Pouring Demonstration - Sue's Rose

This is the final painting. I used the paint I had prepared for pouring to finish the painting, this way you have the paint on hand and already prepared. I basically left the original pouring for the flower and only painted in the shadows and some accents and detailing. I did use some alizarin crimson for the center of the flower.

I mixed up a cup of blue-violet and painted around and inside the image using negative painting techniques. I used a #8 round for this task. When I do this, I use a 1 1/2 " flat wash brush to wet the area clear to the edge of the paper and lay in the paint next to the image and gradually diminish the color towards the edge. I always keep the paper wet with clear water to eliminate hard edges.

After allowing some time for the painting to dry a little, I began to lift out some areas of light with a damp paint brush. Then I left the painting to dry well overnight.

This is the final pour...you can see that the colors have spread out and some new colors have formed...fortunately I was still able to retain the focal point in the center of the rose. At this point, I removed the painting from the plexiglass and layed it on the towel to dry a little.

This is the first pour - you can see that the paper is very wet and I occasionally spray it with water to move the paint around. I also try to get rid of the water around the edges to prevent blooms. I use a paper towel for this. I poured the indian yellow in the center and the quinacridone red-violet around that. I used an eye-dropper to drop in the sap green for the leaves. I pour all my colors at one time. Some painters do it one color at the time allowing each color to dry. I prefer to do it together because I like the mix of colors I get this way.

This photo shows the supplies I use for pouring: a piece of plexiglass larger than the painting; the paint mixed up in small plastic cups for pouring (indian yellow, quinacridone red-violet, and sap green; a spray bottle of water and a large bath towel to catch the run off. A sponge can also be helpful at this time to wet down the plexiglass and both sides of the paper. The paper sticks to the plexiglass and this keeps the paper from drying out too quickly.

I was asked to do a pouring demonstration for the Yahoo group Watercolor Lessons by Cia. I decided to do a rose from a photograph by Sue Drennan, one of the group. This photo is the line drawing I prepared for the demo - it is 1/4 sheet of 140 lb. Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.