant plan is to simply layer color, then use water.  As you can see, there is some bleeding.  Most interesting to me is the sky – in the center the little bleeds are rather interesting.  In the windows, I also did some lifting of color with a dry brush to lighten the glass, as a reflection or to enhance a shadow.  The iron gall ink is beginning to blur into the colors.

I have no idea how many layers I will end up with, but I am going to try to do glazes / layers to represent shadow and form.  No idea how successful this will be!

Village Windows

Well, I don’t live in an interesting old village, but I think I could quite happily.  Suburbia just doesn’t make it when it comes to interesting lines, stones, and such.  Macadam and stucco and neatly cropped lawns are my daily world, so I always have to run off someplace else!  Not that suburbia doesn’t have its good points, like modern plumbing and electricity, but it’s not that visually exciting.

Okay, so I got our my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.  I have a tin of 60 that I have been meaning to try on a serious level.  So, here is the first layer.  I used iron gall ink on a dip pen for the lines, and then just a quick scribble of pencils to lay down the basic colors.  Next, I will wet the pencils and let it dry.  Then, off to work. Bye!